Interlude – A small break in the story.
Even years later Sam will love telling stories of Jack and her pregnancy:
"Jack absolutely loved the whole process—being pregnant, having a baby—nesting I guess you'd call it," she will say, laughing. "He talked to Beanie all the time. Said it was important for the baby to hear human voices. And he must have been right. After Beanie was born, nothing was as calming as listening to Daddy talk. It even works today.
"He went with me to every single exam—he scheduled missions around them! He has a binder full of ultrasound printouts, and he memorized every one. Even today, show him a random picture and he'll recite the details. Online he found one of those websites that help you track your baby's development from week to week. He was on it just about every day, checking to see 'what the kid was up to now' as he put it. And he told everybody who would listen all about it! Of course pretty soon, they all learned how to tune him out—I think only Teal'c and General Hammond were patient enough to pay attention every time.
"Every evening he would tell the baby all about his day. He'd describe the places he went and the people he met. Not any bad stuff, of course; but he would tell Beanie what it was like to fly the jets he was working with, or how exciting it was to go through the Gate, and about all the interesting planets out there, and how someday, Beanie will be able to go, too.
"We went to pick out baby furniture for the first time when I was just two months along. He wasn't happy with anything we saw—none of it was good enough for our baby, he said. I said it was silly to go so early, anyway. We waited until about five months and looked again. Still no luck! So he found a furniture maker, and together they worked out designs, and he had it all custom made! I don't even want to know what it cost!
"He kept his family updated with daily emails. Daily emails, mind you! His mother is a doctor, so she might have been interested in all the details—but I doubt if the rest of them were! I mean, what did they care if Beanie was three and one-eighth or three and three-sixteenths inches long at fourteen weeks?!
"Janet recommended an OB-GYN at the Academy Hospital, Dr. Patrice Ferenc. Jack had her vetted, for crying out loud! You'd think Janet's word would be enough. Dr. Pat had clearance, of course; after all, we needed someone who could deal if the naquadah in my blood became a problem. But he still had her checked out.
"He obsessed over my diet! The nausea and vomiting were a problem for a long time, and he spent lots of time trying to find things I could keep down, things that wouldbe nutritious, too. When I finally got past morning sickness—sometime in the seventh month, I think—he started bringing home all kinds of organic foods and exotic stuff. Said he wanted the baby to develop a taste variety! Alligator jerky?! Jackfruit jelly?! Seriously?! The only thing we fought over in the entire nine months was food—what I wanted versus what he thought I should try. Give me ice cream and pickles any old time!
"Jack switched from country music to classical during our pregnancy." She giggles. "He always called it 'our' pregnancy, and eventually he got me doing it, too. I guess it was justified—he even had the same symptoms—starting with that fainting spell at the first ultrasound. He had morning sickness and cramps... and labor pains, too! By the time my labor got into the hard stages, he was in so much pain Dr. Pat had to send him out of the room. He begged her to let him back in. He wanted to be there so bad! Finally she gave him Valium, and that worked. The cramps relaxed and the pain was much better. Thank goodness—I don't know how I would have gotten through it without him...
"After the birth, I could hardly get the baby away from him, even for feedings! It was really comical—he was torn between wanting me to breastfeed, and wanting to be able to feed Beanie himself.
"He would come in the door at night asking where the baby was. 'And oh yeah, by the way, hi Sam, how was your day... But gimme the baby now and I'm happy as a pig in a mud puddle...'
"And he was, too... It was like watching someone whose dreams had all come true..." Sam will have happy tears in her eyes every time she tells the story.
114
"Haven't you guys decided on a name yet...?" Cassie asks, pausing as Sam pulls herself awkwardly out of the recliner. "Do you need some help..."
"No, I'm good," Sam says. She does a little turn, getting leverage from hanging onto the chair arm, and then is on her feet. "I should know better than to sit in the damn recliner," she mutters. "And no, we haven't settled on the names."
"Don't you think you've put it off long enough? I mean, it's May 30th! Your due date passed over a week ago!"
"Don't worry," Jack says, coming in from the kitchen. "We'll agree on something by the time the kid is ready for college."
Cassie rolls her eyes. "Very funny, Jack. "Do you at least have a short list?"
"Well, the only thing we've decided so far is that the middle name will be Jacob—if it's a boy," Sam says. She braces a hand on her lower back. "Excuse me. I have to go..." She heads for the hall.
"Again?" Cassie says.
"With the baby pushing on the bladder, it compresses the capacity considerably, increasing the pregnant lady's need to pee frequently," Jack tells her matter-of-factly as he sits down beside her on the sofa.
"Eww, Jack! Yuck. Too much information!"
"What's too much information?" Daniel asks as he comes from the kitchen with a cup of coffee in his hand.
"You don't want to know," Cassie says.
"That means it's probably something to do with bodily functions," Daniel concludes. "Okay. I'll pass. Where's Sam? I thought she was gonna rest."
"She had to go wee-wee," Jack says in a stage whisper, "but don't say it in front of Cassie."
Daniel snorts and tries to cover it up.
"Ohh! You guys!" Cassie makes a face. "If Sam didn't need me..."
"You sound upset, CassandraFraiser." Teal'c has just emerged from the hallway. He has been using the upstairs study for kell-no-reem. "Has something occurred? Where is Major Carter-O'Neill?" He sounds almost hopeful. Jack has been on down-time since Sam's due date, therefore SG1 is off the mission roster until after the baby is born. Daniel and Teal'c have been spending quite a bit of time at Jack and Sam's house, along with Cassie when she's not in school.
"Sam's in the bathroom, Teal'c. That's all." Cassie gets up and heads for the kitchen. "I'm going to get a soda. Anybody want anything?"
"Is there any beer?" Jack asks, hopefully.
"You know there's not," Daniel answers him. Sam has banned alcohol from the house, as Jack is well aware.
"Then, no thanks, Cass." Jack sighs with mock disappointment. "It's about time to get started on dinner, though. Are you going to help me?"
"Sure," she says over her shoulder. She is back a few moments later with a can of lemon-lime soda. "Look, I get that you don't want to know the sex of the baby until it's born, but since that's the case, you really need to pick out names for a boy and a girl. It's gonna happen any time now."
"A lot of people wait until after their baby's birth to pick a name, Cassie," Daniel says. "Sometimes they say they want to see him or her first to choose a name that fits."
"Really?" She frowns. "On Hanka it was very bad shunan-jha—that's something like karma—for a baby to be born nameless. It's name wouldn't stick, and the gods wouldn't recognize him."
"I have heard of this tradition," Teal'c says. "It exists on a number of worlds. The spirit of the child must find its name before it is born. The process of attachment is difficult, so the earlier a name is chosen, the better."
"I've never heard of anything like that," Daniel says, interested. "Here on earth, some cultures have refused to even give a child a name until it has survived at least one year."
"Oh, that's awful!" Cassie observes. "How would he know who he is? What did they call him?"
"Just 'Baby' I expect," Daniel says. "But I agree. Kids should know who they are early."
Cassie turns to Jack. "See! You gotta pick a name!"
Daniel is now in lecture mode. "Other groups of people—among them some Native American tribes—will give a child its 'infant name', and later change it based on the kid's characteristics as it grows older. It might be Laughing Baby to start and then Boy who Runs Fast when he's seven or eight. In some cases, he earns a third name when he becomes a man. 'Warrior Who Shot the White Buffalo', for example."
"Are you serious?" Cassie demands. "How confusing is that! My mother and father picked Cassandra—or Sandar if I'd been a boy—as my name just a few days after they knew she was pregnant. So that's who I've been as long as I've existed. I would never change it!"
"Well, people in our culture don't usually change their name unless there's a good reason. We do add to it, though. Like I'm Doctor Jackson. Jack is Colonel."
"Those are titles."
"SamanthaCarter has become SamanthaCarter-O'Neill," Teal'c points out.
Jack grins. "Indeed she has. And speaking of Sam..." He starts to get up, and then drops back onto the couch with a grunt of pain.
"Jack?" Daniel asks, as they all look at him.
"Just a cramp," Jack says. "I've been getting quite a few of them lately. But thank God the morning sickness stopped! That was the worst!"
Daniel suppresses a grin. He has secretly found it kind of amusing that Jack has suffered many of the symptoms of pregnancy along with Sam—although he does sympathize with both of them. From the first ultrasound, when Jack fainted at Sam's bedside, he has shared her discomfort—morning sickness, dizzy spells, cramps, Braxton-Hicks contractions, even some of the food cravings. Their proximity to each other seems to trigger his symptoms. While he was at Peterson Air Base they were barely noticeable, and when he was on off-world missions there was no problem, only when they are both at home or at the SGC do his symptoms manifest.
"Jack!" Sam's voice calls from the hallway. "Can you come here?"
"Coming!" He levers himself off the couch more carefully, and heads for the hall. "Where are you?"
"Bathroom!"
He opens the door and stops, looking at her questioningly.
She grins at him. "My water broke."
115
"Any contractions?" the doctor asks when they get her on the phone. The OB that Janet has connected them with is Dr. Patrice Ferenc, at the Academy Hospital maternity department. Both Sam and Jack like her very much.
"No," Sam replies.
"Was the flow fast or slow?" Dr. Pat continues.
"It's really just a leak. Not a gush."
"Backache? Cramps? Discomfort level, one to ten?"
"No cramps. Discomfort probably about four, and that's nothing new! And I've got kind of a twinge-y backache."
"Twinge-y," the doctor echoes. "That's a new one. Does that mean it comes and goes?"
"No. It's pretty constant actually. But every once in a while it sort of stabs a bit."
"Time the stabs. See if they're regular." Her tone of voice makes Sam think she's just giving them something to do. "Call me back in... oh, an hour, unless something changes. And tell Jack not to worry."
Sam laughs. "Not that it'll do any good, but I'll pass along the message." They are all seated around the kitchen table, and she glances over at her husband, who is practically twitching with anxiety beside her. "Thanks, Dr. Pat."
"Well?" Jack demands, as soon as she hangs up. "Do we go to the hospital? What did she say?"
"She told me to tell you to calm down and not to worry. And to call her back in an hour if nothing changes. Oh, and she said to time the twinges."
"Twinges? You mean the cramps we're having?"
"Mine are just twinges," she says. She leans over and kisses his cheek. "I'm sorry you have to go through this with me, Jack."
He grins. "Wouldn't miss it for the world."
"Let me know when the next twinge comes and I'll keep track," Cassie says, glancing at the kitchen clock. "Can I call my mom, and let her know what's happening?"
"Sure," Sam says. "Go ahead."
Cassie grabs the phone and leaves the room.
"Is there anything we can do for you, Samantha?" Teal'c asks.
"Not at the moment, thanks. I think we just wait for a while." She stops talking and holds still, then relaxes. "Okay. That's the first twinge."
"Four eleven," Daniel says, glancing at his watch.
116
The next three hourly calls to Dr. Pat report virtually no change. Sam has had four 'twinges' in the hour, very unevenly spaced. Janet shows up just after six-thirty, having finished her shift at the SGC. The two women disappear into the bedroom so Janet can check Sam over. Afterward she calls Dr. Pat and has a brief phone consult.
"Everything's normal," Janet assures them. "You can stay home all night, as long as nothing changes."
"But the water broke," Jack protests.
"Labor usually will start within 24 hours after the waters break," Janet says. "If not, then Pat will want her to come in."
Daniel has called out for Chinese—the plan for a healthy dinner having been abandoned. When the food arrives, Sam opts for tea and toast with jam. "Don't eat much at a time. Have some applesauce or soup," Janet tells her. "Or jello," she adds with a grin. "A snack every hour or so will keep your energy up. I brought some isotonic sports drinks along for you."
Sam's 'leak' has tapered off, and Jack has tried to make her comfortable on the couch. However, she keeps having the urge to move, and he walks with her around the house, and then outside, back and forth across the backyard. "Is this normal?" he asks, worried.
"How would I know?" she says, irritated at how close he is hanging on to her. "My first baby, remember!"
"It's normal," Janet says. "It's that burst of energy lots of women get. Don't overdo, though. You don't want to be tired going into labor."
"Why don't you go in and lie down?" Jack urges. "Get some rest."
"I'm fine right here," she snaps, turning away from him and resuming her place on the couch.
For a moment Jack stands there staring at her, baffled.
"Jack." Janet pulls him aside, into the kitchen. "Don't take it personally. It's just her body getting ready for what's going to happen. Hormone adjustments, stuff like that."
"I know. We went through all that. But she's snapped at everything I've said for the past hour..." he says, sighing. "I just want her to be okay..." He rubs his eyes. His jaw muscles are clenched.
"She will be. You should relax, too," she tells him. "She's going to need you later on." She frowns as she notices him grimacing. "Are you in pain?"
"Just these crappy cramps," he gripes. "Nothing new."
He gets a glass of water, and after a little while goes into the living room to sit with Sam. Someone has brought her a glass of the sports drink, and at the moment she is relaxing. He takes her hand in his, and massages her palm and fingers gently. She rests her head on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry I'm being such a bitch," she says.
"I'll survive," he says, kissing her forehead.
"Are you still having the cramps?" she asks.
"Nope," he lies. "No problem."
"Good. I hate to see you in pain."
He looks at her and laughs. "That's funny. You're in labor and you hate to see me in pain."
"So far it hasn't been very painful for me. But I know it's coming, and I want you there beside me."
He puts his arms around her and kisses her lips. "And I will be," he promises.