I walk into the office at 8:45. I like it when Senior Staff wraps up a bit early and I'm not feeling rushed. Moving our staff meeting to 9:30 has helped too. Usually that gives the First Lady and I a little time to go over things before we bring everyone in. I glance over at her office. Since the door is closed she must not be here yet. She generally leaves the door open unless she has a meeting, and I know she doesn't have a meeting.
"Good Morning Donna!" Karen greets me brightly. "Good Morning, Angela!" She adds when Angela walks in right behind me. Karen's pretty much always bubbly but I think she's even a little more so today. Probably because of the holiday weekend coming up.
"Good Morning" Angela responds smiling at both of us, then immediately settles in at her desk. She's working out nicely as Assistant Press Secretary. She's really good at the behind the scenes press stuff, but she's pretty quiet. I'm not sure how it would work out if she actually had to brief the press. I suppose it would. Annabeth used to hate it too and now she's a pro. In a worst case, scenario I could actually do it.
Annabeth hears everyone arriving and pops out of her office.
"Hey, is that another new outfit?" She asks me.
"Yes." I respond with a smile. Annabeth always notices stuff like this. When she complimented my dress on Monday, I told her that Josh had got me three new outfits for Mother's day. Since then she's made a point to compliment each one. On Wednesday, I wore the new black skirt with the new bright blouse. And today, I'm wearing the new black pants with the sage colored maternity blouse. It's my favorite. I love the color and it's really soft. And it's the first time I've looked in the mirror and thought I actually look pregnant!
"Josh has surprisingly good taste." Annabeth quips.
"I know!" I chuckle also. Josh has many hidden talents.
Karen snickers at Annabeth's comment, but really she's probably not surprised. She's a big fan of Josh's. She only knows the kinder, gentler Josh, who sends me flowers every month and frequently brings both of us lunch. If you only knew the attentive Josh, it wouldn't be that shocking to discover he can pick out clothes for me. I'm kind of pleased that someone only knows him this way.
Ned comes out of his office. "You look pregnant!" He blurts out. Then grimaces and freezes for a minute. He's got a strange look on his face. "I'm sorry," He quickly amends, "I didn't' mean . . ." He stammers without finishing his sentence. He's been really nervous around me since I announced my pregnancy. I wonder if pregnant women make him uncomfortable. He keeps looking between my face and my belly. Like he's waiting for something bad to happen.
"It's okay." I tell him as my hand drops to massage my bump protectively. "I do look pregnant."
His shoulders relax a little. I look down at the papers in his hand.
"Do you need to go over something?"
I don't actually have much interaction with Ned beyond the twice a day staff meetings. He answers the First Lady's direct line, handles personal correspondence, and other odd tasks. He arrives at 8:30 and leaves as soon as our afternoon staff meeting is over. I don't really know what he does all day, but Mrs. Santos doesn't seem to have an issue with him. I guess as long as he's doing whatever she needs that's what's important.
"No. I just need to drop these letters in Helen's, I mean, Mrs. Santos' in-box."
I'm glad he corrected himself. I'm getting really tired of doing it. He scurries into her office.
"Karen, please let me know when Mrs. Santos arrives." I tell her as I head to my office, stopping in the equipment room to put my lunch in the refrigerator. Since I need to leave early for my doctor's appointment, I plan on working through lunch.
About 15 minutes later, Karen buzzes. "Mrs. Santos is on her way in." A second later, the door opens.
"Oh my goodness, Donna, I have so much to do. Are you already packed?"
"Yes. We brought our bags with us this morning."
"I'm so glad you're coming. Matt's family can be overwhelming. I'm glad I don't have to face them alone!"
What an odd job I have. I'm very excited about going to Camp David for the first time, I just didn't expect it to be for a family vacation. Helen looks at me strangely for a minute.
"Oh! I'm not selling this very well, am I? I didn't ask you to go just as a buffer. I genuinely enjoy your company. And you and Josh shouldn't feel obligated to "staff" us this weekend. You're welcome to join us for as much or little family time as you'd like."
The way Helen goes back and forth from "frantic friend to professional person" always amuses me. I really do like her in both capacities. We've become very close over the last 9 months.
"You didn't need to sell me, Helen." Since there is no one else in the office, I use her first name. "I'm happy to be going. I've never been to Camp David before. I'm really excited. I'm happy to staff you as much as you need, but I'm also going as a friend. So either way if you need a break from family- just let me know. Believe me. I understand the craziness of family."
"Okay. Thanks. How much do we have to accomplish here this morning? Because I've still got to pack."
I still can't convince her to let the ushers pack. It's part of her insistence on being a normal family.
"We're just going to go through the latest agenda for the Queen's state visit and then I was going to let everyone leave early for the weekend."
"Excellent." Helen beams at me. Working for her is fairly easy. "What time is your appointment?"
"I need to leave around 4 o'clock. Once we're done at the doctor's we'll head straight up to Camp David. So we'll be there by 6."
"Are you sure you don't want to ride with us on Marine one? We could wait for you. It'll save you the hour in the car."
"No, thanks. The helicopter was way worse than a car ride. I'll take my chances with the town car."
"Suit yourself."
The agenda for the state visit doesn't take long. We all have figured out that it's likely to be revised several more times so, we review it but don't get attached to anything about it.
Once we are done, Mrs. Santos wishes everyone a good weekend and then leaves.
I look around the table. "Does anyone else have anything that needs to be discussed before Tuesday?"
"Not really." Annabeth says, while everyone else shakes their head no.
"Well then, I'm cancelling our afternoon meeting. I have a doctor's appoint at 4:30 so I'll be leaving shortly after 4. You all know your own workload. You are free to leave whenever you would like."
"Thanks, Donna!" Ned says standing up. I bet he's out the door in 15 minutes or less.
"Thanks." The others chorus.
I work steadily for two hours, reviewing the more intricate details of the state visit so that I'm comfortable for future discussions and meetings.
At 12:30, Karen buzzes "Josh is on line one."
"Thanks" I say, picking up the phone. I hope he isn't going to need to cancel going to the appointment with me. I know he's busy and planning to work through lunch too.
"Hey babe. What's up?"
"Have you eaten?"
"No, Why? Are you free for lunch after all?"
"No, I have a meeting. I'm just calling to make sure you eat."
"I had some almonds an hour ago."
"Donna, that's not enough."
"Josh, it was a snack, I'm going to have lunch soon."
"Okay."
"Did you really call just make sure I was going to eat lunch?" I thought we moved past this once the morning sickness mostly went away.
"I just wanted to hear your voice." He mumbles. Ah. Sometimes he's too sweet.
"I love you." I tell him.
"I love you too. Can you come to my office at 4? I should be done then."
"Sure. See you then."
At 3pm, I realize that Karen's not going to leave the office until I do. I put the memo from the Office of Protocol in my brief case and gather the rest of my things.
"I'm going now."
"I didn't think you were leaving until 4?" Karen looks concerned. "Everything okay?"
"It's all good. I'll see you Tuesday morning."
"Okay."
When I get to Josh's office, he's in a closed door meeting. Margaret immediately stands up looking concerned. I'm two for two on freaking out the assistants today.
"I didn't expect you until 4. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. But Karen wouldn't leave until I did. I just wanted to give her an extra hour off. Don't tell her okay?"
Margaret gives me an indescribable look. I can't tell if she's proud of me or if she thinks I've flipped my lid. I'm not sure why I care, but I hope it's the former.
"Can I just hang out here until he's done or do I need to go someplace else?" I ask as I flop down in a visitor chair.
"You can stay here." She sits back down. I hear her mumbling under her breath- "yeah, like I'm going to be the one to tell him I sent his pregnant wife away to find some place to hide from her assistant. Do I look stupid or what?"
At 4:10, Josh's door opens and he follows Senator Rafferty out of the office.
"Nice talking with you, Senator. We'll be in touch. Margaret, call" He stops when he sees me. "Oh! You're here. Good.
I stand up and he gives me a quick kiss on the cheek. Ricki Rafferty's slight smirk becomes a full smile. Bartlet's Bulldog better be careful or he's going to lose his reputation.
"I'll be ready in just a minute. Margaret, can you make sure they have the car waiting for us."
I follow Josh into his office and watch him pack his backpack. He takes less briefing memos than I expected for being gone 3 days. Margaret comes in and gives him a couple more, which must be a higher prioritty. He shoves those in as well.
"Okay, let's go." He glances at his watch and grimaces. I'm not sure if it's because he still has a lot to do or not.
"Josh," I speak softly and try to keep my tone neutral. "If you need to stay, I can go on my own."
"What?!" He looks hurt. "No! Absolutely not. I wouldn't miss this."
"Okay. But if you needed to, I'd understand. You don't have an average job. I know there are going to be times when you have to miss something even if you don't want to."
"Not today."
"Okay. Then let's go."
Once we are in the car, he turns to me.
"I don't want to miss any of it. Not a single moment. You know that, right?"
"Yes, Josh. I know."
I hope he's not setting himself up. There are times when even parents with normal jobs miss stuff. Given that his is basically on -call 24/7, sometimes with the fate of the world on the line, chances are he's going to miss some thing at some point. But like he said. Not today. And at least he's already prioritizing so that he's not missing stuff just because there is work that could be done, because there is always going to be work that could be done.
We actually end up being a few minutes early for our appointment. Kevin conducts the sweep then we head in. There are only two ladies in the waiting room, but we are shown straight into an exam room.
"Okay Donna, step on the scale please." The nurse directs me.
"How'd I do?"
She frowns a little. "You've gained 3 pounds since your last appointment."
"That's good isn't it?" I thought they wanted me to gain weight.
"That means she's still down 5 pounds from the start of the pregnancy, right?" Josh is frowning too. "She should have gained 1-5 in the first trimester and then another pound a week since then." I think he's memorized that What to Expect book.
"Right, Dad, but let's not worry about it okay. We're happy to be seeing some positive movement on the scale." Dr. Andrews addresses Josh, but smiles at me as she steps into the room.
"How are you feeling, Donna?" She asks, motioning for me to sit down on the exam table.
"Really good. The morning sickness is pretty much gone. I still get a little car sick sometimes but not nearly as much. And I'm eating a lot." I give Josh a little glare. He's been pushing for me to eat more, but I think I'm doing fine.
"That's great. All very normal. Let's do a quick ultra-sound and see how the baby looks." She starts to move the machine over. "So, we're not trying to figure out the gender at this appointment, but sometimes the baby is a little exhibionist and gives us a free show. Do you want me to tell you if I see something?"
"Um, we haven't 100% decided yet. One of the reasons is that we don't really want to know unless you're 99.9% sure. We don't want to get use to the idea of one gender and pick out a name then find out it wasn't right."
"Okay, then tell you what. If I see something, I'll write it down and stick in an envelope with the percentage of how sure I am, and then you can decide whether to open it later."
"That sounds great, doc." Josh says. He really wants to know, but he wants it to be sure.
"Okay, lay back, Donna. Let's get started."
I lay back on the table and lift my blouse up. Then Josh takes my hand. I gasp as Dr. Andrews squirts gel on my stomach. Geez! That's cold. What do they keep it in the freezer or something?
But a few seconds later, I'm rewarded with the sound of the little bean's heartbeat and the sight of Josh's grin and dimples. I think this might be the greatest sound in the world.
Then Dr. Andrews turns the monitor so we can see the little bean. What a difference a month makes! The little bean actually looks like a baby now!
"There's a foot." Josh whispers.
Dr. Andrews moves the wand around and we get to see the baby's head and spine. Then the heart beating. She types a few numbers and hits a button and the machine whirls and spits out a print out.
She takes the wand away and hands me a paper towel.
"That's it?" Josh sounds really disappointed.
"Yes, Josh" Dr. Andrews responds. "Next month it will be much longer. This one was just to get some general data and baseline measurements. We actually only do this for high risk pregnancies."
Josh's grip on my hand tightens. "Is everything okay?" He's got a slightly panicky tone.
"Yes, everything looks really good."
He breathes a sigh of relief. "And do you know if we are having a boy or a girl?"
"I have an idea."
"How much of an idea?" I ask her. I know Josh would like to know but I'm still pretty undecided about this.
"I'd say I'm about 70% confident. Remember, that wasn't the purpose of today's appointment. So do you want to know what I think?"
"No!" I tell her firmly. "Maybe we'll find out next month." Josh nods. I don't think he wants to be 30% uncertain either.