Peyton pulled a toddler's cup of apple juice from the refrigerator and closed the door. She walked from the kitchen in the middle of the house to Emma's bedroom in the front of the house. Jenny was sitting in the rocking chair next to the wooden crib, holding Emma. She smiled when she was Peyton.
"Hi Mom." She said. "I got Emma in her pajamas for you."
"Oh, thanks sweetie." Peyton replied before taking Emma from Jenny's lap. "You didn't have to do that."
"It's okay, I wanted to. I like helping you with her."
Peyton smiled at Jenny and said, "Well, thank you. How about you go get ready for bed now and then we can watch a movie or something if you want."
"No thanks, Mom. I think I'll just go to bed."
"Are you sure? We always watch movies on Saturday night."
"Yeah, I don't feel like it tonight." Jenny replied before hugging her mom. "I love you."
"I love you, too. Goodnight."
Jenny stopped in the doorway, turned to Peyton and asked, "Hey Mom…when he does get home, would you give dad a hug for me and tell him I love him?"
Peyton nodded her head and Jenny left. Peyton stared at the spot where Jenny had just been standing. She thought about Jake and how she was finally starting to see that Jake's not being home was noe beginning to affect her relationship with Jenny. She did not want her children, or her self to suffer anymore. It was time to change things.
Peyton lowered Emma into the oak crib with teddy bear crib liner and handed her the toddler cup.
"Da-da?" Emma muttered. "Where da-da?"
Peyton moved the pale yellow baby blanket higher on her daughter and said, "Shh…time to go to sleep."
She turned on the baby monitor and left the bedroom, a single tear falling from her cheek
"Wow…it's positive." Haley whispered to herself in awe as she stared down at the stick in her hand. "I'm pregnant. Again."
She sighed, but then smiled. This was definitely unexpected, but it made her happy. She wanted to have another baby and Nathan…oh, Nathan. The smile faded from her face. Nathan. How would he feel about her being pregnant? They both had always wanted a lot of kids, but Haley was pretty sure Nathan had changed his mind about having more after she nearly lost her life when Cooper was born.
Nathan sat by Haley's bed in the hospital, holding her hand and stroking her head with a cool washcloth.
"How're you doing?" He asked and Haley turned her head to look at him.
"I'm a little nervous, and totally uncomfortable. I feel like I could burst at any minute."
"Well it's only a little while longer and then we can finally settle our bet."
Haley smiled widely, "You know I am going to win. This baby is another boy. I can feel it."
"I don't know. I think it's a girl. We're due for a little girl. We've got two boys all ready."
"Yes we do. We have the two most adorable, wonderful little boys on the planet, and we're about to have the third."
"Maybe." Nathan smiled. "Another boy would be great. But a little girl would be different and cool too. Don't you think so?"
"Oh yeah. I'd love to have a little girl and dress her up in cute little dresses and stuff. But I love my boys too. and since I know this baby is another boy, maybe in a few years we can try again for that little girl we both want so much."
"Okay, slow down Hales," Nathan chuckled, "one baby at a time. Let's see how this one goes first. We are certainly going to have our hands full from now on."
"Well, I'll love the baby no matter if it is a boy or a girl. I just wish he or she would've waited until he or she is supposed to come a month and a half from now."
"So do I. For you and the baby."
"Yeah, I…uh, oh," Haley moved her hand to her stomach. "Another contraction."
"Okay, just squeeze my hand."
A few minutes later, the contraction was over and Haley could rest again on her pillow. But after every contraction ended, she felt weaker and weaker. As another contraction ended, Haley's doctor entered the room.
"How are you doing, Haley?" She asked.
"I don't know. You tell me."
Doctor Tammerson checked the charts and the monitors that surrounded Haley. He squinted his eyes in concern.
"Hmm…" He mumbled.
"What?" Haley asked, almost in panic as she lifted her head from her pillow and Nathan looked worried then too. "What's wrong?"
"Well," the doctor replied, "The baby's heart rate has dropped below where I'd like it to be and yours seems to be being affected.
"What does that mean?"
Doctor Tammerson sighed again and said, "If the heart rate's don't improve within the next half hour, I'm afraid I'll have to perform an emergency Cesarean section. I'm going to have the nurses prep you for just in case and I'll be back to check on you."
The doctor left the room and Haley stared at Nathan seriously.
"I'm scared, Nathan." She said with tears swelling her eyes. "I don't want anything bad to happen. I want the baby to be okay."
"It will be, Haley." Nathan said comfortingly, though he still sounded as worried as Haley was. "The baby will be fine and you will be fine. I promise."
About forty minutes later, Haley was wheeled to the operating room. Nathan, now dressed in scrubs, sat by Haley's head while they both anticipated the arrival of their baby.
"How much longer?" Haley asked, her voice trembled and was weak.
"Just a little while longer, Haley." The doctor replied. "We're almost to the baby."
"It's okay, Hales." Nathan said before he kissed her head. "You're almost done."
And about ten minutes later, the doctor pulled the baby out and said, "You can relax now, Haley. Your brand new baby boy is out."
Nathan kissed Haley's head, smiled and said, "It's okay, Haley. He's here, our son is here."
"Why isn't he crying? I can't hear him. Nathan, go see if he is okay."
Nathan walked over to the station where the nurses were working on the baby and cleaning him off. The baby was on his side, and one nurse was patting his back, trying to get the baby to cry. Finally, the loud cry was heard.
"There we go." The nurse said with a smile as she continued cleaning the baby.
"Is he okay?" Nathan asked.
"Well his lungs sound a little weak and are a little underdeveloped, so he'll have to spend awhile in the NICU. But everything else seems well right now."
Nathan sighed in relief and then walked back to Haley. Haley watched as she returned, but her vision became blurry.
"He's okay, Haley. The nurse said he'll be okay." Nathan sat next to her again. "He's beautiful."
Haley smiled and moved her hand to Nathan's face,beeping"I love you." She said. She dropped her hand and closed her eyes as she heard machines start around her. she heard Nathan calling out to her too, but felt too weak to answer…
Haley snapped out of her trance when Nathan knocked on the door.
"Haley, are you okay?"
She quickly reached for tissue to wrap the pregnancy test in as she answered, "I'll be out in a minute."
Haley tossed the tissue ball into the trash can next to the toilet before washing her hands. After drying her hands, she opened the door to leave the bathroom and entered her and Nathan's bedroom.
"Are you okay?" Nathan asked again as he began to dress down into his boxers and t-shirt.
"Yeah, I was just brushing my teeth." Haley lied as she pulled down the covers on her side of the bed. "So is Cooper okay?"
"Yeah." Nathan chuckled. "He just wanted his monkey and a hug from me."
Haley smiled as she climbed into bed.
"Those kids are crazy about you." She said. "They love you so much."
"I love them too." Nathan said as he slid under the covers next to his wife. "And while they are crazy about me, I am so crazy in love with you."
Haley smiled again before Nathan kissed her. the kissing grew intense and continuos, but before anything more could happen, Haley pushed him away.
"What's wrong?" Nathan wondered, his eyebrows curled.
"Nothing, I just need to talk to you about something."
Nathan stared at his wife curiously. Something was bothering her.
"Okay, what's up?"
Haley sighed and delayed about 30 seconds before slowly speaking, "I…well, um…
She stared at her husband's face. She needed to tell him. she had to tell him that she was pregnant again. But she didn't know how she could because she couldn't seem to find the words at this partcular moment, after everything she had just remembered and been thinking about in the bathroom. Haley didn't want to disappoint her husband. She wanted Nathan to want another baby just as much as she did.
"What is it Haley?"
"I've just been wondering…how would you feel about possibly having another baby?"
Nathan sighed and said, "Haley, we've talked about this before, I—
"No we haven't. Not really. Every time I bring up wanting to have another baby, you say barely two words about it before changing the subject. So can we please just talk about it this time for longer than two minutes? Will you please just honestly tell me how you feel?"
"Haley, I know you really want to have another baby, but considering what happened the last time, I'm not so sure it's a good idea. You and Cooper both spent a month in the hospital, Coop in an incubator in the NICU and you in a coma. I almost lost you and I don't want to take that risk again. It was too hard."
"I know that was hard for you Nathan and I know you were scared, but Cooper and I are both okay now and we don't know that what happened last time will happen again."
"True, but we don't that it won't either. I love you so much, Haley and so do the boys. I don't know what I would do if we lost you."
"I love you to Nathan and I love our family. But when we got married, we both agreed that we wanted to have a big family. Don't you still want that? Wouldn't you like to try again for a little girl like we talked about when I had Coop?"
"I all ready have a big family Hales. We have three children, three boys, and that is big to me. I know you want more kids, especially a little girl, but I really don't think I can take that risk again. I'm sorry."
He kissed her cheek and rolled over. Haley felt disappointed about Nathan's opinion. But she also understood where he was coming from. And as she thought about it more, she was scared to about something happening like that again. But it was too late now, and that scared Haley even more.
Haley looked down at her stomach, put her hand there and whispered, "I'm sorry too."
Peyton woke early the following morning to her baby kicking.
"Whoa," she said, touching her stomach. "Major kicking action going on. Baby, you are way more active than your sister was. You're never going to let mommy sleep are you?"
Jake rolled over in bed and faced Peyton. He opened his eyes and asked groggily, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Peyton said, sitting up.
Jake sat up next to her and asked, "Is the baby keeping you up?"
"Pretty much." Peyton replied, staring at her husband. After a minute she said, "I missed you yesterday."
"I missed you too." Jake replied as he took her hand in his. "So…exactly how mad at me are you about yesterday?"
Peyton sighed, "Jake, I'm not mad at you. I'm just upset. I'm upset that you're hardly ever home anymore to spend time with me and the girls. We never see you anymore and it's really beginning to have an impact on the kids. you saw how Emma acted yesterday when you were leaving. She hates it when you leave because she probably thinks she may not see you again. It broke my heart to see her like that."
Jake frowned and said, "I know. It broke my heart too. I hate that I have to work so much, Peyton, but I have a great job and this promotion…I really want it."
"I know you do honey, but it's not something we need. We're doing fine with money right now. You don't have to work all the time. And we would rather have you home."
"I know, Peyton. And I will be home more, just as soon as—
"No, Jake." Peyton interrupted sternly. "Not after you get this promotion. Things need to change now. You need to be home with your children and with me once in awhile. Do you know we haven't spent a night alone together since I found out I was pregnant? That's barely six months Jake."
Jake stared at Peyton and watched as tears began to run down her cheeks. Peyton continued.
"I miss being with you, Jake. Even like this, just talking to you and holding your hand. It feels so good to just touch you and hear your voice. I miss that passion and romance we used to have before you got that job. And I would really, really love to get that back."
"I'm sorry, Peyton. I didn't know you felt that way, and I'm really sorry we haven't talked about it before now. I know I've been a horrible jerk of a husband and father."
"No, you're not. You've just been busy. But you have to be less busy now Jake. we have another baby coming and he or she is going to take a lot out of both of us and we need to stick together. You need to start making some changes, Jake. For your family."
"I know, and I will, I promise. I'm going to try my hardest to be home more and whenever I have free time, I'm going to spend it with you and the girls. And you and I can start our time together with the reunion in a couple weeks."
"Oh, yeah." Peyton smiled and leaned in to kiss Jake. "I do love you, you know."
"I love you too." Jake kissed her again. "Well, we must seriously be in love if we can still make out like we're in high school."
Peyton chuckled, then continued to make out with her husband.
