10 June - 1 August 1956
I heard Hawkeye singing in the shower, I rolled over and checked my watch, it wasn't quite five, and I groaned and went back to sleep, trying to block out the sounds of Hawkeye's poor opera.
It was two days before the Honnicuts were due to leave, and a day after I was due. BJ, Hawkeye and Daniel were going out early in the morning to go fishing, leaving Peggy and I with the kids.
"Bye sexy, don't go making me a father while I'm out okay?" It was 5am, and the men were leaving. I woke again and kissed Hawkeye sleepily.
"Take it easy today Annie, don't overwork yourself!" That was Daniel, and he bent to kiss my forehead.
"Look after Peggy okay?" BJ said. I agreed with a yawn and went back to sleep for at least another hour. As April was now 13months and the twins almost 27months, I wasn't woken as early, my children sleeping from seven until seven every night. However old habits die hard, and I found myself beginning to wake at six, when I heard Peggy's feet padding down the hall.
"Annie, Annie, wake up, I just had a contraction." Peggy's voice woke me as her hand shook me gently. I opened my eyes, awake immediately.
"What, Peg are you sure?" I sat up sleepily.
"Anne, I've done this as many times as you have, I'm sure." Peggy said.
"Of course you are, I'm just tired. Let me have something to drink and we'll sort things out, I don't think we need to panic." I got out of bed, wrapping my arms around my belly. Baby had been pretty quiet the previous evening, making me think that I'd be giving birth very soon. And considering later events, it was possible that I was already in mild stages of early labour.
I gave Peggy a check up, quite confident in what I was doing. Since I'd first become a nurse, I'd been present at many births and I knew my way around well. She was perfectly healthy and the baby was head first, even though nine days early.
"Well, there's no need to worry, you're a way of giving birth, you'll be fine, I've been through this stuff since I was tiny, I delivered my sister when I was 14, so if you're going to have the baby before the boys get back, you're fine, relax and enjoy your last moments as a mother of two, because things are going to go insane very quickly. Trust me, I've got three!" Peggy managed a laugh, but I could tell she wanted BJ.
"Thanks Annie, I don't know how you can stay so calm." Peggy said. I laughed and started cooking breakfast as I'd heard the twins stirring when I'd come downstairs. We got comfortable and settled ourselves for a long wait.
"Oh, mmm, that one hurt." Peggy's face creased painfully as she had another contraction.
"Easy, just breathe, in and out. That's great, see, that was quicker than last time." I held her hand tightly, while checking my watch. "Eight minutes, we're getting somewhere. Are you sure you don't want me to call Margaret?"
"No, you'll manage fine, and we can't have her come up from work." Peggy insisted. I shrugged, I knew what I was doing, but would have preferred Margaret's presence to keep me calm.
"That was my waters!" Peggy called. I was upstairs, putting the twins down for a nap. The kids had just had lunch and were getting sleepy. I hurried back downstairs, to Peggy, and took off the wet sheets, replacing them with plenty of clean, dry ones and lots of towels, preparing for the last stages.
It had been 6am when she'd woken me, and nine hours later, 3pm we were pretty convinced that the men, who were coming back at 4, weren't going to make it. She was dilating quickly and her contractions were already at five minutes. She was crying out with every contraction, and Amy and Erin were starting to worry.
"Okay Peggy, I know that you want BJ here, but I'm here, that'll have to do, once you're another inch and a half dilated, we can have the baby out." I told her confidently. "I'm going to get Cathie to mind the kids for a while okay? She's wonderful, Erin and Amy will be fine I'll go call her. Sit tight I'll be back really soon." I went into the kitchen and rang Cathie. She agreed to come across and pick up Erin, Amy, Felicity, Ben and April.
"Thanks Cathie, you're a lifesaver." I smiled as she took the kids away. Hurrying back to Peggy, I clutched at the nearest object and groaned. Forcing myself to breathe deeply, I realised that I'd just had a contraction. I had been right, but at the moment, Baby could wait, Peggy was a lot closer to giving birth than I. Muttering a few unsavoury things, I hurried back to Peggy, who was not far off giving birth.
"Give me half a second okay?" I dashed into Daniel's office and found the surgical gloves. I suspect Hawkeye and BJ had plans for them, but couldn't care less. I fixed a sheet around my front to protect my clothes from the mess of the afterbirth, and returned to Peggy who was rather vocal in telling me the baby wasn't waiting around.
"Peggy, it's action time, you know the drill, get ready to push!" It was 25 to 4, and very soon, I would be delivering Peggy's third child. The men weren't back, and at the rate things were going we knew they'd miss the main event by a few short minutes.
Much shouting, groaning, screaming, and pushing later I had most of the baby out, and all Peggy needed to do was push one more time.
"One more Peggy sweetheart! That's great! Here we go, it's a boy!" I cleared his mouth and he began crying all at once, so I wrapped him in a sheet and handed him to his mother.
"Thankyou Annie." She was holding her son with an awed look on her face. He'd stopped crying and his wide blue eyes stared at the world.
"Congratulations Peg, he's a beautiful healthy baby. If you give one more push, I can get the afterbirth out of the way, and we'll make sure that there aren't any surprises waiting up there!"
A few messy moments later, it was over. I peeled off my gloves and untied the sheet from my front, depositing them in a large basin. I joined Peggy at the head of the bed, admiring her newborn son. It was just after 4, and we guessed that the men had been held up.
"He's beautiful. Peggy, do you want to cut the cord?" I had Daniel's med bag in. Peggy shook her head.
"Leave something for BJ, he delivered Erin and he cut her cord, he'd love it if he could cut Hayden's cord too. Do you want to hold him?" I accepted the tiny new baby, knowing that I'd also be holding my own child by tonight. Hayden was Peggy's maiden name, and she and BJ had agreed that was what they'd call their son.
"That's the men, here, will you two be okay for a minute?" I gave Hayden back to Peggy and went outside. They were just getting in, laughing having plainly had a good day.
"Hi boys, did you have fun?" I beamed at them, they turned around, I was still bloody and messy from delivering the placenta, even though I had put a sheet over my front.
"Annie what happened?" Three men asked urgently.
"Nothing big, congratulations Beej, you're a daddy again. Ow!" I doubled over with a contraction. "And congratulations Hawkeye, you're about to be a daddy again." I added once I'd recovered.
We went into the bedroom, where Peggy and BJ were crying with joy as BJ held his little son. He looked up as we came into the room, smiling directly at me.
"Thankyou Annie." He whispered sincerely.
"Anytime." I smiled. "Hawkeye, help!" I grabbed Hawkeye as a very sudden and strong contraction hit, combined with my waters breaking.
"Alright Annie, let's get you into bed upstairs, we'll have Baby out alive and well in no time." Daniel said calmly.
"Good luck Anne, I'll call Margaret." BJ said, kissing me as I was helped out of the room and onto my own bed, awaiting the birth of my fourth and final child.
Things escalated quickly, by the time Margaret arrived, I was four minutes apart and 3inches dilated. Daniel and Hawkeye were encouraging me gently as I screamed my way through a very long, painful contraction.
"That's great Anne, oh, you're so good, I'm so proud of you! I love you so much!" Hawkeye kissed my face.
"Son of a bitch! How can you say you love me? You're the one who got me pregnant! You try pushing something the size of a watermelon through something the size of a keyhole." I threw my head back as the contraction felt like it was about to rip me in two. Although I gave birth to three healthy babies, the actual labours had been very painful, even with April's I had obviously been in a lot of pain and I was unconscious at the time.
"Easy Anne, shh, that's right." Margaret soothed me, wiping my sweaty face with a wet cloth.
"Oh, did I really say those horrible things to you Hawkeye? I'm so sorry, I know you love me, or I wouldn't be pregnant." I kissed him, and he deepened it, giving me a whole lot of strength that I really needed. I broke it off quickly as another contraction hit.
"Come on Annie, it's a head, that's right, one more, we have shoulders." Margaret encouraged some minutes later.
"Good girl beautiful here we have it, the most. . ." He paused, mostly to check the baby's gender. "Beautiful pair of green eyes on the planet!"
"Oh thank god." The baby began to cry and I flopped on the pillow, while Daniel delivered the placenta and cut the cord.
"You have got the prettiest eyes Baby." He wrapped the newborn in a towel, but still cradled it, one large finger clutched by a tiny red hand, and he was gazing down, totally besotted.
"I heard the cry, what is it?" BJ asked, coming in. I was still flopped on my back, Hawkeye was kissing my face, and Margaret was finishing the cleanup.
"We don't know, except that it has green eyes." I whispered hoarsely. Hawkeye forced a drink of water to my mouth. Swallowing some, I pointed to Daniel. He still rocked his grandbaby, totally in love.
"Oh," BJ smiled and went over to Daniel. "Excuse me Grandad, buy I think that Mummy and Daddy would like to meet their. . ." He paused to do the check, "daughter. Annie you've had another girl!" My jaw dropped, I had been positive I was having a boy, mind you, I had also been pretty sure with April.
"She looks just like Katharine, I was lost for a moment." Daniel placed my daughter in my arms. Right away you could see that she would have beautiful, delicate features. Her eyes were a clear soft green, her head was covered in downy red-gold curls and her skin was smooth and pale but not unhealthy.
"What was Katharine's full name?" I asked. BJ congratulated me, kissed the baby and then shook hands with Hawkeye who waltzed him around the room in joy.
"She's just perfect Beej! I love this parent thing!" Hawkeye whooped, kissing BJ on the cheek as he left to report to Peggy.
"Katharine Bridget O'Hara, most beautiful nurse I ever met." Daniel replied once things had settled down.
"I think Baby's middle name should be Katharine, it's a bit too fancy otherwise."
"What about Isabelle?" Margaret suggested, Isabelle was a particular favourite name of Margaret's.
"Keep that name for your Majorette." Hawkeye smiled. "What about Jessica?"
"It's sweet, pretty and not too fancy, I like it. Jessica Katharine Pierce." I tried the name out, it suited her, simple, and very pretty.
"I like it, it does justice to my Katharine." Daniel said. That settled it, anything that honoured a beautiful and much-loved woman was perfect. I yawned them, delivering Peggy's son and then my daughter had worn me out.
We finished the cleanup and weighed Jess, who came in at 7.5 pounds, outweighing little Hayden who was 7lbs 2. Peggy admired and cuddled Jess who was then brought back up and laid to sleep in her bassinette. Then the men got the kids from Cathie's, and looked after them while Peggy and I slept.
The whole town soon heard that the stork had visited twice in a few short hours, and apparently, Peg and I were too out of things to hear, people kept knocking on the door, bringing presents and admiring the new arrivals.
I woke when I heard April at about 7, I had been asleep for the better part of 14 hours. I was dying to cuddle my children . . . and dying to visit the latrine. April could wait, and I went to the toilet first.
Lifting April from her crib, I discovered that I was still a bit sore around my back and stomach, so I quickly carried April into my room and set her down on my bed preparing to introduce my baby to my baby.
"April, Angel, Mummy had a new baby, you want to see?" I asked. Her blue eyes fixed on me, trying to understand. I knew she'd comprehend April, Angel, Mummy, baby and see.
"Y-y-yes!" She squeaked. I heard Hawkeye stir, and I knew he was listening. Though she had a small vocabulary, the basics, Mama, Dada, Baba, Yes, No, and Please, something I was still trying to drill into the twins, it was plain she also stuttered as every word had two or three extra syllables.
"Well, wait a minute Angel-eyes and I'll get the baby." I got up again to lift my tiny sleeping daughter from her bed. She barely stirred, apparently being born was as tiring for her as it was for me.
"April, this is Jessica, this is Mummy's baby." I displayed the fragile little life to her.
"B-b-baba?" April queried, reaching a shy hand out.
"It's okay April, you can touch. This is your sister Jessica." I helped April place a dimpled hand on the soft curls on Jess's head. April forgot her English and babbled incoherently with joy. I had been deliberate in not holding April while I showed her the baby, so she'd know that there was someone else who needed Mummy's cuddles too.
"Mummy!" Two days earlier Ben had discovered how to climb out of his cot. It was no great worry, and we just kept a few spare cushions around the sides of his crib in case he fell.
"Benny-boy, how are you this morning sport?" I asked as he climbed up onto the bed, stomping on his daddy's head to do so. Hawkeye groaned as his son's small feet squashed his ear.
"Baby! Mummy's baby?" I'd already explained to the twins that there was going to be another baby, and they knew what it meant, there'd be another small, crying person around the house that often took mummy's attention away from them.
"Yes Ben, this is Jessica, Mummy's baby. Jessica is your sister."
"Ape is sis, Lyss is sis, not Bess." I jumped at that, maybe it wasn't April I had to worry about.
"Yes, Ben, Jess is your sister too, your new sister."
"Yuck!" Ben climbed off the bed and left the room. I heard him go into the playroom. April decided to follow, tenderly kissing Jessica's head before leaving.
"Well, that was interesting." Hawkeye sat up, rubbing his eyes where Ben's heels had trodden heavily.
"Yeah, I was worried about April, not about Ben, how do you think Felicity will take it?"
"She loves being the boss, look at how she mothers April, I think Ben would've preferred a baby brother." Hawkeye said, kissing his daughter's face.
"I would have liked another boy so Ben had someone to play with, it's a strain being the only. I mean, Jack had a few friends, and I'd tag along, but I hated being the only girl. Then if Meg and I went somewhere, Jack would follow and he had the worst time." I remembered the days when everything had been so simple with a smile.
"Perseverance my love." Hawkeye kissed me. "We'll get through this somehow."
"Aunty Belle, Felicity's awake, can I help you change her diaper?" It was Erin, and she stood at the door. The twins were almost potty-trained except for when they were asleep, I was grateful as April was still 100% diaper- reliant and of course Jessica would be too, and the thought of four completely un toilet-trained children replaced war in my nightmares.
"Sure Erin honey, just give me a minute." I handed my newborn daughter to her immensely proud father and slowly got out of bed. The pain had lessened since I'd woken and I guessed it was just overnight stiffness.
"Did you have your baby? Daddy and Mummy had my brother, Hayden too!" Erin squeaked as she saw the transfer of the little bundle. She was nearly six, and had all BJ's best features, and all of Peggy's best features.
"Yes Erin, and I'll tell you what, you can have a cuddle with Jessica later, but if you want to be the nurse and hand we what I ask for with Ben and Flick, that would be so helpful." She liked to play doctors with BJ and enjoyed being the nurse. She also loved being the big sister to Amy, and even to my three when we were together.
"Okay." She took my hand and slowly, I made my way down the hall to Felicity's room.
"What are we going to do about Ben?" I asked. It had been nearly two months since Jess's birth, and Ben still refused to acknowledge his sister. We'd tried everything we could think of, and failed every time.
We'd been to the Manhattan reunion, and had a great time. Everyone thought both Hayden Francis Honnicut and Jessica Katharine Pierce were as beautiful as the other and were extremely relieved to see Max Jr now 4mo old, had his mother's nose. However, we'd decided not to have one the next year as it was getting too hard for BJ, Radar, Max and myself to travel with our young families but, we'd decided we'd have a 10-year peace treaty celebration and invite everyone we knew, including Frank Burns.
"Don't worry baby, we'll sort things. Now it's our anniversary, and Dad's minding them all, we're out, at a restaurant so let's have some fun." It was Hawkeye's and my first wedding anniversary.
"Alright, as long as we can worry tomorrow."
"Tomorrow." Hawkeye agreed. "To all the tomorrows that we're about to have, all the wonderful happy tomorrows." I gave a laugh.
"You sound like Annie, the redhead. Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya tomorrow, you're only a day. . ." Hawkeye put his hand over my mouth.
"Shh, a toast, to tomorrow, and tomorrows tomorrow, when I will be with you, everyday." He raised his glass and removed his hand from my mouth.
"To tomorrow!" I echoed.
I heard Hawkeye singing in the shower, I rolled over and checked my watch, it wasn't quite five, and I groaned and went back to sleep, trying to block out the sounds of Hawkeye's poor opera.
It was two days before the Honnicuts were due to leave, and a day after I was due. BJ, Hawkeye and Daniel were going out early in the morning to go fishing, leaving Peggy and I with the kids.
"Bye sexy, don't go making me a father while I'm out okay?" It was 5am, and the men were leaving. I woke again and kissed Hawkeye sleepily.
"Take it easy today Annie, don't overwork yourself!" That was Daniel, and he bent to kiss my forehead.
"Look after Peggy okay?" BJ said. I agreed with a yawn and went back to sleep for at least another hour. As April was now 13months and the twins almost 27months, I wasn't woken as early, my children sleeping from seven until seven every night. However old habits die hard, and I found myself beginning to wake at six, when I heard Peggy's feet padding down the hall.
"Annie, Annie, wake up, I just had a contraction." Peggy's voice woke me as her hand shook me gently. I opened my eyes, awake immediately.
"What, Peg are you sure?" I sat up sleepily.
"Anne, I've done this as many times as you have, I'm sure." Peggy said.
"Of course you are, I'm just tired. Let me have something to drink and we'll sort things out, I don't think we need to panic." I got out of bed, wrapping my arms around my belly. Baby had been pretty quiet the previous evening, making me think that I'd be giving birth very soon. And considering later events, it was possible that I was already in mild stages of early labour.
I gave Peggy a check up, quite confident in what I was doing. Since I'd first become a nurse, I'd been present at many births and I knew my way around well. She was perfectly healthy and the baby was head first, even though nine days early.
"Well, there's no need to worry, you're a way of giving birth, you'll be fine, I've been through this stuff since I was tiny, I delivered my sister when I was 14, so if you're going to have the baby before the boys get back, you're fine, relax and enjoy your last moments as a mother of two, because things are going to go insane very quickly. Trust me, I've got three!" Peggy managed a laugh, but I could tell she wanted BJ.
"Thanks Annie, I don't know how you can stay so calm." Peggy said. I laughed and started cooking breakfast as I'd heard the twins stirring when I'd come downstairs. We got comfortable and settled ourselves for a long wait.
"Oh, mmm, that one hurt." Peggy's face creased painfully as she had another contraction.
"Easy, just breathe, in and out. That's great, see, that was quicker than last time." I held her hand tightly, while checking my watch. "Eight minutes, we're getting somewhere. Are you sure you don't want me to call Margaret?"
"No, you'll manage fine, and we can't have her come up from work." Peggy insisted. I shrugged, I knew what I was doing, but would have preferred Margaret's presence to keep me calm.
"That was my waters!" Peggy called. I was upstairs, putting the twins down for a nap. The kids had just had lunch and were getting sleepy. I hurried back downstairs, to Peggy, and took off the wet sheets, replacing them with plenty of clean, dry ones and lots of towels, preparing for the last stages.
It had been 6am when she'd woken me, and nine hours later, 3pm we were pretty convinced that the men, who were coming back at 4, weren't going to make it. She was dilating quickly and her contractions were already at five minutes. She was crying out with every contraction, and Amy and Erin were starting to worry.
"Okay Peggy, I know that you want BJ here, but I'm here, that'll have to do, once you're another inch and a half dilated, we can have the baby out." I told her confidently. "I'm going to get Cathie to mind the kids for a while okay? She's wonderful, Erin and Amy will be fine I'll go call her. Sit tight I'll be back really soon." I went into the kitchen and rang Cathie. She agreed to come across and pick up Erin, Amy, Felicity, Ben and April.
"Thanks Cathie, you're a lifesaver." I smiled as she took the kids away. Hurrying back to Peggy, I clutched at the nearest object and groaned. Forcing myself to breathe deeply, I realised that I'd just had a contraction. I had been right, but at the moment, Baby could wait, Peggy was a lot closer to giving birth than I. Muttering a few unsavoury things, I hurried back to Peggy, who was not far off giving birth.
"Give me half a second okay?" I dashed into Daniel's office and found the surgical gloves. I suspect Hawkeye and BJ had plans for them, but couldn't care less. I fixed a sheet around my front to protect my clothes from the mess of the afterbirth, and returned to Peggy who was rather vocal in telling me the baby wasn't waiting around.
"Peggy, it's action time, you know the drill, get ready to push!" It was 25 to 4, and very soon, I would be delivering Peggy's third child. The men weren't back, and at the rate things were going we knew they'd miss the main event by a few short minutes.
Much shouting, groaning, screaming, and pushing later I had most of the baby out, and all Peggy needed to do was push one more time.
"One more Peggy sweetheart! That's great! Here we go, it's a boy!" I cleared his mouth and he began crying all at once, so I wrapped him in a sheet and handed him to his mother.
"Thankyou Annie." She was holding her son with an awed look on her face. He'd stopped crying and his wide blue eyes stared at the world.
"Congratulations Peg, he's a beautiful healthy baby. If you give one more push, I can get the afterbirth out of the way, and we'll make sure that there aren't any surprises waiting up there!"
A few messy moments later, it was over. I peeled off my gloves and untied the sheet from my front, depositing them in a large basin. I joined Peggy at the head of the bed, admiring her newborn son. It was just after 4, and we guessed that the men had been held up.
"He's beautiful. Peggy, do you want to cut the cord?" I had Daniel's med bag in. Peggy shook her head.
"Leave something for BJ, he delivered Erin and he cut her cord, he'd love it if he could cut Hayden's cord too. Do you want to hold him?" I accepted the tiny new baby, knowing that I'd also be holding my own child by tonight. Hayden was Peggy's maiden name, and she and BJ had agreed that was what they'd call their son.
"That's the men, here, will you two be okay for a minute?" I gave Hayden back to Peggy and went outside. They were just getting in, laughing having plainly had a good day.
"Hi boys, did you have fun?" I beamed at them, they turned around, I was still bloody and messy from delivering the placenta, even though I had put a sheet over my front.
"Annie what happened?" Three men asked urgently.
"Nothing big, congratulations Beej, you're a daddy again. Ow!" I doubled over with a contraction. "And congratulations Hawkeye, you're about to be a daddy again." I added once I'd recovered.
We went into the bedroom, where Peggy and BJ were crying with joy as BJ held his little son. He looked up as we came into the room, smiling directly at me.
"Thankyou Annie." He whispered sincerely.
"Anytime." I smiled. "Hawkeye, help!" I grabbed Hawkeye as a very sudden and strong contraction hit, combined with my waters breaking.
"Alright Annie, let's get you into bed upstairs, we'll have Baby out alive and well in no time." Daniel said calmly.
"Good luck Anne, I'll call Margaret." BJ said, kissing me as I was helped out of the room and onto my own bed, awaiting the birth of my fourth and final child.
Things escalated quickly, by the time Margaret arrived, I was four minutes apart and 3inches dilated. Daniel and Hawkeye were encouraging me gently as I screamed my way through a very long, painful contraction.
"That's great Anne, oh, you're so good, I'm so proud of you! I love you so much!" Hawkeye kissed my face.
"Son of a bitch! How can you say you love me? You're the one who got me pregnant! You try pushing something the size of a watermelon through something the size of a keyhole." I threw my head back as the contraction felt like it was about to rip me in two. Although I gave birth to three healthy babies, the actual labours had been very painful, even with April's I had obviously been in a lot of pain and I was unconscious at the time.
"Easy Anne, shh, that's right." Margaret soothed me, wiping my sweaty face with a wet cloth.
"Oh, did I really say those horrible things to you Hawkeye? I'm so sorry, I know you love me, or I wouldn't be pregnant." I kissed him, and he deepened it, giving me a whole lot of strength that I really needed. I broke it off quickly as another contraction hit.
"Come on Annie, it's a head, that's right, one more, we have shoulders." Margaret encouraged some minutes later.
"Good girl beautiful here we have it, the most. . ." He paused, mostly to check the baby's gender. "Beautiful pair of green eyes on the planet!"
"Oh thank god." The baby began to cry and I flopped on the pillow, while Daniel delivered the placenta and cut the cord.
"You have got the prettiest eyes Baby." He wrapped the newborn in a towel, but still cradled it, one large finger clutched by a tiny red hand, and he was gazing down, totally besotted.
"I heard the cry, what is it?" BJ asked, coming in. I was still flopped on my back, Hawkeye was kissing my face, and Margaret was finishing the cleanup.
"We don't know, except that it has green eyes." I whispered hoarsely. Hawkeye forced a drink of water to my mouth. Swallowing some, I pointed to Daniel. He still rocked his grandbaby, totally in love.
"Oh," BJ smiled and went over to Daniel. "Excuse me Grandad, buy I think that Mummy and Daddy would like to meet their. . ." He paused to do the check, "daughter. Annie you've had another girl!" My jaw dropped, I had been positive I was having a boy, mind you, I had also been pretty sure with April.
"She looks just like Katharine, I was lost for a moment." Daniel placed my daughter in my arms. Right away you could see that she would have beautiful, delicate features. Her eyes were a clear soft green, her head was covered in downy red-gold curls and her skin was smooth and pale but not unhealthy.
"What was Katharine's full name?" I asked. BJ congratulated me, kissed the baby and then shook hands with Hawkeye who waltzed him around the room in joy.
"She's just perfect Beej! I love this parent thing!" Hawkeye whooped, kissing BJ on the cheek as he left to report to Peggy.
"Katharine Bridget O'Hara, most beautiful nurse I ever met." Daniel replied once things had settled down.
"I think Baby's middle name should be Katharine, it's a bit too fancy otherwise."
"What about Isabelle?" Margaret suggested, Isabelle was a particular favourite name of Margaret's.
"Keep that name for your Majorette." Hawkeye smiled. "What about Jessica?"
"It's sweet, pretty and not too fancy, I like it. Jessica Katharine Pierce." I tried the name out, it suited her, simple, and very pretty.
"I like it, it does justice to my Katharine." Daniel said. That settled it, anything that honoured a beautiful and much-loved woman was perfect. I yawned them, delivering Peggy's son and then my daughter had worn me out.
We finished the cleanup and weighed Jess, who came in at 7.5 pounds, outweighing little Hayden who was 7lbs 2. Peggy admired and cuddled Jess who was then brought back up and laid to sleep in her bassinette. Then the men got the kids from Cathie's, and looked after them while Peggy and I slept.
The whole town soon heard that the stork had visited twice in a few short hours, and apparently, Peg and I were too out of things to hear, people kept knocking on the door, bringing presents and admiring the new arrivals.
I woke when I heard April at about 7, I had been asleep for the better part of 14 hours. I was dying to cuddle my children . . . and dying to visit the latrine. April could wait, and I went to the toilet first.
Lifting April from her crib, I discovered that I was still a bit sore around my back and stomach, so I quickly carried April into my room and set her down on my bed preparing to introduce my baby to my baby.
"April, Angel, Mummy had a new baby, you want to see?" I asked. Her blue eyes fixed on me, trying to understand. I knew she'd comprehend April, Angel, Mummy, baby and see.
"Y-y-yes!" She squeaked. I heard Hawkeye stir, and I knew he was listening. Though she had a small vocabulary, the basics, Mama, Dada, Baba, Yes, No, and Please, something I was still trying to drill into the twins, it was plain she also stuttered as every word had two or three extra syllables.
"Well, wait a minute Angel-eyes and I'll get the baby." I got up again to lift my tiny sleeping daughter from her bed. She barely stirred, apparently being born was as tiring for her as it was for me.
"April, this is Jessica, this is Mummy's baby." I displayed the fragile little life to her.
"B-b-baba?" April queried, reaching a shy hand out.
"It's okay April, you can touch. This is your sister Jessica." I helped April place a dimpled hand on the soft curls on Jess's head. April forgot her English and babbled incoherently with joy. I had been deliberate in not holding April while I showed her the baby, so she'd know that there was someone else who needed Mummy's cuddles too.
"Mummy!" Two days earlier Ben had discovered how to climb out of his cot. It was no great worry, and we just kept a few spare cushions around the sides of his crib in case he fell.
"Benny-boy, how are you this morning sport?" I asked as he climbed up onto the bed, stomping on his daddy's head to do so. Hawkeye groaned as his son's small feet squashed his ear.
"Baby! Mummy's baby?" I'd already explained to the twins that there was going to be another baby, and they knew what it meant, there'd be another small, crying person around the house that often took mummy's attention away from them.
"Yes Ben, this is Jessica, Mummy's baby. Jessica is your sister."
"Ape is sis, Lyss is sis, not Bess." I jumped at that, maybe it wasn't April I had to worry about.
"Yes, Ben, Jess is your sister too, your new sister."
"Yuck!" Ben climbed off the bed and left the room. I heard him go into the playroom. April decided to follow, tenderly kissing Jessica's head before leaving.
"Well, that was interesting." Hawkeye sat up, rubbing his eyes where Ben's heels had trodden heavily.
"Yeah, I was worried about April, not about Ben, how do you think Felicity will take it?"
"She loves being the boss, look at how she mothers April, I think Ben would've preferred a baby brother." Hawkeye said, kissing his daughter's face.
"I would have liked another boy so Ben had someone to play with, it's a strain being the only. I mean, Jack had a few friends, and I'd tag along, but I hated being the only girl. Then if Meg and I went somewhere, Jack would follow and he had the worst time." I remembered the days when everything had been so simple with a smile.
"Perseverance my love." Hawkeye kissed me. "We'll get through this somehow."
"Aunty Belle, Felicity's awake, can I help you change her diaper?" It was Erin, and she stood at the door. The twins were almost potty-trained except for when they were asleep, I was grateful as April was still 100% diaper- reliant and of course Jessica would be too, and the thought of four completely un toilet-trained children replaced war in my nightmares.
"Sure Erin honey, just give me a minute." I handed my newborn daughter to her immensely proud father and slowly got out of bed. The pain had lessened since I'd woken and I guessed it was just overnight stiffness.
"Did you have your baby? Daddy and Mummy had my brother, Hayden too!" Erin squeaked as she saw the transfer of the little bundle. She was nearly six, and had all BJ's best features, and all of Peggy's best features.
"Yes Erin, and I'll tell you what, you can have a cuddle with Jessica later, but if you want to be the nurse and hand we what I ask for with Ben and Flick, that would be so helpful." She liked to play doctors with BJ and enjoyed being the nurse. She also loved being the big sister to Amy, and even to my three when we were together.
"Okay." She took my hand and slowly, I made my way down the hall to Felicity's room.
"What are we going to do about Ben?" I asked. It had been nearly two months since Jess's birth, and Ben still refused to acknowledge his sister. We'd tried everything we could think of, and failed every time.
We'd been to the Manhattan reunion, and had a great time. Everyone thought both Hayden Francis Honnicut and Jessica Katharine Pierce were as beautiful as the other and were extremely relieved to see Max Jr now 4mo old, had his mother's nose. However, we'd decided not to have one the next year as it was getting too hard for BJ, Radar, Max and myself to travel with our young families but, we'd decided we'd have a 10-year peace treaty celebration and invite everyone we knew, including Frank Burns.
"Don't worry baby, we'll sort things. Now it's our anniversary, and Dad's minding them all, we're out, at a restaurant so let's have some fun." It was Hawkeye's and my first wedding anniversary.
"Alright, as long as we can worry tomorrow."
"Tomorrow." Hawkeye agreed. "To all the tomorrows that we're about to have, all the wonderful happy tomorrows." I gave a laugh.
"You sound like Annie, the redhead. Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya tomorrow, you're only a day. . ." Hawkeye put his hand over my mouth.
"Shh, a toast, to tomorrow, and tomorrows tomorrow, when I will be with you, everyday." He raised his glass and removed his hand from my mouth.
"To tomorrow!" I echoed.