From Now Until Forever

Chapter 12

Derek and Penelope sat in the examination room for what felt like hours but it was literally only a few minutes when the door opened and Stephanie stepped in and said "ok Penelope let's get the rest of your examination done" as she moved the blood pressure machine closer to the bed and began to apply the cuff to the top of Penelope's arm and started the machine and in just a few minutes the machine stopped and beeped letting Stephanie know that it was complete and Stephanie grabbed Penelope file and recorded the reading thankfully it was normal so Stephanie then took the cuff from Penelope's arm and hung it back over the machine as she said "now penelope let's get your weight so that we can keep a record of how much you put on throughout your pregnancy."

Penelope got off the bed and moved over to the scales and stepped on she looked down and couldn't believe that she had already put on 2.5 pound in just over a week, Stephanie recorded Penelope's weight and Penelope got off the scales and sat back on the bed, Derek looked at Penelope and could tell that she was beginning to get nervous he took her hand in his and bought it to his lips and placed a kiss to her knuckles Penelope looked over to Derek and gave him a half smile she was getting restless she wanted to get the ultrasound over and done with so that she could begin to prepare from what was to come and how long before her life would change for the better.

Stephanie left the room again and headed back to the lab she had a rush put on Penelope's samples so that they could get the results as quickly as possible, she walked into the lab and asked for the test results for Penelope Garcia and the lab technician went to get the results and when she came back she said "I have never seen a result this high for only being 9 weeks into a pregnancy if I am right I would say that she is carrying multiple babies" Stephanie took the results and looked at them and said "wowwwww that is high, thank you for getting the results done quickly for me" she turned and left the lab.

On the way back to Penelope's exam room Stephanie bumped into Dr. Martinez and said "Dr. Martinez I have your next patient waiting to get her test results back" she handed Dr. Martinez the piece of paper with the results on it and when she saw the expression on Dr. Martinez's face she said "I am not quite sure what to tell the patient about these results, would you be able to assist me in telling her" Dr. Martinez looked at Stephanie and said "sure but I think the best way to tell her would be to show her on the ultrasound that way when we explain the high reading of the hCG level it will be a lot clear don't you think" Stephanie nodded and said "that is a great idea doctor" and the two headed to Penelope's room.

There was a knock on the door before it opened and in stepped Stephanie and another lady who introduced herself as Dr. Martinez Stephanie explained to Penelope and Derek that she was the ultrasound technician and was there to conduct the ultrasound while Dr. Martinez set up the ultrasound machine, Dr. Martinez asked "Penelope can you please lay back on the bed and lift your shirt above your stomach and lower your skirt" Penelope complied with the doctors orders and Dr. Martinez grabbed the bottle of gel and said "now Penelope this is going to be a little cold" as she began to squirt some of the gel on to Penelope's stomach.

Penelope flinched a little and said "wowwwww that is cold" Derek still had Penelope's hand in his as sat there his eyes glued to the small screen of the ultrasound machine as Dr. Martinez picked up the wand and placed it on Penelope's belly and began to spread the gel out, Dr. Martinez watched the screen as she moved the wand but when she found what she was looking for she stopped moving and began to press buttons on the machine before she moved the wand again and then finally she flicked a switch and said "if you look up on the big screen you will be able to see your babies" Derek and Penelope looked up at the big screen and both gasped at what they saw.

Dr. Martinez moved the mouse on the ultrasound machine which moved on the big screen as well and said "see here this is babies number 1and 2" she moved the wand to the right a little and said "this here is babies number 3 and 4" Dr. Martinez flicked another switch and several swooshing sounds filled the room, Derek turned to Dr. Martinez and said "what is that sound" Dr. Martinez said "that is your babies heartbeats" Penelope was in shock here she was thinking that she was having just one baby but finding out she having four is going take a little bit to get used to she turned to look at Derek and saw that he had tears rolling down his cheeks but not only that she saw look of pure love in his eyes.

Penelope was bought out of her reverie by Dr. Martinez saying "now Penelope according to your test results you are about 9 weeks and with the measurements that I have of each baby I agree, and I know this is a shock at the moment but I would like to send you to a another doctor that specializes in high order multiple pregnancies" Stephanie took a towel and wiped Penelope's belly clean of the gel before saying "you may sit up now Penelope" Penelope sat up and fixed her skirt and her shirt, finally she found her words and said "I can't believe that there are four babies inside me" Dr. Martinez said "well it very rare to see someone conceive quadruplets without the help of fertility treatments so you should consider yourself lucky to be blessed with the opportunity."

Derek sat there still stunned that he was getting four babies for the price of one and now he couldn't wait to tell his Mamma, he heard Penelope and Dr. Martinez talking but he wasn't taking any of it in all of a sudden he heard his name being called and he turned to Penelope and shook his head to clear his mind and Penelope said "Handsome are you ok" Derek nodded and smiled as he said "yeah Baby Girl I am fine I was just thinking that is all" Penelope smiled at him as she squeezed his hand to reassure him that everything would be ok Dr. Martinez said "would you like a copy of the ultrasound" Derek and Penelope said in unison "yes please" then Penelope said "can we get 6 copies please."

Dr. Martinez smiled and said "sure you can" she began to click buttons on the ultrasound machine and it began to print out the copies, once the pictures finished printing the copies Dr. Martinez handed them to Penelope and she looked at the pictures in her hand and saw that each of the copies was the same the picture that Dr. Martinez had chosen was one of all four babies Penelope traced her thumb over the four little grayish jellybean spots while the hand that was joined with Derek's went to her belly, Dr. Martinez said "now Penelope I am going to give you a prescription for some prenatal vitamins and also a referral to see a specialist, do you have any questions."

Penelope said "with a multiple pregnancy there is a chance of going into labor early isn't there" Dr. Martinez said "yes there is a chance of going into pre-term labor but anywhere from 28-33 weeks is considered to be full term with high order multiples" Penelope replied "so with high order multiples what chance would the babies have if I went into pre-term labor" Dr. Martinez replied "the babies would have a 50% chance if they were born at 25 weeks and would be in the hospital until at least their due date so that they can be monitored and make sure that they aren't having any problems with breathing or eating" Penelope was now struggling to come to terms with all of this information.

After the appointment Penelope and Derek walked back to the car hand in hand as they both tried to understand how much their lives were going to change, they were going to need a bigger house, bigger cars and everything by four, Penelope was worried about whether she was going to be able to carry four babies but there was no way on earth that she would ever terminate one or more of her babies, the drive back to the FBI building was a quiet one as neither one knew what to say as they were both still in shock from he news.