Very special thanks, as always to Alisha, Beth and Nancy.
Last time:
Clark
I showed Mom around the newsroom and introduced her to a variety of people. Lois stayed seated at her desk, chatting with Billy, Serena and Jimmy – and anyone else who happened by the desk.
Twenty minutes later, we made it to Perry's office. They started chatting about the last time Perry saw Elvis – turned out Mom was at the same concert.
I looked and saw Lois talking to Jimmy. Jimmy was animated trying to describe something with his hands. He finally pulled her chair to my desk and looked something up online.
I didn't think she noticed when she started rubbing her stomach and the strain started to show on her face.
But then she winced.
I ran off, leaving Mom and Perry staring after me.
"Hey," I said, squatting next to her chair. "Are you okay?"
Her eyes were wide as she looked back at me. "I think my water just broke."
*~*110*~*
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
I was just sitting there, arguing with Jimmy over the best place to go camping – not that I ever went camping, but because I could.
"I'll show you," he told me, reaching for the mouse on my computer.
"It's not turned on, Bill," I told him with a roll of my eyes. "I'm not really here, remember?"
"Bill?" he said, rolling me towards Clark's desk.
"Bill Gates," I said, holding my feet up as he moved the chair.
He started typing rapidly as he jabbered on about how close this place was to the lake.
I rubbed my stomach absent-mindedly.
There was a sudden, sharp pain followed by an odd feeling and I knew I winced noticeably.
Clark was next to me in a few seconds. "Hey, are you okay?"
I shook my head. "I think my water just broke."
"What?" he hissed.
"I think my water just broke," I said again.
Jimmy looked at me, wide-eyed. "Seriously?"
I nodded as the first real contraction hit. I closed my eyes and tried to remember the breathing exercises from the last time.
"Lois?" I heard Martha nearby. "Clark, what's going on?"
"Her water just broke." His voice sounded grim.
"What?!" Martha grabbed my purse as the contraction eased.
"We've got to get her to the hospital," Clark said, his hand on my elbow as I struggled to stand. "Can you drive, Mom?"
We started walking slowly toward the elevator.
"I'd be happy to, but I don't know where I'm going." She pushed the down button.
"I'll drive," Jimmy said, holding on to my other elbow. He turned. "Perry?"
Perry nodded. "You still owe me some time though."
"Got it, Chief."
The doors opened in front of us and a few minutes later, we were exiting at the parking garage. The Jeep was too far away and Jimmy sprinted to get it as another contraction hit.
"Too close," I whispered.
"It's been over five minutes," Martha said practically. "How far is the hospital?"
"About twenty minutes," Clark told her.
Much closer than if we'd been at home. The contraction eased as Jimmy pulled up.
Clark hurried to the passenger side and opened the back door as Jimmy opened the one on the driver's side.
"Turn around and back in," Clark told me, grabbing a blanket from the back and putting it on the seat.
I did and worked my way across the seat. Clark sat as close to the door as he could, turning slightly to let me lean against him. Two minutes later, we were out on the street, headed towards campus.
Clark called Kristi as soon as we were out of the parking garage. She was almost done in the office and would meet us over there. Martha called Daddy and Jonathan and travel arrangements were being made for Jonathan, Granny and Nana.
Jimmy pushed the speed limit when he could and I heard Clark say we'd made it in about eighteen minutes.
Jimmy and Clark helped me out of the Jeep and Clark kept an arm securely around my waist as we walked inside.
The next hour or so was a whirlwind of activity. Kristi was already there and helped get me checked in. I managed to fill out paperwork, change into a gown, get situated on the bed and ask for an epidural while there was a flurry of activity around me.
Clark let me rest my head against him again while the doctor put the epidural in and I breathed a sigh of relief as the medication kicked in.
"What about the baby?" I asked Kristi with tears in my eyes as she finished my first internal exam of the labor process.
"You're about a three and you're almost 35 weeks," she told me. "The amnio last week showed that the baby's lungs were more developed than expected, which does happen sometimes. It's possible that he or she might even avoid the NICU, but there's no way to know at this point. I want you to be ready for that. I'll do my best to let you hold him for a minute, but we'll have to see – and even if you do get to hold her, it might be a while before you see her again."
I nodded. "Okay."
"But," she smiled, "even if we do have to go the NICU route, odds are it wouldn't be for very long and that he'll be just fine."
I nodded again. "I know." We'd talked for a long time about the pros and cons of the amnio the week before. Kristi had told us two weeks earlier that she wanted to do it. We'd talked about it at length with Martha. We'd finally decided that the tests they were running shouldn’t show anything but how developed the lungs were. We decided the risk was pretty minimal and the need to know about the baby outweighed the slight risk.
I lay on my side, feeling the contractions but not the pain. Martha, Daddy and Jimmy had come in and were talking quietly. Clark sat close to me, holding my hand, brushing my hair off my face.
"How are you?" he asked quietly.
"Scared," I told him. "Not about labor or delivery but the baby, what comes after."
"It's going to be okay," he said, with more conviction than he felt, I was sure. He brushed my hair back again. "The baby is going to be fine."
"I'm sorry," I told him, tears in my eyes.
"For what? You've done a great job getting this far."
"If I hadn't come today... If I'd stayed home and taken it easy..."
"There's no way to know that," he said pragmatically. "It could have happened at home anyway and then it would have been you and Mom – Vicki and Ollie and the boys are out of town – and you would have had to try to tell her how to get here while in labor."
"You could have gotten home fast enough to drive," I reminded him.
"True, but this way we didn't have to worry about it. We got you here quickly and you've got your epidural and the baby's going to be in good hands. You and the baby both are."
I nodded. "Still..."
Kristi came in just then and shooed everyone but Clark out. She checked my progress. "You're almost completely effaced but I think this is going to go a bit slower than last time. You're up to a five so you've made some progress but you've still got some time."
"Okay."
"And listen – going to the Planet and sitting there for a bit had nothing to do with this. It probably would have happened today anyway and nothing you did today caused this, okay?" She squeezed my hand. "It's going to be okay."
I couldn’t make myself agree with her, but finally squeezed her hand back.
She went to the hall and opened the door, letting Daddy, Martha and Jimmy back in. She updated them and then chatted with them for a while – she'd called Kevin and told him that she was going to hang out here for a while since I'd probably deliver before it got too late.
I sighed.
"It's going to be okay," Clark reiterated.
"I hope so," I whispered.
"It will be," he said again, this time leaning forward to kiss my forehead. "It will be."
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
She was scared, more scared than she was letting on, I was sure.
I didn't blame her – I was more scared than I was letting on, too. I should have known she'd be feeling guilty about her trip to the Planet today.
It was several hours before it was finally time for Lois to push. Mom, Sam and Jimmy gave Lois big hugs and headed out to the hallway to wait.
A number of nurses came in and transformed the fairly homey room into a delivery room. One of them helped position me and Lois.
"You ready?" Kristi asked.
Lois shook her head. "No, I'm not. It's too early."
Kristi squeezed Lois' knee reassuringly. "It's going to be fine."
Another contraction hit and Lois pushed without any prompting.
I didn't know if it was because she'd given birth once already or because the baby was small or what, but it was only a few more minutes before we were officially parents again.
"It's a boy," I told Lois as she collapsed back on to the bed.
"Another boy," she whispered.
It was only a few more seconds before he was lying on Lois' stomach and Kristi showed me where to cut the cord.
"He looks good," Kristi said quietly. "For now at least, he looks great. We'll do another evaluation in a few minutes, okay?"
Lois nodded. "Hey, little man," she whispered, holding him in her arms. "I need you to stay healthy, okay?"
He let out a newborn squawk at that.
"Can I?" I asked her quietly. She nodded and I carefully took him from her, wrapping the blanket around him a little tighter. I gazed at him in awe. I knew I'd been there when Christopher was born, but I'd been preoccupied and hadn't really held him for a long time. "Hey, Nate. I'm your dad," I whispered. "Your mom's right. You need to stay healthy."
One of the nurses reached for him and I carefully handed him over. They took him to the warmer and started doing whatever it was that they did to newborns.
"Six pounds, six ounces," one of them said a few minutes later.
"That's great for five weeks early," Kristi told us.
Lois winced. "As long as he stays healthy, I think I'm glad he came early."
Kristi laughed. "Even if he'd gone full term, you'd probably be looking at eight or eight and a half pounds which is still pretty normal."
"I think I prefer slightly smaller," Lois replied as they put the bed back together and helped resituate her.
"His blood sugar's a little low, so we're going to need to give him a bottle," one of the other nurses said. "Dad, you want to do the honors?"
I looked at Lois. "Unless you want to."
She shook her head. "Go ahead. I'm wiped."
They wrapped him up in a couple of blankets, put a hat on him and handed him to me. I settled into one of the chairs and he sucked eagerly on the bottle. Kristi went to let everyone back in.
Seconds later, Mom, Sam, and Jimmy came in and crowded around, oo-ing and ah-ing.
"So do we have to wait for your dad and grandmas to get a name this time?" Mom asked as she took a seat.
I laughed and looked over at Lois.
"Up to you," she said with a smile.
"Everybody, I'd like you to meet Nathaniel David Kent."
"Nathaniel?" Sam asked.
Lois nodded. "After your dad and Jonathan's grandfather."
I looked over at Jimmy. He was trying hard to keep the tears out of his eyes – I could tell that. "Thanks, guys," he finally managed to get out.
I knew the name would affect him, but I didn't think it would affect him that much.
I handed Nate over to Mom who took him – and the bottle – carefully. A minute later, he had finished enough of the bottle to satisfy the nurses and they took him back.
We talked to everyone for a while as they waited for Nate's temperature to get back up. It was nearly midnight by the time they were ready to take him upstairs so they waited a few more minutes so Lois' insurance wouldn't be charged for an extra day in the room. By then, it was just me and Lois – everyone else had gone home.
"Do you want me to stay tonight?" I asked as she settled into her room; Nate was in the nursery.
Lois shook her head. "No, go home and get some sleep. Christopher will want to see you in the morning. Go ahead and go. Daddy's got one of the Sceves staying here, just in case."
I perched on the side of her bed. "Okay. I'll bring Christopher by in the morning."
"Sounds good."
I kissed her gently on the forehead. "You did great today," I said quietly. "And Kristi's right. Nothing you did or didn't do today made him come early. And he's doing great – except for the body temperature and blood sugar things. His lungs are working well. He's going to be fine."
She nodded. "I know."
"And it's not unusual either," I reminded her. "Babies born at this age don't always end up in the NICU. Everyone's just going to assume he's a healthy, if slightly early, newborn."
"I know."
"Get some rest," I told her. "You’re the one who did all the hard work today."
She smiled and I could tell that she was tired.
"I'm sure you've got at least an hour before someone comes in to poke at you."
She rolled her eyes. "Nope. The nurse'll be here in a second to check me over. It'll be an hour before I get any rest and then it'll be about thirty minutes before they wake me up for something else. I'll have a total of about an hour and a half worth of sleep before the sun comes up."
I winced. "Sorry."
"It's okay. Just bring Christopher with you in the morning." She yawned.
"I will." I reached out and gently cupped the side of her face in my hand, my thumb rubbing along her cheek bone. For a second, the thought that I might be sending the wrong signal went through my head, but for the moment I didn't care. "You really did do a great job. He's beautiful and I can't thank you enough for taking such good care of my baby – our baby – the last 35 weeks." I hesitated slightly before leaning over and kissing her softly – right on the lips. She kissed me back – with the same light touch. "Thank you."
She smiled up at me. "You're welcome. I just wish I could have kept him in a little longer – just to be safe."
"He's going to be fine," I told her again, a bit more forcefully, hoping that she'd believe me – hoping that I'd believe me. I had an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach that there was something we were missing or something, but I wasn't about to tell her that.
"I know. Now go home, get some rest, and bring Nate's big brother back in the morning."
"Yes, ma'am."
She glared at me and I laughed.
"Sorry. Yes, Queen Lois of Lane, ruler of Lane and Duchess of Kent."
"Better."
The nurse chose that moment to walk in. "Sorry about the delay. Let's get you checked out so you can get some rest."
"I'll see you in the morning," I said quietly, kissing her one more time on the forehead.
I squeezed her hand slightly – and she squeezed back – before I headed out the door and home.
*****
TBC
