Jack Deals with Pregnancy Symptoms

The next morning, Jack woke up early. He sat up in bed and watched Elizabeth sleep. She looked like an angel; so beautiful. He thought back to yesterday, remembering every word she said to him when she told him about the baby. He was glad Elizabeth had wanted to wait to tell Abigail about the baby. They had a nice, quiet evening after dinner, just holding each other and talking. Elizabeth had fallen asleep in his arms. It had been early for her, but he knew she must need the sleep. He stayed up a little longer, making plans for today. He wanted to make her breakfast in bed and then he was going to spoil for the remainder of the day. He knew she would probably protest, but he didn't care. She deserved to be pampered.

He leaned over to give her a kiss, then got out of bed and dressed for the day. He paused in the doorway to look at her again then walked to the kitchen to make her breakfast. At first he couldn't decide if he should make her eggs or pancakes. Suddenly he had a thought; he would make her both. She needed to have a good breakfast now that she was eating for two. He went to the cupboards to get the ingredients.

In the bedroom, Elizabeth slowly woke up. She stretched, then started to get out of bed when the nausea hit her head on. She reached over to her nightstand and pulled out the crackers she had put there the night before. She started nibbling, hoping the doctor was right and she would feel better soon.

Her stomach was not settling; she needed some tea. She didn't know where Jack was, so she slowly got out of bed and made her way to the kitchen. As she got closer, her nose was hit with the most awful smell. She felt her stomach turn over. Jack must be making breakfast but there was no way she could eat. She continued her way to the kitchen hoping she could get Jack to make her some tea. As she got closer, she felt whatever food she had left in her stomach start to rise in her throat. She turned and made a mad dash to the bathroom, making it just in time.

Jack entered their bedroom with the breakfast tray and was surprised to not see Elizabeth in bed. He put the tray down and was about to call out to her, when he heard the sounds of retching coming from the bathroom. He rushed to her side, pulling her hair back while she vomited.

"Jack," She gasped. "Please go away. I don't want you to see me this way."

"Not a chance. We are in this together. In sickness and in health." He rubbed her back.

A few minutes later, she sat down on the bathroom floor, hoping she was done. Jack stood and grabbed a face cloth, wetting it with some water and returned to her side, sitting down next to her where he began to wipe her face. She looked unusually pale. He felt his own stomach churn, thinking about what she must be feeling and wishing he could help her.

"Despite what I said before, thank you, Jack." She said as she leaned into his embrace.

"Of course. I will always help if I am here when you get sick. You shouldn't have to go through it alone if you don't have to." He paused. "You should go back to bed. Do you feel like you can get up if I help you?" She nodded and he gently pulled her up. "I have some breakfast for you."

"Jack, I can't possibly eat that right now. I had come downstairs to start some tea for myself because of my upset tummy and I smelled the eggs you were cooking. That is what caused me to vomit."

"Oh, no! Wait here for a couple of minutes." He started for the door.

"Why?"

"I brought you up a tray so you could have breakfast in bed. If the eggs bothered you, then I need to get them out of the bedroom before you go back in."

"Thank you, Jack."

"Is there anything I can get you? You mentioned tea. Would you like me to bring you a cup?"

"Yes, please. I would appreciate it. I have some mint tea in the cupboard." He nodded. "Jack?"

"What is it, Sweetheart?"

"Dr. Matthews said to try eating dry toast to settle the stomach. Would you make me some while you are getting my tea?

"Of course, Sweetheart." He left the bathroom. She waited a few minutes and then returned to bed. The smell of the eggs lingered a little but she didn't feel as sick as before. She slid between the covers, leaned her head back on her pillow and closed her eyes.

In the kitchen, Jack started water for the tea and sat down at the table while he waited. He was thinking about Elizabeth. This was the worst he had seen her with the morning sickness so far. It worried him; he wasn't sure he liked the idea of her just eating dry toast for breakfast. Then he remember when he had stomach bugs when he was a kid, his mother would make him toast to eat. That made him feel better. Maybe later on, she would feel up to eating something more substantial.

A few minutes later, he was walking into their bedroom with the tray, this time containing tea and toast. He thought she was asleep and was tempted to wake her, but she must have heard him as she opened her eyes. He walked over to the bed, put the tray down and help her to sit up.

"Thank you, Jack." She said as she picked up a piece of toast. He watched as she nibbled on it. "I am hoping that this will settle my tummy and later I can have something more substantial to eat."

Jack smiled. That was exactly what he was hoping. He was glad they were on the same page. He walked to his side of the bed and got in. As soon as she was done with her toast, he moved the tray and put his arms around her, pulling her close. He heard her let out a soft moan. "Are you ok?" He asked her with concern in his voice.

She looked up at him and smiled. "Yes, Jack. My stomach is settling down. I am just happy to be here in the warm comfort of your arms." She thought about something for a minute. "Not that I am complaining having you around this morning, but don't you have rounds to do?"

Jack frowned slightly. "Yes I do. I was hoping to delay it a little longer, but maybe I should go now. The sooner rounds are done the sooner I can come home." He gave her a kiss and got out of bed.

"Exactly what I was thinking." Elizabeth replied. "Jack?"

"Yes, Sweetheart?"

"I think I would rather stay home today instead of going to Abigail's to tell her our news. I feel like keeping it to ourselves one more day. She invited us for Sunday dinner tomorrow, we can tell her then."

"All right, that sounds like a plan. Do you want me to stop at the café and get dinner for us tonight? I promise I won't say anything."

"That sounds good. "

Jack walked back over to her. "I love you, both of you." He said as he put a hand on her abdomen. "Get some rest while I am at work. I will see you later." He kissed her then left their bedroom. A moment later, she heard the front door shut. She laid back on the bed intending to only close her eyes for a few minutes. Soon, she was in a deep sleep.

Jack hummed to himself on the ride into town. He was so happy and so blessed. To love and be loved by a wonderful woman who was now giving him the greatest gift of all: a child. He smiled to himself as he began making pictures in his mind of having a beautiful little girl with her mother's blue eyes and his dimpled smile. He felt for sure they would be having a girl but even if they had a boy he would be equally happy and blessed. As he approached the town he realized he should wipe the big grin off his face for now, so their friends would not expect anything yet.

Elizabeth woke up and looked at the clock. It was after twelve. She had slept for another two hours. She really must have needed it. She sat up in bed and felt a little sick to her stomach. She grabbed her crackers and nibbled on them. Soon, she was feeling well enough to get out of bed, but she decided to stay in her nightgown. She had no plans to go anywhere today and if she needed another nap, she would at least be comfortable.

Elizabeth went to the living room and opened her craft basket. She wanted to take stock of what yarn she had and look through catalogs for things she might be able to make for the baby. She knew it was early to be thinking about this but her excitement over the baby won out over her rational mind that said to wait a few months. She found several skeins of a yarn with different shades of green in it. She felt there was enough for a blanket. She looked through her pattern book, selected one and got to work.

About an hour later, she began to feel hungry so she took a break to get something to eat. She was in the kitchen eating some cheese and apple slices when she heard the front door open. She was surprised Jack was so soon. Then again she wasn't. She remembered how he looked when he left earlier. He had not wanted to go. She was about to call out to him when he entered the kitchen, carrying a basket that she knew was from the café.

He felt his heart skip a beat, like it always does when he saw her. "Hi, Sweetheart! I see you must be feeling better since you are having a snack." He put their dinners in the ice box, grabbed an apple for himself and sat down at the table with her.

"Yes, I am feeling better. I don't have a big appetite but when I got hungry a few minutes ago, I decided to eat. I didn't want to risk getting sick again."

"I am glad. I was a little worried this morning when all you wanted was toast. Then I remembered my mother giving me toast whenever I had an upset tummy." He reached for her hand and noticed she was still wearing her nightgown.

Elizabeth noticed he was frowning when he saw her in her nightgown. She took his hand in hers. "Nothing is wrong, Jack. I fell back to sleep after you left, for two hours. When I got up I decided I didn't feel like getting dressed today. We didn't have plans to go anywhere and I thought if I had to take another nap, it would be easier if I was comfortable." Jack let out a sigh of relief. "You know, Jack, you are going to drive yourself crazy if you worry about every little thing. There are going to be times that I won't feel well and may want to stay in my nightgown. It doesn't mean something is wrong." She squeezed his hand, letting him know she wasn't mad, just concerned.

Jack gave her a sheepish grin. "Ok, Elizabeth. I see what you are getting at, but it is going to be hard for me not to worry about you, both of you. But I understand your point. I will try to hold it back."

"And I promise to let you know if I feel like something is wrong. There is no way I would risk our baby's life, or my own if I feel like something may be wrong."

"I can live with that." He brought her hand and raised it to his lips. He noted that her plate was empty. "Did you want anything else to eat?" She shook her head no and he picked up her plate to bring it to the sink.

She got up from the table. "Want to join me in the living room for a while?"

"Sure." He walked over to her and put his arm around her waist.

When they entered the living room, she sat down on the sofa where she had been knitting. She put the started blanket in her lap, then patted to the spot next to her for him to sit. "Want to see what I started working on while you were out?"

He nodded and took his place next to her. She put the blanket in his lap. It wasn't much yet but he got a good idea of what it was. It looked to him to be a blanket, one for a baby. "You are making this for our baby?" She nodded. "It's beautiful. I mean, I know you just started it, but I mean the colors are nice. I like the greens. More neutral than making a pink or blue blanket."

"That was my plan. I thought I had yarn in shades of yellow too, but I didn't have enough to make a blanket. I can order some if I decide I want to make another one. I may not because I expect people will give us lots of things for the baby. Plus it's still early in the pregnancy. I don't want to get too carried away with making things in case something happens." She reached down to her basket and pulled some catalogs out. "Jack, I had an idea about something I would like to make for the baby's room and I think you can help me. It would be similar to you helping me with the designs for the table cloths."

"Sure, I would love to help you." He smiled, remembering back to how excited she had been when he presented her with his own ideas for the table cloths.

She opened one of her catalogs and found the item she wanted to show him. It was a cross stich wall hanging for a baby's room, with the baby's name in the center, with the letters of the alphabet and the numbers one through ten scattered around. "I have made these before whenever someone I knew was having a baby. I usually just ordered them from the catalog." She showed Jack the picture.

He looked it over. "That's cute." He looked at her before continuing. "Is your idea to come up with our own design for you to make?"

She nodded, a huge grin on her face. "Yes! I have some ideas for what I would like, but I want your input too."

"What do you have in mind?"

"I was torn between toys or baby animals. Then I started thinking there aren't a lot of toys that are gender neutral. So I went back to thinking about the animals."

"I like the idea of animals. I have some thoughts already."

"I have one request for an animal that has to be in there. We have to put in a basset hound puppy. That way Rip is a part of it." Rip, who was in the corner of the living room, looked up briefly when he heard his name, then he went back to sleep.

"I love it!" He exclaimed, then he stood up. "I am so excited about this I am going to get my drawing pad and get to work!" He leaned down and kissed her as she laughed at his enthusiasm.

He returned and sat back down on the sofa. He opened up his pad to a clean page and got to work. Elizabeth picked up her knitting and continued working on the blanket. They spent the afternoon together on their sofa, occasionally looking up to talk. They loved this quiet time together, even if they weren't talking. Every once in a while Elizabeth would get up for something to eat but would always return to the sofa and her spot next to the man she loved, the father of her baby.