Saturday 25th May 2019

Sam, Tom and Daniel were sitting in the waiting room on the maternity ward as they awaited Sam's 12 week appointment and Tom and Daniel were just laughing about the fact that Sam couldn't keep still because she needed the toilet so much, but she had to have a full bladder for her scan.

"If you two don't stop laughing, you can go and wait in the car and I'll go to the scan by myself." Sam threatened as she folded her arms across her chest.

"It's alright, mummy's hand bag is in the car and we can get some money out and then go and buy some sweets." Tom whispered loudly to his son who giggled, whilst Sam rolled her eyes.

"Mrs Kent?"

"Yep."

"Hi, I'm Jean, I'll be your midwife today." A woman smiled as she stood in light purple scrubs.

"Please, call me Sam. Oh and this is my husband Tom and my son, Daniel." Sam explained as they followed the woman to a consult room.

"Nice to meet you all. Now the purpose of today's scan is to check that your baby's size matches your due date, to make sure everything is developing normally and to check that there is just the one in there." Jean said as she closed the door behind her. "You might as well just get on the bed; there's not really much we need to discuss today because you've already had your booking appointment haven't you?"

"Yeah." Sam nodded as she climbed onto the bed that was sat up at a 45° angle. Tom sat in the chair with Daniel on his lap on one side of the bed, whilst Jean sat on the other side where the ultrasound machine was.

"Okay, so your first son had atrial septal defect is that right?"

"Yeah and it was really cool because I got loads of presents for being brave!" Daniel explained proudly.

"Jean's talking to mummy Daniel." Tom said quietly.

"It's alright." Jean smiled. "So I'll check for an ASD on the ultrasound, but unless the ASD is very large, it won't be able to be diagnosed by ultrasound this early which I'm assuming happened in Daniel's case. He wasn't diagnosed until he was about three right?"

"Yeah, he only had it a month ago." Sam stated.

"Oh right, very recent then. Right, let's begin your scan." Jean announced as she switched the machine on and put some lubricant on the transducer whilst Sam tucked a bit of tissue into the top of her skinny jeans that were maternity because her previous skinny jeans were already too tight to do up. And then she pulled her shirt up to reveal a perfect little bump at the bottom of her abdomen which would soon expand up to her ribcage. "Okay, this is going to be cold." Jean warned as she placed the transducer on Sam's abdomen and even though it had been about four years since Sam had been pregnant and had a scan, she could still remember the feeling.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" Daniel asked innocently.

"We won't find out for another couple of months Daniel." Sam said softly as she waited for Jean to turn the screen around so that they could see it - the midwife had to do her job and check the foetus before she could show the expectant parents.

"What would you prefer Daniel? A brother or sister?" Jean asked without taking her eyes off of the screen to make conversation.

"I want a brother so I can play football with him." Daniel replied.

"Hey, I'm a girl and I play football with you. What's to say a sister wouldn't play with you either?" Sam asked.

"But you're mummy. You do everything with me. She'd only want to play with silly dolls." Daniel stated and Sam rolled her eyes before she turned back to the midwife.

"Okay, your baby is a good size for their age. Now, as far as I can see, there isn't any sign of an ASD, however like I said, if the defect is small then it won't show up on an ultrasound. But when you have your anomaly scan at around 20 weeks gestation, you'll have more of a certainty as to whether your baby has it or not." She explained. "Are you ready to see your baby?" She asked softly and Tom held Sam's hand as they both nodded. Jean slowly turned the screen around to show a perfect black and white image. They could clearly see the lining of the amniotic sac that contained a pool of black, and one white splodge that was shaped like a baby with a head, belly and then one arm that was sticking up. "It's a very clear picture I must say." Jean stated.

"That's probably because Sam's near wetting herself." Tom chuckled softly as he couldn't take his eyes off of the screen.

"It's beautiful." Sam whispered.

"Daddy. Is that my brother or sister?" Daniel asked.

"Yeah. And what you see on the screen, is what's inside mummy's tummy. So in a couple of months, mummy's going to have a fully grown baby inside of her and she's going to be massive!" Tom said quietly and Sam smiled but she still hadn't taken her eyes off of the screen.

Sam came out of the consult room with Tom's hand in one of hers, and in the other she held the copy of her scan.

"I'm just gonna to the toilet okay?" Sam said as she noticed that the toilets were right next to them.

"Yep okay-"

"Daddy I need a wee wee." Daniel said as he crossed his legs - when Daniel decided he needed the toilet, it wasn't a request, it was a demand because if he didn't reach a bathroom soon, there would be an accident.

"Alright, I'll meet you out here okay?" Tom said as he pointed by a few seats in the corridor besides them.

"Okay." Sam nodded before she went into the ladies. Tom then walked Daniel into the men's toilets which he hoped were better than shopping centre toilets because they were often busy and dirty - somewhere he didn't like taking his son. Thankfully, they were empty so Tom let Daniel chose a cubicle and because Daniel was perfectly comfortable in the presence of his parents - they always helped to dress or bath him after all - he didn't even close the door before he pulled his trousers and underwear down (which thankfully didn't have a belt on) and he turned around and sat on the toilet seat.

"Couldn't you have waited for that until we got home?" Tom moaned playfully so that Daniel knew he didn't mean it.

"No!" Daniel giggled.

"I was beginning to think you'd fallen down the toilet. What took you so long?" Sam asked curiously as her husband and son came out of the toilets.

"First he did a poo in the toilet, then he decided that he wanted to use a urinal for the first time and I let him because I thought that it would be better there because there was no one else in there. And then after he'd washed his hands, they've got an electric hand dryer in there that goes blue when it switches on and Daniel quite liked standing under there which is why his hair is all over the place." Tom explained as they began to walk down the corridor.

"And can he use a urinal without making a mess?" Sam asked.

"Of course I can!" Daniel protested.

"Yeah can we get a urinal for our bathroom? Because he makes a lot less mess than he does when he uses the toilet to have a wee." Tom laughed.

"I think they do do toddler urinals actually. I'll look it up when we get home."

"Anyway, how are you feeling today?" Tom asked as he put his arm around her shoulders.

"Um, just normal to be honest." Sam replied.

"Yeah? How about we go out for dinner tonight then? My treat and you can chose where we go. Or if you want, we can stay in and I'll cook."

"Um... No I think it'd be nice to go out, we haven't been out for a while because of you and Daniel being in hospital."

"And I've got the scar to prove it!" Tom said proudly.

"So have I!" Daniel chipped in. "Can we go to the Tigger Inn?" Daniel asked. "Pleeeeeease?"

"You mean the Tiger Inn." Sam corrected.

"Daniel, let mummy chose where we go tonight."

"No it's fine. I like the Tiger Inn pub." Sam stated. "And it's a nice day, we can sit outside."

"You do realise that the only reason he wants to go there is because he can remember the play area and climbing frame in the garden right?" Tom said quietly to his wife whilst Daniel ran circles around them as he investigated now fast he could run.

"I know." Sam smiled.

Sam and Tom were sitting on a clean picnic table in a pub garden which was pleasantly quiet despite it being a Saturday evening because the football season had finished last weekend. It was the beginning of a beautiful sunset and Sam and Tom were sitting next to each other, holding hands under the table as they watched Daniel climb about the large wooden climbing frame and run about on the bark with another young boy that he had made friends with in the last few minutes.

"Thank you for bring me out. This is really nice." Sam smiled as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Mm. And thank you for letting me have a pint." Tom smirked before he took a sip of his alcoholic beverage. "Or two." He added cheekily as Sam had volunteered to drive the family home at the end of the evening. "Daniel, come over here a minute." Tom shouted in a reasonably loud voice and Daniel went down the slide one last time before he ran over to the table and appeared out of breath.

"That's yours for when you want it." Sam stated as she pointed to the fruit shoot on his side of the table. She had ordered it for him because Daniel had ran off before they were even seated, as soon as he caught a glimpse of the play area.

"Thank you." Daniel puffed as he took a sip of it and then reluctantly sat down.

"You can carry on playing in a minute, I just want you to chose what you want for dinner first so we can order it." Tom said as he showed Daniel the children's menu. "Just chose one thing from each of the section and I'm not sure how small the portions are going to be so if you want some more you can have a bit of mine." Tom stared.

"Can I have... BBQ chicken with... Mashed potato and salad please?" Daniel asked politely.

"That's quite a mixture but yeah of course you can." Tom smirked.

"Can I go and play now please?"

"Yeah but be careful on those bars." Sam warned and Daniel ran as fast as he could to the fenced play area that was just a couple of meters from their table. "What're you gonna have?" Sam asked as she looked at the adult's menu that she and Tom were sharing.

"Um.. I'm not sure yet." Tom replied. "What about you?"

"I don't know. I want about twenty dishes on here." Sam admitted and Tom laughed. "What?"

"Well what particular bits do you want to eat?" Tom asked.

"BBQ ribs, gammon, Southern fried chicken, curry, pulled pork and on top of that I want something with a fried egg and bacon." Sam explained and Tom just smiled as he gave her shoulders a squeeze.

"So this so one of your rare 'I don't give a crap about being healthy' moods?" Tom asked.

"Pretty much yeah." Sam laughed at herself as she ran her hand through her long straight hair.

"And how hungry are you?"

"Extremely."

"Right, trust me and I'll order for you." Tom stated as he got up off of the bench and took the menu with him - they had to order at the bar. "You trust me don't you?" Tom grinned as he saw the hesitant look on Sam's face.

"Sometimes." Sam shrugged and Tom smiled as he headed for the play area.

"Daniel, come over here mate." Tom ordered and Tom squatted down on the grass so that he was head height with his son and Sam watched them look at the menu together and talk but she couldn't hear what they were saying. "Good boy." She watched Tom give their son a pat on the back before he ran off playing again whilst Tom headed inside. Five minutes Tom came out with another fruit shoot and then he sat next to Sam again.

"Why have you got that?" Sam asked.

"Because they're only small and the rate that Daniel's running around he's going to need another one soon; this one's nearly empty." Tom stated.

"What were you talking to Daniel about?"

"I said trust me." Tom laughed. "You'll find out soon enough."

Daniel was sitting at the table after exhausting his energy running about whilst his parents tried to talk to him about the new baby as they were waiting for their pub cooked meals.

"Daniel, what we were thinking, is maybe because you don't use your play room a lot anymore, you would be kind enough to give it to your new brother or sister. Because it's a big room and it's very close to mummy and daddy's room."

"But that's my room." Daniel said sadly.

"We know and you'll still have your bedroom, but the spare room at the moment is too small for the new baby to have and we just think that, like dad said, because you hardly ever use your playroom anymore, you could move your toys into your bedroom and if there's not enough room we can put some in the spare room." Sam explained softly.

"You could help us decorate the new room, we'll need to paint it and put furniture together so you could be my little assistant builder." Tom stated.

"Do I still get play time?" Daniel asked innocently.

"Yeah, of course you do. There's the garden, the living room and your bedroom that you can play in. There's plenty of space isn't there? So are you going to be grown up enough to give up your old playroom?" Sam asked.

"Only if I can be daddy's assistant." Daniel said sternly.

"You're hired." Tom smiled. "Ooh, foods here." Tom smiled as a waiter and a waitress walked over with a plate in each hand. "Just put them in the middle please." Tom requested so they put the four plates of steaming food in front of them and Sam's face lit up. "Thank you." Tom said gratefully as they went away. "Now then, before we all dig in. There is chicken tikka masala with pilau rice and pompadoms, then there's the all day breakfast with two fried eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, toast, mushrooms and sausages. The pork bananza is a plate containing a rack of BBQ ribs, a gammon steak, pulled pork, chips, onion rings and coleslaw. And finally the is a sharing platter of Southern fried chicken goujons, chicken wings, garlic mushrooms, garlic bread and cheesy nachos without the jalapeños to prevent heartburn. All to make mummy and Lime happy." Tom said smugly. There were four adult meals there and only two adults and one child eating but all were hungry, Daniel was a growing lad, Sam was eating for two and Tom could eat anything he wanted and never put on the weight anyway.

"Thank you so much." Sam said gratefully as she twisted to her side and gave Tom a tight hug.

"Can I eat now?" Daniel asked and Sam and Tom smiled as they pulled apart.

"Yeah, let's dig in. But use your knife and fork." Tom added and immediately, Daniel went for the garlic bread, Tom picked up a chicken wing and Sam didn't know where to begin on her amazing feast!

"I don't know how he can run around after a massive meal." Sam smiled as they watched Daniel play alone in the play area as he ran to and from the slide, monkey bars and climbing frame.

"Neither do I, though I don't think he ate quite as much as you did." Tom smirked as he put his arm around Sam's shoulders. "Give it another five minutes or so and we'll head home yeah?"

"Okay." Sam nodded. "I'm just gonna pop to the toilet."

"For the tenth time tonight." Tom muttered and Sam rolled her eyes as she walked away. She soon returned to find her table cleared and then she looked at the play area to find Tom gently pushing Daniel on the swing.

"Come on monkey, let's get home." Sam said and Tom slowly stopped the swing so that Daniel could safely get off before he ran to hold hands with his mummy as they left the restaurant.

Monday 27th May 2019, 6pm

"Ladies and gentlemen, can I have your attention please?" Tom requested and everyone who had gone to the pub after a shift in the ED turned to see Tom's son, Daniel standing on top of the pool table. It suddenly went silent and Tom gave Daniel an encouraging nod so he said what he had been practicing for ages.

"Mummy and Daddy are having another baby because mummy is 12 weeks pregnant." Daniel announced loudly and he then looked at Sam for approval.

"Well done!" She whispered and Daniel smiled as Tom lifted him down and sat him on the edge of the table.

"Congratulations!" People cheered and Zoe was the first to approach the family and of course, Tom had a beer whilst Sam and Daniel had a glass of orange juice each.

"I've been wondering why you've been letting Tom jump in front of you and go on shout outs with the ambulance team." Zoe smiled.

"You've been going out on shout outs?" Sam demanded from her husband. "I thought we'd agreed you weren't going out on them until you'd fully recovered from your appendectomy."

"I only started going out this week and I am fully recovered." Tom stated.

"Right." Sam replied sheepishly.

"Anyway, I'm happy for you. Though I do hope you won't be taking too long off for maternity leave." Zoe smiled.

"I'll take however long I bloody want." Sam argued.

"Woah, hormones." Tom warned as he stood in between Sam and Zoe.

"Right. Sorry, Zoe I-"

"It's alright. I've dealt with your hormones before." Zoe joked cautiously and thankfully, it made Sam laugh a little bit. After talking to several other friends, Sam was beginning to notice the accumulating smell of beer and booze in the pub which she really wanted to take a break from.

"Tom, I'm just gonna go out for some air alright?" Sam said discreetly.

"Why? You feel sick?" Tom asked worriedly.

"No, I just could do with some fresh air." Sam replied.

"Can I come mummy?" Daniel asked as he tugged on her sleeve.

"Yeah sure. Is it a bit loud in here?" Sam asked softly and Daniel nodded as she held his hand and walked him outside. She took him just outside the entrance where it was dark outside by the entrance was lit up by a street lamp and they both sat on a picnic bench.

"Mummy..."

"Yeah."

"Are you going to forget me when the new baby comes?" Daniel asked in a mumble.

"Come here." Sam ordered as she patted her lap, and slowly Daniel came and sat on Sam's thighs. "Just because there's a new baby, doesn't mean you're not my baby anymore. Even when you're a teenager or an adult, you will always be my baby." Sam said softly as she rested her chin on Daniel's shoulder. "And how on earth, could I ever forget someone who is so important to me, and who I love so, so much?"

"But aren't you going to love the new baby?"

"Of course I am. But you can love more than one person. I love you, and I love Daddy and I already love this baby. But I love you all equally. And I want you to know that you can always talk to me and daddy about anything okay? When the baby's born, I will have to spend a lot of time looking after it because babies can't do things that you can like eating or going to the toilet. But that's not because I love it more than you. And if you're feeling left out or sad, I want you to tell me or daddy okay? Because then we can make you happy again. Because if you're not happy, you can't be the best big brother you can be, can you?" Sam smiled.

Daniel turned around and wrapped his arms around Sam's neck so she lifted him up and turned his body around until he had his legs around Sam's waist.

"I love you mummy." Daniel whispered.

"I love you too." Sam smiled as she rubbed her hands up and down his back. They cuddled for a little while longer until Sam heard the door click and Tom came out.

"Daniel, you're not making mummy cry are you?" Tom said as he squatted down and wiped a single tear off of Sam's cheek using his thumb.

"I think he's asleep." Sam whispered.

"Why're you crying?" Tom asked confusedly.

"He said he loved me and I think he meant it." Sam sniffed. "Can we go home?"

"Yeah, that's why I came out here. Come here, I'll carry him to the car."

"No. I've got him." Sam smiled as she stood up and supported his weight by keeping an arm under his bum and her other hand on his back to keep him upright. She kept him held against her chest so there wasn't any weight on her unborn child as she carried him on the short journey to the hospital car park.

Coming up: Sam develops a harmless, but uncomfortable, UTI and then she and Tom receive an unbelievable surprise!

Thanks for reading, please review :)