A/N: That was pretty fast right? Much sooner than last time!! Thanks to all of you who read and reviewed the last chapter. I hope you'll like this!!
Chapter 29 - Uncomfortable conversations
"Now you are in your third trimester, it is important to think about the delivery."
Lorelai looked at dr. Elder. "Why do we have to discuss that? I don't remember discussing it with Lucan."
"A twin birth is more complicated. Therefore it is important to think about what you want. Do you want to give birth to the twins naturally, assuming the twins will both be in a good position at the time of the birth, or do you want to schedule a c-section."
Lorelai looked at Luke. She had given it some thought, but wasn't ready to make a decision. Dr. Elder noticed this.
"You don't have to make a decision now. It is just important to have a birth plan ready for when they will come. In twins premature labor is more likely, and you need to know what you want. I can give you some brochures, and we can discuss it at your appointment next week."
"Uhm……" Lorelai took Luke's hand in hers while she considered what dr. Elder was saying. "Isn't it easier to do a c-section? I mean, I remember how it feels to give birth to one child, let alone two…"
Dr. Elder smiled. "The pain won't be worse than with one child. And it won't be exactly twice as much work, but it will be more work. Sometimes the children are born right after each other, but it also happens that after the first baby is born, you are not fully dilated anymore and have to wait for a while. There can be hours between the birth of two children. It even happens that they are both born at a different day. Especially if the birth takes place around midnight."
"So a c-section is easier?"
"You won't experience the contractions, but it is major abdominal surgery so afterwards you will experience a lot more problems. Of course we will try to make you as comfortable as possible with pain medication, but we can't prevent you from experiencing any pain at all. Especially with a c-section. Because you are given birth to twins, we will give you an epidural. Unless you really insist against that. This way when there will be complications, we can take you to the operating room for a c-section."
Luke looked up at dr. Elder in shock. "What do you mean, complications?"
"The risks of complications during twin birth are higher than when giving birth to only one child. For example, if baby number one is in the right position and the second one is in breech, it is possible to deliver the first baby through natural child birth, and try to turn the second baby once number one is out. When we fail there might be a chance that we have to perform a c-section to deliver the second baby."
Lorelai shook her head. "I don't see why I would go through the pain of the contractions and child birth, when I still need to have a c-section anyway."
"That's understandable. Let's go back to Luke's question first. There are a few reasons to perform a c-section, besides breech or transverse position of the babies. When the mother is suffering from preeclampsia, placenta abruption, when labor is not progressing, when one or both babies are going into distress or when one of the babies is too big."
Both Luke and Lorelai had some look of horror on their faces now. "Can't we just leave them in there?"
Dr. Elder smiled. "Even though the risks of complications are higher than in normal child birth, still a lot of babies are born naturally. In fact, 50 percent of all twins are born vaginally, while the other 50 percent are born through c-section."
"So, what do you want us to do?"
"This is a decision you have to make by yourself. But if everything goes normally through those last few weeks, I will advice you to deliver the babies naturally. That way you will experience less problems afterwards. I will give you some brochures. Just read through them and think about what you want to do. We can discuss it more next week."
Lorelai nodded. "Okay." She felt a little more comfortable now, although labor was still something she wasn't looking forward to.
"Then we are done for this week. Both you and the babies are doing great. Just go on the way you are, and you know you can call me if something is up."
"We do." They stood up and shook dr. Elder's hand. "We better go see if my mother is doing okay with Lucan."
"She's probably having a great time."
Lorelai smiled. "I hope so."
-xxxxxx-
Lucan was playing on the floor with his train, while Emily was reading a book on the couch. She glanced at him occasionally, making sure he wasn't doing anything he was not allowed to do. She smiled when she saw him gone up in his game completely and focused her attention back on her book. She read a few lines when the maid walked in.
"Mrs. Gilmore?"
"Yes Sophia?"
"I was wondering if you want me to wash the curtains upstairs. I was thinking about it, and it has been a few weeks since I've last done that."
"You don't have to ask those things Sophia. You know that. If you think you have to wash the curtains, you should do so."
"Okay Mrs. Gilmore. Have you thought about what you want for dinner this evening?"
"We've discussed it this morning." Emily shook her head. "What is going on with you today?"
"Nothing Mrs. Gilmore. I will go back to work now." Sophia turned around to walk away.
"Okay stop. You can tell me what is bothering you. You've been working for me for quite a while now, and you seem a little bit off today. Talk to me."
Sophia looked at Emily grateful. "I had a fight with my husband this morning. It was nothing out of the ordinary, but I feel bad leaving the house without making up."
"Why don't you give him a call then? Talk things over? You can use one of the phones upstairs if you want some privacy."
"Thank you Mrs. Gilmore. There is no way……" She stopped when suddenly they heard crying coming from the hallway.
Emily looked around the living room in shock, and saw the train abandoned on the floor. She got up and ran towards the hallway, where she found Lucan on the bottom of the stairs. He was sitting and crying furiously. She picked him up immediately. "What did you do sweetie?" She hugged him tight. "You know you can not come here by yourself. You are too small to climb the stairs."
"What happened?" Sophia stood next to Emily.
"I think he tried climbing the stairs and fell down. Why don't you get him something to drink?"
Sophia nodded and went off towards the kitchen.
Emily took Lucan into the living room. She put Lucan in her lap so she could look at him. He had stopped crying and only sobbed occasionally now. At a first sight he seemed okay. She placed a kiss on top of his head. "You scared me little boy. Never run off on grandma again okay? You have to promise me."
"Is he okay?" Sophia handed Emily a bottle filled with orange juice.
"I think so." She handed Lucan the bottle which he took with his left hand. He snuggled into her arms and started drinking. It wasn't long before he fell asleep.
Ten minutes later Luke and Lorelai walked in. "Hey mom."
Emily put her index finger on her lips. "Shhh… he's asleep."
Lorelai nodded and sat down on the couch. Luke sat down next to her.
"How was the appointment. Are the babies okay?"
"Yeah they're fine. Growing like they're supposed to, heart rate was perfect. My blood pressure was okay too. Everything's going great."
"That's good."
"Yeah. There was one less comfortable conversation though. She wants us to think about giving birth. She says that it's safe to go with natural child birth if both babies are in the right position. And that 50 percent of all twins are born naturally. But there is a higher risk of complications and she wants me to think about wanting to have a c-section."
"When?"
"When the time comes. She does advices to go with natural child birth, but I still have to consider my options."
Emily nodded. "You should think about it. Talk about it with Luke."
"I will." She smiled slightly. "How did things go with Lucan."
"Okay. Although there was this small incident."
"Did he break something again?"
Emily shook her head. "Not that I know of. But I was looking away for 5 seconds when I was talking to Sophia, and then we heard crying coming from the hallway. I think he tried climbing the stairs and fell down."
"What? Is he okay?"
"I think so. He didn't cry for long. I gave him something to drink and then he fell asleep."
"What if he hit his head? He could have a concussion or something? He can't sleep right now."
"Lorelai relax. He's fine."
She looked at Luke. "Could you please get him for me?"
He nodded and stood up, taking Lucan from Emily.
He opened his eyes. "Dada."
"Hey buddy." He placed a kiss on his son's forehead and sat down next to Lorelai again, sitting Lucan in his lap.
Lorelai looked at her son. She checked his head first, but there were no visible bumps. Then she checked his left hand and then his right. But when she touched his right hand he pulled it away immediately. "Luke."
"I saw it." Luke rolled up Lucan's sleeve and checked the arm. "There are no visible injuries on the outside."
"Mom, can you hand me the bottle?"
Emily handed the bottle to Lorelai.
Lorelai held the bottle in front of Lucan's right hand, but he took it with his left hand instead. Bringing it to his mouth immediately.
"That's weird. He never uses his left hand to take a bottle."
"Something's wrong Luke. I know it." She looked at him directly.
He nodded. "Let's take him to the emergency room okay?"
"Yes. We should do that." She stood up. "Sophia?" And then a little louder. "Sophia?"
"Lorelai calm down."
"Shut up mom. You did this to him. You know you have to watch him constantly. He's a one year old boy. He needs constant attention."
"Don't you think I know that? I looked away for 5 seconds."
"A lot can happen in 5 seconds mom."
Sophia entered the living room. "You called me?"
"Bring our coats." Lorelai was less than polite.
"Lorelai please. I'm sorry."
"You better be." She followed Sophia into the hallway and grabbed the coats out of her hands. "Thank you."
"Lorelai come on." Luke was standing next to her now. "This isn't your mother's fault. You and I both know that it's impossible to constantly watch him. How often did he do something when he slipped our attention for 2 seconds? And he falls all the time."
"Never off the stairs because we have one of these gates in front of it. Mom should know to keep the doors to the hallway close."
"I thought it was closed. I think Sophia might have left it open when she came into the living room."
"Well, she should have paid better attention."
Lucan started crying when he heard the angry tone in his mother's voice.
"Come here baby." Lorelai extended her arms towards Lucan and tried to take him in her arms. But it wasn't easy anymore with her big stomach. It was completely in the way and she couldn't hold him close to her. She felt frustrated that she couldn't even comfort her own son and had no choice but to hand him back to Luke after he had put on his coat.
"Let's go."
They all walked towards the car and Emily wanted to get into the backseat.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"I'm coming with you."
"I don't think so mom. You've done enough."
"Lorelai." Luke sighed.
"She's not coming."
Luke gave Emily an apologetic Luke. I'll call you later okay? I think it's better if you stay here. If Lorelai stays mad it will only upset Lucan."
She nodded. "I understand."
Luke sat down on the passenger seat and handed Lorelai the keys. "You have to drive. I don't want to put Lucan down."
She looked at him as if he was kidding, then walked around the car and tried to squeeze her body behind the steering wheel as best as she could. She had to put the seat much further back than she was used to and had trouble reaching the peddles, but refused to ask Emily to drive so just put the car in reverse and turned it around.
They reached the hospital within ten minutes. Lorelai parked the car and walked to the other side to help Luke out of the car. She took the diaper bag and together they entered the hospital. The emergency room was quite busy and they had to sign in with triage.
"Hello. My name is Lorelai Gilmore. I think my son may have broken his arm."
The triage nurse handed her a sign in form. "You have to fill out this in for me first. Then a doctor will come to you as soon as possible."
They sat down and Lorelai started filling out the form.
They had to wait almost an hour and a half before the nurse called them into an exam room. By this time Lorelai had calmed down a little. She wasn't angry anymore, she just felt really bad about what happened. She felt responsible and hated that she had to leave the comforting to Luke. Normally when Lucan wasn't feeling well he always clung to her, and now her pregnant belly left that almost impossible.
"My name is doctor Gates. This must be Lucan?"
Lorelai nodded. "And I'm Lorelai and this is my husband Luke."
"Please take a seat." They all did. "So, can you tell me what happened?"
"Lucan escaped my mother's attention for a few seconds and tried climbing her stairs. He fell down and I think there is something wrong with his arm. He pulls it away when we touch it and he refuses to pick up anything with his right hand, while normally he always uses right, never left."
"Why don't we take a look." He kneeled down next to Luke and Lucan and took Lucan's right hand in his. Lucan started crying immediately and tried to pull the hand away. But the doctor's grip was tight and he managed to do a quick exam before he let Lucan go. The boy was still crying furiously and snuggled into his father's shoulder.
"It looks like his wrist may be broken. We need to take an x-ray to be sure."
"What if it is broken?"
"Then he'll have to wear a cast for a couple of weeks. 3, maybe 4. Depends on the ype of fracture. Children heal faster than adults."
Lorelai nodded.
The doctor wrote a request form for the x-ray and handed it to Lorelai. X-ray is at the second floor to your left."
She nodded. "I know."
"Good. I will call x-ray to let them know that you're coming. You have to hand this form to the nurse behind the desk and she will tell you what to do next. You can come back down here after the x-ray is taken. Tell one of your nurses you're back when you are so I can take a look at the x-ray and decide what to do next."
"Thank you." They stood up and exited the room. They took the elevator to the second floor as Lorelai complained that two floors were to far for her to walk. When they found x-ray Lorelai handed the request form to the nurse who told them to sit down in the waiting room.
5 Minutes later they were called to come inside. Lorelai stood up together with Luke, but the x-ray technician stopped her. "I'm sorry ma'am but it's better if you stay in the waiting room."
"But…" Lorelai started to protest but then looked down at her stomach. She nodded and sat back down.
"Okay sir. We have to take two x-rays of your son's wrist. We need you to hold him down for us."
Luke nodded. "Just tell me what to do."
"We will." They entered the exam room. "You have to sit down on this stool and sit Lucan in your lap.
Luke did as he was told.
"Which wrist is it?"
"His right."
"Okay. Then you have to put his right wrist on this cassette here. It is important that you hold his arm real tight so that he can not move it. My colleague behind the screen will take the picture and I will hold his hand. But I need your cooperation because if he moves we have to retake the x-ray."
Luke nodded. "I understand." Lucan started crying when Luke placed his wrist on the cassette and was grateful that the x-ray technician helped him holding Lucan's hand still. She put the camera in the right position and told her colleague to take the picture.
"Okay, that was the first picture. Now we have to take another one in another direction. His hand has to be on the side now. She showed Luke what she meant by using her own hand.
He nodded and turned Lucan's hand. The technician moved the cassette and reset the camera while holding Lucan's hand tight.
"That was it already." She pulled her hand through Lucan's hair. "All done big boy. You're really brave." She smiled at Luke. "If you wait in the waiting room for a few minutes, we will take a look at the x-ray to see if everything's on it."
He nodded and cuddled Lucan close to him. "All done baby. Let's go see mommy huh." He was still crying and extended his left arm towards Lorelai when he saw her. She took him and pulled him against her as best as she could.
"How did he do?"
"It took the two of us to hold him down. They're going to see if the x-ray is alright and if it is we can go back to the emergency room."
Lorelai nodded as she moved Lucan a little, feeling a bit uncomfortable.
Luke noticed this and took him from her again. He protested at first, but then snuggled into his father's arms. Finally having calmed down a little.
The x-ray technician entered the living room. "The photo's are okay. You can go back to the emergency room now where the doctor will take a look at them."
"Okay thank you. Did you see if it is broken?"
"I'm sorry, but I'm not allowed to tell you anything about the pictures except if they are okay or not. The rest is up to the doctor."
"I understand." They took the elevator back downstairs and told one of the nurses that they were back. She put them in an exam room and told them to wait for the doctor.
"It can take a couple of minutes because he is with another patient right now. But he'll get to you as soon as possible."
"Thank you."
They sat down and looked around in silence for a couple of minutes. Luke looked at his wife and wondered if it was a good time to talk to her about what happened earlier. "Lorelai?"
"Yeah?" She looked up, shaken out of her thoughts.
"Do you think we should call your mother? She must be really worried."
"Why don't we wait until we know if his wrist is broken or not?"
He nodded. "Okay. If that's what you want."
"It is." She remained silent again."
After another two minutes he decided to take his change. "Lorelai?"
"Mmm…."
"I think you should apologize to her. This wasn't her fault."
"Luke." She looked at him annoyed.
"Come on, you know that I'm right. He's a boy. He has his own will and managed to escape from our attention several times. Just think about your mother's vase."
"That was totally different"
He shook his head. "He didn't got hurt then. But Lorelai, you and I both know that it's impossible to watch him every second of the day. It takes less than a second for something to go wrong. This could have happened even when your mother, or one of us for that matter was right in front of him. He'll get hurt more often in his life. You can't blame your mother for this."
She shook her head and stood up.
"Where are you going?"
"For a walk."
"Lorelai." He sighed. "Don't walk away from me. Come on."
"I'm sorry." She walked away and didn't turn around when she heard him call her name.
Luke shook his head and placed a kiss on top of Lucan's head. "It's going to be okay. I promise."
"So…" The doctor walked in. He looked around the room and missed Lorelai. "Where is your wife?"
"She went for a walk."
"Should we wait for her?"
"No, just tell me. Is it broken?"
The doctor put some x-rays on the wall. "Let me show you."
Luke stood up and stood still next to the doctor.
"This is Lucan's wrist. If you look very careful, you see a small line in the bone, right here." He pointed at the x-ray. "That means there's a small greenstick fracture."
"A what?"
"Let's sit down." They sat down again. "A green stick fracture often occurs in children. It means that the bone has a tear, but isn't completely broken. In young children the bones are still flexible and can bend a little. It makes people think of a fresh tree branch, which is very hard to break to because it bends."
Luke nodded. "I understand. So, what's next?"
"We will give him a cast which he has to wear for a couple of weeks."
"Can you do that now?"
"There's a guy working in this hospital that's specialized in casts. He knows exactly how to do this with small children, so we're going to send you to him. I already talked to him and he's waiting for you right now."
"Okay." He stood up and hung the diaper bag over his shoulder while carrying Lucan on the other side. He followed the doctor and entered the other room so Lucan could get a cast.
-xxxxxx-
After Lucan got his cast Luke signed him out. He went up to the cafeteria to look for Lorelai. He found her sitting behind a cup of coffee.
"What were you thinking? You know you can't have any coffee." He was mad at her for walking away, and even more now he saw her with a cup of coffee.
"I don't know what I was thinking. I'm sorry. If it makes you feel any better, I just bought it. I didn't do anything else with it. It's been sitting there on the table in front of me, and it hasn't moved."
He shook his head. "We're ready to go home if you are."
She looked up and saw the blue cast that was surrounding Lucan's wrist. "It's broken?"
He nodded. "Something called a greenstick fracture."
"What's that?"
"You would have known if you were there when the doctor came."
She sighed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have walked away."
"Let's go home."
She stood up and followed him in silence. She knew he was mad and he had every right to be. She didn't know why she walked away, but at least she had some time to think. She was relieved when Luke placed Lucan in the car seat and got into the driver's seat himself. It bothered her slightly that he didn't help her in, but she could understand. She sat down in the passenger seat and turned around to look at Lucan. He was staring at his cast and was picking at it with his left hand. She smiled. "It's pretty huh? Mommy can put some stickers on it for you when we get home, make it even prettier."
"You're not going to put any stickers on it. His going to pull them off and eat them."
She nodded. "You're right. Maybe I'll just write something down for him."
He started the car and remained silent.
"Hey Luke? Can you pull left here?"
"But…." He looked at her. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah. You were right."
He turned left and drove where he knew Lorelai wanted to go. He parked the car in the driveway and moved to get out of the car.
She put a hand on his knee to stop him. "Can you give me five minutes? Lucan fell asleep in there and I don't want to take him out, risking to wake him up. And I don't feel comfortable leaving him in there alone."
He nodded, knowing that all she wanted was some time alone with her mother. "Five minutes."
"Call the police if I'm not back by then."
He smiled. "I will."
Lorelai got out of the car and rang the doorbell. She was surprised when her father opened the door. "Dad?"
"Hello Lorelai."
"Is mom home?"
"In the living room. How's Lucan?"
"Fractured his wrist. He has a cast now so it should be okay again in a few weeks. Will you give me a few minutes alone with mom?"
"I'll be out there talking to Luke."
She smiled. "Thanks." She walked towards the living room where she found her mother on the couch reading.
Emily looked up when she heard someone enter the room. "Lorelai?"
"Hey mom." Lorelai sat down next to her mother. "I owe you an apology."
"You didn't call me."
"I know. I'm sorry. I should have, but I figured we could just as well drive by on the way home. He has fracture in his wrist, but nothing a cast won't fix. He's actually pretty proud at his cast."
Emily forced a smile. "I'm really sorry Lorelai. You were right. I should have paid better attention."
Lorelai shook her head. "No, you were right. He's a little boy. He has a lot of energy and likes adventure. I never expected that when he was a baby, but he changed a lot since he learned how to walk. He wants to discover the world and always manages to escape your attention. The amount of times he escaped mine already… you'd be surprised something like this didn't happen sooner. It really wasn't your fault. And I had no right to blame you."
"I appreciate that you're saying that. But it makes me wonder how I'll be able to take care of all three of them after the twins are born."
"I worry about that every single day. What if all three of them want attention at the same time? But I realized that worrying about it won't help. Things will work out by itself. I've raised Rory from when I was sixteen. I'm much older now and so far things are going okay with Lucan, and they will be okay as well when the twins come."
"But what if I'm with one of the twins? I can't keep an eye on Lucan all the time."
"Neither can Luke and I. When we come over for Friday night dinner this week we'll bring you some gates for the stairs. One for upstairs, one for downstairs. I know that you have pretty big stairs, but I'll find a solution. And Luke said that he will get hurt more often in his life. And he's right. As much as I want to protect him from everything, I know I can't. And neither can you."
"Are you sure you would leave your kids with me and your father?"
Lorelai nodded. "Absolutely. I trust you mom. In the end I turned out pretty okay right?"
Emily smiled. "You definitely did."
T.B.C.