Two weeks later
"Hey Charlotte, how are you feeling?" Addison asked when I entered her office.
"Good you?" I asked. Addison stood up and smoothed out her blouse.
"I'm good, just ya know, feeling like a whale." She replied. "You ready?" Addison asked. I nodded.
"Yeah." I said. Addison smiled and led me across the hall to an exam room. I laid down on the exam table and Addison moved the sonogram machine closer.
"Where's Cooper?" She asked and squirted the gel on to my stomach.
"He took Mason and Trenton out to see that new Adam Sandler movie." I said.
"How many more weeks does Trenton have in the cast?" Addison asked and moved the radar around.
"Six." I said. "How does he look?" I asked.
"Anthony looks great for thirty-one weeks." Addison told me and handed me a paper towel to wipe my stomach off. Then she checked my blood pressure. "Everything looks great." Addison told me. I nodded and sat up.
"Finalized any name decisions?" I asked.
"Uhm no. But we eliminated Brooklyn." Addison said. I nodded.
"Any reason why?" I asked.
"Mark realized he had an Aunt who he absolutely hated whose middle name was Brooklyn." Addison said laughing. I rolled my eyes.
"Wow." I laughed. Naomi poked her head into the room.
"Addison, you ready?" She asked. Addison nodded.
"Yeah, we were just finishing up. I'll see you later Charlotte." Addison replied and followed Naomi out. I stared at the frozen image of Anthony on the screen. Eventually Addison came back in. "Oh hey Charlotte, I thought you had left." She said.
"Oh no, I was just thinking." I said.
"For thirty minutes?" Addison asked. I nodded. "What's on your mind?" She asked.
"Just thinking about what it's going to be like when Anthony gets here." I said.
"Yeah. I think about the twins a lot too." Addison said.
"I'm worried about Mason and Trenton." I admitted.
"I'm sure they will love Anthony." Addison assured me. Mark came in.
"Hey Addison, Naomi told me I'd find you here. How was the appointment?" Mark asked.
"Oh, it was good. She said the girl was kind of small but as long as I kept up a healthy diet she'd be fine." Addison said. Mark nodded.
"That's good. Charlotte, Cooper told me to tell you that Mason and Trenton had Red Boxed a movie for tonight and were excitedly awaiting you arrival. He told me to tell you to please hurry home before he gets attacked." Mark told me. I smiled.
"Thanks Mark. I was about to leave anyway." I said and slid past him out the door. Cooper was barely hanging on by the time I got home. He looked exhausted. Trenton and Mason were sprawled out on the living room floor watching cartoons and battling each other with their Pokemon cards. Trenton looked up and smiled.
"Hey mom! Dad can we order Pizza now?" Trenton asked excitedly.
"Sure kiddo. I'll go call." Cooper said and got up from the couch.
"Make sure you get breadsticks." I said and kissed him on the cheek when he walked by on his way to the kitchen to order. He nodded. I sat down on the couch. "So what movie did you guys get?" I asked.
"Avatar!" Mason said excitedly but did not look up from his duel.
"Cool. That's the one with the blue people right?" I asked. Trenton nodded. Cooper came back in and sat down next to me on the couch. He put his arm around my shoulders and I leaned my head on his chest.
"Trenton put the movie in." Mason told him.
"No! Why don't you? You're gonna mess up my cards." Trenton said.
"I am not!" Mason argued.
"I think you should put it in. My arm hurts." Trenton said.
"Liar." Mason spat.
"Guys. Seriously. Mason put the movie in." Cooper said.
"That's not fair dad." Mason whined.
"Mason. Do as you arm told. Mom is very tired and she probably doesn't want to hear you two arguing." Cooper said. Mason sighed and got up.
"Don't touch my cards." Mason warned.
"He won't. I'm watching him." I said. Mason nodded and went to get the movie off the kitchen counter. He came back into the room and put it in. Then he got back down on the floor.
"Thank you Mase." Cooper said and hit play. Next thing I knew Cooper was waking me up twenty minutes later when the pizza came. I ate two pieces and then went to bed.
Three weeks later
I sighed and leaned back in my desk chair. I started maternity leave next week and I had been at work since five trying to get things straightened out for next week. I felt a sharp pain and gently rubbed circles on my bump.
"Not so hard." I begged. Addison came in.
"Hey, you okay?" She asked.
"Yeah. Probably just some Braxton-Hicks." I said.
"How many have you had in the past hour?" Addison asked.
"This is the first one all day." I told her.
"Oh okay. Well let me know if you have more than four in an hour, you might be in preterm labor." Addison said. I nodded.
"Will do." I said and stood from my chair. I moved around to the filing cabinet and started shifting through papers. Addison sat down on the couch in my office.
"You know on second thought I'll sit with you for the next hour. Just to be sure." Addison said. I rolled my eyes and pulled a stack of files out of the cabinet. I pushed the drawer back in and went to sit back down at my desk. I flipped one open and started looking through it.
"So, how is the name game going?" I asked as I continued to work.
"No advancements." Addison said. I nodded. A few minutes later another one hit.
"Ouch." I breathed. Addison looked up from her blackberry.
"Charlotte?" She asked.
"I'm fine." I said and went back to my files.
"That's two in fifteen minutes." Addison said.
"I'm fine." I insisted.
"Sure you are." Addison said and looked back at her blackberry. I rolled my eyes and continued to work. Maybe fifteen minutes later another one hit.
"Anthony, not now." I pleaded.
"Charlotte, that's fifteen minutes intervals. I think you're in preterm labor." Addison said.
"I am not." I said.
"Don't make me get Cooper in here. You need to go to the hospital so I can check you out. Try and get the contractions to stop. See if we can't keep him in longer." Addison said. I sighed.
"Fine." I agreed regrettably. Addison led me out to her car and drove me to St. Ambrose. She checked me into a room and had an intern hook up a fetal monitor and an IV.
"I'll give you something to try and stop the contractions but I think it's too late. I'll call Cooper." Addison said. I nodded. Addison turned to leave. She stopped and turned back to me. "Charlotte try to get some sleep while you can." She said and slipped out of the room.