And Baby Makes...?

Chapter 7

The rest of the summer tour went according to plan. Jenna and Sam were with us through July and part of August. Samantha grew more and more confident and taller, too. Jenna and I marvelled day after day as we watched her navigate her new life with us.

She was recognized a few more times when she and Jenna were out in the cities we were playing in, and Jenna said she was still unsure about it, but that she was taking it in stride when they were recognized.

In the middle of August the four of us flew to Iceland where Josh and I were filming a music video. I offered Samantha a part in it. Initially she said no, but I told her she wouldn't even be recognized because she'd be wearing a bandana over her face. She agreed to participate. I suppose we could call it her acting debut. She loved every minute of being a part of the video. At night, she'd tell us what she and the other extras were doing when they had downtime. She said none of them treated her any different just because she was my kid.

At the end of August it was time to return to our more laid back, normal lives in Ohio and for Sam to return to school. This year she was excited to start back. She'd been in touch with Jill all summer, keeping her apprised of everything that was happening. She also spoke with her other friends in a group chat and they were all excited to be back to school together.

On the first day, Jenna and I dropped Sam off at school and watched as our formerly timid daughter bounced out of the car and met her friends in the front of the school. She turned around, waved to us, blew us a kiss and went into the school with her friends.

"What a change from last year, huh?" Jenna said, as I pulled into traffic and headed to her doctor. It was time for a checkup on her and the baby.

"I can't believe that's the same kid we took in last October," I said.

"I know. She's so different. So much happier. I'm so proud of her," Jenna said.

I smiled at my wife as I took her hand.

We pulled into the doctor's office parking lot and checked in with the receptionist.

When we were called, Jenna got up and no followed. She was having an ultrasound today, so she was led to a room to change and I waited outside for her.

In the room, the technician squirted blue gel all over Jenna's growing stomach and apologized that it might be a bit cold. Jenna smiled. I smiled at my beautiful wife.

"Ready to meet your baby?" She asked. I smiled at her.

The technician moved the wand around and found the little peanut, as Samantha was calling it, and showed us certain structures. It was still too early to tell if it's a boy or a girl  but it was definitely a baby.

The tech printed off a bunch of photos for us to take home and we left.

I treated my wife to lunch and we had a leisurely afternoon.

We drove back to the school and picked Samantha up. She came out of the school looking somewhat defeated.

"Sam, what's the matter?" Jenna asked as Sam tossed her backpack into the car and slumped into her seat.

"Long day," she said. "And it's the first day and I have a ton of homework already."

"Would pictures of your baby brother or sister help cheer you up?" Jenna asked.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"We had an ultrasound today and they gave us some pictures," Jenna pulled them out of her purse and handed them to Sam.

Sam took them and looked intently at them.

"That's the baby?" She asked. Jenna nodded.

Sam stared at the pictures with incredulity.  She'd never seen an ultrasound photo before.

"This is really cool," she said as we pulled into the driveway and got out of the car. Jenna took the photos from her and explained a few things that the tech had told us.

Sam gave Jenna a hug and leaned down to her stomach.

"Keep being good to Mom, Little Peanut," she said.

Jenna laughed and hugged Samantha to her.

"Come on you goofy teenager," she said. "Let's get you a snack and you can start your homework.

Samantha groaned but started pulling out her books while Jenna made her a snack of peanut butter and crackers and a glass of milk.

I went downstairs to start working on some things. We were heading out in another leg of our tour in a couple of weeks and I wanted to get a few things organized.

Jenna called me for dinner and I went upstairs to find Samantha frowning at her textbook and Jenna pulling a dish out of the oven.

"Sam, set the table," Jenna said. Sam didn't respond.

"Sam, the table," Jenna reiterated.

"Yeah. Jus' a min," she said.

"Sam, now. It's dinner time. You can figure that out after," Jenna said.

Sam looked up at her. There was something in her eyes that caught me off guard.

"Sam, are you okay?" I asked. I checked our phone app for her glucose monitor and saw there had been no readings for a couple of hours.

"Jenna, grab her test kit.  I think her monitor stopped working or something. And maybe her pump is kinked?"

Sam frowned at me.

"I'm fine," she said.

"No you aren't. And your monitor lost signal a couple of hours ago.  We need to check your sugar kiddo," I said.

"No. I'm okay," she said, getting up off the breakfast bar stool and stumbling.

"Sam," I said, as I caught her arm.

"'Sokay," she slurred. "M'okay,"

She sat down hard on the floor. Jenna rushed over with Sam's kit. I checked her sugar and it was over 500.

"We need to get her to the hospital," I said. "This is too high to treat at home."

Jenna agreed and put a cover over the dinner she'd just made and we bundled Samantha up and took her out to the car.

In retrospect, we should have called an ambulance.