Chapter 35: Another Brand New Life (Part IV)

Angela knew she needed sleep, but her mind refused to rest instead continuing her journey back through her pregnancy with Katie. She tried matching her breathing to Tony's, who was fast asleep next to her, but it didn't work. Giving up, she flashed back to random moments as her pregnancy progressed after they found out the sex of the baby:

- telling the kids and her mother that it was a girl; Sam was over the moon and her mother was too, much to Angela's surprise; maybe she thought her granddaughter would be the daughter she'd always wanted her to be, Angela thought with a bit of chagrin

- she and Tony spending many late nights and early mornings in bed, his hands and lips usually all over her stomach showing his gratitude for their tiny miracle, as they tried to picture what their little girl was going to look like and be like while discussing all their plans for the future

- turning Tony's old room into a nursery with soft yellows and greens, a glider to rock the baby, a beautiful white crib and a pair of built in bookcases, that Tony had proudly built himself, filled with family photos, toys and books. Angela remembered how she would often just stand in the doorway, with her hand resting on her belly, gazing around the room still trying to come to terms with the fact that she and Tony were actually having a baby together.

- her mother catching her off guard one day when she was sitting in the glider in the almost finished nursery to tell her, in one of their rare serious and heartfelt conversations, how excited she was for her and Tony and that she was so happy that they were getting to have this experience because she really thought they had waited too long

- a quiet moment with Jonathan when he too told her that he was so happy that she and Tony had found their way back to each other and that he was actually excited about becoming a big brother and would try to come home from college in California as much as possible

It really was an extraordinary time in all of their lives but especially hers and Tony's as they were finally able to relax and be a couple. Everything was going so well that when the consistent headaches first started and when she started to become short of breath, she didn't think much of it. After all, she had had headaches throughout her pregnancy, and since she was in the middle of her eighth month and felt huge, it was no wonder she was having trouble breathing.

She and Tony were at one of her routine doctor's appointments when the nurse, who was taking her blood pressure reading, suddenly frowned and said she'd be right back. Angela remembered looking at Tony with fear in her eyes, but he just took her hand, squeezed it, and said they would get through whatever it was together no matter what.

Angela would never forget the doctor coming into the room and telling her straight out that her blood pressure was extremely high and that along with the other symptoms she had described to the nurse meant that she had developed preeclampsia. As a high-risk pregnancy, Angela had done her due diligence and read up on what some of the common and less common complications of her pregnancy could be. Her heart sank when she heard those words because she immediately felt like she had done something wrong. The doctor assured her though that sometimes these things just happened, especially in 'geriatric' pregnancies (oh how Angela loathed that term) and sent her home with strict orders to stay on bed rest for the remainder of her pregnancy, monitor her blood pressure and instructions to start taking a low dose of aspirin daily.

The next few weeks had been a nightmare, since Angela was not a homebody and certainly not a homebody who enjoyed having to stay in bed, or at least off her feet, for most of the day. Tony, though, was her rock, per usual, and did everything he could to make it as comfortable and easy for her as possible. He had pleaded with her to take an early maternity leave, and she finally relented realizing she needed to do everything she could to ensure their baby was born healthy. The whole family had pitched in to help keep her occupied as the days dragged on, and finally, she was able to make peace with this new strange reality.

But just as she had started to relax into her new day-to-day existence at the beginning of her ninth month, the baby decided that she was tired of being cooped up. Angela would never forget the night her water broke and everything that came next.

"Tony, Tony," Angela said standing next to her side of the bed as she reached across to shake a snoring Tony awake.

"What, Angela, what," Tony muttered his eyes blinking as he sat up and rubbed the sleep out of them.

"My water just broke," Angela said looking down at where she'd been standing a minute before after getting up to use the bathroom for the hundredth time.

"But it's too soon," Toy said his eyes widening. "We still have three more weeks."

"Apparently, we don't. This little girl wants to come now," Angela said taking deep breaths to try and calm her racing heart. "We need to go."

In an instant, Tony was up and dressed in a pair of sweats and helped Angela change out of her nightgown into a dry pair of leggings and an oversized sweatshirt. He ran across the hall and woke Jonathan up with the news and instructions to let Mona, Sam, and Hank know what was happening and to meet them at the hospital.

After Tony helped Angela gingerly down the stairs and into his Jeep, he did his best to keep his speed under control as he raced to Fairfield General. Looking over at Angela as he put the car in park, she remembered how he had grinned and said "Let's have a baby tonight."

Angela was able to walk into the emergency room on her own and after a whirlwind check-in, she was wheeled up to a maternity suite with Tony following close behind. The contractions had started on their way to the hospital, and Angela was barely able to get the epidural before it would have been too late.

The next part was a bit of a blur in her memory, but she remembered how after she was fully effaced and had been pushing for a while, the doctor looked over at the monitor with a worried expression noting that the baby's heart rate was getting dangerously low and then declaring that they needed to do a c-section immediately. Angela remembered that even though she was upset that she wouldn't be able to have the baby naturally, she just wanted them to do whatever it took to make sure the baby survived. She had glanced up at Tony, who was holding her hand, as they wheeled her down the hall to an operating room, and for once, he wasn't able to hide the fear in his eyes.

And then, in a matter of minutes, but what seemed like hours to her and Tony, it was over, and they were putting the impossibly small pink screaming baby on her chest while Tony reached down to grab onto one of the baby's tiny hands. She and Tony were both sobbing as they met their beautiful newborn daughter with her mop of dark hair, eyes that were still screwed shut, and a nose and mouth that Tony swore were identical to Angela's. But, just as quickly as they had laid her down, the nurse picked her back up and whisked her away in a bassinet.

"I'm sorry," the nurse had said, "but since she's a little premature, we need to take her to the nursery to be checked out and make sure everything's ok."

She and Tony had been back in her maternity suite for a while and were waiting anxiously along with the rest of the family, and Mrs. Rossini, who Mona had been gracious enough to think to call before they left for the hospital, when the doctor came back in. Angela would never forget what he had said. Even though the baby was doing well, her lungs were still a little underdeveloped, so she would need to spend a couple of weeks in the NICU. But, other than that, she had checked out as very healthy, and they could go see her through the window in just a little while. Angela's heart sank at not being able to hold her little girl, but again, Tony was right there reminding her that the most important thing was that their daughter was healthy and just needed a little extra help.

The next two weeks were a whirlwind of emotion as Angela was released to go home but without her baby. Leaving the hospital without their little girl was one of the hardest things that she and Tony had ever done. But, they were back at the hospital every day even though Angela had been instructed to take it as easy as possible due to her c-section. They also still hadn't settled on a name for the baby as nothing seemed quite right. Finally, the night before they were able to bring her home, Tony had said that he thought Katherine, or Katie for short, would be a perfect choice. To him, since it was Angela's middle name, it was a way to honor everything she had gone through to bring their daughter into the world. She tried to object but relented when she saw the sincerity and warmth in Tony's eyes.

The next morning, she and Tony walked proudly out of the hospital each of them holding a side of the car seat. And when they got home, they excitedly introduced the rest of the family to their beautiful baby girl Katie. Later that night, after everyone had left or gone to bed, Angela remembered Tony coming up behind her and slowly wrapping his arms around her as she stood gazing lovingly down at Katie in her bassinet in their bedroom.

Whispering in her ear, he had said, "Thank you for giving me our little girl. She's perfect."

As Angela finally started to drift off to sleep in their bed at the Fairfield Inn, she thought about how that really had been the beginning of a brand new life for them, with their love only growing richer and deeper after Katie's birth, until they finally did get married…