Jamie opened his dad's backdoor and found his Grandpa in the kitchen.
"Hey Pop. Erin sent me after the roast for Sunday."
Henry nodded. "There's room on the top shelf."
Jamie set the roast in the fridge and grabbed a beer. Henry sat at the kitchen table and started making them sandwiches.
"How have you been?"
Jamie shrugged. "Good. I've been getting the nursery ready."
"I bet that's a chore."
He nodded. "It's painted and I've got the cribs up but I still have about 50 other things to do."
"Well if you need a hand you know i'm around."
"Thanks Grandpa."
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Eddie woke up in the middle of night and immediately flipped on her bedside lamp. Jamie blinked and looked at her.
"Are you okay?"
She sat up and winced. "I think something is wrong."
He was suddenly wide awake. "What do you mean?"
"There's a sharp pain in my stomach and back."
He jumped out of bed and started pulling on his clothes. "We're going to the hospital."
Eddie didn't feel like arguing. The whole ride there she was panicking. She didn't relax until Dr. McClain was paged. When he arrived he was so calm it made both Eddie and Jamie calm down. He spoke softly.
"Okay what seems to be going on?"
Eddie spoke through gritted teeth as she tried to breathe through the pain. "I feel this pain in my stomach and back."
He nodded and turned to the nurse. "Can you get me three fetal monitors and an ultrasound machine?"
She nodded. Soon Eddie was getting an ultrasound. Dr. McClain looked at the screen closely. He then turned it off and hooked her up to fetal monitors. He watched them for a couple minutes and then sighed.
"Eddie you're having contractions full blown contractions and the babies are not handling them well."
Eddie looked up scared. "What do we do now?"
"I'm going to have the nurse start you on an iv and we'll give you some medicine to stop them."
She nodded and Jamie looked at him.
"Then what?"
"We can talk about that later. But for now lets get these contractions under control."
They agreed. Soon Eddie was admitted and then having a needle shoved into her hand. Jamie's phone rang and he groaned. He hadn't realized the time he was suppose to be at church.
"Hey Erin."
"Where are you?"
"Eddie's in the hospital."
"What? Is she okay?"
"She's having contractions. We're hoping that they'll stop after this medication gets into her."
"Okay. I'll say a prayer for you guys. Give her a hug from me."
"Will do."
He hung up and sighed. Eddie looked exhausted but she was too scared to sleep. Jamie rubbed her hand.
"Try and close your eyes."
She shook her head and a few tears fell down her face. "What if they can't stop them? It's way too early."
He kissed her forehead. "It's going to be okay."
A few hours later Dr. McClain came in. He looked at her charts and then nodded.
"It looks like they are slowing down."
Eddie was still on alert. "That's good?"
He nodded. "But I need to give you the next step. Dr. Ross was going to go through it with you at your appointment next week but now is as good a time as any." He sat down on the edge of Eddie's bed. "With any multiples pregnancy we try and keep the babies in as long as possible before we have to deliver them. In my experience triplets normally are delivered between 32-35 weeks. I've never met anyone who has made it beyond that. The babies loose room and the mother can not take anymore. So I want you to be admitted to the hospital when you hit 31 weeks. That way we can get the babies out at the first sign of trouble."
Jamie and Eddie were both stunned. Jamie was the first to speak.
"She'd be in the hospital for a month?"
"Possibly or a couple weeks. Like I said it all depends. The babies may have to stay in the NICU a couple weeks or a couple months. It depends on how developed they are at delivery."
Eddie felt helpless. "So if i'm having contractions now is that a bad sign?"
"It just means that I may have to have you go on bed rest until time to come into the hospital."
She sighed. "I'm only 23 weeks."
"I'm not saying full on bedrest. You can still go to work and family functions but cut your work day in half and rest. Then will tell you when enough is enough."
She nodded. It was going to be a long 9 weeks.
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Eddie started working half days and limiting the household chores that she did. It was difficult because that put more on Jamie. She was starting to get a little depressed. Linda and Erin noticed during family dinner on Sunday and they made a plan. Erin spoke to Jamie as they cleared the table.
"Are you guys free on Saturday?"
He looked up. "Yeah but Eddie's not really suppose to go anywhere."
"Well do you think you can distract her?"
He cocked a brow. "What are you planning?"
"A baby shower. We can have it at your place that way she doesn't have to travel and we don't have to cart everything to your house. Just keep her upstairs until Linda and I get everything set up. I already had Linda call her Grandmother and she gave us a list of her friends."
Jamie smiled. "She would like that."
"You think so?"
He nodded. "It's frustrating her that we can't really go shopping and get everything for the girls."
"Well hopefully this will help."
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When Saturday came Jamie looked at Eddie early in the morning.
"Hey I was thinking, maybe we could go have lunch at Danny and Linda's just for a change of scenery."
Eddie glanced at him and shrugged. "Okay. I'll get dressed."
An hour or so later she heard the doorbell ring. She poked her head out their bedroom door and saw Jamie coming up the stairs.
"Who was it?"
He shrugged. "Just Erin dropping some stuff off."
She nodded. "Does she need help?"
"Not from you she doesn't."
She rolled her eyes and started to put on some mascara. She finished her makeup then went to go down stairs but Jamie blocked her.
"What are you doing?"
She cocked a brow. "Going downstairs. I thought you said that you wanted to go to lunch?"
"I did but I have a better idea."
He turned her and led her back into their bedroom. He texted Erin before locking the bedroom door.
j- I may have just bought you 30 minutes.
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Eddie put her top back on and smiled when Jamie kissed her shoulder.
"Hey we are never going to make it to your brother's if you don't get dressed."
"Ah let him wait."
She smiled. "Stop it."
"Why?"
She turned and pouted a little. "You know this is a lot more difficult then it use to be."
He chuckled. "Well it is still amazing."
"Suck up."
She stood and pulled back on her pants just as Erin sent Jamie the ok text. He smiled wickedly.
"Okay you can go downstairs."
She raised her brows. "Since when am I not allowed?"
He shrugged. She was curious. She slid on her shoes and walked down the stairs. When she entered her kitchen she was taken aback.
"Surprise!"
Eddie paused and looked. Erin and Linda had decorated the kitchen and family room with pink and mint decorations. Nicky, Gram and Eddie's best friend Zoe were there as was a mountain of gifts. She looked at Erin.
"What is all of this?"
"Well we didn't want to overwhelm you with a ton of people and since you can't leave the house we set up a live chat baby shower."
Nicky smiled. "Actually I set it up...they decorated."
Zoe ran forward and hugged her. "I collected the cute loot."
Eddie turned when she heard Jamie. She pointed a finger accusingly.
"You knew about this."
He grinned. "Maybe."
She kissed him just as Linda handed him his keys then gave him a shove towards the door.
"Women only!"
He threw her a look. "It's my house!"
She kept shooing him until he was out the door. She then smiled.
"Now we can party."
Eddie had a lot of fun. It made her forget all of her worries for a couple of hours. She was surprised at everything they had gotten. Most of it she had registered for but there were a few things that she hadn't. Erin had gotten in touch with a company that sold minky baby blankets and they gave them nine for free and sent her a ton of coupons. Then another company sent them mamaroos. They were swing and bouncer combos and they had tons of sound options. Frank and Henry had sent her a triple stroller and three carseats. Jamie came home about three hours after he had been kicked out. Only Linda and Erin were still there. He held his hands up.
"Is it safe to enter?"
Linda laughed. "Yes."
He nodded and took his jacket off. He saw the huge three seater stroller and his eyes widened.
"This thing is huge."
He examined every inch of it. Eddie rolled her eyes.
"It's not a car Jamie."
He stood. "I know but it is cool looking."
She laughed and showed him one of the mamaroos. "Check this thing out."
He looked and he grinned. "Okay I take it back this thing is awesome. We got three of them?"
She nodded. Erin handed him a beer and sat down.
"They're an up and coming company. I have met the owner a few times. He was more then happy to send these to you guys as a thank you for me saving his ass a few times."
He nodded. "Thank you. Really thank you both."
"No problem. Now all we need are our nieces."
Eddie made a face. "Lets not rush them."
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