Shooting Stars

Present Day

“Hello, Miss Sophie,” Doctor Phelps said as she entered my room on the mark of my six months.
“Hi, Doctor Phelps.”
“Are you ready to know the sex of your baby?” I looked to Corey who had demanded I let him come with me and I nodded. He made me move in with him just last week because he wanted to make sure that Abby and Patrick had enough time to get their nursery ready and that I could have one too.
“Yes,” I said quietly. The baby bump had made the situation more real in the last four months. I had gotten huge and I couldn’t do anything to change that, which drove me crazy.
She turned on the ultrasound machine and I rolled my shirt up. She placed the gel on my belly and than took the machine and rolled it around until the picture popped up.
“There’s a head, and an arm. And it looks like you are having a baby girl.”
“A girl?” was my response. I was happy. I really was hoping for a girl first because my mom always said that if my brother had been first there would’ve been no more and I knew that I wanted more than one baby, just in a few years.
“Yes, a baby girl. You better start looking into names because before you know it, she’ll be here, in your arms waiting to be named.” She printed out the ultrasound and wrote on it that it was a girl before sending Corey and I on our way.
“Congratulations,” Corey said as he opened my door for me. Abby was in the doctor’s office too finding out what she was having, but we decided we wouldn’t tell each other until tonight’s dinner.
“Thanks, Corey,” I replied as I slid into his car with my six month belly.
I stared out the window of his car as he went around getting in his side. I had my hands on top of my belly and was busy rubbing it and silently communicating with my baby girl as Corey backed out of the parking spot. Everything else after that happened so fast I had no idea what was going on and than it went black.

“Soph,” I heard my named being cried. I than blacked out again.
The next time I awoke, I was in a plain white room with giraffe wall paper. Corey was sitting in the chair next to me sleeping with bandages all over. I than looked down at myself and I didn’t feel my baby inside of me. That caused me to freak out and a nurse came in.
“Miss Mosier, you need to calm down.”
“What happened to my baby?”
“We had to do a premature delivery. She’s in the intensive care unit.”
“Can I see her?”
“You need to be approved by your doctor first. I’ll go page her. How do you feel?”
“I’m in a lot of pain.”
“Where?” she asked.
“My head and my stomach,” I replied to her.
“I’m going to give you some pain medication. And you have some visitors out in the hall. Would you like me to send them in?”
“Yes please,” I said looking to Corey who was still fast asleep. He had repositioned though when I freaked out so that his head was resting on the bed next to me.
“Sophie!” Abby squealed as she came in as quickly as she could. “How are you, how do you feel? What’s going on?”
“They didn’t tell me what I did other than that they had to do a premature delivery. I have a daughter, Abby.”
“I’m going to have a boy,” Abby said as she sat on the other side of my bed that Corey wasn’t using and gave me a big hug. It hurt a lot, but I wasn’t going to tell my best friend to let go just yet.
“Corey refused to leave your side except in the delivery room,” Jon told me. I hadn’t even realized he and Jen were there until he spoke up.
“I bet he did. He’s always worrying about me,” I said as I played with Corey’s hair. That caused him to stir and just get his head closer to my body. Everyone laughed and Corey woke up that moment.
“What’s going on?” he asked groggily.
“We are just laughing at the big and tough Corey Crawford,” Sharpie replied sarcastically. Corey gave him the finger before turning to look at me.
“How are you?”
“I’ve been better. I just wish I could see her.”
“She’s tiny, cute, but tiny.”
“You saw her?”
“Only as they passed me in the hallway and they had her hooked up to a couple of machines. So you really couldn’t see her that much because she’s so tiny and there are so many machines.”
“Corey,” I started to cry and he came and wrapped his arms around me. I heard everyone else shuffle out of the room to give me some time. I must’ve cried a good five minutes before I finally got my control together to stop crying. I was wiping my tears away as Doctor Phelps came in.
“Sophie, I’m so sorry that we had to do a premature delivery, but we couldn’t risk your condition from the accident to hurt your baby.”
“I understand that much, but how is she?”
“She’s alright. She’s much better than any other child I’ve delivered this early. Your daughter is already a fighter like you,” she smiled at me. I laughed and Corey did too.
“When can I see her?”
“Doctor Jones needs to release you first.”
“So, what did I injure?”
“You have a minor concussion, three broken ribs that your daughter kicked trying to be able to move, and your arm.”
“It’s not wrapped?”
“Hello, Sophie. I’m Doctor Jones; I was actually coming to give you a cast right now.”
“Oh,” I replied.
“Did you have a name for your daughter?” Doc Phelps asked me.
“Ava Marie, that’s a good and strong name.”
“I like it. I’ll get a birth certificate made up for you to sign. Get some rest so you can be released and meet baby Ava.”
“Thanks, Doctor Phelps.”
“You are very welcome, Soph,” she waved goodbye and I waited for the cast to be put on by the other doctor. I chose a purple cast since it was my favorite color.
“Alright, Sophie. You can get your cast off in about three weeks. No heavy lifting and be careful using it. I’m waiting for some test results that won’t be in until morning to release you, alright?”
“Okay.”
“Good, I’ll be back in the morning with your results.”
“Thank you,” I replied to him as he left. I looked at Corey.
“Don’t worry about Ava. I’ll go up and check on her. If I can, would you like a picture?”
“Of course I would. Thank you, Corey. It means so much to me for you being here for everything.”
“Well, it is my fault you are here.”
“I’m sure that you are giving yourself too much guilt.”
“No, I was just so excited for you and the baby that I didn’t check both ways before backing out at full speed. It’s my entire fault.”
“No matter the reason, it’s not your fault. Things happen and as long as Ava and I are okay, nothing’s wrong. Now, get me those photos, please.” He left and I went back to bed after the pain meds kicked in.