Disclaimer: the usual... :)
A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews - it makes my day to see each one! I forgot to say a VERY special thank youin the last chapter to codedriver for her amazing help with the medical stuff! I've got it down pat when it comes to infertility things, but not so much on alot of the "regular" medical things, and she's been a GREAT helper! As for my medical stuff, I go back to my fertility doctor tomorrow and we'll go over last week's operation and talk about what comes next. I'll post the latest with the next chapter. :)
Oh yes, while I'm thinking of it - let's have all the shippers together now: "Harm and Mac MUST get together this season, and MUST somehow make good on that baby deal!" There's no way they can go into an 11th season without Harm, and since we already know he's gone after this season, they just HAVE to get together and ride off into the sunset together, happily in love!
Thus endeth my shipperly rant for today...
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Chapter 26:
"Time to recheck your vitals, Commander" said the nurse as she entered Harm's room, pulling a portable blood pressure machine behind her. He'd only been awake for about 6 hours, and still felt pretty rotten.
"OK" said Harm.
"Are the steroids helping any?" asked the nurse.
"Yeah, some" replied Harm.
"I'm so glad to see you sitting in the chair" said the nurse, "that's real progress!"
"That's what I keep telling him" said Mac, "but he doesn't see it."
"Oh, believe me, Commander" said the nurse as she fastened the cuff on his arm and started the machine, "it's a small thing, but you've got several small things you have to do to heal up enough to go home."
"Like that breathing thing?" asked Harm, referring to the small, plastic breathing meter they'd given him a short while earlier. It had a mouthpiece and a small hose on it, and he'd been instructed to breath into it and make the little floating indicator inside rise to a specified level. It didn't look like fun considering his bruised ribs, and he was dreading it.
"'Fraid so" replied the nurse as she recorded Harm's blood pressure. "That's super important, though. We don't want to see you develop pneumonia." The nurse placed a thermometer in Harm's mouth, and made note of the reading a few seconds later.
"I know" said Harm, "I'm just not sure how I'm supposed to manage that thing in this condition."
"You can do it, babe" assured Mac, "we'll just take it slow at first and as you get stronger, you'll be able to do it, no problem."
"Alright, Sarah" said the nurse, "your turn." Mac looked over at Harm, knowing what the next words out of his mouth would be.
"Your turn?" he asked. "Why?"
Mac sighed as she held out her arm for the nurse. "I had a little problem with my blood pressure last night and they wanna keep an eye on it."
"What kind of problem?" asked Harm.
"I had to spend several hours upstairs on the maternity floor after Jen found me passed out next to your bed" said Mac.
"What!" exclaimed Harm. "What happened!"
"Apparently my blood pressure got so high from all the stress that I passed out" answered Mac. "They took me upstairs and put me on a fetal monitor and kept a close watch on my pressures and the baby's heart rate. When they were satisfied with both, they let me come back down here with the understanding that they'd be checking my pressures down here and if they went too high, I had to go back upstairs."
"Are you OK!" asked Harm. "The baby!"
"We're both fine, babe, I promise" said Mac, reaching out to hold his hand. "The doctor last night said I've got what they call pre-eclampsia, which just means while I'm pregnant we have to really closely monitor my blood pressure."
"Looks good for now, Sarah" said the nurse as she removed the cuff from Mac's arm. "I'll leave you two alone for awhile." She quietly stepped out of the room.
"What if it goes that high again?" asked Harm, the concern on his face enough to make Mac want to cry.
"If they can't get it under control" she said, "then they'd have to deliver the baby."
"Did they talk about delivering the baby last night?" he asked her.
She looked away from him.
"Mac, look at me" insisted Harm. "Did they?"
Mac nodded her head. "It was close, Harm. Really close."
"How close?" he asked, needing to know as much as possible about the ordeal.
"2 minutes" replied Mac, so softly she could barely be heard.
"2 minutes?" asked Harm. "So if your pressures hadn't come down when they did, you would have had the baby last night?"
Mac nodded.
"Mac, I'm so sorry" said Harm. "I should have been there for you and I-" She cut him off.
"No, Harm, don't apologize" she said. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I let myself get spun up out of control and not only was I not here for you but I put our baby in danger and we both almost missed the birth and…" She began to cry.
"Hey" said Harm, holding his hands out to embrace hers. "Let's not dwell on it, on what might have happened. We've got enough to deal with without getting upset over how the baby almost came early and how we both almost missed the birth, OK? That didn't happen, any of it, and you're still fine and the baby is still safe and sound in there, and in another couple months, we'll get to have the birth we've looked forward to all this time."
Mac sobbed as she listened to his words. He was right, but then he often was.
"Yes, we will" she replied, "and it'll be amazing, huh?"
"You know it will" answered Harm, appearing to feel a little bit better.
"Oh hey" said Mac, wiping away a few remaining tears, "Jen said she, Harriet and Mattie have got our baby shower almost totally planned. How cool is that!"
"Pretty cool" answered Harm. "Does my mom know about that yet?"
"No, but she will" said Mac. "I was gonna call her in a little while and fill her in on everything that's happened since yesterday."
"That'd be a good idea" said Harm. "She'll freak when she hears about me, but the baby shower news will be a great distraction."
"Do you feel up to talking to her at all" asked Mac, "or would you rather wait and call her yourself maybe tomorrow or the next day?"
"I can say 'hi' tonight I guess" replied Harm, "but I'm not really up for one of my mother's marathon conversations."
"Ok" said Mac, "I think it'd do her a lot of good to hear your voice, but I'm sure she'll understand that you need your rest and you don't have a lot of strength just yet."
"Yeah" said Harm, "speaking of strength, I guess I need to work on that stupid thing, huh?" He pointed to the breathing meter sitting on the shelf by the window.
"Yeah, you do" replied Mac. She handed it to him, and he gave it all he could, determined to meet all his requirements for discharge by the end of the week.
Mac had no doubt he'd succeed.
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