Once again I must thank my wordmaster for her help... she helped me end the last chapter and begin this one. so here you have another instalment of Mamma's boy... which may probably be a bad name for this story... anyway I'm going to try and get it back on track.
Doctor's Orders
Mac awakened in almost a panic and immediately felt her abdomen. It was still swollen. She relaxed. The twins were still safe. The last thing she remembered before falling asleep was that the bleeding had tapered off; and that Rod was holding her hand and stroking her face, telling her to rest and that everything would be okay.
Comforted that everything was still okay, Mac took in her surroundings. She saw through the window to her left that it was now daylight. She wondered if she hadn't been given something to help her sleep because she hadn't slept that well in months.
Mac then noticed a pair of familiar legs draped over the edge of the bed on her right side. Rod was asleep in a chair next to her bed. But his big frame looked totally ill at ease and uncomfortable. She smiled with envy. He always could fall asleep just about anywhere. He said it was because of his days in the Army. Maybe, she thought wryly, a stint in the military would do her some good.
She was touched that he had stayed with her last night. He'd been really great yesterday–so solid, so caring. But they'd had no opportunity to really talk about the pregnancy... or about all of the misunderstandings of the past couple of months. She needed to explain to him why she hadn't told him. She just didn't know how to bring it up.
She reached out and touched his arm, lightly caressing it. "Rod?"
Feeling her touch and hearing her voice, he awakened instantly. He hadn't been truly asleep, just dozing. "Hey kiddo... you're awake. Are you okay?"
"Fine... You stayed with me."
Rod noticed a hint of surprise in her voice. "Yeah. Where else would I be? I love you, Mac."
"Even when I'm pigheaded and stubborn and try and push you away?"
"Yeah... even then," he told her with a grin. "I'm afraid you're stuck with me."
She smiled. "There's no one I'd rather be stuck with. But that chair can't have been comfortable. I bet you're stiff." Then remembering that he really hadn't eaten since sometime yesterday afternoon, she told him, "And I bet you're starved. Why don't you go stretch your legs and get something to eat. I'll be okay."
Removing his legs from her bed, Rod realized he was stiff... and he was most definitely hungry. He'd been so worried about her and their babies, that he'd been unable to eat anything. And he still didn't understand why she hadn't told him about them. But now was not the time to discuss it. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah." She gave him a teasing look, and gesturing to the machines she was still hooked up to, she told him, "I mean... it's not like I can actually go anywhere."
Rod chuckled as he stood up. "Okay. You're the boss." He lovingly placed a hand on her stomach in silent acknowledgment of the children they'd created together. Then he leaned down and kissed her softly before leaving the room.
A short time later, Mac was greeted by an enthusiastic "Helloo!" as Dr. Perky came into the room. Mac had nicknamed the young doctor that after their second miscarriage. She was so hopeful, she made them both hopeful of their prospects in spite of their past disappointments.
Mac smiled and adjusted the bed to a thirty-five degree angle. "Morning."
"I'm sending you home today." Dr. Perkins said.
"Are you sure? I'm still bleeding, I don't have a monitor at home…" Mac began to panic.
"Don't worry. You know I wouldn't release you if I had any concerns," she said just as Rod came back into the room.
"HelloDoc." Rod said movingnext to his wife.
"She's letting me go home." Mac gave him a soft worried smile.
"She will do just fine, just as long as she goes straight to bed and is as quiet as she can." The doctor directed towards Rod, then turning to Mac so that she understand what she was saying said, "That means that for at least 48 hours until you stop bleeding don't get out of bed except to go to the bathroom. Don't even stand up long enough to make a cup of tea. Don't lift anything heavier than a paper plate with food on it that someone else has prepared for you." The doctor emphasized the someone else looking at Rod. Dr. Perkins again directed this last comment towards Rod.
"What?" Mac said incredulously.
"Don't sit up straight, not even to eat, and call your firm and tell them you won't be coming to work for the foreseeable future." The doctor effectively stopped Mac's tirade. "Oh, and no sex."
Mac was horrified. She never expected for bed rest to be just that… bed rest. Nothing more, nothing less. "What am I supposed to do all day?"
"There is plenty to do... You can read," Rod said positively. "You know you've been wanting to catch up on some reading."
"Great," Mac said with a slight pout. "That will keep me busy for two days. How long do I have to stay in bed?"
"Come and see me once a week and I will tell you. You've got 18 weeks at the very least to get through… Thirty if we're lucky."
Mac's mind reeled at the thought of being in bed for thirty weeks. That is more than half the year. "Please remind me that I wanted this."
"We inserted that circlage, so after the first two days you may do a little bit of walking, but if you start spotting at all you CALL me, but for the most part stay horizontal. You had a threatened miscarriage and we want to give things a chance to settle down."
"I guess I could work for a little while in bed," Mac mumbled.
Rod reached down and held one of Mac's hands. With an expression that radiated both understanding and tenderness, he said softly, "You can do this... we can do it. I'll be right there with you. Think of it this way, honey, You are saving two people's lives for it. Their lives depend on you staying in bed."
Mac sighed heavily. "You're right. I know, you're right. I guess if something happens then … Then I at leastknow that I did my best." She conceded.
Both Rod and the doctor smiled in sympathy as they readied her to leave. However, Rod was determined to do everything in his power to ensure that nothing bad happened.
On the first day of bedrest, Mac had been was watching one of her favorite movies as she lay back on her plush pillows. So far everything was bearable, though she knew it wouldn't last. This was the second time she had been playing the movie since she had fallen asleep on her first viewing.
As she sat watching she had a crossword puzzle book on her lap. Rod walked past her and kissed her head. "I'm going to the grocery store kiddo, want anything else?"
"I need a pint of rocky road." Mac said
"We have a pint."
"Yeah… but It's old… I bought that last week."
"Mac, be serious…"
"Rod, I'm very serious. Do you know how hard I would have to strain to dig my spoon into that now?" Mac turned her attention back to the screen. "Besides I dumped an entire jar of olives in it."
Rod couldn't help but laugh. That was rather cute. "Okay… anything else?"
"Marshmallows. Not the regular white ones, I want purple Peeps®. I want to dip them in the chocolate."
"Is that it?"
"A kiss?" Mac said, a look of subtle seduction coming over her features. His nurturing made him sexy to her. Rod complied with her request. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer deepening the kiss. They both moaned then quickly separated from each other.
"Maybe I'd better sleep in the other room tonight," Rod said. Mac nodded and sighed surprised by his suggestion.She lay back down and looked at the television.
Ten minutes after Rod left, the doorbell rang. She didn't think much of it. Her mind was still trying to wrap itself around the fact that her husband was going to leave her in their bed alone. Then it rang again. "Rod, are you still here?" Mac asked
Nothing.
The doorbell rang one more time, followed by persistent knocking. The floodgates were open. Mac began to cry. She was alone in the house, her husband preferred to sleep in the guest room, and she couldn't even get out of bed to answer the door. Not to mention that she was afraid to go to the bathroom because she might just push them right out.
She cried out her fears, and frustrations. When Rod returned, she was a heaping mess on the bed. "Honey... what's wrong?"
"I have to go to the bathroom." She said in a sob, getting angrier by the second because she was crying over something so trivial. She knew it was the hormones, but she thought that she could control anything her hormones would throw at her. She hated that they had won this battle.
"It's okay, Mac. I'll help you," Rod said with a voice that was full of understanding as he helped his wife into their bathroom. In truth, he had many of the same fears as his wife had; though he freely admitted that the intensity was not quite the same.
"Someone was knocking on the door, and you weren't here," Mac said and Rod understood now what had set her off.
"I know baby, I'm sorry… It was Carl. He was about to leave when I got back." Rod said standing just outside the door. "He is waiting for you downstairs. I can tell him to come back some other day."
"No, It's okay. We were supposed to do our TV night with them tonight, weren't we?" Mac said walking back out of the bathroom.
"You mean they don't know?" Rod asked.
"I couldn't' tell anyone Rod… you didn't even know." Mac stood in front of him her gaze connected to his "We'll tell them tonight."
"Well let me help you get dressed for company, then I'll take you to the couch." Rod said with a nod.
Mac smiled, "What? Don't you think I look hot?"
He helped her to the bed. "Hot? No… but you certainly are beautiful, no matter what you wear."
"Here I thought my old sweats turned you on." They both laughed as Rod tugged on her sweats to help her remove them.
"Oh my god that's great!" Sue Brantley said hugging Mac after Rod set her down on the couch. "And here we thought we were bringing good news."
"It… Yeah?" Mac said looking over at Carl and catching the twinkle in his eyes. She guessed that the stork had visited her friends, too.
"Do you remember that trip to Barbados?" Carl started.
Unfortunately, Mac remembered it all too well.
"Let me tell it!" Sue said and smiled back at Mac. "I'm pregnant."
Mac smiled, secretly wishing that Sue weren't there. She was so healthy. This was their second child. "Congratulations."
"Sue, we've done this before." Carl said noticing Mac's change of mood. This was something that Sue still couldn't recognize in the taller woman. "Mac, this is fantastic, I can't believe you didn't tell us before."
"You were a little busy making baby number two." She said tersely.
Sue laughed. Rod cleared his throat, trying to change the subject. "Hey Carl... did you see the dent Mac's shoe made when she threw her shoe itat my head the other day?"
Carl laughed and followed Rod out of the room leaving Mac and Sue in the living room by themselves.
Mac reached for the remote and changed the channel on the tube. She lay back in the couch and turned her attention to the television. Sue watched her for a little while and realized the change in the taller woman's mood. She suddenly felt uncomfortable with Mac. She cleared her throat. "So you threw a shoe at his head, huh?"
Mac smirked, "Yeah... Hormones."
"Do you want anything to drink?" Sue said looking for an out.
"No, but there's beer… oh… um sorry I forgot."
Sue smiled again. "I'll go see what the boys are up to."
"You do that." Mac hated that she couldn't be as free as Sueable to get her own drinks and go to friends houses if she felt like it. Who did she think she was rubbing her healthy pregnancy in her face like that? She frowned and stared at the ceiling.
"You know, a little warning would have been nice." Carl said handing Mac a bottle of water and sitting on the floor next to her head.
"I couldn't tell you." Mac said tracing the name on the water bottle. "I hadn't told Rod. He found out last night when I nearly miscarried."
"Mac… I am sorry." Carl said, "Sue is so excited over the baby… she figured you would be happy too since you were excited when Emma was born. She doesn't know what I know."
"I know Carl… And thank you for keeping it to yourself."
"She's going to ask me about it now though… and I'm going to tell her." Mac shot daggers at him. "She's my wife."
"Keep it to a minimum Carl… I don't want her pity."
"Nobody pities you, Mac. But I won't tell her everything," Carl told her just as Rod and Sue came back into the room.
"This should be a great episode." Rod s handed Carl a bowl of popcorn then lifted Mac's legs so that he cold sit under them. The four of them settled in and began to watch their show, but this time in an unusual silence.
