Chapter Summary: An emergency happens in Lea's family, but she is too pregnant to travel to Hershey.
AN: Here is the tenth chapter, and please review and provide me with feedback. I hope you all enjoy :)
Now that Lea was 36 weeks into her pregnancy, not only was her back aching a whole lot more, but the baby had finally dropped lower into her pelvis, which was giving her pressing pelvic pain; her heavy uterus was weighing her down. Instead of walking the way she normally did, she was waddling like a penguin for the past few weeks.
On the plus side, she could take breaths easier now that the upward pressure of her uterus on her diaphragm (according to what Shaun told her) was relieved. Her stomach wasn't squished anymore either. The nesting instinct had also officially kicked in - for both her and Shaun, but it was ironically mostly Shaun, the non-pregnant one, who did the most nesting.
But still, Lea was super uncomfortable as usual. The baby was constantly on the move, her stretchmark and linea nigra encased belly was itchy, her feet and ankles were sore and swollen, she had heartburn and indigestion, she was bloated and gassy, she was constipated, she had to pee every five minutes, and trying to fall asleep at night was such a royal pain in the pregnant ass.
She and Shaun had just finished packing the hospital bags last week - photo IDs, insurance info, birth plan, phone chargers, reading material, earbuds and headphones, a couple of pillows, bath towels, pairs of non-skid socks, slippers, one of Lea's bathrobes, changes of comfortable clothes for both Shaun and Lea, lip balm, hair ties and headbands, dry mouth drops, ibuprofen, light snacks, maternity bras, maternity/postpartum underwear, nursing pads, a nursing pillow, postpartum recovery essentials, and an adorable going home outfit for the baby.
There were also their toiletries, phones, Dr. Duckling, and the blanket Debbie made that needed to be packed, but they weren't going to put those in their bags until they were actually going to leave for the hospital since they still needed to use some of those things in their daily lives.
In addition to Lea almost being finished with her pregnancy, Shaun was also almost finished with the last year of his surgical residency…and he was working a late shift until midnight right now. So, he unfortunately couldn't join Lea at her doctor's appointment. It was 8:00 in the evening and Lea had just returned from that OB/GYN visit an hour ago, where she received her group B strep test, for which she would receive the results in several days.
She was dreading a positive result, and she definitely needed to stop reading too much about the possible infections she could contract that could kill or harm her baby, such as chorio and group B strep. Most of all, she should probably stop reading horror stories on baby blogs and parenting forums where the end result was fatal for the baby.
In order to distract herself from the horrors of infection and pretty much anything else that could still go wrong, Lea plopped herself into the cushioned ivory rocking chair in the baby's nursery, which was her old roomie bedroom, and just admire the beauty and comeliness of it while she held Dr. Duckling in her hands.
The nursery was gorgeous and simple; not overdone to the max at a point where it would probably give Shaun a headache. There wasn't some sort of theme either.
The walls were re-painted a slightly dark greenish-bluish color. Displayed on one of the wall shelves was the framed first sonogram of Eleanor as well as the garden stone that memorialized her. Those were going to be the only two pieces of her big sister that this baby was going to have.
The crib was perfectly safe for the baby. There were no bumpers, mobiles, or any extra accessories attached to it. It contained no stuffed animals, blankets, or pillows. The only things that were in that crib were an organic firm mattress and a solid yellow fitted crib sheet over it. The crib was also convertible, which meant that it could last at least 18 years.
The shelf that contained the baby monitor and a few bins plus the dresser that doubled as a changing table were bolted to the wall. On top of the dresser was a changing pad that was pinned to the surface. Right next to it was a diaper caddy that contained a few cloth diapers and wipes as well as a few diapering essentials.
Also in the nursery was a laundry hamper and a diaper pail.
As Lea surveyed the beauty of the nursery and traced her fingers over Dr. Duckling's head and beak, she then felt her daughter make some sharp movement inside her. "Seriously, peanut," she sighed, clutching her belly. "I appreciate you reassuring Mommy that you're still alive, but can you give it a rest for like one second? You're already squishing my bladder with your head, making me pee every five minutes."
Lea paused for a minute and then realized that her words sounded a bit mean.
"I'm sorry, sweetie. I didn't mean it. Well, I didn't mean most of it. Mommy is just a bit uncomfortable and scared right now," she sighed apologetically. "I can't wait to finally meet you. Your daddy is excited, too. But we're also nervous and terrified, too. We don't want what happened to your sis…"
She cut herself off when she reminded herself that she needed some distraction from her anxiety over losing another baby, so she concluded her little pep talk with her unborn child.
"Mommy needs her self-soothing time, and I won't be playing any classical music for you right now. This music is for me, and I hope it's not too loud for you. Mommy used to irritate your daddy and our old neighbors and landlord with her loud music at our old apartment. That old apartment is actually where Mommy and Daddy met."
Lea grabbed her phone from the nearby shelf, picked a song, rested her phone on her belly, and then tried to soothe herself to sleep in the rocking chair to a Decembrists song.
Just as she was almost asleep in a peaceful dreamland, she was then interrupted by the loud interruption of the shrill of her phone ringing.
"Jesus Christ, who would be calling me at this time?" She groaned before checking the caller ID and seeing that it was her mother. This better be important, she thought in annoyance as she pressed the answer button and put it on speaker.
"Hello?" Lea mumbled, wanting to hurry up whatever conversation about the baby her mother wanted to have at 11:00 pm (the current time on the East Coast, in which she should probably be getting ready for bed at this time or at least have already taken her medication).
"Lea," Pam greeted in a not so enthusiastic way. Instead, she sounded serious. It was the same tone of voice she had when she called to inform her about the death of Grandma Eleanor...and also the death of Grandpa Rod.
Then, Lea's mood and facial expression shifted from pissed and annoyed to concern and worry.
"Mom, what's going on? Is Dad okay?" Lea faltered, nervously clutching Dr. Duckling.
"Your father is fine, it's not about him. It's about Donnie. He's in the hospital," sighed Pam, sounding like she was about to cry.
"What? Oh, my god! What happened?" Lea exclaimed loudly, not even getting up from the rocking chair. "Is he okay? Is he relapsing? Please don't tell me he was drinking and driving!"
"No, he wasn't," said Pam hesitatingly. "But, yes. We're afraid it was a relapse because the doctor confirmed that it is alcohol poisoning. His boyfriend found him passed out and severely drunk in the middle of the living room, almost choking on his own vomit."
"Is he going to be okay?" Lea pondered in a panic as she agitatedly rocked back and forth in the glider; tears stinging in her eyes.
"The doctors say he's going to be fine," replied Pam. "But he is going to need to be monitored for a month, and maybe a very long time."
"Okay, I'll come as soon as I can," decided Lea without even thinking as she started to struggle to pull herself out of the rocking chair. "I'll start packing right now!"
"Wha-! What do you mean 'packing'? Because, no, you are not!" Pam scolded her daughter. "I don't want you coming here!"
"Why not!" Lea yelled as she angrily marched into her and Shaun's bedroom to start packing her suitcase and dig for clothes to shove into them. "You think I can't handle the sight of my brother in the hospital? Does Donnie still hate me? I'm still not the favorite child, am I?"
"Honey! It's nothing personal and for the record, I love both you and Donnie equally! The point is, you're not even being rational right now!" Pam argued back. "The reason why I don't want you coming is because you're 36 weeks pregnant!"
"I'm not due for four weeks. I'll be fine," fumed Lea. "Also, Shaun can come with me. He's delivered babies before, and he knows how to perform a c-section, so he can help…"
"Lea Abigail Dilallo!" Pam cut her off and raised her voice, speaking in the exact same tone she used as a kid and teenager whenever she was in big trouble. "Are you insane? You are still full term and that baby is pretty much fully baked! Also, you have gestational diabetes and um…whatever that term is for severe morning sickness."
"Hyperemesis gravidarum," Lea rolled her eyes.
"That," sighed Pam, her voice lowering a little bit. "Anyway, you're not even supposed to be flying in your third trimester. And road trip or by air, I don't want you traveling to the other side of the country when you're nine months pregnant. I don't want you going into labor in the sky or in the middle of nowhere miles away from the nearest hospital. If that happens, what if there are complications during the birth and there is no cell reception to call an ambulance? If you're high in the sky and a complication happens, do you really think they're going to have all the necessary equipment on board, especially a knife to cut you open if you need a c-section? Just having Shaun accompany you is not going to be enough. I don't want anything to happen to you or my grandchild. Do you want to lose another baby?"
The hurtful final sentence that blurted out of her mother's mouth at the end of her lecture was enough to upset Lea down to the bone and make her hang up without saying goodbye.
After hanging up, she put herself down on the couch and cried.
"Bitch," she muttered under her breath.
Shaun came home exhausted at 12:30 to find Lea sobbing on the couch in a fetal position; sitting on her knees.
After putting his jacket, backpack, and keys on their designated hooks, he sat down next to her to comfort her and ask her why she was so upset.
"What's wrong, Lea?" Shaun asked, wrapping his arm around his wife.
"Donnie, he's…he's…" Lea's voice broke, stammering as she rested her hands on her protuberant belly.
"He's what?" Shaun questioned, hoping that Lea wasn't about to inform him that her brother had been arrested for another DUI…or worse, was killed in an incident under the influence of alcohol. He actually thought Donnie was doing better with his alcoholism, but then realized just now that it was too soon for him to be totally clean or even better than ever.
"My mom just called," exhaled Lea, staring at the floor between the couch and the coffee table. "He's gone into relapse. Apparently, his boyfriend found him passed out in the middle of the living room. It was alcohol poisoning. He's in the hospital and he's going to be fine, but…"
Lea didn't finish her sentence. Instead, she broke down crying into her husband's warm embrace.
Shaun just didn't know what to say, so he just gave Lea the comfort she needed.
"We need to start packing now because we're leaving first thing tomorrow. We're going to be driving, and Dr. Glassman is coming with us," mumbled Lea.
When Shaun heard exactly what Lea said, he immediately broke away from her in a matter of shock and surprise, jumping off the couch and standing straight up. "Wait, what? No, we're not! We can't go! The baby is almost here!"
"Oh, my god! You, too? She won't be coming for another four weeks!" Lea caterwauled, slamming her fist on the arm of the couch. "She might not even be coming for another six weeks if she decides to come after her due date!"
Shaun jumped a bit at the sight of his wife slamming her fist hard, but continued to argue with her and try to talk some sense into her.
"You are way too close to your due date, and she could still come! You could go into labor and we could be in the middle of nowhere with terrible cellphone reception, miles away from the nearest hospital. What if you end up needing an emergency c-section? I don't want you giving birth to our daughter on the side of the road without adequate medical attention! You have hyperemesis gravidarum and gestational diabetes, both of which are factors that can contribute to a baby coming before their assigned due date and also complications!"
"Shaun, you are such a hypocrite!" Lea accused with a raised voice, waving her hands around angrily. "When we went camping and you broke your foot, you insisted that I - someone who has no medical degree or a license to practice medicine - perform surgery on your ankle in the middle of the woods!"
Shaun didn't respond to that because he knew Lea was sort of right about his hypocrisy, but it still wasn't going to change his mind about taking his very pregnant wife on a 2,879 mile road trip through 10 states - California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania - for 41 hours (which would take probably up to three or four days). There was no way in hell he was ever going to do that.
"If you ever need to perform an emergency c-section on me in the middle of nowhere," continued Lea, sighing deeply as she stared away from Shaun and towards the coffee table. "That is why I want Glassy to come along on the trip…because if that happens, I'll have two experienced surgeons to help me. We'll pack whatever equipment we might need for birth. The car seat is also already installed, so we'll have something to safely take her to the hospital and also take her home in. Also, we should probably have one more trip before the baby."
"Pennsylvania is all the way on the other side of the continent. It's too far away and even with two doctors with you, it's still a bad idea," reminded Shaun, trying to remain calm. "So many things can go wrong, and it isn't just the baby coming early. Let's say that all of our phones died or there is terrible cell phone reception. Then, the striped tomato runs out of gas before we make it to the nearest hospital. The baby could get stuck, she could go into distress, preeclampsia could develop, and the labor could actually be so rapid that we don't have time to make it to the hospital. Worse, what if the baby is hypoxic or her airway is blocked with meconium or something? Not even bringing the nasal aspirator on the trip is going to make me feel better because it won't be adequate enough for suctioning a blocked airway. And it's not just the baby, because if you do need a c-section, we won't have anything to put you under with or even block the pain…" Shaun went on and on about every single worst-case scenario. "Isn't this one of the reasons why you said you would never want to give birth at home?"
"My mom said the exact same thing! She doesn't want me coming to Hershey either!" Lea folded her arms in pique as she and Shaun continued their fight. "She doesn't think having you with me would be enough!"
"Your mom is right!" Shaun scolded in a serious voice with a straight face, putting his foot down and angering Lea that he almost sounded like her father reprimanding her as a teenager after siding with her mother. "We're not going to Hershey, we're staying in San Jose. You could still go into labor at this moment, which is why we needed to have everything packed for the hospital by the 36th week of your pregnancy, which is where you are right now. I need you not to die. Pregnancy and childbirth is unpredictable. If something ever happened to you or her…" Shaun's voice was breaking, and Lea could see the tears that were struggling to claw their way out. "I would feel better if you gave birth in a hospital or a birthing center surrounded by nurses, doctors, and certified nurse-midwives. I would also feel better if you stay in San Jose and not travel for the remainder of the pregnancy, and the idea of you traveling right now makes me nervous. I don't want to lose you, and I don't want to lose another baby."
Lea didn't even bite back. Instead, she avoided eye contact when he finished talking, and him mentioning the loss of Eleanor was just enough to make her want to terminate their argument.
"We should both just go to bed now," sighed Shaun in vexation, reaching his hand out towards his wife to help her off the couch, but instead of grabbing his hand, she just sat there.
"Forget about it, Shaun," she grumbled. "I'm sleeping on the couch tonight. Goodnight!"
"You need the bed more than I do," cautioned Shaun with apprehensive hesitation, not thinking that it was fair for him to have the bed while his pregnant wife has the couch.
"I said goodnight!" Lea blew a fuse for the final time, grabbing the sofa blanket and pillow and then settling into the couch. "Just forget about it and go to bed!"
In frustration and possible regret over the words he said to his wife, Shaun marched over to their bedroom and shut the door behind him, falling asleep alone in the full-sized bed.
The next morning, Shaun walked out of the bedroom to see Lea cutting slices of Granny Smith apples.
"Lea," he said to her immediately as he walked over to sit down at the breakfast table. "I'm sorry about what I said, but we really can't…"
"No, Shaunie," sighed Lea, rubbing her forehead. "I'm the one who should be apologizing, not you. You did absolutely nothing wrong, I'm the one who is actually at fault here. My mom is right and so are you, I'm way too pregnant to travel right now. Also, I really don't want to travel while 36 weeks pregnant anyway."
"But this isn't really about a road trip, is it?" Shaun guessed. "It's about Donnie."
"Yes, it is," sniffed Lea as she left the kitchen to take a seat on the couch; Shaun following her lead. "I actually thought that things were going right for him for once since our fight in Hershey. It is all my fault!"
"God, damn it! Lea, you are such a screw-up at everything!" Donnie yelled at Lea venomously. "Why did I even trust you to come help me save Grandpa Rod's shop? All you did was just make it worse!"
"I'm sorry," said Lea meekly. "I just thought that…"
"No, you didn't!" Donnie chastised loudly, pointing a finger at her while pinching his nose in frustration. "You never think anything through…like ever! There already wasn't enough money to help keep it running. You and I are both still feeding our wallets to Sallie Mae…and your solution to saving the shop was buying more and more crap for the past couple months! You and I are both close to being broke and we may both end up having to move back in with Mom and Dad! You basically ran through your entire bank account…and mine, too! I can't believe I trusted you!"
Lea couldn't think of a counterargument to her brother's hurtful rant because she knew he was kind of right about this whole thing. All she could do was just hug herself tightly in defense.
"You should have at least given me a heads up before you quit your job in San Jose and then just came back here naively thinking that you could easily take over the shop with me!" He scolded. "Actually, it's probably just you that will be moving back in with Mom and Dad while I'll be staying with Eric!"
"You don't need to rub your 'I have a stable boyfriend and you don't' attitude in my face!" Lea scowled, wanting to yell back and say that she did have a friend back in San Jose that she could stay with until she got her life back on track.
"Oh, please!" Donnie scoffed. "You can't even keep a boyfriend since you and Travis got divorced, which was actually probably the only responsible decision you ever made in your entire life! I told you it was a mistake! And now look at you! You have nowhere to go! You are such a failure!"
Lea felt a waterfall of tears about to come out of her eyes, so she stormed off to her old childhood bedroom, throwing herself onto the bed to cry loudly.
That ugly fight was the last conversation Lea ever had with her brother before she cried to her parents the next morning. Nevertheless, her parents sided with Donnie and told her that she needed to get her shit together and figured out. Lea then decided to return to San Jose and seek Shaun's support, and before she left, the last words Lea ever said to her brother before she left Hershey was to go fuck himself.
Now, she was regretting her words big time because eventually when COVID came along, Eric left Donnie and then he lost his job and got evicted. Even after getting a new job, he became an alcoholic and got arrested for a few DUIs. Meanwhile, Lea had a stable career, married a surgeon, and was now having a baby.
Compared to Donnie, her life was almost perfect right now.
"It wasn't your fault, Lea," comforted Shaun, wrapping his arms around his wife as she cried into his arms; her very pregnant belly pressed in between them. Then, he had a suggestion that might make her feel better. "Maybe we could video chat with your parents and see if you can talk to Donnie virtually?"
"We could do that," sniffed Lea, hugging her husband tightly.
Unfortunately, when Lea and Shaun did contact Pam and Mike virtually via Zoom, they told them that Donnie did not want to speak to Lea right now.
On the bright side, she received her results for her group B strep test two days later - and the results were negative.
AN: Things are not going well for Lea's brother. However, Lea and Donnie will finally speak to each other face to face in the next chapter…but it won't be pretty at first. I hope you all stick around because things are going to start getting intense!