23 Weeks

Meredith was thriving in this pregnancy. Thus far there were not complications, and she wished with every fiber of her being that it would continue that way. Since finding out they were having a girl, Derek had insisted on starting on the nursery. Meredith had already known she wanted white furniture, they just needed a paint color that would complement the furniture—not too bright and not too dark.

They had decided to go with a soft peach color on the walls with light gray curtains. There would be a gray colored fabric glider in the room with a foot rest for when Meredith fed the baby, and the nights where they would inevitably have to rock the baby to sleep. Meredith had recruited Addison in helping with decorating, something Addison had accepted and taken seriously.

Where it came to decorating, Addison insisted that there be a soft, fluffy gray rug in the center of the room. She had taken it upon herself to buy somethings for the nursery as well, so in the closet sat many, many white hangers for clothes that would soon occupy the space. Next to the changing table, Addison had forced Jake to attached a shelving unit to the wall while she tried to decide on what design to have painted on the wall.

Meredith enjoyed seeing her friend do this. She knew that she didn't have the chance to go all out like this herself as Henry was not a newborn when she adopted him. What Meredith didn't enjoy was having to make a baby registry for a baby shower. She loathed the idea and even thought to have Addison do it. Instead, she settled on asking for her help instead.

Derek and stated that the decision for decorating and such was all up to Meredith and Addison, his part would come when it came to assembling furniture, arranging it around the room, taking care of Meredith and caring for the baby.

Meredith made her way up the stairs and to the nursery where Addison was still sitting for ideas. She walked in and sat on the floor with her friend. "Have you come up with any other ideas?"

Addison looked up from her notebook and stared at Meredith, "I was thinking some graphics to hang above the changing table, and her name in gray letters above the crib. And you have the window seat that I was thinking maybe just fill up with cute little stuffed animals."

Meredith placed her hands around her stomach, feeling slight movement within. "I think that sounds…"

"You hate it," Addison stated before Meredith could finish.

"No, I was going to say that sounds nice. But I'm not into designing and all of that. That's why I asked you. Look, when Derek built the dream house, all I asked for was a tub that covered my boobs. I trust you know what you're doing. That's why I'm going to need help with the registry. I didn't do that with Bailey we just bought everything because of how bad everything was that year. We didn't really want to celebrate much."

Addison nodded her head understanding where Meredith was coming from, "of course I'll help. Whenever you're ready we'll go and get it done."

"There's one other thing," Meredith said, "I told Derek I would ask you about it. We would like you to be the baby's godmother, if you accept it."

At this Addison smiled, "I'd love to, Meredith."

—

Later that night, Meredith and Derek were talking while cleaning up from dinner.

"I spoke to Addison earlier," Meredith started off. "She said yes to being godmother."

Derek nodded his head, "You know, if we want to ask Alex, that means we have to tell everyone in Seattle about the baby."

Meredith nodded her head. She knew, she was just nervous. She had kind of hoped that Amelia would spill the news but she hadn't. All she gave away was that Derek was with Meredith in Los Angeles.

"Speaking of our to-do list, since the baby is going to be in her own room, we need to figure out new arrangements. Do we really want Bailey and Zola to share a room for a few years?" Meredith asked. She knew that she didn't, but she didn't have any other solution on the issue.

"Well, we have some open space where we can do an add on. Or we can turn the office in to another bedroom," Derek offered.

Meredith hadn't really wanted to start a new renovation project, so she thought it best to move the office to the basement and create another bedroom. "Since we took over Bailey's room for the nursery, let's make the office his bedroom. That room is about the same size as Zo's so he can't get mad when he's older that her room is bigger."

Derek agreed. "So that settles it, then. I'll move everything around tomorrow. He's been sleeping with us anyway, so he won't even know what he's missing." Meredith nodded her head, that much she knew was true. "Meredith, I was thinking…maybe soon we can come up with a name? I don't like calling the baby her or she."

Meredith smiled, she was waiting for this to come up. He brought the subject of names up when she was twenty weeks pregnant with Bailey. She only hoped this wouldn't be as hard as it was choosing Bailey's name. Meredith knew one thing for sure, this baby would not be named after her in any way. "I was actually thinking…Hayden Alexandra Shepherd. None of the other kids in the family have the first name of Hayden so we can be the first at something in your family."

He walked over to Meredith and hugged her. "I love that name."

With the name decided, Meredith texted Addison letting her know as the woman was getting on her about a name as well. She hadn't shared her idea with anyone until she mentioned it to Derek.

Update on baby: we're naming her Hayden Alexandra.

Meredith knew that was the gateway to Addison going all out with personalized blankets and such, but she would let her have it. She was happy that this baby was going to be loved by her godmother. Not that Zola wasn't loved by Cristina—it was just that Cristina hadn't made any contact with Zola in a while, which hurt Meredith because of how much Zola loves her. When she thought back on it, Meredith regrets asking Cristina, deep down she wanted to ask Lexie but out of loyalty she asked her person. She knew Addison wouldn't let any of her children down, something she was thankful for as they needed as much stability in their life as possible. Especially after believing their father had passed away.

A little fluff I wanted to get out of the way. Not to say there won't be more. But I wanted to focus more on the baby than anything in this chapter. Next chapter they go to Seattle!