Worth Waiting For

Mom, Dad, Kevin Sr., Denise, and Mr. and Mrs. H. stayed for dinner that night. We ordered Chinese, and we plan on ordering from there again in the future. Around 9 o’clock, Mr. and Mrs. H. and Mom and Dad all left while the Jonas’ stayed a little longer.

“Are you going to be fine for breakfast in the morning?” Denise asked as she, Kevin Sr. and the boys got ready to leave.

“Yeah, I’ll run out and get something when I wake up.” I said, hugging her good-bye.

“Mom, can Nick and I stay here tonight?” Frankie asked, rocking back and forth on his heels.

“Honey, that’s up to your brothers and the girls.” She said, hugging Lauren now.

“Kevin, Joey, please, please, please can we stay tonight?” Frankie asked, pulling on their arms.

“Nick, are you going to beg too?” Lauren asked. He got down on his knees and wrapped his arms around mine and Lauren’s legs and looked up at our faces, pouting.

“Pweety pwease can we sweep ovah?” he asked in a fake baby voice. Lauren and I cracked up.

“Yes alright. Get up off of the floor you ridiculous child.” Lauren said, grabbing his hands and pulling him up.

“Thanks!” Frankie exclaimed.

“I think you can share the guest room. Okay?” I asked.

“Yeah, sure. Kev, Joe, can we borrow pajamas?” Nick asked.

“No problem.” Kevin said.

“We’ll bring fresh clothes when we pick you up tomorrow.” Denise said. “What time should we be here?”

“Oh they have the day off, why don’t you just come over for dinner. We’ll have a pajama day, sit around, watch movies, eat some junk food. All that fun stuff.” I said.

“Alright,” she said, kissing Frankie and Nick on their foreheads. She looked over at Kevin and Joe. “My boys, all grown up,” she said, pinching their cheeks.

“Mom,” Joe whined.

“Alright, alright. We’re going. Goodnight.” She said waving as Kevin Sr. closed the door behind them.

“Party!” Joe shouted once his parents’ car had gone out of sight. I glared at him. “Um… okay… maybe not… how about a movie instead?”

“Much better,” I said. “Let’s put pajamas on and start our 24 hours of laziness.”

So we all ran upstairs to change into pajamas. While Joe brought some clothes to Frankie I changed quickly. This was going to be a tad weird, our first night together in the same bed, in our house. Once I was changed I sat on the bed and he came in.

“Oh, you changed already?” he asked, pulling off his shirt leaving him in his beater.

“Yup,” I said, as he stepped out of his jeans and pulled on some lounge pants. He walked over to me and draped his arms over my shoulders. He leaned down and gave me a kiss.

“And you didn’t wait for me because?” he asked, kissing along my jaw line, back to my lips. I put my hands on his chest and smiled.

“Because, I didn’t think it would be… appropriate.” I said, shrugging my shoulders. He chuckled and sat next to me, pulling me onto his lap.

“Lyss, we’re getting married. Nothing’s inappropriate.” He said, rubbing his hands up and down my back.

“Yes, Joe, we’re getting married. Meaning, there will be plenty of time for you to see this,” I said, waving my arms up and down my body. He groaned and kissed my neck. I jumped off his lap and he pouted. “Come on; let’s go watch a movie before they start to wonder where we are.”

“It’s not like they have to worry about you getting pregnant or something.” He said. I rolled my eyes and pulled him downstairs.

“Geez, what took so long?” Lauren asked.

“We were just trying to get it through our heads that we were just in our bedroom and everything.” I said.

“So what’s the movie?” Joe asked as Kevin put a disc in the DVD player and we sat on the couch. Frankie sat next to me and I pulled him onto my lap. Lauren, Kevin and Nick were on the other couch.

“Yes!” Joe exclaimed as that famed Wildcats logo flashed across the screen.

“Seriously?” I asked, looking around. “This is the movie you pick for our first night in our own house?” I asked.

“Yupp,” Kevin and Nick said, staring intently at the screen. Lauren looked at me, eyebrows raised.

“We’re marrying twelve year old girls.” She said.

“Hey!” Joe and Kevin said, tearing their eyes away from the screen to look at us.

“Well, honey, watching this movie does make you seem very, very gay.” I said.

“Hey, we’re supporting Zac by watching this movie. He’s our friend.” He said.

“Yeah… okay.” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Can you shut up so we can watch the movie?” Frankie asked us all, still staring at the screen. I rested my chin on his shoulder.

“Sorry,” I whispered and kissed his cheek.

About twenty minutes before the movie ended Frankie fell asleep in my arms. When the movie was done, Kevin stood up to take the disc out of the player, I sat up from my position, leaning against Joe and he stood up. He scooped Frankie up in his arms and carried him up to the guest bedroom. Nick and I walked upstairs behind Joe, Kevin and Lauren behind us.

“Goodnight Nick.” I said, kissing him on the cheek.

“Night Mel,” he said, smiling as he walked into the guest room.

I waited for Joe to come out from tucking Frankie in and took his hand in mine and we walked to our room. We brushed our teeth at our own sinks and I climbed into bed, turning on the table lamp so Joe wouldn’t trip on his way back to the bed. He turned off the light and jumped into bed next to me, wrapping his arms around my waist.

“Joe! Let me go.” I said, pushing against him.

“Never.” He said, kissing my neck.

“Joe, you’re jostling baby.” I said, staring at him now.

“Oops,” he said, setting me down back on my side of the bed. “Sorry babe.”

“It’s okay.” I said, climbing under the covers. He leaned over and kissed me.

“Goodnight Lyss.” He said. Then he lifted the covers a bit. “May I?” he asked, his fingers tracing the hem of my shirt. I nodded my head. He lifted my shirt a little to reveal my still small stomach. He rested his hand there gently, his skin warm against mine, and then brought his lips to my stomach and kissed it. “Goodnight baby.” He whispered before lowering my shirt again and pulling the covers over us. I turned the light off and snuggled into Joe’s body. I fell asleep with a smile on my face.

****

I woke up the next morning around 5:30 am and went straight into the bathroom, bending over the toilet and throwing up. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand when I was done and washed my hands and brushed my teeth. I dried my hands and looked in the mirror.

“God damn morning sickness.” I said.

I quietly walked into the bathroom and saw Joe still lying motionless on the bed. At least he’s a heavy sleeper. I thought. I changed my clothes quietly and slipped on some flip flops and quietly walked downstairs, turning a table light on in the living room. I grabbed the car keys and left the house, going to the store.

I bought some milk, orange juice, coffee, pancake mix, eggs, bacon, and some lunch stuff and junk food for later. Then I had a thought. I wanted to cook a fancy dinner so I grabbed some steaks, potatoes, and corn, just enough for tonight. We could have a big shopping day later on. About an hour later I got back to the house and got to work in the kitchen, being as quiet as possible.

Around 8 o’clock I heard footsteps and saw Kevin and Lauren. Nick was close behind.

“Good morning,” I said, smiling at them as I added some more bacon into a pan and flipped a few pancakes.

“Morning,” Lauren said, looking around. “How long have you been up?”

“Two and a half hours.” I said, scrambling some more eggs.

“Oh God, why?” Nick asked.

“Well you see Nicky, when you’re pregnant, there’s this thing called morning sickness.” I said.

“Okay, let’s end it there.” He said. I laughed and handed Lauren the spatula.

“Can you watch these for a sec? I’m going to wake the others up.”

“And change back into your pajamas.” Kevin reminded me as he started to make some coffee.

“Right,” I said, climbing up the stairs. I walked into the guest room and sat next to Frankie on the bed. I smoothed his hair back and smiled as his eyes fluttered open.

“Hi Mel,” he said, sleepily.

“Hi Tank. You hungry?” I asked. He nodded his head. “I made some pancakes and bacon and eggs and Lauren’s finishing them up so go downstairs okay?”

“Okay,” he said, jumping out of bed. As he walked downstairs I walked to mine and Joe’s room. He was still in the same position as before. I yanked the covers off of him and he groaned.

“Time to get up,” I sang, changing into my pajamas as I spoke.

“Uunh.” He said.

“Up, up, up.” I said, smacking his butt with each word. He swatted at me and missed each time. I grabbed his hands and pulled him up. “Come on; make this easier on the pregnant one.”

He slowly sat up and put his glasses on. He looked at the clock, then back at me. Then he looked at the clock, then back at me again. He pointed at the clock.

“Uunh.” He groaned.

“I made breakfast.” I said in a sing-song voice as he pulled me close to him. He kept his hands on my hips and placed his forehead on my stomach. I put my hands under his arms and started to pull him up. “Come on, there’s pancakes, and bacon, and eggs…”

Very slowly, he stood up and followed after me. I was half dragging him towards the stairs. He kept his hand in mine as I pulled him into the kitchen and sat him down at the table. He put his elbow on the table and put his chin in his hand.

I took the spatula back from Lauren and flipped the last of the pancakes. Lauren grabbed some plates and silverware and glasses. I started plating everything and made her sit down.

“Mel, you did not have to do this.” Kevin said, taking the plate I handed him and gave it to Frankie.

“What do you mean? Feeding my friends… making them happy… I love doing this.” I said, smiling as I put together Nick’s plate.

“Yeah, so feel the love and pass the salt.” Lauren said. I rolled my eyes and gave her the salt.

“It makes me feel guilty.” Nick said as I placed a plate in front of Joe, waving my hand over it to get the smell wafting up his nose.

“Eating can help drown that.” Lauren said, taking a bite of pancake.

“Yeah, eat. I’m going to eat.” I said, sitting down with my plate.

“Gee, can the help sit at the table?” Kevin asked sarcastically.

“As long as they don’t sing folk songs or tell bawdy stories.” Lauren said. “Hey, what’s with Narcoleptic Nate over there?” she asked, nodding towards Joe. I shrugged my shoulders and ate some bacon.

“Uunh,” was the reply from Joe.

“He’s not much of a morning person.” Kevin said. “You know that.”

“Uunh.”

“Now say, ’I can’t believe I ate the whole thing’.” Lauren said.

“Uunh,”

“Oh, hey, I just had a good idea for the wedding.”

“Cool,” I said.

“Instead of those little wrapped things of Jordan almonds at every place setting, what if we wrap up a few Aspirin?” she asked.

“Aspirin?” I asked.

“For the morning after hangovers!” she said enthusiastically.

“Ah-ha. That’s funny,” I said laughing.

“Because Jordan almonds are so done. Huh, Joe, what do you think? Aspirin over almonds?” she asked, looking at him excitedly.

“Uunh,”

“Can we take that as a yes?” she asked.

“No. See, everything eventually registers. He’ll chime in on this in a couple of days.” Nick said.

“Days?” I asked.

“Days.” Frankie said, nodding his head and taking a sip of milk.

“Hey, is Joe in the house? Let me hear you say ’uunh’.” Lauren said.

“Uunh.”

“A new toy!”

“Shameless,” I said, shaking my head and eating some more.

****

Week 10
Mid-April 2010

“Whoa,” I whispered to myself as I looked in the mirror. I was getting ready to change out of my pajamas and I was examining my stomach.

“What’s up babe?” Joe asked stepping out of the bathroom, half of his face covered in shaving cream, razor in hand. I looked at him through the mirror and pointed at my stomach.

“Look,” I said, smiling. I stood so he could see a good profile view. My stomach was starting to grow. Joe smiled and walked over to me, shaving cream and all and knelt down in front of the mirror. He placed his hand on the pooch and kissed it.

“Hi baby… I’m your daddy.” He crooned. “I’m so happy I can finally see that you really are in there. You’re in your mommy, and I love her… a lot.” He said, kissing my stomach again. I smiled down at Joe, a tear falling from my eye onto the top of his head. He stood up and looked at me, wiping his thumb across my cheek and wiping away the trail left by the tear. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong.” I said, shrugging my shoulders and pushing the side of my face into the palm of his hand. “You’re just making me really happy.” I said.

“I’m only returning the favor.” He said, leaning in to kiss me but I pushed away. “What was that for?”

“Hon, you’re covered in shaving cream. You can kiss me when it’s off your face.” I said, turning to walk into the closet to change. “Hurry up, we have our appointment with the obstetrician in two hours and it takes forty five minutes to get there.”

****

“Mr. and Mrs. Jonas I presume?” the doctor asked walking into the examination room. I was lying on the table and Joe was sitting next to me on a stool. We exchanged a look and then turned our attention to the woman standing in the room.

“How do you…?” Joe asked.

“My name is Dr. Lockhart,” she said. “Your mother, Melissa, called and explained the situation so I am to refer to you as if you are married. No worries, your secret is safe with me.” She said, smiling at us.

“Well, thank you.” I said smiling at her.

“Of course. Now, I see you are now starting to grow… I assume you’re almost 11 weeks in?”

“Yes,” I said, nodding my head.

“Alright, well would you like to see if we can find your baby?” she asked, setting her clipboard down.

“Yes!” Joe and I said enthusiastically. She brought over the ultrasound machine and grabbed a bottle of gel. I lifted my shirt and Joe took my hand in his. Dr. Lockhart shut the lights off and opened the bottle.

“This may be a little cold.” She said, squeezing some onto my belly.

I inhaled at how cold it was and slowly exhaled. She turned on the machine and swiped the probe around and a picture appeared on the screen. It took her a minute but soon she pointed at the screen.

“Right there,” she said pointing “is your baby.” Joe squeezed my hand and I looked at him and he was smiling. “Here is the head, the hands here, and the feet. The biggest accomplishments this week are, the tail is gone now and toes have formed.”

“How much do you think the baby weighs?” Joe asked, his eyes never leaving the screen.

“I would say about four grams… that’s the weight of about 4 paper clips. Now, would you like to hear the heartbeat?”

“Can we?” I asked. She smiled and pushed a button on the side of the monitor and Joe and I heard a loud, rapid pulsing sound resounding throughout the room.

“Wow,” Joe whispered, leaning over and giving me a kiss. I placed my hand on his cheek as he pulled away and a tear dropped from his face onto mine.

“Would you like this to be taken as a snapshot so you can save it? We can do the same with future visits; it will be fun to compare them after the birth.”

“We would love that.” I said, smiling at her.

“Another fun thing to do is to start measuring your stomach and waist line every week and see how things have changed.”

“We can do that.” Joe said. “Thank you so much Dr. Lockhart.” He said, taking the picture from her and putting it in his wallet.

“You’re very welcome. Until next time,” she said, walking us to the door. Joe took my hand in his and we walked out to the car, the bright sunlight blinding us.