"This is a doctor for people who have babies," Zach said quietly. "This was my doctor when I had Vannah before Alexandria came to the house. Dr. Evans doesn't come to people's houses when they have babies. She goes to hospitals."
Zach bounced Savannah a little. "It's not nice to stare, Noah. You need to sit and wait until it is Daddy's turn to see the doctor."
Noah frowned but sat down, and even with Zach's warning he continued peering over his Papa to look at the young man near to them "Papa... How come he's alone?" Noah asked, pointing at the man and then looking up at Zach in confusion "Everyone else has someone with them, he doesn't!"
Caleb came back out of the bathroom, face pale still as he sat down on the other side of Zach, laying his head on his husband's shoulder and closing his eyes. He lifted the trash can back up and settled it in his lap "Number three and four... I swear this is worse than when I was pregnant with Noah..." Caleb said quietly.
Zach kissed his forehead before gently shushing Noah. "Maybe he just came alone today. Remember Noah, it's not your job to poke into everyone's life. Worry about you."
The nurse called the young man up and Zach watched him push himself up awkwardly. If he didn't have Savannah in his arms and Caleb resting on his shoulder, he would have helped him. He looked very pregnant and uncomfortable. Zach remembered that time all too well.
Caleb huffed quietly "He's single, pregnant with multiples..." Caleb surmised quietly, blinking slowly up at Zach "Probably didn't want to become pregnant, but once he was - he fell in love with the babies... His boyfriend probably dumped him..." Caleb rubbed his own stomach and looked down at himself "He's probably eighteen, or just turned eighteen... No telling since he looks so young."
Zach looked at Caleb a little oddly and Caleb just shrugged "When you work in a hospital, you have to come to your own conclusions about people, especially if they aren't conscious... Most of the time we're right, sometimes not so much..."
Zach shook his head. "I just told your son not to worry about someone else's life and then you go and do it. Besides, I really don't think he was carrying multiples. He didn't look *that* big."
Savannah tugged on Zach's lip, babbling at him seriously as he looked down at her, nodding along. She ended with a nod and a Papa so he gave her a kiss on the top of her head which seemed to satisfy her. Noah kept staring at the other people in the waiting room, squirming in his seat like he wanted to go over and ask questions. It wouldn't surprise Zach. Noah liked to know everything and he was fascinated with babies.
"I'm not worrying about his life - I was summarizing it." Caleb said huffily, crossing his arms over his chest "And he was definitely carrying multiples. You clearly weren't looking hard enough to see two heads moving underneath that hoodie of his. The simple fact that he was hiding his pregnancy at all just means he's ashamed that he's pregnant... Which is sad if you think about it, but its understandable - those first few months, when I was doing it alone... I was ashamed, upset, hated myself for it..." Caleb shrugged and reached up to start biting on his thumbnail.
While Zach and Caleb were distracted with their discussion and Savannah's babbling, Noah did manage to slip away from his parents. Toddling his way over to another couple in the room - a man and woman - and he sat down right next to the pregnant mother, starting up a conversation of his own with her and the man.
Zach put his arm around Caleb, pressing a kiss to his temple. "I'm sorry that you ever felt that way. I really am. Finding out that you were pregnant and having Noah was one of the best things that happened to me."
He looked around to pull Noah in and sighed. "And he's not here. Noah!" He spotted him across the room talking to the other couple. "Noah, come back over here. You are supposed to be here with us."
The man that Noah had been chatting up with smiled and took Noah by the hand, bringing him back over to Caleb and Zach "He wasn't bothering us. We have a son at home the same age as this one and he's just as curious about babies and where they come from as well." The man said as he hoisted Noah up and onto the chair next to Zach "This one is our third pregnancy as well, so we're quite used to kids hanging on us."
Noah pointed at the pregnant mother and smiled "She's having twins this time! Are we going to have twins to daddy, papa?!" Noah asked excitedly, having no clue really what twins are - or, of course, that Caleb was pregnant, he was just going off of his own excitement.
"We'll have to see, Noah... we have to make sure that the doctor says its okay for me to have a baby again, before we decide that..." Caleb said quietly and buried his head against Zach's shoulder "Thank you for bringing him back to us."
"You're welcome," the man said. He held his hand out to Noah to shake his hand. "It was very nice to meet you, Noah." He smiled a little at Zach. "You uh ... you're one of my favorite actors. It's really nice to meet you. I hope you get to work again. It's ridiculous that you don't get movies because you had a baby."
"Thanks," said Zach, shaking his hand as well. The guy headed back to his wife and Zach exhaled slowly, feeling very emotional hearing about that. The nurse called Caleb's name and Zach was so glad for the chance to go in the back. "Let's go, kiddo. Can you hold Daddy's hand?"
Noah nodded and bounced off the chair again, holding his hand out for Caleb.
Caleb smiled and took ahold of Noah's hand once he stood up "Starting to feel nervous... And nauseas..." Caleb mumbled as he walked behind Zach as they went down the hall behind the nurse.
The nurse smiled "Dr. Evans will be with you shortly, I'm sure by now you know what to do." she said politely, holding the door open for the family of four.
Caleb nodded and went over to the corner of the room with Noah; he took the bag from Zach and pulled out the tablet "Alright buddy, daddy and papa need you to behave, stay in this chair, and play your games - This is a very important doctor's visit and we can't have many distractions." Caleb said as he settled Noah in the chair and got the tablet set up on one of Noah's favorite learning games - a math one.
Noah took the tablet happily. He loved getting time on the tablet and wasn't going to waste it. He settled onto the chair, pulling his legs up under him. He loved the math game a lot.
Zach rubbed Caleb's back soothingly, bouncing Savannah on his knee at the same time. He knew that Caleb was nervous and nauseous and really very scared that Dr. Evans was going to tell them that they just couldn't even try. And that was scary for the both of them.
"Whatever happens, we'll be okay. I love you so much."
Caleb nodded and turned into Zach "I love you too... I just... I don't want to know what'll happen, if she says no." Caleb said quietly; although he already knew what would happen, he just didn't want to accept that it would have to be done to him, if the pregnancy would somehow be a danger to his life.
Dr. Evans didn't waste much time in showing up "Good morning! I hope everyone got good sleep last night... And my we have a full house today, are we all here to see what's going on with my Number One daddy?"
"No babysitter and it's not a preschool day," Zach said in explanation. Savannah waved and screeched happily at Dr. Evans. "So you get all of us. Noah's pretty well occupied though."
Dr. Evans smiled and waved back at Savannah happily. "Well, I'm happy to see everyone. I don't always get to see the kids as they get older so it's a nice treat for me." She folded her hands together and looked at Caleb. "Okay, so we need to figure out how to get you through a pregnancy safely. That's our goal, right?"
Caleb nodded and squeezed Zach's knee lightly "That is the goal, yes. I don't want to lose it..." Caleb said quietly and closed his eyes "They..." he nodded toward Noah mostly "Don't know that we're already in a position to be doing this... We wanted to confirm and make sure we have a plan before we make any type of announcements, to them or to the rest of our family." Caleb stood up on shaky legs and headed over to the exam table. He scooted up and laid back, swinging his feet and biting his lip lightly "I might throw up in this position, but I know its necessary..." Caleb said as he pushed down his yoga pants and pulled his tank top up over his still pretty flat belly.
Dr. Evans got up and started the exam, pressing gently along Caleb's belly. She watched him for any reaction, keeping an eye on him for any sign of vomiting. Zach stood close by with the trash can, Savannah sitting in the chair by herself now with a couple of her toys.
"Okay, so tell me how you're feeling. Obviously I know that you're having migraines again, but I need you to tell me everything. Don't hold anything back. I need to know as much as possible to design a good plan for this pregnancy," Dr. Evans said seriously. "I want to get you through this better than the last one, Caleb."
Caleb shook his head "The migraines are the worst - I've only had two so far though." Caleb said quietly and rubbed his forehead "Excessive vomiting - which I had when I was pregnant with Noah. Exhaustion and fatigue, again pretty normal..." Caleb thought back over everything that has happened so far and then shrugged lightly "Dizziness, still a normal thing with pregnancy and it was common when I was pregnant with Noah."
He looked up at Dr. Evans "I haven't felt my heart trying to pound out of my chest, or skipping beats... No sweating, shaking, blacking out, or any of the other complications I had with Noah..."
Dr. Evans nodded. "Well that is good to hear. I'm still going to have to get an EKG and be seen by a cardiologist during the pregnancy just in case. All the other symptoms are normal like you said. How excessive is the vomiting? Do you need a Zofran prescription to try and curb it?"
Zach leaned over to keep Savannah from climbing off the chair. He settled her back on the chair and gave her some puffs but she wasn't interested. She kept signing milk and Zach sighed a little. He lifted her up in his arms and slipped one arm out of his sleeve. "Sorry, she wants to nurse. Puffs aren't good enough."
Dr. Evans waved of Zach's apology "I've seen all parts of the male and female body, I don't think you nursing your daughter is going to turn me away" Dr. Evans said with a smile.
Caleb bit his lip and thought about the Zofran prescription. After a few minutes he nodded his head and smiled lightly "Zofran sounds good, and the vomiting is pretty bad. All day, all night... A few times Zach has had to clean up after me because I just simply couldn't get there fast enough - its projectile-like and pretty gruesome..."
"You are carrying a trash can with you," Dr. Evans said a little dryly. "That's a good sign that it's a little too much. I don't want to have you end up in the hospital because you got dehydrated. Let's try and take care of it with the Zofran. How is your appetite?"
Zach settled Savannah in his arms and rocked her as she nursed. He saw Noah peeking at them over the edges of his tablet and he did feel bad, but he knew they couldn't give in on the nursing. Noah was too old to be nursing from them.
Caleb shrugged and wiggled his hand back and forth "Spotty at best. Some days I can eat a full plate of food -" which, if you knew Caleb before pregnancy kicked in, was never enough food to begin with "- and some days I eat a single strawberry or some other small piece of fruit and I'm full, not feeling it, or just running to get rid of it."