Unintended Pregnancy

I was thinking about Callie when I went in to work the following day. "How's the woman who was brought in yesterday with the compound fracture?" I asked the nurse whose shift I was relieving.

"She's all right," the nurse told me. "She's been moved out of intensive care and into a private room."

Later, I went into Callie's room to take her vitals and see if she needed anything. I found her lying on her back, staring at the ceiling with a woebegone expression on her face. She had a fixation device with six steel pins going through her leg.

"How are you doing today?" I asked her.

When she turned to look at me, I saw that there were tears in her eyes. "I lost the baby last night," she said.

"I'm very sorry that happened," I said. "Maybe you can try again after your leg heals."

"It took me over a year to get pregnant this time."

"Just remember that you're not alone. There are people who care about you."

"Bless you...what was your name again?"

"Addison."

"Bless you, Addison."

"Thanks."

I received a telephone call from Alexei about half an hour later. "Simba dug a hole under the fence and ran away," he told me. "I called the pound and animal control, but he hasn't turned up at either place yet. I'm going to put up signs as soon as I get the chance. The kids are really heartbroken. You need to come home as soon as you can."

"I can't leave work because of a missing dog," I told him. "I'll come home just as soon as I finish my shift."

Sometime later, it started raining, and by the time I left the hospital, it was really pouring. I thought that perhaps it would be best to wait until it slacked off some before driving back home, but then I remembered what Alexei had said about the kids being upset about the dog going missing and pushed those thoughts from my mind.

I drove more slowly than usual, trying to be as cautious as possible, but a car pulled out in front of me from a side street, and I had to slam on brakes to avoid hitting it. When I did, my car hydroplaned, skidding wildly all over the street, until it finally smashed into a telephone pole.

Luckily, it smashed into the passenger's rear side. It was raining too hard for me to get out and survey the damage, but I imagined that it was probably quite extensive. As the car was still functional, I drove the rest of the way home, shaking so badly that I could hardly hold the steering wheel. I got home to find Montana staring morosely out the living room window, Nevada having cried herself to sleep on the sofa. Jade was running around without a diaper while Alexei was putting medicine on Juniper's rash. "Thank God you're here!" he exclaimed when he saw me.

Without a word, I picked Jade up, grabbed a fresh diaper, and laid her on the bed. I got her to hold still long enough to put it on her but wasn't quite finished when Montana burst into the room. "What happened to the car?" he cried in astonishment.

"I lost control and ran into a telephone pole," I told him.

Alexei, who by now had finished with Juniper, went to see what Montana was talking about and returned a moment later. "I'll say you did!" He sounded very upset. "Are you aware of how badly damaged the car is, Addison?"

"No, it was raining too hard for me to get out and look at it, and when I got home, I was in too big of a hurry to get inside."

"You'd better come take a look." He waggled his finger at me, and I followed him into the living room, where we both stood gazing out the window. I saw that the entire right rear end of the car was smashed and groaned in dismay.

"I was trying to be as careful as I could," I told my husband. "Somebody pulled out in front of me and made me slam on brakes, so I lost control of the car."

"Well, at least you're OK. It's probably going to be in the shop for about a week, though, and I don't even want to think about what it will do to our insurance rates."

"Any word on the dog yet?"

"Nope."

It continued to rain well into the night, and Alexei had to work the following morning, but I was off. When Nevada awakened, she started in with crying about Simba almost right away, and I did my best to assure her that he would be home really soon. Since their older sister was acting whiny and clingy, the twins did the same, of course, while Montana quietly watched movies and played with his toy soldiers. "Well, at least I have one well-behaved kid," I groaned to myself.

When Alexei got home, he had several pieces of poster paper and black markers. After eating dinner, he immediately got to work on the 'missing dog' posters. All four kids were instantly transfixed and, after watching him for about ten minutes, wanted to help, so he gave them paper to draw pictures of Simba on. The following morning, he drove around putting the posters in prominent places, then followed me to the auto body shop to drop the car off. Sure enough, they said it would take about a week to get it fixed, but luckily, our insurance would pay for a rental car until then.

I was preparing dinner that evening when Montana and Nevada burst into the kitchen shouting. "Simba's back! Simba's back!"

I looked out the window and saw that a young Asian woman was stepping out of an aquamarine Toyota and that she was holding Simba. Eagerly, I went to the door to meet her. "I found him wondering around in the supermarket parking lot," she told me. "I saw your posters, so I knew he was yours."

"Thank you so much for bringing him back," I replied. "We've all been really missing him. By the way, I'm Addison."

"Vivian." She smiled and shook my hand. "It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you, too. Thanks again."

"No problem. Have a nice evening."

Simba needed a bath, of course, but appeared fine other than that. The kids were so happy to see him again that they wanted to stay up and play with him way past their bedtime, and I let them.

School started back not long after that. Montana was in third grade this year, and Nevada was in regular kindergarten. "I get to go to school all day long this year, just like Montana," she said proudly as we were waiting for the bus on the first day.

"That's right," I told her.

"I've got my mat, so I can take a nap if I get tired." She'd eagerly helped pack her back pack with all her supplies the previous night.

"You can take a nap at nap time, just like everybody else," Montana told her.

"Do you take a nap at school too, Montana?"

"No, I'm a big kid now. Naps are for babies."

"I'm not a baby!" Nevada swung at her brother, but I caught her fist.

"Kids," I admonished. "No fighting on the first day of school."

Soon the bus arrived, and all the kids got on it, and I drove the twins to child care. We'd decided to put them in child care this year instead of leaving them with Lauren. After dropping them off, I headed to the hospital for another long work day.

"School started back today," I told Eileen when I got there.

"That's cool. Something to keep them busy, huh?" Her kids were teenagers now.

"Yeah. I hope Nevada has a good day. This is her first day of regular kindergarten."

"Oh, she'll be fine." Eileen chuckled. "Gosh, it seems like only yesterday Dustin was starting kindergarten, and now he's almost ready to graduate."

That evening, there were the usual stacks of paperwork to fill out on the kids after dinner, and later that night, Lara called me. "Hey, girl," I said when I heard her voice. "I haven't talked to you in awhile. What's up?"

"Everything's fine. The kids are both doing good. I wanted to give you the news about Jana. She and Liam are engaged now."

"Cool!" I replied. "What's the date?"

"They're talking about maybe around Christmas. She's got some family problems, though. Her idiot brother violated his probation, so he's back in the slammer again."

"What a douche," I remarked.

"Yeah, really. She says he's driving her Mom crazy."

"Well, he's an adult now, so he has to live with the consequences of his decisions."

"It's hard on the rest of the family, though." We talked for a little while longer, exchanging cute anecdotes about our kids, and then Juniper started crying, so I had to go.

The twins' second birthday was a couple of months after that. We bought a hot pink Barbie car that seated two for them. "Now begins the fights over who gets to sit on the side with the steering wheel," Alexei joked. Surprisingly, he turned out to be wrong, as almost always, Juniper was content to let Jade do all the steering.

"It's obvious that she's going to be the leader," I remarked to my husband.

"It sure looks that way," he agreed.

A couple of weeks after that, we left the twins with my parents and took Montana and Nevada to the fair. All four of us were riding the swings together when I saw a couple of girls I remembered from school, Michelle and Stephanie, holding hands. After we got off the swings, I went over to say hello to them. "I had no idea you two were together!" I exclaimed.

"We only came out a few months ago," Michelle told me. "Up until then, we had to keep it a secret because so many people are prejudiced."

"I'll bet," I sympathized. "This is my husband, Alexei, and our kids, Montana and Nevada. We have two-year-old twins, too, but they're with their grandparents tonight."

"That's great!" said Stephanie. "I was in a relationship with a man when I was younger, and I have a daughter from that. She's six now."

"That's cool," I replied.

A few days after that was Halloween. We dressed the twins as green and yellow M&M's, Nevada dressed as a cowgirl, and Montana dressed as Batman, and we took them trick or treating at the mall. While we were there, we met up with Riley, who had Camryn and Colton with her. Colton was dressed as Elmo from Sesame Street and was running around just like any other kid his age.

"It's nice to see you again," I said to Riley. "It's been awhile, hasn't it?"

"It sure has," she agreed. "Time just flies, doesn't it?"

"Looks like he's getting around really well now." I nodded toward Colton, who was toddling toward the double stroller that held the twins.

"He's fine," Riely told me. "He doesn't even have to wear corrective shoes anymore."

"Elmo!" exclaimed Jade when she saw him. Juniper just stared.

"Hi, baby," Colton said to Jade.

"Elmo," she repeated.

One night a couple of weeks after that, Alexei and I were watching an incredibly sad movie about a young husband who was dying of cancer at the same time his wife was pregnant with their first child, and it made me feel so emotional that I started bawling like a baby.

"Hey." Alexei pulled me close and held me tight. "It's all right. It's just a movie. I'll always be here for you, Addison. You know that." He began placing soft kisses all over my face, and when he reached my lips, I was suddenly overcome with desire and slipped my tongue into his mouth.

"Mm," he mumbled, sliding his hands underneath my pajama top to massage my skin. When his fingers passed lightly over one of my nipples, I felt it harden.

"I want your mouth on them," I whispered into his ear.

Instantly, he pulled my pajama top over my head and did as I'd requested. Soon I began to feel a throbbing heat in my nether regions as my hand moved between his legs to grasp the hardness there. By now, I was lying back on the sofa, and he was hovering over me. His pants and underwear came down in one swift motion as his hand slipped expertly beneath the elastic of my panties and, a second later, waves of ecstasy swept over me as his fingers caressed my most intimate parts.

"God, you're wet," he whispered. Within almost no time, I was completely naked and he was inside me, thrusting with abandon. Lost in euphoria, all I could think about was how good it felt.

Much later, I got out my birth control pills and noticed that I'd forgotten to take them for several days.

Uh-oh.

I'm sure it'll be all right, I told myself as I took my pill for the day and returned the package to the medicine cabinet. I've missed pills before, and nothing ever happened.

I decided not to give it any more thought.

On Thanksgiving day, we went to my parents' house like we did every year. Aidan and Lauren were there, sitting on the sofa. Aidan's arm was around his wife, and her head was resting on his chest.

"Hi there, sweetheart!" she said as Jade ran to greet her. She picked the little girl up and held her in her lap, sweeping the dark brown hair back with her fingers. "I hope I have a little girl just like you some day."

"Hi!" Aidan said to Juniper, who just stood staring at him with her thumb in her mouth. "Don't you remember me? I'm your Uncle Aidan!"

"She's a little shy," I explained. "Go on, Juniper, give your Uncle Aidan a hug!"

After a moment's hesitation, she went to him, and he picked her up and held her.

We didn't stay at my parents' house for long, as we had Alexei's family to visit as well this year. I was anxious to find out how they were faring on their very first Thanksgiving. We arrived to find the house bustling, in contrast to the relative serenity of my parents'. Xenia was happy to see her cousins and quickly engaged Nevada and the twins in play.

"I'm the only boy," Montana complained. "What am I supposed to do?"

Pavel was sitting on the sofa, watching television. "Do something with your cousin," Kristina told him.

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "All right. Want to see my baseball cards?"

"Sure!" Montana replied.

I went into the kitchen to see if Anya needed any help. "I've got everything under control," she told me. "But thanks, anyway."

I went back into the living room to visit with Alexei's sisters. "How's Pavel doing in school this year?" I asked Kristina.

"He's doing fine," she told me. "Fortunately, he learned English in Russia, so there wasn't a problem with the language, but it's been something of a challenge for him to learn American history and get used to miles instead of kilometers."

"I'm glad to hear he's doing well," I said, turning to Sonya. "And how are things going for you?"

"I'm still looking for work since I got laid off from my summer job," she told me. "I've got pharmacy experience if you know of any drugstores that are hiring."

"I'll check with the hospital pharmacy," I told her. "And what about you, Veronika? How's school going?" I knew that she was a sophomore in college.

"Pretty good. Getting ready for finals soon."

"Good luck," I said, remembering all the cramming I'd had to do back in nursing school.

"Thanks."

We stayed at the Romanovs until it was almost dark, and the next day, Alexei got the Christmas tree out and we decorated it.

Liam and Jana got married a couple of weeks after that, at the same church where Aidan and Lauren had wed earlier that year. Cole and Lara were there, of course, and Asher was there with a woman whom I assumed was his and Jana's Mom. "It's good to see you again," I said to him. "How's it going?"

"All right. I'm on probation, and I have to do community service and go for counseling. I realize now that I've been acting really stupid, and I'm trying to get my act together and turn my life around."

"Good for you!" I exclaimed. "I'm glad to hear it."

A week or so later, I helped out with Montana's third grade class's Christmas party. I didn't have time to cook anything, so I stopped by the bakery on the way there and picked up a big box of cupcakes. Montana's teacher, a friendly blonde named Mrs. Jennings, greeted me at the door. "Mrs. Bradley! It was so good of you to come!"

"Please call me Addison," I told her. I was accustomed to Montana and Nevada's teachers calling me by the wrong last name and was tired of correcting them.

"Wow, cupcakes!" exclaimed one of the kids.

I saw that Montana was sitting next to a very pretty little girl with dark brown hair and eyes and talking to her. "That's my Mom," he told her. "Mom, this is Kayla."

"Hi." I smiled at her.

"Hi." She smiled back.

The party was a lot of fun, and I ate a huge piece of chocolate cake but started feeling queasy on the way home. I rolled down a window at a red light but made it home without incident. I was relieved to see Alexei's patrol car in the driveway, as I wasn't sure I felt like caring for two active toddlers by myself.

I entered the house to find my husband sitting on the floor, playing with the twins. He looked up at me with concern all over his face. "Are you OK, Addison? You look a little green!"

"I think I just ate too much chocolate cake," I replied, dashing to the bathroom and making it just in time.

Alexei was standing just outside the door when I emerged. "Come lie down." I lay down on the bed, and he wiped my face with a cool, damp washcloth. It felt so good I closed my eyes.

"I'll take care of everything," he told me. "You just lie there and rest."

I was all right for the rest of that day, but soon began to experience other symptoms I found it impossible to ignore. One cold, rainy evening after work, I stopped by the drugstore and picked up the test I needed. I waited until the kids were in bed, then went into the bathroom to take it. The results were exactly what I'd expected them to be.

I found Alexei sitting in the recliner, watching a movie. Anxious to get it over with, I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Alexei?"

He glanced up at me with curious blue eyes.

"I'm pregnant."

"What? Oh, Addison!" He groaned as he stood up and stepped toward me. "As careful as we've been? How could this have happened?"

"It's my fault," I mumbled, blinking back the tears. "I forgot two or three pills in a row. That's happened before, so I thought it would be OK this time too, but it wasn't. I'm sorry!"

"It'll be all right, Addison." His voice was soothing as he held me and stroked my hair. "Accidents happen. People make mistakes. We'll make it, somehow." He tipped my chin up and smiled at me. "Look at it this way: maybe Montana will finally get that baby brother he's been wanting."

"And you'll have a son to carry on the Romanov name!" I felt loads better already. "But then it might be another girl, or even twins again!"

"That will be all right, too. One way or another, we'll make it."

"I guess I'll have to go back to work a lot sooner this time."

"I love you, Addison, but will you please stop sounding so negative? I told you we'll make it, and we will! You're forgetting that my family's here now too, you know."

"That's right!" I hadn't thought of that. Between Anya and Alexei's three sisters, there ought to be plenty of babysitting help when we needed it.

He put his arm around me and led me to the bed. Anxious but also hopeful, I fell asleep in his arms that night.

"Hi, Addison," said Eileen as I entered the hospital the following day. "What's up?"

"I just found out I'm pregnant again," I told her.

She smiled. "Why, congratulations!"

"I don't know how in the world we're gonna make it with five kids under the age of ten."

"You'll do fine, hon. You're a strong woman. I have confidence in you."

"Thanks." I smiled, grateful for her words of encouragement.

On my lunch break, I made an appointment with Dr. Brown for my first prenatal exam. I put off telling my parents because I was afraid that Mom might be upset at me for being careless.

The rest of that day passed in a blur, and while we were eating dinner that evening, I told the children that they were gonna have a new baby brother or sister.

"Hurray!" Montana shouted. "Maybe I'll finally get my baby brother!"

Nevada looked bewildered. "You mean there are gonna be five kids in this family now?"

Alexei grinned. "That's right!"

"But how are we gonna have enough room for another kid?"

"We'll just have to make room."

After dinner, I made the telephone call I'd been dreading all day. "Well, I just don't see how you're ever gonna manage," Mom said when I told her the news. "Three babies in diapers at the same time?"

"I'm sure I'll have the twins potty trained by the time this baby gets here."

"Don't be too sure. You know your brother wasn't completely trained until he was four years old."

"Girls don't take as long as boys," I pointed out.

"What did she say?" Alexei asked when I got off the telephone.

"She said she doesn't know how we're gonna manage with three kids in diapers."

"So we'll just have to start training the twins a little earlier than we'd planned." He gave me a hug and kissed the top of my head. "Everything will be all right."

New baby on the way or not, Christmas was right around the corner, and despite the fact that I was tired and queasy most of the time, I still helped Alexei put up the tree, decorate the house, and buy presents for everyone. One night, we were just finishing dinner when we heard a group of carolers singing on our front lawn. We stepped out onto the porch so that we could hear them better. I realized that I recognized one of the girls. She was Cara, the teenager who'd lost both legs in a tragic accident three years previously. After they were finished, she and the young man standing beside her walked over to me. He was the same young man I'd seen her walking in the mall with once.

"Hi, Addison! Remember me?"

"Of course! How are you, Cara?"

"Great! I'm taking bookkeeping classes at the community college, and Tony and I are gonna get married this summer."

"I'm happy for you," I told her. "This is my husband Alexei and our kids, Montana, Nevada, Jade, and Juniper."

"How do you do?" She shook Alexei's hand and smiled at the kids before she and the rest of the group walked to the next house.

"That's one brave girl," I remarked as soon as they were out of earshot.

"Why do you say that?" asked Alexei.

"She lost both legs in a car crash three years ago," I told him. "She was one of my patients."

"You'd never guess it from looking at her now," he replied.

"I know."

We'd decided to go to Alexei's parents' on Christmas Eve and mine on Christmas Day. Anya cooked a big meal for everyone, and we put Montana, Nevada, the twins, and Xenia around the little table in the living room and everybody else around the regular dinner table.

"How come Pavel gets to sit at the grown-up table?" Montana wanted to know.

"Because he's too big to sit at the little one," I explained. "His knees won't fit underneath it."

"Mine won't neither," said Montana. "See?" He raised his knees until they were bumping against the underside of the table.

"They will if you put your feet on the floor," I told him. He scowled.

After everyone was finished eating, we exchanged presents. Anya gave me a beautiful Russian shawl. It was black with a lavender flower print.

"It's beautiful!" I told her. "Thank you so much!" I went to her and embraced her.

The kids all got tons of stuff, of course. We stayed until the twins started getting cranky, then loaded everything into the car and drove home.

I was just about to tuck Montana into bed that night when he sat bolt upright. "I forgot to leave milk and cookies out for Santa!" he exclaimed. We went back into the kitchen, where I poured the milk and found that, to my dismay, the only cookie I could find was half an Oreo.

"Santa's on a diet this year," I told my son.

"Oh." He looked disappointed but said nothing more, to my tremendous relief.

"Come on in, dear," Mom said to me as she opened the door. "Have you been feeling all right? Getting enough rest?"

"I'm fine, Mom." I'd known that the worry wart sensor in her brain would switch back on as soon as she found out about my new pregnancy.

"You're making sure she's eating right, aren't you?" Mom asked Alexei.

He laughed. "Of course!"

"There are four major food groups," Montana announced. He'd just learned that in school.

I grinned. "Yes, and they aren't cake, candy, ice cream, and cookies."

He giggled. "You're silly, Mommy!"

Aidan and Lauren were sitting on the sofa, and Lauren was smiling. "Your Mom told me the news," she said. "Congratulations!"

"Thanks." Alexei and I sat down beside them while the kids pranced around excitedly.

"When are we gonna open presents?" asked Nevada.

"We're going to eat first," Mom told her. Lauren and I helped her set the table and serve the food. There was ham, potato salad, broccoli, corn, peas, and sweet potatoes. The twins were big enough to eat regular food now, as long as I cut the meat up into tiny bits, but Jade wrinkled her nose up at the broccoli.

"Maybe if you melted some cheese over it, she'd eat it," Mom suggested. I tried that, and it worked like a charm.

After the dishes had all been cleared away, the moment the kids had been awaiting with such eagerness was finally at hand. All four of them tore right into the presents, wrapping paper flying everywhere. The twins squealed with joy when they saw their new Teletubby dolls. Jade got La-la, and Juniper got Po. Montana got Pokemon toys, and Nevada received the Power Puff girls.

We stayed at my parents' home until it was almost dark and then returned home.

My ultrasound appointment was a couple of weeks after that. Alexei went with me and held my hand as the image appeared on the screen. "Here's the baby's head," said the ultrasound technician.

"So there's just one baby this time?" I asked.

"Just one." She moved the wand around some more. "Everything looks fine. I'd put your due date at August 7."

"I'm glad I'll be over having the baby before school starts next year," I said to Alexei as we were walking back to the car. "Just think, this time next year, we'll have a five-month-old!"

He grinned and embraced me.

"Would you like to see a picture of your new baby brother or sister?" I asked Montana and Nevada after dinner that evening.

"Yes!" they both exclaimed. I got my ultrasound pictures out to show them.

"How come his head is so big?" asked Montana.

"It might be a 'she'," Nevada interjected.

"No way!" Montana shouted.

"His or her head is so big because he or she is so tiny," I told them. "Your little brother or sister is about the size of a bean right now. When he or she gets bigger, his or her body will catch up."

"Wow, that's tiny!" Montana exclaimed.

"It sure is," I agreed.

Since their birthdays were so close together, Madison and Lara threw a joint birthday party for Joel and Tuesday. I bought a little boy's outfit and a little girl's outfit at WalMart and took all four kids along with me.

Dylan, who was now almost four, was adorable in blue jean overalls with white pin stripes. He squealed with joy and ran toward the twins when he saw them. I was amazed at how much Joel and Tuesday resembled one another. Although they had different biological mothers, they could have easily passed for opposite-gender twins.

"Does it bother you that they look so much alike?" I asked Madison.

"A little bit," she admitted. "I'm just so glad that I was able to conceive, and I try my best to be happy for Lara as well."

Valentine's day arrived, and I bought a packet of thirty Power Ranger cards for Montana to hand out to his classmates and a packet of thirty Power Puff girls Valentines for Nevada to hand out to her classmates. The night before, I spent the better part of an hour helping them print the names of their classmates on the Valentines.

"I want to give this one to Kayla, 'cause she's my favorite person in the whole wide world," Montana said as he selected the largest Valentine.

"No, sweetie, that one's for Mrs. Jennings," I corrected him.

"But I like Kayla better than Mrs. Jennings!" he protested.

"Even so, the big Valentine is always for the teacher. You don't want to hurt Mrs. Jennings' feelings, do you?"

He shook his head and reluctantly put the large Valentine back.

The following day, they were both grinning ear to ear as they climbed off the bus. "Wait till you see all my Valentines!" Montana exclaimed.

"Let's get home first," I replied. I pushed the twins in their double stroller back home as Montana and Nevada trotted along beside me. When we reached the house, I unzipped first Montana's, then Nevada's, backpack, and the Valentines spilled out of them.

"This one's from Kayla." Montana showed it to me, then clasped it tightly to his chest. The twins grabbed at the Valentines as Montana and Nevada tried desperately to protect them from their inquisitive little fingers.

"They just want to look at them," I said to my two older children, who reluctantly shared their Valentines with their younger sisters. Jade and Juniper both squealed with joy.

I was almost finished making dinner when Alexei arrived home holding a dozen red roses. "Happy anniversary, Addison," he murmured as he handed them to me. "Happy Valentine's day, too."

"Happy Valentine's day, Alexei." All my worries melted away as I threw my arms around him and held him close.

One day, I woke up and felt like my head was about to split open. "Oh, shit!" I groaned.

Alexei bolted up in bed beside me. "What's wrong?" His voice was warm with concern as he gazed into my eyes.

"I have to get the kids ready for school and go in to work today, and I feel like I've just been run over by a Mack truck," I groaned.

"Aw! Come here, Addison." He held me close, and I rested my head on his shoulder, inhaling the aroma of light sweat combined with a faint trace of his aftershave. "Why don't you take the day off? I'll take care of the kids. You just get some rest."

"We need the money," I protested.

"Don't you have any leave time saved up?"

"I'm gonna need it for when the baby gets here."

"Well, all right." Reluctantly, he let me go. I was shivering from cold, and Dr. Brown had told me it would be OK to take Tylenol, so I took a couple and was feeling a little bit better a few minutes later. I walked Montana and Nevada to the bus stop and drove the twins to child care and then went to the hospital.

Eileen took one look at me, and her brow creased with concern. "Are you OK, Addison?"

"I'm sure it's just some kind of bug. I'll be fine." I went about my usual morning tasks, and everything seemed to be going all right until about mid morning, when I was pushing a cart piled high with medical supplies down the hallway and suddenly felt weak and dizzy. The next thing I knew, I was lying on the floor with a couple of other nurses hovering over me.

"What happened, Addison?"

"Can you stand up?"

They helped me to stand up and walked me to the employee lounge, where they helped me onto the sofa, and one of them brought me a cup of ice water.

"Thanks, guys," I said to them. "I don't understand what happened. I felt kind of bad this morning, but I took some medicine and it got a little bit better."

The next thing I knew, my supervisor, Pat, was there. "You're excused from work for the rest of the day, Addison," she told me. "I want you to go back home until you feel better."

She didn't have to tell me twice. As soon as I was able to, I called Dr. Brown, and he told me to come in that afternoon.

"So how's the pregnancy coming along? Any problems since the last time I saw you?" he asked as he started to examine me.

"Not until this happened. I haven't been as nauseous this time around."

"That's good." He looked into my ears and down my throat, then listened to my heart. "Does this hurt?" With his fingers he pressed down on either side of my face just above my nose.

"Oh God, yes!" I pulled away from him fast.

"You have a severe sinus infection," he told me. "I'm putting you on an antibiotic. Take one pill in the morning and one in the evening for the first two days and then one a day for three days after that."

"Are you sure it won't hurt the baby?" I asked him.

"Of course. I wouldn't have prescribed it for you otherwise."

By the time I'd picked up the antibiotics and taken the first dose, it was time for the kids to come home, so I picked Montana and Nevada up from the bus stop and the twins up from child care and drove to my parents' house.

"Could you please watch the kids for a couple of hours?" I asked Mom. "I feel really bad and need to get some rest. I'll be back to pick them up before dinner."

"Of course! By all means!" Mom felt my forehead. "You're burning up!"

"I've got a sinus infection. The doctor put me on antibiotics."

"But what about the baby?"

"He said it was perfectly safe."

"Well, I sure hope you get to feeling better soon!"

"Thanks, me too!"

I drove home and crawled underneath the covers for a much-needed nap. I fell asleep almost right away and awakened to the aroma of dinner being prepared and the sound of my children at play. Shocked, I looked at the clock and saw that I'd been asleep for several hours.

I still felt a bit woozy as I crawled out of bed and stumbled into the kitchen, where I saw Alexei standing over the stove. He turned his head and looked at me when I walked in.

"Hey! What are you doing out of bed?" He walked over to me and put his arms around me. "You're supposed to be resting!"

"Mm." I rested my head against his shoulder, basking in his warmth. "I didn't mean to sleep so long."

"Mommy! I know my nines times tables by heart now!" Montana burst into the kitchen.

"Your Mom still isn't feeling well," Alexei told him.

"That's all right," I mumbled. "Go ahead, Montana." I listened as he recited his times tables. "Very good!" I exclaimed when he was finished.

"Thank you," he replied.

Alexei patted my behind. "Go back to bed now. I'll bring you some soup in a little bit."

"What did I ever do to deserve you?"

He gave me a big hug and kissed my cheek. "I love you, Addison."

"Love you, too."

I went back to bed and slept some more, and the next time I awakened, Alexei was there with a steaming bowl of chicken soup.

"Wow, thanks!" I was so hungry, I ate every bite.

I felt really bad for the next couple of days, but after that, I felt well enough to go back to work.