Arizona is the one who does almost all of the planning for their baby shower, which coincides as a gender reveal party. It's in one of the lounges at the hospital so people can come and go as needed, Owen and Mark having promised both April and Jackson that they would do everything in their power to make sure neither of them got paged during it. Everyone in the hospital had been extremely supportive of the both of them once they'd decided to start telling people about the pregnancy.
There was enough food in there to feed an entire army, but the centerpiece was the cake. The inside of it was either pink or blue. Arizona and the baker were the only ones who knew which color was inside of it.
"Oh, there's the woman of the hour!" Arizona called out when April finally arrived.
"Hi!" April beamed, belly leading her in. Seven months along and her feet had disappeared from her own eye-sight, the big baby bump being pretty much the first thing that everyone saw whenever she entered. She'd always been small, but pregnancy had exaggerated that with the juxtaposition. "Sorry, I know I'm late. I just wanted to check on one last patient." She apologized quickly.
"Hey," Jackson greeted her, bending down for a quick kiss.
"Baby and I are starving," April announced, gravitating over toward the food table almost immediately. Her husband followed, his hand moving to cover her belly. "We haven't cut the cake yet, have we? I wanted to be here for that."
Arizona shook her head quickly. "No, of course not We were waiting for you two."
"I'm plenty ready for confirmation that I've got my little boy in there," Jackson chuckled, rubbing her stomach.
"Avery, you are asking for trouble!" Callie chimed in with a laugh.
"Mmhm," April hummed in agreement, bumping her hip against his. "I'm starving, so I am more than ready to cut the cake." As she spoke, though, she's already begun to gather up a little plate of food and popped a yogurt covered pretzel into her mouth, letting out a happy noise. "Seriously, I am starving."
"Alright, you two get over here." Arizona grabbed April's hand, pulling her and Jackson behind the table so that they could cut the cake themselves. Callie got people to hush down so they could make a big deal about it, Arizona quickly running to the other side of the table so that she could record it on their phone.
Jackson picked up the knife to cut the cake, beaming down at his wife as she nodded enthusiastically for him to continue. A slice of cake is cut and a small pause is taken before he pulled out the thin slice from the rest of the cake, holding it up so that everyone could see the coloring on the inside of the cake.
"It's a girl!"
Cheers and laughter fill the sound of the lounge as people celebrated for them. Jackson swiped some of the white frostings off of the cake and dotted it onto April's noise, resulting in loud laughter sipping from her lips. She stretched up for a kiss almost immediately, making sure to bump her nose against his face and get some of it on him as well. They were both beaming with the knowledge that April was carrying a growing, dancing little girl inside of her stomach, even after Jackson's advocation and insistence that it was a son. They both used their fingers to wipe the frosting off their face, licking their fingers clean.
"I told you," April hummed smugly as he put the slice of cake down on the little plate that she'd started for himself. She waited until he had gotten one of his own before moving away to grab a fork and scarf it down before any other baby shower activities could pull her away.
"Uh huh," Jackson replied with amusement, placing his hand on her stomach once more. He was practically incapable of keeping himself from touching her in some way or another. "I'm telling you, still a little kick boxer inside of you, even if it's a girl. You can't fight that one."
April laughed and shook her head. "Our daughter is not going to be a kickboxer. Maybe a soccer player." She replied.
"Don't forget, Avery, the women's US soccer team is a hell of a lot better than the men's." Callie interrupted with a bright smile. She placed her hand on April's stomach for a moment, beaming at the both of them. "I have to get to surgery, but congratulations, you two. You've got a very lucky little girl growing inside of there." She said before grabbing another bite of food and making her way back to work.
"She's right, you know." April quipped with a beaming smile up at her husband.
"Mmhm. The women's soccer team is better." Jackson answered back with a smirk.
"Not what I meant," she pouted at him playfully for a moment. "We're so lucky. I'm so lucky to have you. And she's going to be so lucky to have you as a dad." She remarked fondly. The bigger that she had gotten as her pregnancy progressed, the more and more attached she had become to all of it. April had finally been able to open up about it after the fourteen-week mark. Since everyone else had been able to talk with her and congratulate about it, it had become more and more real with every conversation. She was finally thrilled about it, no longer worried about what was happening. Now that she was even at the mark of viability by all technicalities, she felt free.
"Just as she is lucky to have you as her mom," Jackson replied easily, leaning down for another sweet kiss.
The baby shower flew by. They hadn't bothered with planning a lot of games knowing that people would be in and out as their work scheduled demanded, even if April had conceded to the typical guess the measurement game. Given that she was right on target with her growth and it was a room full of doctors, of course, multiple people got it right – even if she jokingly refused to hear the numbers that people guessed. She didn't mind the big baby belly so much, not when she could show off the fact that she finally had a healthy pregnancy.
Nesting had finally kicked in for her, so when they got home with a car full of presents from the shower, she stays up late organizing them. And then the next day, she reorganized them again. It happened once more over the weekend, just enough to drive Jackson a little crazy.
In part because the nursery had been redone over and over again. The walls were a warm cream, accented with a light pink stripe along the ceiling and other decorations. A sheep mobile was already hung above the white crib, dresser and nursing chair set up. A fuzzy pink pillow was settled on the chair, the same shade as the stripe on the wall, as well as a pale green blanket. Photo frames had already been set up, waiting for the actual pictures to fill them. This was about the third rendition of the nursery thus far. Jackson had only managed to get her to agree to not have to repaint the walls again, citing that he didn't want her breathing in any of the fumes from the paint.
She was lucky to get to thirty-six weeks and still be working with how her belly had taken over her entire body. Hunching over O.R. tables had become increasingly difficult and a bit painful on her lower back, but she refused to give up on her work. She certainly didn't want any judgment or being thought of as lesser. Even if a pregnancy was technically a medical condition – she wasn't going to be treated like one. She was far too stubborn for that.
Even if it was driving Jackson a little bit crazy. He could see the way that she hurt at the end of the day and did his best to help in whatever way that he could. Most of their nights ended with foot or back rubs. He hovered over her constantly, made sure she didn't soak in a hot bath for too long. It wasn't an attempt to be controlling, per se, or at least not his intention. Instead, he just wanted her to be as healthy as possible and try to minimize the toll that the pregnancy was taking on her body. Even if realistically, there wasn't much that he could do about the latter.
Braxton and genuine contractions were easy to confuse, easy for a doctor. April might have been able to give the textbook differences between the two, but there was something completely different about actually feeling it inside of her body. She tried to deny it being latter, staying in the E.R. but more or less letting the residents handle most cases until it became too much.
"Wilson!" April barked, waving the younger woman over.
"What's up, Dr. Kepner?" The younger woman replied, quickly making her way to her boss.
"I need you to get a wheelchair, and then I need you to page Dr. Avery and tell him to meet me in labor and delivery as soon as possible," April instructed, keeping her voice as calm as possible and sucking in a deep breath to keep from voicing out the painful contraction currently contorting inside of her.
"What? Oh! Really?" Quick realization contrasted over the other, running off for a moment to grab the wheelchair. "C'mon, things are slow. I'll wheel you up," Jo said as she helped April into the wheelchair.
"I know where L&D is, I can take myself," April tried to insist for a moment. "Oh–" The short syllable came out of her lips like a curse word, suddenly gripping onto the sides of the wheelchair and squeezing them. "Okay, okay, you're going to roll me there." Her mind was easily changed.
One of the maternal medicine fellows gives her an exam and informed her that she was only three centimeters dilated and still had a ways to go. Jackson joined her a few minutes later, looking considerably more erratic than his laboring wife was. As much as he had been anticipating this day and ready for it to happen, he still hadn't expected it to be today. She's only four days shy of technically being at term and measured well enough, but by a technical definition, it was preterm labor, even if the other fellows and attendings on the floor insisted that it wasn't likely to be a big deal for her case.
"Oh, this is not fun. This is not good."
April was pacing the room as she spoke, mostly muttering to herself. Her hands had been planted firmly on the small of her back as if it would make any difference. She had refused an epidural much to Jackson's dismay, and he'd made an ill-timed joke about being in just as much pain as she was by having to watch. That had earned a pretty quick slap on the chest that was a little more than just playful.
"You're doing an amazing job so far, April," Jackson reassured her.
It was a conversation that pretty much went back and forth in a cycle as the minutes ticked on with her in contractions. Minutes quickly became hours and it seemed like it was taking forever for her to become fully dilated. She tried walking, using an exercise ball. Ice ships were downed like there was no tomorrow and with as much pain as she was in, she was half-convinced that there wasn't going to be.
Fourteen hours of grunting and groaning, howling and cursing with every slandering word in her vocabulary, it was hard to tell if things were getting better or worse. Nine centimeters dilated, she'd officially thrown up twice and become progressively more irritable with each passing second. The latter could be passed off as relatively normal, all things considered.
Ten centimeters come, and so does bearing down with the force of everything inside of her to get the baby out. All seems relatively well until problems with the fetal monitor begin to make themselves known.
"April– the baby is beginning to show signs of distress. Let's put on an oxygen mask on you to make sure you're both getting as much oxygen as you can, okay?" Dr. Montgomery prompted though didn't give her much time or say in the matter, one of the nurses stepping in to place the mask over April's head. Panic lit her eyes and she sucked in the oxygen faster though it's not entirely from the mask over her face.
"Dr. Montgomery, what's going on?" Jackson's eyes finally torn away from his wife's face though he only held onto her hand tighter than before.
"It might be nothing, I don't either of you to panic, alright?" Dr. Montgomery braced, her gaze switching between the two of them for a moment. "But it's starting to look like there's a chance of an amniotic fluid embolism. Making sure that you are getting enough oxygen is crucial so that your baby also has enough oxygen. We're going to keep an eye on your heart and your blood loss."
Wide hazel eyes stared at Dr. Montgomery with terror as April processed the information, chest tightening and forcing out a nod of her head. She wasn't sure if it was anxiety, panic, or something more now than the possibility had been thrown out there.
The sweet cries of a newborn filling the air is the only possible thing that alleviated some of the tension, and it did. After a few more laborious strains and pushes, the newest member of the Avery family is welcomed to the world with a noisy scream. Skin like her father's and lung's like her mother's, she was a little on the small size but not the point where it was something to be concerned about. The fact that she was crying and breathing on her own was relieving enough.
For a few sweet seconds, it seemed like everything had settled into place perfectly.
Until April's heart rate monitor goes off the rails.
Without even so much as the chance to hold her own daughter, things moved quickly. The baby is rolled out of the room and Jackson instinctively tries to move and to assist, to make sure that things would be fine, but he doesn't get a choice in the matter. One of the nurses guides him out and the blinds are drawn shut so he can't see what was happening inside of the room. Instead, he has to listen to what thin walls allow to transfuse into the hallway. The sound of Dr. Montgomery's panicked voice, a fainter beeping of the heart rate monitor, and paddles shocking his wife.
It's the longest moments of Jackson's life, standing in the hallway without a clue what was going on inside. He had pushed for a baby, wanted one so badly, and now April was the one suffering the consequences. Each second breaks his heart further.
A nurse comes by and asks him if he'd like to go up and see his daughter while he was waiting, and Jackson pushed her off dismissively. Their daughter was fine. By all accounts, she seemed to be healthy, even if she had been brought into the world a few days sooner than what she was supposed to be. He had to know that April would be okay. That she would survive, that she would get a chance to love and hold the daughter that she had brought into the world, that she would sell get to live out the rest of her life. That it wasn't going to be his fault.
When things finally fall quiet on the other side of the wall for more than just a few seconds, Jackson tensed. He nearly barged into the room with the opportunity but before he can make up his mind about whether or not it was the best idea, Dr. Montgomery stepped out with an exhausted face.
"How is she? What happened?" He pestered her immediately.
"April's okay," she answered slowly. "She went into v-tac and we had to shock her twice to get her back. She did throw an embolism, like I mentioned earlier. We're going to have to monitor her for other problems. AFE is extremely rare and… for mothers who survive it, there's a list of possible long-term outcomes." Dr. Montgomery explained.
"Long-term? Like what?" Jackson questioned.
"Memory loss, organ failure, heart damage, pituitary gland damage, nervous system problems… It's not a pretty list, I know, but I don't want you to panic about any of that until we know what's going on, okay? We'll have cardio and near both check her out. Now, I'm going to go and check on your daughter. But you can be in there with her. She should wake up soon." Dr. Montgomery offered a sympathetic smile.
It was a long list of terrible possibilities to try and process. Jackson stood there numbly for a minute as April's doctor walked away, heart pounding in his chest and taking a deep breath. As much as he wanted children and a family, none of that had the same value if it wasn't with her. He couldn't go through without her. Slowly, he pushed open the door to her room and stepped inside, letting it fall shut behind him.
April didn't look ill. She looked peaceful – like she finally had a break from the hours and hours of labor and pain that she had been through birthing their daughter. She was paler than usual, still. The latter was only notable because of how she tended to toss and turn in the mist of the night, constantly readjusting her position to get comfortable. It was something that had driven him crazy at first. Now he can't stand to see her still.
Jackson sat by her side, taking one of her hands between his own. He wasn't a religious man. He had never been. Yet in that moment, he took the time to pray to her God. Not for his benefit, but for her. To have her pull through, to give her a fighting chance. She deserved that much.