Thinking Out Loud

Chapter 11

"Joe look," Dianne said softly as she stood in front of the mirror, facing the side with her top pulled up and her leggings pulled down. "It's our baby." You could no longer mistake the fact that she was pregnant anymore; there was a definite bump and Dianne was just about feeling little kicks every now and then. She was around 16 weeks pregnant and growing bit by bit every day. Joe walked up behind her and looked at her stomach in the reflection.
"Oh wow," he sighed softly, "that's little baby Sugg." Dianne smiled at the look on Joe's face before turning to hug him.
"I think we should tell the internet today, I can't hide it anymore so we may as well. At least then the press can't speculate."
"Okay," Joe nodded. "Are we still doing what you wanted to do?"
"I think so, it'll be cute."
"I'll go and get the Polaroid camera." Joe disappeared for a minute, leaving Dianne to look at her protruding abdomen in the mirror. She ran her hands over it gently and gazed in awe at it. Dianne was so in her own world that she didn't notice Joe come back and take a picture of her admiring her bump on his phone.
"Got it."
"Right, I'll stand against the plain wall then." She backed up and turned to the side, holding under her bump and smiling gently at it. Joe snapped a picture of her as he watched her, feeling his heart burst with a mix of pride and an overwhelming sense of love. The Polaroid printed out of the camera and Joe held it between his fingers, waiting for the colours to develop.
"How's that?" He asked as the image became clear. Dianne leaned closer, smiling gently. "I love it."
"Good. Let's make some artsy picture then." Joe and Dianne walked downstairs and placed the picture on the marble counter, the ultrasound one just next to it. From a vase of flowers given to them as a pregnancy gift by Zoe, Dianne took some baby's breath and a rose and arranged them around the two pictures until she was happy with it.
"Finished?" Joe asked.
"Yep." Dianne stepped back and let Joe take the picture on his phone, and then an identical one on Dianne's. "Aw, it's cute."
"Shall we post now?"
"Yes, and then turn our phones off and relax."
"Okay." Joe kissed Dianne's lips before they both opened their instagrams and posted the picture at the same time with a simple caption of the baby's due date. Both of them turned their phones off and left them in the kitchen, going to sit on the sofa and watching tv.

"Oh, I've just thought," Joe said after an hour, "we find out if our offer was accepted today!"
"Do you know what time?"
"No, I'll check now." Joe jumped up from where he was sat and, after waiting for Dianne, rushed into the office, loading up his computer straight away. Going onto his emails as soon as it had loaded, Joe waited anxiously for the page to load.
"Is that it?" Dianne asked, pointing to the screen. Joe clicked on it and the pair both read through the email as quickly as they could.
"Oh my god, they accepted it!" Joe said loudly as Dianne gasped.
"Oh my god!" She threw herself at Joe, wrapping both arms tightly round his neck as he stood up. Joe picked her up and spun her round before putting her down and kissing her gently. "Thank god for that," she laughed, "this baby is coming soon and I want to be out of this place."
"Same," Joe agreed, "I'll get all of the details and then we can start to arrange everything."
"I'm so excited already!"
"So am I."

Dianne climbed into bed that evening next to Joe and cuddled into his side with a heavy sigh.
"You alright?" Joe asked.
"Yeh..." Her voice trailed away. Joe put his phone down immediately, sensing the tone in her voice, and hugged her tighter.
"You sure?" Dianne didn't speak, just shrugged. "Talk to me," Joe whispered gently, "what's bothering you?"
"I'm scared."
"About what?"
"It's just," Dianne began, pulling herself up the bed so she was sat up next to Joe, mirroring his position. "I've never done this before. I don't know what to expect, what will happen to my body afterwards, what labour feels like-"
"Hey, hey, hey," Joe interrupted. Dianne stopped rambling and turned to him with a defeated look on her face. "Stop worrying, we can find someone for you to talk to. And I'll do my best to support you as much as you need me to." Joe watched as Dianne bit down hard on her bottom lip to hide the tremble, before a single tear dropped from her eye, glistening on her cheek in the dim light. Instinctively, he reached out and hugged her tightly, one hand resting on the back of her head, the other around her waist. He held her whilst she cried her worries away, her petite form shaking and trembling. Dianne cried into his shoulder for what felt like ages; she was thankful for him, he always did everything he could to make her feel better. After a few minutes, the tears slowed to a stop and Dianne sat back up again, her eyes now puffy, her skin red and blotchy.
"Do you want to ring someone who's done this before?" Joe asked. He couldn't offer her any advice, but there were people in their lives who could.
"I'd ring my mum, but she'd only worry," Dianne laughed. "I'm fine. I'll speak to Gemma maybe."
"Good idea," Joe said, nodding his head. "Maybe you could meet up with her at some point."
"I'll message her tomorrow. I'm too tired now. This," she pointed to her stomach, "is being mean and taking all my energy for itself."
"Naughty baby," Joe joked. "Let's go to sleep then. I imagine we've got a busy few weeks. And, well lots of sleepless nights ahead of us."
"That is very true," Dianne giggled. "Ah, I'm not excited for that part of it all."
"I don't think anyone ever is."
"No, I suppose not. Well, I'm off to sleep. Night."
"Sweet dreams." Joe kissed Dianne's lips quickly before turning off his light and moving down the bed. He brought Dianne's sleepy body close to him and held her gently whilst she fell asleep.

Upload schedule is changing-
Monday
Wednesday
Friday