Chapter 6: Time Drags on

It was now February and Abby had only 8 more weeks to go before the baby's due date arrived. The ultrasounds and stress tests continued on. Once a week she got to feel like a human balloon and then for 20 minutes was strapped to a fetal monitor to make sure that baby was doing okay with everything else that was going on.

In two weeks Abby would start her maternity leave. Staying at home and taking it easy, well staying at home when she wasn't at her doctor's appointments. This was all starting to take a toll on her not only physically but mentally as well.

Her ankles had swelled up to be small balloons themselves. Her back hurt like there was no tomorrow. She couldn't see her feet anymore, not that she had been able to see them in awhile now but she had to either bend over to see them or sit down and stick her legs out. She wasn't sleeping that great now either and the frequent trips to the bathroom that had started to slow down there for a little while, were picking up again. She swore she was living in there with as many trips as she made every day.

The going was rough and getting rougher by the minute. Right now for Abby time seemed to be dragging on slowly. Even with work it just seemed to take forever. She was stuck for the most part answering phones as she was just too pregnant to be of much use doing anything else and that way everyone else was happy because in a way she was taking it easy.

Valentines Day came and went uneventful for everyone and Abby worked her last shift at County for awhile. She now had free time on her hands where she could if she wanted to, just sleep, which she spent a lot of her time doing.

She glanced up at the calendar hanging there on the wall it was the 24th of February, not much longer to go. She had been bitten by the cleaning but and today that was all she wanted to do. She had completely done the kitchen, pulling everything out of the cupboards wiping them down inside and out then she had done all the woodwork and was now in the process of on her hands and knees scrubbing the kitchen floor.

"Abby honey." Carter called in not seeing her but the smell of Pine sol was overpowering when he had came inside, "what are you doing baby?"

"I'm cleaning the kitchen," she said as she slowly maneuvered to get herself up off the floor, a little more difficult of a task than getting down.

"You sure you want to be doing that?"

"Yes I'm sure." Abby said, "it was filthy and now it's clean." She put her hands on her back and stretched some. As she did this horrible pain shot down her side and wrapped itself around to the front of her belly. "ooh that smarts."

"What?"

"Oh just a Braxton hicks nothing more." Abby said looking at him, "been getting them all day, they don't want to seem to let up, guess someone's getting in some practice before the big day."

"All day?"

"Yes all day."

"Frequent all day?"

There was something about the tone of Carter's voice that didn't sit well with Abby, it might have been the way that he had said it that rubbed her wrong, but it was as if he was reading something into this that she didn't seem fit to be. "Carter yes all day long, they started about eight this morning and have been coming and going all day."

"Every?" Carter asked.

"Oh I don't know maybe every 20 minutes or so."

"That makes what four an hour?" Carter asked.

"What are you the Spanish inquisition?"

"Uh not that I know of, but aren't you supposed to take it easy when they get to be four an hour." He said giving her that look that told her she needed to be careful cause he was now in worried father mode.

"No it's more than four an hour." She repeated back to him, "relax would you, I know what I'm doing here and this is not…" she bent over again now that pain hurt. "Oh that hurts that hurts."

"Come on you need to sit down, no wait lay down on your left side," Carter about flew across the room to be next to her to help her get to the bedroom and get of her feet, her knees what ever it was she had been doing.

"I'm not a doll Carter," Abby snapped without really meaning to. "I'm okay you worry too much damn it."

"I do not." He said as he helped her back to the bedroom and got her laying down. "I'm worried about you and the baby, the baby coming too early." That was the truth nothing would scare him more than having a baby that was in trouble already coming earlier than expected.

"The baby is not coming, at least not today." She said, "see I'm fine I just must have stretched wrong."

"Yeah okay if you say so." Carter said letting her think that he was going to just drop this, he did not need to stress her out that would make the situation worse than what it already was, if it was anything.

Abby just looked at him knowing full well that he was just trying to pacify her. "John, you really have to…" oh there was another one; this was sitting well with her right now.

"Another one." He said knowing that he needed to call the doctor and take her in this just wasn't right and he wasn't going to deliver his own child.

"Yeah." She said as she closed her eyes, "I think we might want to go."

"Yeah I think we might want to too." Carter helped her get back up and move her down to the car. They were coming at a regular pace but as of right now they didn't seem to be getting any closer, they were staying the same. But definitely more than four an hour. If he could get her to the ER and up to OB then maybe they could get them to stop. Carter knew that any time that they could buy for the little baby in there increased the chances that things wouldn't be as bad as if the baby came now almost six weeks early.