Chapter Twenty Eight
"We're so glad you're awake and feeling better Steven," Linda told the young man as she and Danny paid a visit.
"Did they say when you might be checking out of here?" Danny asked. "Jamie and Eddie have the spare room all set up."
"Oh, we're going to go back to our place," Steven said quickly. "We have a lot of packing to do."
"You will have our help there, you shouldn't be doing anything until those ribs are healed and Lila isn't in any condition to do it. You don't worry about that at all, we'll have you ready for your move."
Before Steven could protest, "Time to recheck your vitals, Steven," said the nurse as she entered Steven's room, pulling a portable blood pressure machine behind her. He'd only been awake for about 12 hours, and still felt pretty rotten.
"Okay," said Steven.
"Are the steroids helping any?" the nurse asked as she set up machines to check his progress.
"Yeah, some," replied Steven.
"I'm so glad to see you sitting in the chair," said the nurse. "That's real progress!"
"That's what I keep telling him" said Linda. "I have seen so many MVAs over the years as a nurse but he doesn't see it."
"Listen to your Mom," said the nurse as she fastened the cuff on his arm and started the machine. "It's a small thing, but you've got several small things you have to do to heal up enough to go home."
"This isn't my Mom, this is Lila's aunt and uncle, Linda and Danny. Linda was a trauma nurse for a lot of years. She was just telling me about that breathing thing," said Steven, referring to the small, plastic breathing meter they'd given him a short while earlier. It had a mouthpiece and a small hose on it, and he'd been instructed to breathe into it and make the little floating indicator inside rise to a specified level. It didn't look like fun considering his bruised ribs, and he was dreading it.
"That's super important. We don't want to see you develop pneumonia." The nurse placed a thermometer in Steven's mouth, and made note of the reading a few seconds later.
"I know," said Steven, "I'm just not sure how I'm supposed to manage that thing in this condition."
"You can do it, babe," Lila reassured stroked the back of his head. "We'll just take it slow at first and as you get stronger, you'll be able to do it, no problem."
"Alright, Lila, your turn." Lila looked over at Steven, knowing what the next words out of his mouth would be. She was thankful for her aunt and uncle to cushion his reaction.
"Your turn?" he asked. "Why?"
Linda looked up at Danny, "I think this is the time when we go and get Lila and Steven some tea…" Danny sputtered, wanting to make sure that Steven did not come down hard on her but Linda shoved him out giving the couple their space.
Lila sighed as she held out her arm for the nurse. "I had a little problem with my blood pressure yesterday and they want to keep an eye on it."
"What kind of problem?" asked Steven, terribly concerned for his wife and unborn babies.
"I had to spend several hours upstairs on the maternity floor after Joe found me passed out next to your bed," Lila admitted.
"What!" exclaimed Steven? "What happened?"
"Apparently my blood pressure got so high from all the stress that I passed out," answered Lila. "They took me upstairs and put me on a fetal monitor and kept a close watch on my pressures and the babies' heart rates. When they were satisfied with both, they let me come back down here with the understanding that they'd be checking my pressures down here and if they went too high, I had to go back upstairs."
"Are you okay?! The babies?!"Steven looked ready to leap out of bed.
"We're all fine, babe, I promise" said Lila, reaching out to hold his hand. "The doctor last night said I've got what they call pre-eclampsia, which just means while I'm pregnant we have to really closely monitor my blood pressure."
"Looks good for now, Lila" said the nurse as she removed the cuff from Lila's arm. "I'll leave you two alone for a while." She quietly stepped out of the room.
"What if it goes that high again?" asked Steven, the concern on his face enough to make Lila want to cry.
"If they can't get it under control, then they'd have to deliver the babies," Lila explained. "But it's been okay, even Dad isn't worried so…"
"Did they talk about delivering the baby last night?" Steven asked Lila only to have her turn away from him.
"Lila, look at me!" insisted Steven. "Did they?"
Lila nodded her head. "It was close, Steven. Really close."
"How close?" he asked, needing to know as much as possible about the ordeal.
"2 minutes," replied Lila, so softly she could barely be heard.
"2 minutes?" asked Steven. "So if your pressures hadn't come down when they did, you would have had the babies last night?"
Lila nodded.
"Lila, I'm so sorry" said Steven. "I should have been there for you and I-" She cut him off.
"No, Steven, don't apologize," she said. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I let myself get spun up out of control and not only was I not here for you but I put our babies in danger and we both almost missed the birth and…" She began to cry.
"Hey," said Steven, holding his hands out to embrace hers. "Let's not dwell on it, on what might have happened. We've got enough to deal with without getting upset over how the babies almost came early and how we both almost missed the birth, okay? That didn't happen, any of it, and you're still fine and the babies are still safe and sound in there, and in another couple months, we'll get to have the birth we've looked forward to all this time."
Lila sobbed as she listened to his words. He was right, but then he often was.
"Yes, we will, and it'll be amazing, huh?"
"You know it will," answered Steven, appearing to feel a little bit better.
"Oh hey," said Lila, wiping away a few remaining tears, "Mom said she, Aunt Erin and Aunt Linda have got our baby shower almost totally planned. How cool is that!"
"Pretty cool," answered Steven. "Does my mom know about that yet?"
"Do I know about what?" Maura asked as she stepped into Steven's room. "That you somehow got yourself in the hospital ten weeks before becoming a father, yes I do know, Commission Reagan called us."
Steven sat up a little straighter, "Mom! Dad!"
"Hello, Son," Joshua greeted. "Lila, how are you feeling?"
"A little tired," Lila replied. "But pretty good otherwise." She didn't want to say anything about her pre-eclampsia to her still untrusted in-laws.
"And the infants, they are growing?" Maura asked. "If I didn't know you were due in September I would say you were overdue."
Lila put her hand on her belly, "Well sometimes I feel like I'm overdue. Do you two want time alone with Steven?"
"No, honey," Joshua replied. "We have to apologize to the both of you for how we acted. Lila, a few months ago, your father and I had a talk about how things went and I made him a promise that I would not involve you or the babies in our family dramas. I am sorry for everything, we both are."
Lila took a breath, both of her parents were known for holding a grudge but she didn't want to make anything worse for Steven or her babies, "Let's put it in the past, your grandchildren are coming soon and like it or not we are going to keep our babies and my parents are going to help us until we are able stand on our own. If that is a deal breaker for you, then I am sorry."
Maura sighed, "We wish that you waited but that wasn't in the greater plan, we will try to come to terms with this. I'm just so glad that you're all right." Maura moved closer and held Steven. Lila's eyes misted over and a few tears fell. She was so close to her own parents it was so hard to see her husband in a rift with his.
"Well, we don't want to keep you from your rest, we'll stop back tomorrow," Joshua said still a little stiff. He was still reeling from the ill-fated coffee meeting where Steven showed his father he had the father's instinct as well.
"Thanks for coming, Mom, Dad," Steven smiled. "See you tomorrow."
Lila smiled and kissed Steven's head, "That was really nice. Mom said they are going to be invited to the shower so I hope they come, and I hope you have your strength back enough to enjoy it."
"Speaking of strength, I guess I need to work on that stupid thing, huh?" He pointed to the breathing meter sitting on the shelf by the window.
"Yeah, you do," replied Lila. She handed it to him, and he gave it all he could, determined to meet all his requirements for discharge by the end of the week.
Lila had no doubt he'd succeed.
A/N: Thanks to my regular readers and reviewers, I love to see your comments in my box! Several of you guessed Steven's folks were going to show up, you were right! Hope everyone enjoyed!
Next Update – June 6th – Baby shower time! It's an extra long chapter this time around.
