Previously …
Penny's face flushed. She leaned over to Sheldon, "Sweetie, I think I just pissed myself."
"How? Didn't you just go? There'll be nothing in your blad-" Sheldon froze. "Penny, have you been cramping, feeling any discomfort?" He tried to keep his voice calm.
"Not really. My back has been killing me though." That caught the attention of the table.
"What's up?" Raj and Leonard asked. Sheldon placed his napkin over his food and stood up.
"I believe Penny is in labor."
...
Penny sat on the couch, feeling trapped. She leaned forward, looking down the hall to see if Sheldon was coming back. I'm getting my own chicken! She thought. She's been stuck on the couch for the past month. One stupid incident of stress incontinence, and she was grounded on the couch like a naughty little four year old. With no Sheldon in sight, she scooted to the edge of the couch. With a much practiced rocking motion, she got off the couch. Pausing for a moment, waiting for Sheldon to bark a warning, but she heard nothing.
"Awe sweet chicken," she told herself. Penny softly tip toed to the kitchen. She carefully opened the refrigerator, prying the seal open with her nails. She grinned like a child in the candy store when she saw the labeled Tupperware container.
"Penny!' Penny jerked, almost dropping the plate. Using the door to recover herself, Penny took a breath of relief. "Saved it," she murmured, righting the plate of chicken.
"Penny, you can't be off of the couch without assistance." Sheldon rounded Penny, taking the plate from her.
"Sheldon, I'm fine," she whined. She followed the plate of chicken though the kitchen to the microwave. Sheldon removed the lid and placed the Tupperware plate in the microwave. Once the timer was set he turned his annoyed attention back to Penny. He was tired, but he didn't mind. He set it up with Caltech to work from home when Penny returned home from the hospital after Howard's wedding. He still woke up in a cold, panicked sweat when he relived that night.
Yes, she was fine, but his mind flooded with the never-ending 'What ifs'. What if she did go into pre-term labor?
What if she got so stressed out and developed pre-eclampsia?
What if she started bleeding during or after delivery and the doctor couldn't stop it?
What if that caused the need for a hysterectomy? Or worse, she bleeds to the point of death?
Oh dear God what if he lost both of them?
"Sheldon! Sheldon! Breath sweetie, calm down," Penny yelled as she shook Sheldon. Sheldon looked at Penny, hyperventilating. He enveloped Penny in his arms, still panicked.
"Wait if I lose you. Penny, so much can go wrong. Didn't that night teach you anything?"
"Yes, it did. It taught me that your little Marietta Blau in there can kick like hell. She made me pee myself."
"No Penny, It showed us that anything can happen and we can't control it!" Penny rubbed Sheldon's arm.
"Exactly sweetie. The doctor checked me, I'm fine. Just roll with it. Now let me eat chicken." Penny turned just as the microwave dinged.
Sheldon followed his little family back to the living room, still not accepting the 'just roll with it' philosophy.
It was late at night and again, Penny's back was killing her, but this time it was different. Her legs where restless and she felt her heart race. "Feels like that time I got in that fight with Becky Monk when she found me kissing Brain," she muttered to herself. She tried to shake off the fight or flight feeling she had. Her legs scissored as she rubbed her back. Useless.
"Danger! Danger!" Sheldon yelled when Penny accidently kicked him. Sheldon looked around, collecting himself. "Penny?"
"Sheldon, I think you should call the doctor," she whimpered. Sheldon shot out of the bed and raced out of the apartment. He wasn't going to waste time with calling some on call doctor at would be sleeping. No he was going across the hall to Penny's old apartment so Leonard could drive them straight to the hospital.
"Sheldon just calm down," Penny begged. Sheldon shook him head when he looked up from the chair. When he turned his attention back to the arm of the chair he had been scrubbing, Penny rolled her eyes. Why would she be surprised? Why would she be surprised that her husband started to freak out about a situation he couldn't handle or control? Why would she be surprised that said husband was now wearing little paper booties, surgical mask, latex gloves and meticulously scrubbing every hard surface he could get his disinfecting hands on?
Penny winced again, still feeling the pressure even with the epidural. Sheldon stood up, inventorying the room. He just had the ceiling left to clean, but those blasted nurses wouldn't call the maintaince department for a ladder. He noticed Penny's uncomfortable look and quickly took his gloves off. Once they were disposed of and his hands washed, he was at her side. Oh how he wished she wouldn't be having any pain. He struggled even know to give proper comfort.
"There, there," he murmured, nervously patting her arm. Penny rubbed her thighs and groined.
"Sheldon, get the nurse in here now!"
"Well yes mother, I will," Sheldon spoke softly into his cell phone.
"Shelly, I'm going to go to the computer and wait for them. As soon as were done, you take pictures and send them, al'right." Sheldon pressed himself closer to the large window of the nursery.
"Yes ma ma." Sheldon departed from his conversation, wiping a rouge tear as he thumbed the 'end call' button. He waved at the passing nurse, getting her attention.
"Yes, Dr. Cooper," she asked with a smirk. She knew better then to call him 'Sheldon' or 'Mr. Cooper', his friends forewarned her. He smiled approvingly at her.
"Yes, nurse," he looked at her name tag, "Jackie. I would like to go in to my daughter. You see her grandmother is very eager for some photos." Nurse Jackie smiled as she swiped her badge though the card reader on the door. She motioned him in, reading herself to instruct him on how to wash his hands, but stopped when he waved her off. She washed as he instructed her proper hand and arm washing. Again, she didn't argue, the nurse she relieved twenty minutes ago, forewarned her.
Sheldon finished and made his way to his daughter, Marietta Blue Cooper. He took his phone out and tapped the screen to get the camera. Once he had several pictures of her he e-mailed them to everyone in his contacts list. Just as the phone told him that his daughter's beautiful picture was flying across the world to friends and family eager to meet her, she fussed. He looked around the room for the nurse, she stood just feet away from him.
"Looks like she's hungry," she cooed.
"Well she would be brought to Penny. She's breast feeding, it's better for the development," he said, moving toward the door. The nurse nodded and pushed the baby cart out of the room.
Penny was tired, sore and very grateful for the shower she just took. She carefully sat on the bed, gently scooting back. "Holy crap on a cracker," she said just as the door opened.
"Penny are you ok?" Sheldon asked, hearing her remark. She smiled when she say Marie. "Yep, all good over here."
"Marietta is hungry," he said as he fluffed Penny's pillow. He helped Penny get comfortable, as the nurse got Marietta ready.
"Marietta is a name that I don't hear often. Well I don't hear at all, very uniquie. Is it a family name?" Nurse Jackie asked as she placed the baby in Penny's arms. Sheldon brightened.
"No, not a family name." He took a deep breath, seamlessly changing his pose into 'teacher'.
"Here we go," Penny signed. Sheldon waved off Penny's remark and fouced on the nurse.
"Marietta Blau was a pioneering force in the photographic method of studying particle tracks. She created emulsions with characteristics and development conditions that allowed for observation and measurement of proton tracks. She was indeed the first physicist to show that proton tracks could be separated from alpha-particle tracks in emulsion. Of course, lots of physicists had studied alpha tracks from the alpha-decay of very heavy nuclei in the emulsion, from very early times, in the 1890s, and even earlier. She also was the first to use nuclear emulsions to detect neutrons - by observing recoil protons. Well she even showed there were relatively large numbers of protons and neutrons in cosmic radiation. She was a great female in the world as we know it, I can't understand how you don't know who she is."
The nurse looked at Penny like Sheldon grew a second head. Her co-workers did not forewarn her about this. Penny shrugged with a goofy smile on her face. The nurse focused in on Marietta, helping Penny get the knack of breastfeeding.
"You two look precious," Penny said as she walked into the living room from the kitchen. She looked at father and daughter. She smiled and handed Sheldon a bottle. "Bet you never thought the first time you met me that we would be sitting on the couch married with a widdle baby," Penny said as she tickled Marietta's cheek. Sheldon frowned at Penny.
"Please Penny, incorrectly and improperly using words: widdle for little, baba for bottle, is not going to help her hear and say the works correctly."
"What's wrong with a little baby talk with the baby?"
"Many things, as I've already stated." They were quiet for a moment. Sheldon focused on Marietta, Penny focusing on net getting mad. "No, I wouldn't have ever thought that this was probable. But I'm thankful for it every second of the day." Penny looked over at him, all anger vanishing.
"Me too," Mrs. Cooper said a she leaned over to kiss her husband and daughter.
Ok so who the heck is Marietta Blau? Is she really a physics babe? Why yes she is… and most of what Sheldon said about her I copy and pasted from this website…http: // . /Phase2/ Blau,_Marietta 843727247. Html There are spaces in the address, you'll need to take them out to copy and paste the address. Thanks to everyone for reading it's been fun.. I'll probably do another story of the Coopers in the future.
Many thanks to PaintedTeacherLady for Beta'ing this chapter. She's great!