14th June 2014
At 26 weeks pregnant, Sam was taking it very easy and she only got out of her hospital bed to go to the toilet - she only took walks very rarely after the scare of false labour. It was Sam and Tom's six month wedding anniversary and Tom just wanted to make sure his wife enjoyed the day, though in the morning, she had been having a lie in and he had had to leave for work without speaking to her, like he did most mornings.
Sam was enormous and literally walking to the toilet got her out of breath. She needed assistance getting on and off the bed, though she was good at keeping herself occupied on bed rest by either reading parenting books, playing games on her ipad or writing her essay about octuplet pregnancy that she hoped to publish after the birth.
It was 5:15pm when Tom arrived back from work to find Sam fast asleep in bed so he decided to put his plan into action. They couldn't have sexual intercourse because it had been forbidden by Sam's multiple doctors - not that she'd be able to take part in such things anyway - so they had settled on a romantic DVD: The Notebook. He had already put their dinner on in the maternity staffroom oven - he had been given permission by Mr T to use the facilities because the hospital couldn't cater for Sam high calorie diet - so he quietly entered the room and began to set up the DVD on the laptop. Once that was sorted, he opened one of the cupboards that Sam thought was empty and took out the large box of assorted heart shaped chocolate truffles.
He waited for the food to cook and to pass the time, he sat in the chair besides Sam's bed and watched his wife peacefully sleeping on her side with her arms protectively guarding her bump. When the timer on his phone began to buzz, he quickly jumped up and sprinted to the kitchen.
"Sam... Come on sleepy head, rise and shine." Tom said softly as he smiled at his wife who looked so innocent and vulnerable as she slowly awoke from her deep slumber. "Happy six month anniversary." He smiled as he pecked her on the lips.
"You too." Sam replied as she slowly sat up on the bed. "Oh my god..." She trailed off as she saw that on the bedside table that came over the bed and hovered across her legs had the DVD with the movie set up and next to it was a long rectangular plate containing various flavoured and breaded chicken along with cheese and bacon potato skins with a pot of sour cream and chive sauce. And by her feet was a large box of chocolates. "Tom!" Sam laughed happily at the effort that he had put in.
"C'mon, shuffle over so I can squeeze in." Tom said as he got right on the edge of the bed and then he pulled the bedside table over as close to them as possible before it touched Sam's bump. "Right, enjoy." He smiled as he picked up a bit of chicken and shoved it in his mouth before he wrapped his arm around Sam's shoulders and pressed the play button for the movie.
It was nearing the end of The Notebook, and in all honesty Tom knew how it ended and he had just hoped that Sam would've fallen asleep by then. But instead, she was watching attentively with a full stomach and a completely rested mind. The meal and the chocolates had both been consumed and were delicious in Sam's opinion. Though she had made a comment about it only being a small box, despite it being the largest on the shelf. The credits had just began rolling when Tom saw a tear roll down Sam's cheek, followed by several others.
"I knew you'd cry, that's why I said let's watch a comedy film but no, you wanted to watch this." Tom joked as he handed her a few tissues from the box besides him.
"Shut up and hold me." Sam ordered as she turned to her side a little and laid her head on his chest.
Tom smirked as he wrapped his arms around his wife and pulled the cover up over them.
"Just think, it was exactly six months ago, that you and me consummated our marriage and you conceived our eight little miracles." He whispered.
"Mm, and then in the morning, you tried to be romantic by getting up early and cooking breakfast, but instead you got out of bed, walked around the side of it and fell on top of me and woke me up." Sam stated quietly and both of them laughed at the memory. Sam wiped her eyes and nose with the tissues before she resumed her smile after composing herself.
"How do you know that I didn't intend to jump on top of you?" Tom asked sheepishly.
"Because you told me after you'd done it that you were going to make breakfast but you fell over." Sam stated bluntly.
"Oh yeah..." Tom smirked before he yawned.
"Not tired are we?" Sam joked.
"Well some of us have been working all day unlike you sleeping beauty." Tom retorted but he suddenly regretted the statement. "Sam I- I didn't mean that sorry sorry sorry I-"
"It's fine, Tom. Honestly." Sam interrupted because she knew he hadn't meant anything by it and besides he was only being honest. "God, you just think that because I'm pregnant, I'm going to cry at everything don't you?" She joked to change the subject.
"Well you cried at a soppy movie." Tom stated and Sam elbowed him.
"They died Tom!" Sam protested.
"Yeah well, don't blame me if you have nightmares because I told you not to watch it." Tom stated. "Which gets us around to bedtime and story time." Tom stated.
"Can we skip story time for tonight? I'm too tired." Sam sighed as she snuggled into Tom's arms.
"Don't you need the toilet? You haven't been since I got back from work and even then you'd probably been sleeping for a while."
"I do need the toilet, I just can't be bothered to get up." Sam admitted. "And my back's hurting." She added.
"Oh..." He said sympathetically. "You want me to get you a bed pan?" Tom asked kindly and Sam shot him a glance. "Look, it'll save you getting out of bed and I promise I won't look. Yeah?" He said softly and Sam reluctantly nodded. "Maybe I should speak to Mr T about getting a catheter put in." He suggested as he slid off of the bed and looked for a bedpan in the cupboards. "Maybe just leave it out for a few hours in the mornings but otherwise leave it in for the rest of the day and overnight." He added as he took the plastic bedpan out.
"Sounds like a good idea." Sam nodded.
"This is just number one right? I don't do number twos." Tom joked and Sam pulled a sarcastic face at him. "Okay, trousers and underwear down and then lift your pelvis up please." Tom said quietly and Sam did as she was told whilst Tom helped her to keep the bed cover over her. Once she elevated her pelvis, Tom slipped the bed pan underneath her, made sure that it was in place before he sat her bed up so she was at a better angle. "You want me to wait outside?" He asked and Sam nodded. "Alright, just gimme a shout when you're done and I'll come and help you." Tom said quietly. He placed a box of tissues besides her before he left the room and pulled the door to.
Tom went outside and stood there, waiting patiently when after a few minutes he heard her call out.
"Tom?"
"Yep." He replied as he entered and closed the door behind him. "You finished?" He asked and she nodded. "Okay, lift up for me." He said and Sam grimaced as she arched her back to lift her bum. Tom slipped the bedpan out from underneath her and the covers and whilst he went to the ensuite to clean it Sam pulled her clothes back up. "Right, bedtime. And seeing as it's our anniversary, not the kids', I'll skip the story for tonight." Tom said as he climbed back into bed.
"Night night." Sam mumbled as she rested her head on her husband's chest.
"Night. I love you." He whispered into her ear which sent a tingly shiver down her spine and they soon fell asleep in each other's arms.
The next afternoon, Sam and Tom were sitting on the bed having a chat whilst Tom was on his lunch break. He was sitting, in his scrubs, cross legged at the end of her bed facing her, whilst she was comfortably lying back against the pillows to prop her up.
"Yeah I know but- hang on, who's that?" Sam asked as she pointed to a man outside the room looking in on them. She suddenly realised that he had a camera as it's flash momentarily blinded the couple.
"Oi!" Tom shouted as he jumped off of the bed and then chased out of the room. Sam was left sitting wondering what to do, when a few minutes later, a red Tom and Mr T came into the room. "What an absolute-" Tom muttered and he stopped because he didn't want to swear in the presence of his children. "He told the nurse at reception that he was your dad." Tom stated angrily.
"It's alright, security will deal with him." Mr T stated. "I am sorry that he got in, the nurse at reception is only a trainee. But I can assure you that it won't happen again." He explained. "And Sam, I need you to try and calm down because your heart rate is up a lot." He warned after glancing at her monitors.
"I am calming down, I just didn't know who he was. He gave me a fright." Sam stated and the consultant nodded.
"Right, is there anything I can do or get for you?" Mr T asked.
"No thanks." Sam replied so the man left the room.
"Right, I'd better get going too, back to the ED. Unless you want me to take the afternoon off." Tom added.
"No, honestly I'll be fine. You go." Sam smiled.
"Oh I get it, you just want to get rid of me so you can catch 40 winks." Tom smirked as he put his stethoscope around his neck.
"Of course not." Sam lie unconvincingly before her husband gave her a kiss and got on his way.
7pm
Sam slowly opened her eyes to see her husband sitting next to her.
"I've got some good news and I've got some bad news." Tom stated. "But I'm pretty sure the good news outweighs the bad news by far." He added.
"Right." Sam replied hesitantly as she wondered what he had been up to.
"Basically, the man that snuck in here earlier put your picture on the internet with a news story about you being hospitalised for a serious problem with the babies. That's the bad news, but the good news is that I rang up the website and threatened to sue them if they didn't remove it immediately but they said that they couldn't do that because once it was up, it was up. Now because they can't take it down, I said I'll take it to court then and sue them, however they begged me to take a cash settlement to prevent us from taking them to court." Tom explained.
"What kind of cash settlement?" Sam asked.
"Take a guess."
"£10,000?" She asked but Tom shook his head.
"Much higher." He stated.
"Just tell me." She ordered becuase she had only just woken up and she wasn't in her he mood for a guessing game.
"£500,000!" Tom said slowly and Sam's mouth almost hit the floor out of pure shock.
"Say honestly." She ordered.
"Honestly, they're paying us that much to stop us from taking it to court." Tom stated.
"No way!" She laughed but Tom just nodded.
"Sam calm down a bit for our babies." Tom ordered as he took her hand into his to ensure that she did settle a little Because her heart rate was elevated.
"So now we've got our savings, the £25,000 from goodbye magazine and £500,000 from the website." Sam said to herself to make it clear.
"Celebratory hug?" Tom suggested and Sam nodded as they both leant forwards and embraced in a hug.
"Well I think that's our money issues sorted out for a few years." Sam stated.
"Well it depends how fussy the kids are." Tom joked. Oddly, he heard a sniffle over his shoulder and as he pulled out of their hug, he noticed that Sam was trying not to cry. "Hey, what's wrong?" Tom asked softly.
"I... I'm scared Tom. I'm really scared." She admitted.
"Scared about what?" He asked worriedly.
"Early labour, the birth, NICU- everything Tom. We might have money but nothing is guaranteed and we have no control." She blurted out.
"Listen to me okay there are plenty of guarantees. Firstly, we know that our babies are going to have the best care possible. We know that you are doing your very best to prevent early labour. And best of all, I know that me and you are in this together. I know that I'm not the one having the c section, but whatever happens, I'm gonna be here for you 100%. I promise." Tom explained gently. "And you're 26 weeks pregnant. You've already prevented labour for far longer time than most people expected." He added. "Now then, what do you want for dinner? Because you must be starving." He stated.
"Um... I fancy... A BBQ." Sam stated.
"As in?" Tom queried.
"Ribs, a burger, potato wedges and salad. Ooh and a corn on the cob." Sam stated.
"That's an odd combination." Tom stated. "Right, I'll have to run to tescos and then it'll take time to cook it so don't be expecting it in twenty minutes." Tom added.
"Just be as quick as you can. And make sure that you get onion for the burger and put celery in the salad." She ordered.
"Celery with a barbecue?" Tom queried. "Y'know what, forget it I'm not even going to ask. You can have whatever you want." He blurted out as he pulled his coat on. "See you soon." He said as he pecked her on the forehead and then began to jog down to his car.
Coming up: when Sam goes into premature labour, will they be able to postpone the birth or not? Thanks for reading, please review :)