For disclaimer, please see chapter one. Thanks.
A/N: Ok, Ok, I won't leave you in suspense any longer (see aren't I nice?) haha. Enjoy reading, and of course my dears, please review!
Sunrise
Chapter 11: Shattered Peace
"Well, Anna, David, the babies don't seem to have been affected by the contractions." She told them with a smile. They breathed simultaneous sighs of relief, and the doctor continued. "Anna, your doctor, Dr. Stevens, just arrived, so rather that having me finish your ultra sound, I'm going to let her take over, all right?" She asked. Anna nodded as Dr. Stevens rounded the corner into the white room. She smiled sadly at Anna.
"Anna, Anna, Anna." She said with a laugh. "What have you gotten yourself into?" Anna giggled as she continued. "Let's see what we have going on." She looked carefully at the screen for a few minutes, moving the probe slowly back and forth, up and down, over Anna's stomach. "Well, this is good news, Avery's growth seems to have stabilized. I was going to check that in your appointment on Wednesday, remember?" Anna nodded. "Connor is still bigger than her, the ratios of their sizes hasn't gotten worse, in fact, it seems to have improved a bit." Anna breathed a sigh of relief. At least one worry could be crossed off the list.
"Now, let's talk about what the next few months are going to be like. As the doctor told you, you went into premature labor, which is when your body starts to try and deliver the babies before it is the right time. This happens about 50 of the time in twin pregnancies, so I'm not too terribly surprised. However, even though they've stopped the contractions for now, they could start again at any time. to prevent this from happening, I'm sorry to say that I need to put you on bed rest. You can get up to go to the rest room, or to walk from room to room, but other than that, I'd appreciate it if you'd try and stay off your feet. In addition, when you are up, try not to do anything that's straining. Leave all the heavy lifting to David here." They all laughed. She reached over and shut off the ultra sound machine, rubbing the gel off of Anna's stomach with a paper towel. "Well, my dear, be careful. I don't want to be called in here again in two days." She said with a laugh, "and I especially don't want to see these babies delivered this early." She turned to David. "Take care of her. Don't let her be walking around all too much. And," She looked at Sarah with a smile. "No more of these shopping trips. Like I said, I'd like to keep Connor and Avery inside of Anna for a few more months."
She reached out to shake David and Sarah's hands, then placed her hand on Anna's shoulder compassionately. "Get some rest sweetie. You obviously don't need to come in on Wednesday for you appointment since it was just to see how the babies sizes were doing. I'd like to see you a week after you start your 8th month though, OK? No later." Anna nodded and the doctor smiled at her before leaving the room. Sarah laughed sadly and looked at her sister-in-law.
"Sorry, Anna. I should have realized that taking you out for so much walking when you're this far along with twins isn't a good idea. I feel terrible!" She said. Anna shook her head.
"Sarah, this isn't your fault. You're not the one who needs to be worrying about my pregnancy. I'm the one who should have been thinking about it. Really." She assured her. "Listen, you don't have to stay here if you don't want to. You have two boys that will be getting home from school in 20 minutes."
"They know how to get in if I'm not home." Sarah said.
"But Sarah, you've done enough! I mean, you drove me here, then held my hand though everything. I don't want you to feel like you have to stay. Really, go home and hang out with your sons." Anna smiled at her. Sarah hesitated.
"All right…are you sure you're going to be OK?" She asked. Anna told her that she would, and Sarah left. Anna looked up at her husband.
"Well, they're OK." She told him with a smile. She put her hands over her stomach and David followed suit. Matt entered the room a moment later. He smiled at them as he walked over.
"Well, Ladies and gentlemen, it's a boy!" He said with a laugh. They both clapped. "Sorry about that. Alyssa, the woman who had the baby, was 9 days late. We were going to induce tomorrow, but suddenly this morning, her water broke! The labor progressed really quickly, which is why I was caught off guard when the nurse came in to get me." Anna assured him that it was perfectly all right. Together, she and David let Matt know what was going on. He nodded slowly as he heard the story.
"Yeah, that sounds about right. I've had so many patients pregnant with multiples go into premature labor. The bed rest is just so that your activity doesn't trigger contractions again. You were lucky this time that we could stop them. If the labor had progressed to far, we would have had to deliver them. How are you feeling, Anna?" She looked up at him.
"Tired, but other than that, I'm fine. The pain stopped pretty soon after they got me on the IV." She explained. "Thanks for being here Matt. It's nice to have a doctor in the room that we know, rather than a ton of strangers." She told him with a sweet smile. Matt smiled back at her with a nod.
"It's no problem. You know that you can call me anytime that you have any questions. I'm more than willing to try and help." He told them. Anna and David thanked him. Anna's eyelids drooped sleepily and Matt laughed. "I'll leave you two alone so that Anna can get some sleep. I'll come and check on you a little later to see how you're feeling." Matt left, and after only moments of it just being the two of them, Anna nodded off into a peaceful sleep, and David decided to do the same.
Lucy Kinkirk's eyes widened as Sarah told her, over the phone, what had happened on her shopping trip with Anna earlier that day. After the hung up, she sighed and shook her head, feeling sorry for her sister-in-law. When she was pregnant with Mia and Emily, she had been lucky to not deliver prematurely, which had been one of her biggest fear. She couldn't imagine how afraid Anna must have been, especially with this being her first pregnancy. She wanted to go and visit her, but Meg had a friend over, the twins were down for a much needed nap, and Riley had finally stopped crying after her mother took away the TV remote she had been chewing on. Sarah had assured her that Anna would be released from the hospital tomorrow morning, so she made peace with the fact that she would just have to go and visit the mother to be tomorrow while Meg and the twins were at school. Interrupting her thoughts, Riley cried out happily. Lucy looked down at her daughter and placed her finger to her lips.
"Shh honey. Emmy and Mia are taking a nap." Riley mimicked her mother by placing her finger up to her lips and making the 'shh' sound as well. Lucy laughed and sat down on the ground next to her baby, picking her up and holding her to her chest. She played with her soft, blonde curly hair with one finger. Quietly, she leaned over and kissed her baby's cheek. "Mommy loves you, Riley, did you know that? Daddy loves you too, and so do Meggy and Emmy, and Mia. We all love your Riles." Riley giggled softly and reached out to play with her mother's hair like what was being done to her own hair. Lucy smiled as she watched her daughter again mimic her. "I love you, baby girl," she said, kissing her cheek again, then placing her back on the floor. She looked around her home. Sure, it was certainly messy, and chaotic at times, but she loved her daughters and husband more than anything in the world. She knew that she wouldn't trade her life, exactly as it was, for anything. Shattering the peaceful feeling that had come over Lucy, she heard a blood-curdling scream come from outside where Meg and her friend were playing. She quickly put Riley in her playpen, then ran out the front door. She found Meg sitting on the sidewalk outside their home, holding her knee, screaming. Lucy ran to her daughter's side and knelt down next to her. "Meg! What happened?" She asked.
"We were riding our scooters," she sobbed, "and my front wheel hit a rock and I flew over the handlebars and I hurt my knee and my hands!" Lucy tried to move Meg's hand from over her knee, but the girl just began to scream louder. "Megan, I need to see your owie. Move you hands." She instructed. The little girl did as she was told, revealing a blood covered knee. "Looks like you skinned your knee, let me see your hands." She turned over her hands to show ripped up skin along the bottom of both. "All right, let's get you inside and clean you up." She leaned down and lifted her daughter up, carrying her inside, with Meg's friend close behind. When they walked in the door, Lucy saw Riley gripping the edge of her playpen, purple faced and screaming at the top of her lungs. The thing that the baby hated most in the world was being put in her playpen when it wasn't nap time, and she was obviously not happy about it now either. Amy and Mia stood in their doorway with tear streaked faces, holding their hands over their ears. Lucy sighed and shook her head, seeing the mass chaos that had exploded in just a few seconds. She carried her 6-year-old into the kitchen where she sat her on the kitchen counter next to the second. After cleaning off her knee and hands, she bandaged them all up and helped Meg dry her tears. Seconds later, she got down off the counter and was off to play with her friend again. Lucy looked around and her other three crying children. Seeing the Riley's face had now reached an unhealthy shade or maroon, she rushed over and picked her up.
"Shh" She said soothingly, rocking her back and forth in her arms. "It's Ok. Mommy's here, she's got you." Riley calmed down and Lucy layed her on the sofa before starting for her final two children. Mia and Emily stood in their door way crying quietly. Lucy leaned down and reached out to pull them both into a hug. "It's ok girls, don't worry. Meg is just fine, she only got a little owie. There's no need to cry. Come on, let's tuck you two back in." The girls nodded silently and Lucy led them back into their room and helped get them into bed. She walked out and shut the door behind her. When she re-entered the family room, she laughed at the site in front of her. Riley, obviously exhausted from crying was sprawled out on the sofa where Lucy had left her, sound asleep. Lucy a sigh of relief, she ran her fingers though her hair. The house was once again quiet. She smiled to herself. "Crisis Averted."
A/N: Hope that you enjoyed this chapter like always - ) Please review, and let me know what you think of Sunrise so far!
