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"I spy with my little eye, something..." Jim scanned the room. "...something beginning with 'I'"
Pam looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "IV. Seriously, Jim? That's the best you could do?"
Jim hung his head in mock embarrassment. "I know. I suck at this."
"Yep."
"Okay, fine, your turn. Better make it good, Beesly."
"I spy with my little eye, something beginning with... 'D'."
"Hmmm... drawers?"
"Nope!" She pumped her fist in the air victoriously. "Okay, I spy with my--"
"Hey, wait, I get another guess!" Jim protested.
"Nooo, you don't."
Jim stuck out his lower lip, pretending to pout.
"Fine. At least tell me what it was."
Pam lay her head on his shoulder and looked up at him.
"Daddy," she said quietly, giving his hand a little squeeze. Jim smiled.
"Awww..." He kissed her softly, lovingly. Pam began to melt into him as they kissed, but then suddenly pulled away, her face contorting in pain.
"Another one?"
Pam nodded.
Jim sat with her, holding her hand, reminding her to breathe. He felt completely helpless... he wanted so badly to just take away her pain.
Just as the contraction ended, there was a knock at the door, and Dr. McNulty walked in, followed by Mindi.
"Hi, Pam... I'll be honest, you weren't on my list of people I wanted to see tonight."
Pam smiled. Dr. McNulty had a way of instantly putting her at ease.
"I'm going to check and see if you're dilated, and then I'll get some meds started."
"Sounds good," Pam said. She looked at Jim, still sitting beside her. "You might want to move, Jim," she said, smirking. "Unless, of course, you want her to check you, too."
"No, thanks," he laughed, scooting off the bed.
Dr. McNulty sat on the side of the bed, pulling a latex glove over her hand.
"Alright, Pam, put your feet together and let your legs fall open... good. This is going to feel a little weird." Pam flinched as the doctor inserted two fingers into her.
"Yeah, sorry," she said. "There's no other way to do that." She withdrew her fingers and discarded the glove.
"Well, good news. You're only one centimeter dilated, and your water hasn't broken, so we have an excellent chance of stopping labor. I'm going to give you a drug called terbutaline, and that should stop your contractions. But just in case, I'm also going to give you something to help mature the baby's lungs."
"Is that really necessary?" Jim stepped in. "I mean... do you think that the baby is going to come early?"
"We give betamethasone to every woman in premature labor, just in case. It's not going to do any damage to the baby... we just want to be prepared for all possibilities. But we really do have a good chance of stopping it, okay? Don't worry."
She drew the medication from a vial into a syringe and injected it into Pam's IV. At the same time, Mindi drew another medication into a syringe, and came over to Pam.
"Sorry, Pam, I'm going to need you to roll over to your side. This one goes in the hip."
Pam groaned and shifted to her side. Mindi swiped the fleshy area of her hip with an alcohol pad and then quickly pierced the skin, injecting the contents of the syringe into the tender muscle.
"Okay, that's it!" she said as Pam rolled back over.
"I'll be back to check on you in about twenty minutes," Dr. McNulty said. "Hang in there, okay?"
"Thanks!" Pam called as Dr. McNulty left the room.
"I'll be back in a bit, too," Mindi said. "If you need anything, just press this button." She handed Pam a small remote. "And, of course, you can always send Jim out to drag me in here," she said with a smile and a wink.
"Thanks."
"Sure thing. Do you want anything? Ice chips... a popsicle?"
"Ooh, a popsicle sounds good," Pam said.
"We have grape, cherry, strawberry, orange, and lemon-lime."
"Hmm... cherry."
"Okay, I'll be right back. Anything for you, Jim?"
"Grape's good. Thanks."
"Alright. One cherry and one grape, coming up." She left the room, returning a moment later to hand them their popsicles. "Call if you need anything," she said over her shoulder as she walked out.
"So," Jim said, sitting next to Pam again. "To... stopping labor, and to Mindi and her amazing popsicles."
"I'll eat to that," Pam said as they tapped their popsicles together.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Summary - Dr. McNulty arrives.
Chapter End Notes:
As you may have noticed, I'm keeping these chapters short. I'm doing this to keep each event in a separate scene. And to make it more dramatic. ;o)
