Wow, does it ever feel great to be writing again! Yay! Thanks to everyone for sticking it out while I was on an unexpected hiatus. I hope your all enjoying the story!
Update-Baby #5 made her appearance two months ago and is doing great! I really struggled to keep writing while I was pregnant, but now my mojo is back and I'm finally back to working on my story!
Chapter 17
"Sweetie," Carlos rubbed Amy's shoulder as she slept soundly on her side. She didn't move, so he rubbed her shoulder a little harder. Amy finally started to move a little so he leaned down and kissed the side of her head.
Amy groaned, she didn't want to get out of bed. She cracked open one eye and looked at Carlos leaning over her looking extremely too hot for his own good. "Time is it?" she mumbled.
"It's almost one, I didn't want to wake you but you haven't eaten since your half a piece of toast for breakfast. What can I make you?"
Amy closed her eye and let out a breath, "You know, a BLT sounds kind of amazing right now."
"I'll make you a BLT, with real bacon, if you agree to eat some fruit with it." Ranger had tried in vain to get her eat Turkey bacon instead of regular bacon, but she just wouldn't give it up.
Amy opened her one eye again, "And some BBQ pop chips?"
Carlos's brow furrowed ever so slightly and sighed, "Fine. But you're stuck with what I make for dinner."
"As long as it doesn't make me hurl I'm good with that." Amy stretched her arms above her head and finally opened both eyes. "So what did you tell everyone at Rangeman about me missing work?"
"Instead of making up a fake surgery story, I told them that you fell trying to keep pace with me while we were running this morning and you sprained your ankle and have to rest for a few days and keep weight off it."
Amy nodded, "And what if I can't go back to work on Monday?"
"Then we'll say that you have a suspected ACL or MCL tear or something." Carlos said it like it wasn't a big deal to fake an injury.
"I hate to say it, but I don't think we're going to be able to keep this a secret until after the wedding."
"Maybe not." Carlos dropped his head down for a moment then looked back up at her. "What, when, and how do you want to talk to my parents?"
"Shit." Amy hissed. "I completely forgot that your mom knows we're pregnant." She closed her eyes and rubbed both hands over her face. "What do you want to do?" Carlos was silent for a few moments, causing Amy to put her hands down and open her eyes. "What?"
"I feel terrible now that we didn't tell her at the dinner that there might be three. I know she's going to be upset and devastated for us that we lost one, but I also know she'll be a little hurt that we hadn't told her."
"We didn't really know for sure how many there were then. I'm sure she'll understand."
Carlos nodded his head once, "Do you mind if I invite them down for dinner Friday night?"
"No," Amy paused for a couple seconds. "We have another ultrasound Friday morning so we'll hopefully have some new information for them."
"That's what I was thinking."
"Yeah, that'll be great."
Carlos stood up, "I'll go make your lunch then."
"Have you eaten yet?" Amy asked as she sat up and grabbed Carlos's pillows to prop up behind her on the headboard.
"Sorry, yeah. I had a salad about an hour ago."
"Okay" Amy grabbed the remote for the TV off her nightstand and started looking for something to watch. "Just don't forget my chips, please." She smiled a little too sweetly at him.
"I won't," he said as he walked out of their bedroom.
Carlos sat in bed with her while she ate her lunch. He left to get Lexi from school, only after making her swear she wouldn't get up for anything other than going to the bathroom. Carlos and Lexi walked into her bedroom a little before four. Lexi climbed right up onto the bed and quickly sidled up to Amy.
"Mom, why are you in bed?"
Amy threw a quick look to Carlos before turning to face Lexi. "Well honey, Carlos had to take me to the doctor today because there was something wrong with one of the babies. When we got there they were able to do an ultrasound to look at the babies and we found out that one of the babies died." Amy didn't even try to stop the tears from falling, Lexi was upset and Amy could tell she didn't understand what was going on. Amy stuttered, trying to talk through the emotions making it nearly impossible for her form coherent sentences. She did the only thing she could think to do and pulled Lexi into a hug.
"Lexi," Carlos said as he sat down next to Amy. "We don't know what happened or why one of the babies didn't make it. But it's important for you to know that the other two babies are still doing great. So your mom needs to take it easy and rest for a little while just to make sure everything is okay."
Lexi pulled back from her mom and nodded as she wiped her nose with the Kleenex Carlos gave her. "So could the other babies die too?"
Amy just about lost it but she grabbed Carlos' hand to stop him from talking. "Sweetie, like Carlos said, the other two babies are doing great. There is a small possibility that the same thing could happen to them, but that's why mom's going to be hanging out in bed for the next few days."
"Can I just stay in here with you?"
Amy smiled and leaned back against the headboard again taking Lexi with her. "Of course you can. In fact, why don't you go pick out some movies and we'll just lay in bed and watch movies for the rest of the afternoon. Okay?"
Lexi nodded and went downstairs. As soon as she was out of earshot Carlos leaned forward and gently pressed his lips to Amy's. "Everything will be okay."
Amy nodded, "I know."
"Do you want me to bring you gals up some snacks or anything?"
"Thank You, Carlos, really. I think we'll be fine."
"So you've finally stopped calling me Ranger," Carlos said with a slight smirk.
"I've called you Ranger for so long that calling you Carlos still seemed a bit weird. But when I realized that there was definitely something wrong this morning, Carlos was the first thing that came out of my mouth without even thinking about it."
"I like it." He admitted.
Amy smiled, "That's good, because now calling you Ranger feels weird."
Lexi sat in bed with Amy until supper, watching movies and snuggling together in bed. Amy and Lexi talked Carlos into letting them have a picnic on the bedroom floor. They ate lettuce salads with pan-seared salmon and roasted seasoned vegetables. Amy broke her bedrest orders for fifteen minutes to tuck Lexi into her bed and read a book to her. She walked back into her bedroom to find Carlos sitting in bed typing away on his laptop.
"Hey sweetheart," Carlos watched her walk over to her side of the bed and get back under the covers. "Everything okay?"
"I'm fine." Amy sighed as she sat up. "I've only been stuck at home for one day and I'm already bored out of my mind. I probably bought a dozen ebooks on my reader, I've read the first few chapters of all of them but can't seem to really get into them. Daytime TV is boring. I thought maybe Netflix would help so I signed up for that and ended up binge-watching most of the first season of Gilmore Girls." She shook her head. "I'm half afraid that by the time your parents get here Friday I'm going to end up scaring them by talking a mile a minute about useless nonsense from watching too many episodes of Gilmore Girls."
Carlos closed his laptop and set it on his nightstand before turning towards Amy. "Amy," he took her hand in his. "Sweetheart my parents practically worship the ground you walk on and your giving them two more grandchildren, they aren't going to care if you talk nonsense."
Amy gave a half laugh, "They are going to flip when we tell them we're having twins."
"If you think I'm crazy and overprotective, just wait until my mom finds out you've been put on bedrest. She'll probably try to move in here to take care of you." Carlos leaned down and gave Amy a light kiss, "And I'm not kidding." He added when Amy snorted.
"So have you decided what you're going to tell everyone at work?" She asked as she snuggled into his side.
"I still think a sprained ankle is the best bet for now. Unless you want to tell everyone the truth."
She shook her head, "No, I'm definitely not ready to tell everyone. So stick with the sprained ankle."
"Okay." Carlos turned the TV off and rearranged his pillows while Amy did the same with hers and turned her back to him so they could spoon. "Everything is going to be fine. Our two babies are still healthy and strong. Try to turn your brain off and just go to sleep."
"I know, I'm trying."
"I love you." Carlos kissed her right behind her ear.
"I love you too."
Thursday morning Amy woke up at six-thirty with Carlos, and had her usual bout of morning sickness. After brushing her teeth she trudged back to bed and groaned when Carlos brought her a glass of ice water and some crackers.
"Humor me." He said as he kissed her forehead then left for his morning run.
When Friday morning rolled around, Amy was very thankful to finally be able to get out of the house. Since moving to Jersey she'd never spent two full consecutive days stuck in her house and basically confined to her bed. Carlos had taken the whole bed rest recommendation from the OB as a mandate and hadn't even let her go downstairs. But Friday morning she was able to have breakfast in the kitchen with Lexi and Carlos like she usually did. Amy was just happy to feel somewhat normal.
In the waiting room at the OB Amy was nervously bouncing her knee. Carlos had tried getting her to calm down, but she couldn't seem to stop. It felt like a lifetime before they were called back for the ultrasound. Dr. Sayre was in the room with the technician when Carlos and Amy walked in.
"How is mom doing?" Dr. Sayre asked as Gina gave Amy the drape to put under the waistband of her pants and got the ultrasound started.
"Pretty nervous," Amy admitted. "The bleeding has pretty much stopped, just some spotting."
Dr. Sayre nodded, "That's a great sign." She turned to the screen as Gina was gently moving the ultrasound wand over Amy's stomach. "So your ten weeks now. And here's baby A." Clear as day they could see their baby wiggling, his arms and legs much more distinct now. "That's a great-looking baby there, and the heart rate is still great at 151." Gina printed off a couple pictures and moved over to baby B. "Another great-looking baby." Gina smiled at Amy and went back to pushing buttons and measuring. "Baby B looks pretty active too, and has a heart rate of 155." After a few more measurements Gina printed off a couple more pictures.
Everyone was quiet as Gina moved away from Baby B. After a couple of very quiet minutes and seeing nothing else on the screen Dr. Sayre finally turned toward Amy and Carlos.
"I don't see anything wrong with Baby A or Baby B, they both look great and as you could see they're moving like crazy. There's nothing visible left of Baby C. To play it safe, I would really like you to stay off your feet for another week and have you come back next Friday. If you have any more bleeding or cramping at all, call the office immediately. If it happens during office hours we'll see you immediately here, if it's after hours call us on your way to the ER. Now, any questions?"
Amy was sitting up after cleaning all the ultrasound gel off of her stomach and Carlos was holding her hand in his. Amy spoke first for once, "Have you ever dealt with a pregnancy similar to ours?"
"Not with triplets." Dr. Sayre answered quickly then paused. "I have seen it in twins a few times. In most of those cases, mom miscarries one baby before she knows its twins and mistakenly thinks she's lost a singleton pregnancy but goes back a few weeks later and finds out she's still pregnant and its too far along to have been conceived since the miscarriage. Judging by what we've seen, I feel that this is basically the same thing for you guys, except with triplets."
Amy nodded, "If the spotting stops and all seems normal next week, will I finally be able to get out of bed?" Amy hooked a thumb toward Carlos, "My loving fiance here has taken your bed rest suggestion very seriously and literally won't let me out of bed."
Dr. Sayre chuckled, "If there's no more spotting and everything looks good you can get out of bed, though the couch is fine as well. I guess I could have elaborated a bit the other day, no heavy lifting, no crazy cleaning frenzies, leave the grocery shopping and all that to Carlos. You can definitely stand and move around, it gets a little boring laying in bed all day. But no long walks, walking to the mailbox in front of the house is fine, however taking a mile-long walk is definitely not good. You can make yourself a sandwich or a quick meal, but no marathon cooking or baking." Dr. Sayre laughed when she noticed Amy elbowing Carlos. "I did say bed rest, so I'm sorry, that was my fault. You do need to make sure you rest a lot, and try not to stand up or be on your feet for extended periods of time. After I check on you next week, if everything is good you can go back to moderate activity."
"Could I go back to work?" Amy asked excitedly.
"What do you do?"
"She doesn't need to go back to work," Carlos interrupted. "I'm also her boss and she can take all the time off she needs."
Dr. Sayre nodded her head in acknowledgement of Carlos' sudden interruption but Amy shot him a dirty look and cut him off.
"I'm a computer programmer, I sit at a desk or a conference table ninety percent of the time. I occasionally do site visits to install programs but I have other staff in my department who could do that."
"You should be able to go back to work after next week, you can try part-time at first and go from there." Dr. Sayre stood up, "Anything else?"
"No," Amy answered. "We'll see you next week."
"Yes, you will. Have a nice relaxing week in the mean time." Dr. Sayre teased as she reached for the door and left.
"Here are your pictures." Gina handed Amy five little glossy black and white pictures of their babies. "They look great! Stay positive." She said just before she followed Dr. Sayre out.
The whole ride home Amy was smiling as she held both hands to her belly. They still had two healthy babies. She just needed to stay positive and rest, her babies would be just fine. When they got home Amy parked herself on the couch and just smiled at Carlos as he stood by quietly while she got settled and comfortable, then picked up her feet and sat down putting them in his lap.
"Are you feeling okay?"
Amy paused for a few seconds, "I think so. We've gotten confirmation that our two babies are growing and doing great. I'm not looking forward to an entire week of doing nothing, but I'll do whatever I need to do to keep the babies safe. Even though I know I'm going to go stir crazy."
Carlos nodded, "If the doctor clears you next week, we'll work out a part-time schedule for you for a week or two. I won't keep you from working, I know that you'll tell me if you need a break."
Amy smiled, "What happened to the crazy overprotective man who was just at the doctor's office? And all of my previous appointments?" She teased.
"He's still here," Carlos put his hand over hers on her lower stomach. "I still want to do what I can to help you get through the pregnancy, but it kind of hit me when we were leaving the doctor's office today that you need less stress and I'm probably not helping out with that. I keep trying to make you quit or cut back. But you know your own limits."
Amy nodded as Carlos stood up and put her legs back down on the couch.
"I'm going to do some work from the office for a little while." Carlos watched her lay down more and grab the TV remote, "Do you need anything?"
"A water and something to eat, a banana or something. Please." Amy smiled sweetly.
Carlos leaned over her and kissed her upturned mouth. "I'll be right back."
A couple minutes later Carlos was back with one of Amy's large water bottles filled with ice water, a banana, a small container of almonds, an orange, and a stick of string cheese. "You need to try to eat since you didn't have breakfast. Humor me and try to eat most of this by the time I'm done working."
"I probably will eat all of it. As dumb as it sounds, actually getting out of the house kind of made me hungry."
"Good." His phone buzzed in his pocket so he pulled it out and saw that his mom was calling him. "Hey mama," he answered cheerfully.
Amy listened to his side of the conversation and gathered that his mom was confirming the time for dinner and insisting on bringing a dessert. She was surprised when he handed her the phone.
"Hi Marie," she answered happily with a smile.
"I just wanted to see how you've been feeling, to make sure you're up for hosting us for dinner tonight."
"Oh I'm doing well, Marie. Carlos and I both really wanted to see you guys and have you down to our house for dinner." Amy smiled as tears welled in her eyes. Carlos sat down next to her and put his hand over hers on her knee.
"I hope that son of mine is taking good care of you."
Amy chuckled, "He definitely is. I'm not actually contributing much to dinner tonight, Carlos is taking care of the preparations. I've been instructed to sit on the couch and relax while he cooks."
Marie was obviously pleased by that, "As it should be my dear, you need a little extra pampering right now. Being pregnant with a Manoso baby is serious business."
That had Amy laughing and agreeing, "That definitely seems to be true."
"Well, I won't take any more of your time. We'll see you tonight."
"We're looking forward to it. Bye Marie." Amy handed the phone back to Carlos. He said his goodbyes and then put an arm around Amy's shoulders.
"My parents will be here around five. I have steaks marinating in the fridge, I figured it would be easiest to grill for dinner so there's not much work for either of us to do."
"Sounds good," Amy nodded. "We should have some veggies we can cut up to grill. I know we have plenty of lettuce for a salad."
Carlos paused a moment before answering, "Does Lexi eat steak? Or should I run to the store for chicken or something else?"
"She'll eat steak, but she really likes pork chops."
"Pork chops it is." Carlos stood again then leaned down and kissed her forehead. "I'll be in the office. Just holler if you need me."
Once he was gone Amy turned on the TV and found a movie to watch. After eating the string cheese, a handful of almonds, and the banana she took a nap.
