I'm sorry, my writing mojo took a vacation. At first I thought it was just because I've been reading a lot lately, then I found out at the end of January that I'm pregnant! So yeah, I promise I'm really trying not to neglect my writing, but pregnancy brain is real and I struggle a lot with concentration when I'm pregnant. This is going to be a short chapter. But I promise I'm busy writing like crazy now that my muse is back. :)
Chapter 16
Amy was practically bouncing in her seat, waiting for Lexi to get home from school. When she finally heard the handle on the front door jiggle she jumped up and clasped her hands together. Lexi walked in and set her backpack down, as she carefully looked around the room. There were pink and blue balloons spread all over the floor, streamers strung from the light to the doorways and dangling down in places. Then Lexi finally fixed on the sign that Ranger had made.
"I'm going to be a big sister…" Lexi slowly read out loud. When it registered what she'd read and repeated out loud she looked to her mom. "Really?! I am?!"
Amy was holding back tears as she nodded, "Yeah baby, you are!"
Ranger put an arm around Amy, "Would you like to see a picture?" He asked Lexi.
"Uh hu!" Lexi bounced over to Amy and Ranger, throwing her arms wide around both their waists.
"Here girly," Ranger handed her the ultrasound picture that had all three babies in one frame.
Lexi held it and carefully examined in for at least a minute before she shot a confused look at her mom.
Amy chuckled but Ranger explained before she could find her voice. "There are three babies," he pointed them out counting as he went. "So you'll have three little brothers and/or sisters."
"I want little sisters! Can you make them be girls?"
Ranger laughed, "That's not quite how it works." Ranger patted Lexi's shoulder. "We don't know yet what they are, but we have no way to pick that. You'll just have to wait and see what we're having when they're born."
"Lex," Amy squeezed her shoulder, "Do you think you can keep this a secret until after Thanksgiving? We want to try to keep this news a secret for just a little while."
Lexi shrugged, "I guess I can. But can I tell Emma?!"
"No baby I'm sorry. Not quite yet." Amy felt bad as she watched Lexi's face go from an ear-to-ear smile then quickly transform to a frown. "We know your excited about the babies, but we want to make the announcement special for everyone. So we're going to send out Christmas cards telling everyone, okay?"
"Okay." Lexi stood up, "Can't you find out what they are before they're born, like Emma's mom?"
"Well honey, we could. But Carlos and I talked about it and we thought it might be fun surprise if we wait until they're born."
"But how will you know what clothes to buy?"
Ranger answered. "Maybe we'll have a big party, kind of like a baby shower, after the babies are born. We haven't really talked about that yet."
Lexi nodded. "Can I stay at Emma's tonight?"
"Sure sweetie, or she can stay here. We can rent a movie and make Carlos go get us some Chinese food for dinner."
Lexi turned her head to the side and pursed her lips before finally answering, "Noooo, Emma has a crayon maker and we're going to break up her old crayons to make new ones with lots of different colors!"
Amy chuckled and smiled, "Okay. I'll call Emma's mom in a."
Half an hour later Amy and Ranger had dropped Lexi off at Emma's and were headed to pick up their Chinese takeout.
"If you keep having these kinds of pregnancy cravings, I'm going to need to spend more time in the gym." Ranger teased as they drove away from Barb's house.
"You've been running at least seven or eight miles every morning, I know it was ten this morning."
"How do you know how many miles I run?" Ranger said teasingly as he looked at her out of the corner of his eyes for a second then looked back to the road.
"I look at your watch while you're in the shower." Amy admitted without hesitation.
"Snooping while I'm in the shower huh?" Ranger teased.
"It just gives me something to help get my mind off the fact that I want to hurl." Amy admitted.
"Fair enough." Ranger smiled. "You seem like you've been doing okay at work this week."
Amy nodded. "I've been avoiding the break room. There's usually too many strange smells in there."
"The RSVP's have started coming in from my family for the wedding. Have you heard from your dad and stepmom or your brother?"
"Yeah," Amy nodded. "Dad and Carrie are super excited and said they wouldn't miss it, I think most of the kids are coming with them. When I talked to dad I told him that he and Carrie and the kids can have the apartment above the garage. Jackson and his wife will be coming for sure, but he said they wouldn't impose on us and insisted on staying at a hotel. I told him we would leave a bedroom open for them just in case."
Ranger nodded, his eyes never leaving the road. "My parents don't want to stay at our place either, Elisa and her husband and kids always stay at my parents house when they come home so they'll be staying there."
"Has anyone seemed suspicious about the dinner?"
"No," Ranger shook his head "So far no one has said anything or asked anything. We already told everyone that the wedding wouldn't be until next summer so I'm pretty sure we'll have them all completely surprised the day of." Ranger pulled up to their favorite Chinese takeout. "I'll run in, you wait here."
Five minutes later Ranger was back and Amy had the takeout bag on the floor between her feet. "When do we need to get our marriage license?"
"I've got the paperwork in the office at home. We need to fill it out and take it in to sign it in front of the registrar so they can notarize it then it'll take about a week or two to get the official license that we'll sign that day. We have a couple more weeks before we need to get that done."
Amy nodded, "When do we need the final count for the caterer?"
"We've got a couple more weeks for that as well." Ranger reached across the center console and took Amy's hand firmly in his. "I promise we are on top of everything."
Amy laughed, "You mean you're on top of everything?" She smiled at Ranger as he tossed her a quick glance before looking back to the road. "So far all I've done is given you RSVP's from my family, picked the food and desserts I want, and helped make decisions about the house. You arranged all of the actual details of the wedding and are in charge of the whole house remodel."
"You took care of your dress, and Lexi's dress. You also picked the flowers." Ranger squeezed her hand reassuringly. "You've done more than you think you have. Plus the house is for us, for our family, of course I want your input and your choices and tastes to be reflected in our home."
They rode the rest of the way home in a comfortable silence. Their evening was quiet, enjoying their Chinese take out and Ranger indulging Amy by watching her favorite movie Dirty Dancing.
Another week passed by with no major changes. Amy continued dealing with morning sickness and decided to switch from her usual morning workouts to doing a lighter routine at the Rangeman gym before lunch. Ranger gave Bobby a monetary incentive to get a few more guys working on the house to make sure it would all be done in time for the wedding. Bobby promised it would all be completely finished and ready for them to move in to two weekends before the wedding.
Monday came and as soon as Lexi got home from school she raced to her room.
"Lex!" Amy yelled after her, "Why the rush?"
"Mooooom, did you forget what today is?!" Lexi yelled as she continued up the stairs.
Amy followed, at a much slower pace, and walked into Lexi's room as she was stripping out of her school clothes. "What is today Lex?"
"Ughhhh!" Lexi groaned, "It's Halloween! Tonight is trick or treat night!"
"Okay, I did remember that sweetie. But you know it's only a little before four, right? Trick or treat doesn't start until five-thirty." Amy was leaning in the doorway smiling as Lexi started pulling on her Rapunzel costume.
"Lex, it's a little chilly so you'll want to put a sweatshirt and some leggings on under your dress." Amy watched as Lexi started pulling out warmer clothes. "But you really don't need to get dressed now. You'll just end up sitting around in your costume until it's time to go." She knew that Lexi was just really excited about putting on her costume again, but the poor girl was going to sweat to death before they even left the house.
"But you have to help me paint my nails, and you said that you would help put the wig on." Lexi lamented as she pulled her sweatshirt on over her long-sleeve shirt. "Is Carlos going to go trick or treating with us?"
"Yeah baby, he said he'd be home by five."
Lexi gave Amy a worried look, "Are you sure he'll be home?"
"If Carlos said that he'd be here, he'll be here. Do you want a snack before you get everything on?"
"No thanks mom." Lexi said as she started pulling her dress on.
"I'll be downstairs then sweetie." Amy smiled as she started back down to the living room. She picked her phone up off the side table by the couch and instantly sent a text to Carlos.
A: Lex is freaking out about being ready to go trick or treating on time, when
will you be home?
Ranger replied a few minutes later.
R: I'm leaving in fifteen minutes. Is there a problem?
A: No, she's just turned into a diva today.
R: I think I'm going to be late then.
A: NO! You need to come home, the sooner the better. She's worried you
won't be home in time to go with us.
R: I'll be home in about half an hour.
A: Thank God! Love you!
R: Love you
Ranger walked in the door from the garage about thirty-five minutes later. Amy was sitting on the couch with Lexi standing in front of her getting her wig pinned on.
"Hey there Lexi-girl! Oh, I mean Rapunzel!" Ranger corrected as he walked into the living room.
"Carlos!" She gave him a huge ear-to-ear smile. "I'm almost ready to go trick or treating!"
"That's great! But you know that we still have almost an hour before it's time to go, right?"
Lexi's eyes dropped to the floor and her cheeks flushed a little, "I know. But I'm excited to go."
Amy looked at Carlos, who had sat down on the chair closest to the couch, and tipped her head to the side a little as she watched him smiling as he talked to her. Somehow she had found this amazing man to not only be with her for the rest of her life but to stand in and choose to be an amazing father to her daughter.
"Mom," Lexi said and snapped Amy out of her trance.
"I'm sorry baby, what did you say?"
"Can you let go of my wig? Carlos is going to make me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich before we go trick or treating."
Amy immediately released her hold on Lexi's long braided Rapunzel wig, "Sorry Lex, yeah a sandwich would be good before you eat a lot of candy. Let's go." Amy got up and followed Carlos and Lexi to the kitchen.
Lexi had a fantastic time trick or treating, and brought home a huge bag full of candy and treats. She tried her best to get Amy and Carlos to let her eat more than just a few pieces of candy. After she went to bed Amy had to spend a lot of time talking Carlos out of throwing the whole bag of candy away.
Wednesday morning, November second, Amy woke up much the same as usual. But after her morning sickness had passed the stomach cramps started. By the time Carlos got back from his morning run he was surprised to find Amy still sitting on the bathroom floor a little after seven.
"Hey sweetie," Carlos leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "Bad morning?"
Amy lifted her head and Carlos dropped to his knees in front of her when he saw her tear-filled eyes, "I think…" she threw herself into his chest and started sobbing.
"Amy, what's going on? Talk to me. Are you bleeding?"
"I don't know. I started cramping and it hurts. I'm afraid to check."
Carlos hugged her to him a little tighter for a few moments before grabbing her shoulders and holding her away from him, "I'm going to jump in the shower really quick, you check to see if your bleeding and we'll go from there, okay?"
Amy nodded and let Carlos help her stand up. She waited until Carlos was in the shower before finally mustering the courage to check her panties. There was blood.
"Carlos!" She stood back up in nothing but her panties and sleep tank and froze in place.
"Are you bleeding?" He yelled from the shower.
"Yes!" Amy started to cry again.
"Okay baby, go to the closet and get yourself some clean panties and some comfortable clothes. I'll be done in thirty seconds."
"I can't."
"Why can't you?"
"I can't move. I'm scared."
There was a pause, "Baby I know your scared, just hang in there. I'm almost done."
Less than fifteen seconds later the shower turned off and Carlos stepped out and quickly toweled off and walked into the closet naked.
"Mom!" Amy panicked when she heard Lexi in their bedroom.
"Hey Lex, are you dressed for school?"
"Yeah, are you guys going to come down for breakfast?" Lexi stood just outside the bathroom doorway. "Mom, are you okay?"
"Uh, yeah Lexi. Just go downstairs, Carlos will be down to get your breakfast okay?" Amy tried her best to put on a half smile.
Just as Lexi left their bedroom Carlos stepped out of the closet. "I called Tank, he's going to come over to take Lexi to school. Here," he handed her a pair of black panties. "I'm going to set these leggings and a shirt on the counter. Get changed and dressed, and I'll run down and get Lexi some breakfast." He kissed her on the forehead then lowered a little so he was looking into her eyes. "It could be anything. Don't panic yet. We'll go in and get you checked out, okay?"
Amy nodded, "Our boys," she put her hands on still mostly flat stomach.
Ranger put his hand over hers, "We don't know anything yet. Just try to stay calm. I'll be back up in a little bit to check on you, okay?"
Amy nodded again. She moved, because she knew Carlos wouldn't leave until she did. After cleaning herself up and putting a pad in her underwear she got dressed and pulled her long hair up into a very messy top knot. A quick glance in the mirror showed that she looked terrible, but she was beyond caring. She slowly walked down the stairs to join Carlos and Lexi in the kitchen. He'd already made her a couple pieces of plain buttered toast.
"Tank should be here in five minutes." Carlos said as he grabbed a couple of bottles of water out of the fridge.
"Why is Tank taking me to school?" Lexi asked.
Amy shot a quick glance to Carlos to see him shake his head once, indicating he hadn't said anything, before turning to Lexi. "We just have an appointment to go to and we won't make it on time if we take you to school so Tank is helping us out. Is that okay?"
Lexi nodded, "I like Tank, he's funny."
Amy gave her daughter as much of a smile as she could, "He is funny." She went back to her toast and tried to eat but only ate about half a slice.
There was a knock on the front door a few minutes later. Lexi happily went on her way with Tank. As soon as she was gone Carlos and Amy headed to the garage.
"Can you call the OB's office? They have someone on-call 24/7 don't they?" Carlos asked as he backed out of the driveway.
"Yes," Amy said as she pulled out her phone.
"Are you okay calling or would you rather I did it?"
"I think I can do it." She dialed the office and after pressing the right number she was connected with a nurse. "This is Amy Kendrick, I'm almost ten weeks pregnant with triplets and having some cramping and bleeding. What do we need to do?"
Carlos sat and listened to Amy talking on the phone, she was trying so hard not to break down and cry. After a few minutes, that seemed a lot longer, Amy ended the call.
"So?" He asked.
"Go to the hospital. Dr. Sayre is on-call there right now and the nurse is going to let her know we're on our way in. She said she couldn't diagnose anything over the phone without seeing me but that Dr. Sayre will be waiting for us at the ER entrance to take us up to maternity triage."
Carlos nodded. The twenty-five minute drive seemed to take longer, both of them putting off enough nervous energy to fuel the car. Every few minutes Carlos would squeeze Amy's hand reassuringly, while her other hand never left her stomach. At every stop light Carlos would look over at Amy as he pulled their hands to his mouth and kissed the back of hers. They both let out a long breath when he finally parked in the emergency parking lot of the hospital.
Just as the nurse had said, Dr. Sayre was waiting just inside the doors for them and rushed them through admitting and up to maternity. A triage room was ready and waiting for them with an ultrasound machine already set up.
"Okay guys, Amy strip down completely and put on the gown that's on the bed. We'll do a pelvic exam and an ultrasound."
"I had to put a pad on…"
Dr. Sayre nodded, "There's a bed pad for you to sit on, just sit at the end of the bed. We've got you covered." She backed toward the door, "I'll be right outside the door so just holler when you're ready, okay?"
"Okay," Amy said quietly. She stripped down as quickly as she could and sat on the bed.
"We're good," Ranger called out.
Dr. Sayre rushed in and sat on the stool on the side of the bed with the ultrasound machine. "Dad, you okay staying for a pelvic exam?"
Carlos nodded, "I'm good."
Amy shot him an appreciative look before turning back to the doctor.
"Okay Amy, just lay all the way back. There you go," Dr. Sayre gave her instructions to bring her knees up to her bum while she put on a pair of gloves. "This is going to be really quick, I just need to see if your cervix is open or not." After doing a quick visual check Dr. Sayre told her to put her feet back down. "Okay, your cervix does seem to be dilated a centimeter or two. So I'm going to do an ultrasound and check on the babies. So put this blanket over your legs and we'll pull up the gown, okay?"
Amy nodded and did as instructed. She and Carlos watched the screen carefully while Dr. Sayre started the ultrasound. They both saw Baby A and Baby B right away but waited while Dr. Sayre did some looking around and measuring.
"Okay mom and dad, here is Baby A. It's measuring at about 9 weeks and 6 days, so a little big and here, is the heartbeat." The room filled with that amazing thudding sound and Amy smiled as the tears fell and she let out the breath she'd been holding. "Heart rate is 154, which is great."
"So he's okay?" Amy asked.
Dr. Sayre nodded. "Yes, Baby A looks to be doing great. Now on to Baby B, he's measuring at 9 weeks and 3 days, which is perfect. The heart rate for him is 166, which is also great. Let's take a listen." Ranger let out a long breath and squeezed Amy's hand as they listened to their baby's heartbeat.
"Now, where is Baby C?" Dr. Sayre moved the probe around and Amy noticed her eyebrows were kind of furrowed. "I'm really sorry to say, it looks like you've miscarried Baby C. Now, before you panic, the other two babies look fantastic and have strong heartbeats so try to stay calm. If I remember right, Baby C was a little smaller than the other two, correct?"
Amy nodded while Ranger answered, "Yes, he was."
"It's hard saying what happened, there could be any number of reasons for one baby to miscarry and not the others but it's actually a bit more common than people think with multiples. He could have just not implanted well, or there could have been some genetic or chromosomal abnormality that caused problems. We'll never know for sure. But you still have two very healthy-looking babies in there so try not to worry."
Ranger handed Amy a tissue as Dr. Sayre cleaned the ultrasound gel off of Amy's stomach.
"Before you ask Carlos, Amy I want you to go home and get in bed. Try to rest and relax. I want you on bed rest, just for now until the bleeding stops and we can make sure A and B are staying healthy. No sex or vaginal penetration, so only use pads, no tampons. A little off topic, do you have any nicknames for the babies yet? Saying Baby A and Baby B is kind of generic, some parents like to have funny nicknames."
Amy found herself giving a short laugh through her tears. "We haven't talked about names much yet."
"Calvin and Hobbes?" Ranger asked Amy.
Dr. Sayre laughed, "That's a good one!"
Amy couldn't help but laugh too, "Sure honey, if that's what you want to call them."
"Back to your instructions, you're scheduled to come in Friday morning, right?"
"Yes," Amy confirmed.
"Okay, so I'll see you for your scheduled appointment Friday and we'll do another ultrasound then to check on Calvin and Hobbes. If your cramping worsens, your bleeding gets heavier or you have any gushes of blood or fluid call the office number again. We always have a nurse on-call to answer the line and tell you what you need to do. Drink plenty of fluids. It didn't look to me like your bleeding really heavily, how long did you have the pad on before you got here?"
"Maybe forty-five minutes." Amy replied.
Dr. Sayre nodded as she typed away in her computer putting the information into Amy's file. "I'll give you some printed out instructions and guidelines with your discharge paperwork in case you forget anything." She closed her laptop and looked between Carlos and Amy. "Any questions?"
"Not that I can think of." Amy said.
"Dad?"
Carlos shook his head, "I think we're okay."
"Okay," Dr. Sayre stood up, "Take your time getting dressed. There are pad in one of the drawers in the bathroom Amy. Come out to the desk and we'll have you sign the paperwork so you can get out of here."
One Dr. Sayre had left and closed the door Amy put both hands over her face and just cried.
"Hey," Carlos whispered as he pulled one of her hands into his. "Sweetie, it's going to be okay. We still have two babies, and they are doing great. So we'll go home and I'll snuggle in bed with you. You've got me to wait on you for the foreseeable future."
Amy nodded. "I feel bad, well, I don't really know how to feel right now. I'm upset that we lost one baby, but I'm also happy that we have two babies who are doing well."
Carlos stood up and pulled both of Amy's hands to help her sit up. "I know honey, I hate that we lost a baby. It makes those other two little ones that much more amazing." He leaned down to kiss her forehead. "Do you want help getting dressed?"
"No, I think I can manage." Amy answered as she finally stood up and went into the bathroom.
She emerged a few minutes later and they walked out to the nurses desk to sign their paperwork and head back home. Dr. Sayre was waiting for them.
"Last chance, any questions?"
"No," Amy smiled, she appreciated that Dr. Sayre was great at dealing with difficult situations. "I think we'll be okay."
"You'll be fine. I'll see you guys Friday."
Amy waved and followed Carlos out to the elevator.
"Well," she said as the stepped into the elevator, "You've got your wish now."
"What wish is that?"
"I'm on bedrest and under strict instructions to do nothing. Have you hired a nurse yet?" Amy teased.
"Nope, you're stuck with me." Carlos winked at her.
"You can't stay home with me, what will you tell everyone at work?"
"That I'm the boss?" Carlos quipped. "Do you still have your appendix?"
"Your terrible," Amy teased as the elevator arrived on the first floor and they walked out. "Your going to tell everyone I had to have my appendix out, aren't you?"
"Maybe. Unless you can think of a better reason for you to have to miss work for a couple weeks and for me to take care of you and work from home."
"Tell everyone whatever you want, just make sure you let me know what I supposedly have so I know what to tell people." Amy sighed then let out a big yawn.
"Tired?" Carlos asked just as they got to the car.
"Very, it's been a bit of an emotionally trying morning. Being pregnant isn't helping." Amy got in the car, as soon as she had her seatbelt on she adjusted her seat to recline a bit and closed her eyes. She'd only intended to rest a bit but she actually had fallen asleep on the drive home. Carlos took full advantage and carried her into the house and upstairs to bed. Amy let him take off her shoes and literally tuck her in.
"Do you need anything?" Carlos asked.
"No, I'm just going to go back to sleep." Amy yawned.
"Good, rest. I'll be down in the office, so just text me if you need anything. Your phone is on the nightstand." He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss before straightening.
Amy nodded and was already half asleep by the time he left the room.
