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When Rachel and Mandy got off of work at five, they walked the two blocks to Dr. Long's office. Rachel got to go back to a room immediately because she was the last patient of the day. She had Mandy go back with her. Dr. Long came in after a couple of minutes and began to do Rachel's sonogram. Rachel winced a little when the cold jelly hit her stomach. She had forgotten just how cold it was! "Okay," said Dr. Long as the picture came up on thescreen, "here is your uterus, and right here is your baby. It appears that you are about 3 ½ weeks along so you should be due around the end of February."
"Wow," Rachel uttered in shock. She couldn't believe that she was actually pregnant again, but there was her baby. Tears began to fill her eyes for what seemed like the hundredth time that day.
"I'll be back in just a minute," said Dr. Long as she walked out of the room.
"Are you okay?" Mandy asked as she went and put her arm around Rachel.
"Yeah, I'm fine," replied Rachel. "These are actually happy tears. I'm still totally scared to death, but how can you not be happy when you see your child for the first time!"
"So where exactly is the baby?" asked Mandy.
"Oh, it's right here," said Rachel. She was an expert at finding the baby now!
Dr. Long came back into the room and gave Rachel a prescription for pre-natal vitamins and some pamphlets about pregnancy. "I know these probably aren't necessary," Dr. Long said as she handed the pamphlets to Rachel, "but we give them to everyone. Also, I know this wasn't a planned pregnancy, and you seemed pretty shocked and upset on the phone this morning, but try to relax and not worry because given your age and the fact that your last pregnancy was especially difficult you're going to have to take it easy this time around. Remember, minimal stress and minimal activity. Try to relax as much as you possibly can and try to eliminate all stress from your life. I'll see you back here in a month."
"Okay, thank you Dr. Long," replied Rachel.
When Rachel and Mandy were in Rachel's car on their way home, Mandy asked Rachel, "So do you want me to keep the kids again tonight so you can tell Ross about the new baby?"
"No, that's fine sweetie," replied Rachel. "I'm not really sure when I'm going to tell Ross. I may wait a week or two."
"Well you're going to have to give him some reason for not having that surgery on Thursday," said Mandy. "He's going to want some explanation."
"I'll just tell him that I changed my mind," said Rachel. "I'll just tell him that I didn't want to be put to sleep and have surgery. He'll be fine with that because honestly I don't think he was completely sold on the idea to start with."
"Are you sure you shouldn't just tell him about the baby now and get it over with?" asked Mandy.
"No, he made it pretty clear when we talked a few weeks ago that he didn't want any more kids," answered Rachel. "I figure if I give my self a couple of weeks to get used to the idea and to maybe even get excited about it that he'll take the news much better. I mean how is he going to be excited about something that I've been crying about all day?"
"I thought you were happy about the baby now?" asked Mandy.
"Well, I'm not as upset about it as I was at first," started Rachel, "but I'm still not really sold on it. I mean when the baby gets here I will have four kids under the age of 7 and an almost 16 year old living at home. I just don't know how I'll be able to handle it. I can barely handle it all now!"
"You're going to be just fine. You'll just take the new baby to day care at work with Caleb and Bella. I mean, who'll even notice one more?" asked Mandy with a laugh.
"Yeah, I mean Ross probably wouldn't even notice if I brought an extra one home," said Rachel now laughing too.
"See, you're happier about this than you think you are," said Mandy. "You should just go ahead and tell Ross and get it over with. The stress of worrying about what he's going to say isn't good for you or the baby."
"You're probably right," said Rachel. "I mean, it would be really hard to keep something like this from him anyways. I'm almost a month along so the morning sickness should be coming soon. He's been through this with me three times, so he'd probably pick up on it pretty quickly anyways. If the offer is still good, I may let you watch the kids for a couple of hours tonight."
"Sure, no problem," said Mandy.
"Ross was bringing home Chinese for dinner, so you guys can eat that," said Rachel. "I'm going to make him take me out!"
When they got home, Ross already had the Chinese food out for the kids to eat. He was fixing to grab a plate for himself when Rachel stopped him. "Honey, why don't we leave the kids here with Mandy and go grab a bite to eat. We have something we need to talk about."
"Um, okay," said Ross. "I've been wanting to try that new Italian place that they just put in down the street. Is that okay?"
"Sure, that's fine," replied Rachel.
After they had gotten to the restaurant and ordered Rachel began to talk. "Okay, so the thing is that I don't think I'm going to be able to have surgery on Thursday."
"Why not?" asked Ross. Before Rachel could continue he added, "As long as you're not pregnant or sick whatever the reason is should be fine."
Rachel felt her heart drop. There was no way she could tell him now. He definitely didn't want this baby. What was she going to do?
"Sweetie, what is it?" asked Ross, breaking Rachel out of her trance.
"Oh, well, I just decided that I didn't want to be put to sleep and everything!" said Rachel nervously.
"Oh, well that's fine sweetie. I completely understand," said Ross sympathetically.
Rachel was very nervous and jumpy through the rest of the dinner. Ross asked her if she was okay a couple of times, but she just told him she was tired and had a headache. This wasn't completely untrue, she was really tired. When they got home Mandy greeted them at the door with a big grin on her face. Rachel gave her a look and shook her head signaling to Mandy not to say anything. When Ross went upstairs to check on the kids Mandy turned to Rachel, "Why didn't you tell him?"
"Well, when I started out telling him that I wasn't going to have the surgery he said that it was fine as long as I wasn't pregnant, so I chickened out," said Rachel.
"You do know that you have to tell him sometime," said Mandy.
"I know but just not tonight. I've had all I can take for one day," said Rachel.
"Oh, I had a question to ask you," said Mandy. "I was going to ask you earlier today, but then with the baby and everything it totally slipped my mind."
"Okay, what is it?" asked Rachel.
"I was wondering if I could have next Friday off of work and fly home for a long weekend?" asked Mandy.
"Sure, I don't see why not. Are you getting a little homesick?" said Rachel.
"Yeah," started Mandy, "I've really been missing my parents and friends a lot. I just thought it would be really fun to go and visit them for a while."
"I was actually planning on taking a half day next Friday too because Ross wants to go up to his parent's beach house next weekend," said Rachel. "I'm sorry you won't get to go with us."
"That's okay," said Mandy. "Aren't we going for a few days before school starts?"
"Yeah, I'm taking off of work the week before school starts," answered Rachel. "We're going to the beach for the first half of the week with Monica, Chandler, and the kids. Then I'm going to take the second half of the week to get school supplies for the kids and stuff. Ben is supposed to be back in time to go to the beach with us too."
"Okay, well that sounds good," said Mandy. "I definitely won't miss that one!"
"Well, I'm going to go do baths and get the kids ready for bed," said Rachel.
"Okay, just be sure not to overdo it," reminded Mandy.
"I won't. Don't worry!" answered Rachel.
"You don't worry either," said Mandy. "Everything is going to be just fine."
"I sure hope so," muttered Rachel. "I really hope so."
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