Shoving my head back under the pillows seemed to be starting to become a general part of my morning routine. Every morning as George got up for the studio, I’d check my phone to see if Lisa needed me to do anything else to my final album and 99.9% of the time, there was nothing so I’d retreat back to burrowing beneath the pillows and duvet for a couple more hours until Katy wanted to get up. I didn’t want to leave my bed even more today, especially since George had suggested I rang Chloe and went to see her and Joel as Josh kept saying she seemed down and could do with some female companionship.
“Sammy, are you going to see Chloe today?” George asked.
“I don’t know,” I replied, pulling my head from beneath the pillows as I tried to think of an excuse. “I’m not really feeling well to be honest. I think I’m just gonna grab a couple more hours sleep and then get a bubble bath. Would you mind putting a DVD on in Katy’s room before you go out?”
“Luckily for you, you married the perfect husband ever so he’s going to take Katy to the studio while you rest up,” George grinned. “I’m sure Katy’d love to spend some studio time with her uncles.”
“You really are the best,” I smiled before flopping back down onto the pillows, falling asleep almost as soon as my head hit it.
*
Three hours passed and I stood in the bathroom, staring into space as the water flowed out of the taps and into the bath. By the time I had finally brought myself back down from space, the bath was nearly overflowing with the water. I poured some bubble bath into the bath, giving it a mix with my hand to create frothy bubbles and then submerged my body into the water. Usually I would have been able to get in the bath without the fear of it spilling over the edges but my bump made water splash all over the place. It didn’t stop me from enjoying my bath, even if it did mean I had to use a sopping towel to dry myself with - which kind of defeated the object of drying myself.
Candles were flickering around the bath as I placed my hands onto my baby bump and began to carefully massage it, just like I’d read in the pregnancy magazines. I couldn’t help but giggle to myself as the babies were kicking like crazy - they must have really been enjoying it.
“You like that, don’t you?” I grinned, massaging my bump even more.
For the rest of my bubble bath, it seemed like all my worries had disappeared, just floated away. Everything Chloe had told me two days ago about her cheating on Josh had been squished to the back of my mind. All that I could focus on now was getting excited about hitting the half way mark of my pregnancy in three days. I couldn’t wait to finally meet them. I had only know about my babies’ existence for two months but each and every day that passed made me even more excited to finally have them both in my arms and watch them grow up with Katy.
“Hush little babies, don't say a word, mama’s gonna buy you a mockingbird, and if that mockingbird won’t sing, mama’s gonna buy you a diamond ring,” I gently sang to myself as I cradled my baby bump in my hands. “And if that diamond ring turns to brass, mama’s gonna buy you a looking glass. And if that looking glass gets broke, mama’s gonna buy you a billy goat. And if that billy goat won’t pull, mama’s gonna buy you a cart and bull. And if that cart and bull turn over, mama’s gonna buy you a dog named Rover. And if that dog named Rover won’t bark, mama’s gonna buy you a horse and cart.”
I carefully got out of the bath, pulling the plug to let the bath water out, and wrapped the soggy towel around me. It didn’t take me long to drop the towel to the floor and dart into mine and George’s bedroom to grab George’s dressing gown that was hung up on the back of the door. I quickly got into my shorts and pyjama top that didn’t even fit me properly and then flung the dressing gown around my shoulders.
“And if that horse and cart fall down, you’ll still be the sweetest little babies in town,” I grinned, finishing off the song as I tied the band of the dressing gown around my waist so it hung over my bump.
Walking into the hallway, I looked over at Katy’s bedroom door that was wide open and couldn’t help but smile to myself as I saw her room in an absolute mess. Usually I would have groaned and reluctantly straightened everything up for when they got back but it was nice just to relax and not let anything get to me. Since having the bath, I didn’t really give Chloe’s whole situation a thought. It was as if all the bubbles in the bath had drowned all my stresses. Bubble baths really were the best therapy.
As I began to walk down the stairs, I began to make a list of things that I needed to organise for the next few weeks. Christmas was soon approaching and I knew I needed to make it an amazing Christmas since it was the first real Christmas that Katy would be able to enjoy as she was starting to understand what Christmas was all about. Everything was going to be perfect. Katy would be spoilt rotten with presents. I’d get mum to teach me how to do the most yummiest Christmas Day dinner ever. Everything was going to be perfect - a proper family Christmas. I couldn’t wait for next Christmas though. It would be even more perfect when the twins got here - more children’s giggles to fill the house with.
BANG!
Just as I managed to reach the bottom of the stairs, I missed my footing and slipped onto the wooden floor in the hallway. I threw my arms out in front of me before I had chance to hit my bump on the floor. Laying on the floor in a crippled mess, I sat up in a daze. I knew I hadn’t hurt my bump - luckily, my wrist had taken the impact instead. But I still looked up at the stairs in a daze.
A few moments passed by and I finally managed to heave myself up off the hallway floor. My wrist was throbbing but I was fortunate I didn’t do anymore damage. Wrapping my hand around my wrist, I went into the kitchen and headed straight towards the freezer to get some ice.
“Go show mummy what you’ve got.” I heard a voice say in the hallway, followed by the front door closing as I put the ice around my wrist.
Footsteps trotted up the stairs as I heard George hang up his and Katy’s coats in the cloakroom. By the time I managed to get a towel from the clean laundry pile in the utility room and put it around the ice that was soothing my wrist, George had walked into the kitchen.
“Oh, you’re up. Katy’s just gone upstairs to try and find you,” George smiled as he put his car keys on the breakfast table and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.
“Yeah, got up an hour ago.”
“What’ve you done?” George asked in concern as soon as he spotted my wrist.
“Oh, it’s nothing,” I smiled. “I fell down the stairs and..”
“Sammy, that’s something - that isn’t nothing. Are you okay?” he interrupted, sounding as panicked as he looked.
“It’s fine. I landed on my wrist so I didn’t land on my bump,” I smiled. “It’ll be fine in a day or so.”
He took hold of my wrist and unwound the towel from around it. Putting the bag of ice down on the kitchen counter, he looked at my wrist that was all numb from the ice. It hadn’t swelled up at all but the ice made it look all red and puffy. Even the numbness didn’t stop it from being painful. George attempted to lift up my fingers as he held gently onto my wrist.
“Does that hurt?” he asked.
I nodded, biting my lip as I tried to hide how painful it actually was.
“Sammy, we’re gonna have to get you to the hospital to get it checked out. You might have broken it,” George said, looking at me.
“But..”
“No ‘but’s,” he smiled. “Get dressed and we’ll get you to hospital for an x-ray.”
“You can’t have x-rays when you’re pregnant.”
“You know what I mean,” George groaned. “Just go get dressed. I’ll ring Josh to see if he can come look after Katy for a couple of hours.”
I reluctantly nodded and walked into the hallway, keeping my wrist wrapped up in the ice and towel as I made my way back up to the bedroom to get dressed. I wasn’t going to be much help to myself with my wrist but I knew I’d manage somehow.
“Mummy!” Katy beamed as she saw me walk into my bedroom from her bedroom floor where she was sat playing with her teddies. “Look!”
She held up a CD to me and shook it about in the air, making it almost impossible for me to see what it was. “What’s that?” I smiled, walking over to her, ignoring the pain that was throbbing in my wrist.
“CD!” she grinned, letting me take hold of it with my good hand so I could have a look for myself. “Daddy’s new CD!”
“Did daddy let you listen to it?” I smiled to her, looking at the boys’ new album that was in my hand. Katy nodded as she made her teddies dance around her. “Do you like it?” Katy nodded again. “Well, how about Uncle Josh comes over in a bit and you two can play with your teddies while you listen to the album again? Mummy and daddy just have to go out for a few hours.”
“Yeah!” she grinned eagerly.
I smiled at her excitement before walking back into my bedroom to get dressed.
Removing my dressing gown, I went to grab my hoodie and yoga bottoms that were folded up at the bottom of the wardrobe but as I leant down slightly, I felt something hit my foot. As I looked at my foot, I froze. Blood was trickling down my leg slowly and falling off my knee, landing on my foot in small drops. There was only a bit of blood but I knew any blood at all was a bad sign.
“George!” I screamed, completely forgetting about my wrist and grabbing hold of the towel that was supporting my throbbing wrist in an attempt to stop the blood from trickling any further down my leg past my knee.
My cream pyjama shorts were now drenched in a deep red. I felt myself feeling faint as I looked at all the blood that had managed to go unnoticed.
“George!” I screamed again at the top of my voice. “George!”
“What is it?” his voice sounded before he made an appearance in our room.
As soon as he walked in, his face turned to a look of horror as he realised what was the matter. “Shit. Sammy. Right, we need to get to the hospital now.”
Within seconds, George was dialling ‘999’ on the phone.