“Are you excited, J.D.? Arms up!” J.D. raised his arms in the air, and Pam pulled his shirt on. “Today is Mommy’s last day of work, so after today, you get to stay home with me instead of going to day care!”
“Mommy home?” J.D. asked. Pam nodded.
“Yup. Mommy’s going to stay home while Daddy goes to work. We get to have fun all day!”
Pam knew that J.D. was too young to understand the concept of maternity leave. She just wanted to revel in the fact that she got to spend the next few weeks at home, resting (as much as she could with a two-year-old, anyway) and preparing for her daughter’s arrival. Her original plan was to work until her due date, but the home stretch of the pregnancy was exhausting her, and so she decided that she’d use the next two weeks to recoup some energy.
“Hey, you guys ready?” Jim asked as he walked into the room.
“Yup.” Pam lifted J.D. off of the changing table and set him down. “God, you’re getting heavy.” She tousled his hair. “He just needs his shoes and jacket.”
Jim held out his hand. “Okay buddy, let’s go put your shoes on.”
“Shoes?” J.D. asked as he took Jim’s hand, looking up at him.
“Yeah, you know, those things on your feet that get filled with sand at daycare.” Pam laughed and began to follow them out of the room, and then paused, her brow furrowing.
“What are you doing?” Jim asked.
“I’m trying to decide if I have to pee or not… yep, I do.” She made her way towards their bedroom. “I’ll meet you guys downstairs.”
Jim scooped up J.D. and went downstairs, and as he was wrestling J.D. into his jacket, he suddenly heard a shriek from upstairs.
“JIM!”
He raced up the stairs, two at a time, and burst into their bathroom to find Pam standing in front of the toilet, a puddle of water around her feet. She looked at him, wide-eyed.
“My water just broke!”
Jim put his hand to his chest and leaned against the doorway.
“God, Pam, don’t scare me like that!” He looked at the puddle, and then at her. A grin spread across his face. “Oh my God, your water broke!”
“Um, yeah. I think I mentioned that,” Pam smirked.
“Oh… wow,” Jim murmured, pushing his hand through his hair. “Okay, are you having contractions?”
“No… I don’t… maybe. I thought I’d been having Braxton-Hicks all morning, but…” There was a sudden crash downstairs.
“Oh, crap!” Jim exclaimed. “I left J.D. down there. Okay, um… just… wait here, and uh… I’ll be right back!” He dashed out of the room.
Pam peeled off her wet skirt and underwear and wrapped a towel around her middle. She grabbed another towel from the linen cabinet and knelt down to mop up the puddle. Jim came in a moment later with J.D. on his hip. Pam looked up.
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah. He pulled the pots and pans out of the cabinet. Didn’t you, you little monster?” J.D. squealed with laughter as Jim tickled his stomach. “Pam, get up. You change and I’ll clean up.” He held out his hand to help her up. “Or, wait… should I pack the bag for you? Do you need me to call the hospital?”
“Oh, my God, calm down! We don’t need to go to the hospital yet,” Pam laughed. “I’m fine. I’ll pack a bag, and you call your mom.” She grabbed the phone from the bedside table and handed it to Jim.
“…My mom?”
“Yeah,” she said, grabbing a pair of sweatpants and putting them on. “Remember? She’s coming to stay with J.D.? Come on Jim, focus!” She replaced her work shirt with an old t-shirt of Jim’s. “Here, I’ll take J.D. Come on buddy,” she said brightly, taking J.D. from Jim’s arms. “Come help Mommy pack!” She set him down on the bed and got a small suitcase from the closet. J.D. watched her with interest.
“Where Mommy going?” he asked as Pam began to grab various items from around the room and put them into the bag.
“Remember how we said that you’re getting a baby sister soon?” J.D. nodded. “Well, it’s time to go get her! Grandma H. is going to come here and play with you, and Mommy and Daddy are going to the hospital to go get the baby!”
“Same my baby?”
“Yes, just like your baby.”
“’Kay,” he said absentmindedly, suddenly distracted by the zipper on the suitcase.
While J.D. had seemed fine with the idea that he was getting a baby sister, Pam wasn’t sure how he’d react once the baby was born. They had bought a baby doll for him to diaper, clothe, and feed, hoping that he would get used to the idea. Of course, this baby didn’t cry, poop, or take up Jim and Pam’s time, but they hoped that if he had a baby of his own, he wouldn’t become too jealous.
“Hey,” Jim said, coming back into the bedroom. “I called the hospital. They said that you didn’t need to come in right now, but if you don’t start having real contractions within the next two hours, we’ll need to go in so they can induce labor. I also called Mom, and she said to call her when we’re almost ready to head to the hospital.”
“Okay, that’s fine.”
“I’m hungry,” J.D. announced suddenly, losing interest in the zipper.
“Alright,” Pam laughed. “Why don’t you take him downstairs and get him a snack, and I’ll keep packing.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. Really, I’m fine.”
“Okay.” He picked up J.D. “Come on, let’s get a snack. What do you want?”
“Peena-butta jelly!” Pam smiled to herself as she listened to them talk as they went downstairs. J.D. was his daddy’s little buddy; Jim taught him how to throw and catch a ball, he read to him every night, sometimes they napped together. Watching them hang out together melted Pam’s heart; she had no doubt that their daughter would have Jim wrapped around her little finger.
She finished packing and went downstairs to find Jim and J.D. at the kitchen table, sharing a peanut butter & jelly sandwich and drinking milk.
“Hah Mrr-mih,” J.D. said with a mouthful of sandwich. Pam laughed and kissed him on his jelly-covered cheek.
“Mmm,” she said, licking her lips. “You taste delicious." She lifted her head to kiss Jim. "So do you." She went to the counter to grab a paper towel. "Hey,” she said over her shoulder as she wet the towel in the sink. “When you’re done here, can you bring down -- ooh,” she breathed suddenly, placing her hand on her belly.
“Contraction?” Jim got up and moved over to Pam and put his hand over hers.
“Mm-hm.” She kept her eyes closed as she stood, breathing slowly. She opened her eyes a moment later.
“Okay, I’m good.”
“You sure?”
“Yup. I’m just going to lie down on the couch and start timing.”
“Okay.” He rubbed her arm. “Do you want some water or something?”
“Sure. Water’s fine.” She sighed as she stretched out on the couch.
A few hours later, Jim called his mom when Pam’s contractions were coming closer together. As Jim was putting J.D. down for his morning nap, there was a knock at the door. Pam moved to get up, but decided against it. She knew it was Jim’s mom, anyway.
“It’s open,” she called. The door opened and Betsey came in.
“Hi, hon,” she said. She closed the door and moved over to the couch, and sat down to hug Pam. “How’re you doing?”
“I’m okay. The contractions still aren’t too bad, but they’re about 5 or 6 minutes apart.”
“Yup, sounds like you’re ready to go. Where are the boys?”
“Upstairs. J.D wanted me to play with him, but -- hang on…” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Betsey sat silently next to her, rubbing her back. After a moment, Pam let out a big sigh.
“Anyway,” she continued. “J.D. wanted me to play with him, but I’m not exactly in the mood for that… What?” she asked as Betsey chuckled.
“I must say, for a woman in labor, you are incredibly calm.”
Pam shrugged. “Well, this time I’m not scared shitless. This time it’s supposed to be happening.”
Betsey considered this. “Well, that’s true." She stood up. "So Jim's upstairs?"
“He’s putting J.D. down for his nap.”
“No, I’m not,” Jim said, coming down the stairs. “He’s asleep. Thanks for coming over.” He moved to hug his mother.
“Jim, come on,” she said. “Of course I came over. What am I going to do, say, ‘No thanks, I don’t really feel like playing with my grandson today. Take him with you to the hospital.’?” Jim just laughed and shook his head.
“Here,” he said, handing Betsey the baby monitor. “He’ll probably wake up at around noon. We think he’s going through a growth spurt, so he’s eating a lot right now. He usually needs a snack every few hours.” He helped Pam up from the couch. “All the numbers are on the fridge, and--”
“Jim!” Betsey interrupted. “I’m not some new babysitter. I have been here before. I know where everything is.” She pushed them gently towards the door. “Now scoot.” They all laughed as Jim helped Pam put her coat on and then pulled his own on. Jim grabbed the keys and the suitcase and turned to hug his mom.
“Good luck, sweetie,” she said. She let Jim go and moved to embrace Pam. “You too, hon. Don’t be a hero… get the epidural.” Pam laughed.
“We’ll see,” she said, and then closed her eyes and grabbed Jim’s arm.
“Hang on,” she whispered, her brow furrowing. She breathed slowly and steadily as her muscles tightened, and after a moment, blew out a breath as they began to relax again.
“You good?” Jim asked.
“Yup.”
"Alright then,” he said, clasping Pam’s hand in his. “Let’s go have a baby.”
*****************************************
Story Notes:
Man, I write a lot of babyfic...
Takes place a month before the epilogue of "It's Too Soon".
Rated "T" for a little bit of language, and because this deals with birth. Nothing graphic though.
Takes place a month before the epilogue of "It's Too Soon".
Rated "T" for a little bit of language, and because this deals with birth. Nothing graphic though.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Disclaimer: I don’t own anything except for the Andy bobblehead that my sister gave me for my birthday!
Chapter End Notes:
Reviews are almost as good as the deleted JAM scene in the producer's cut of "Secret Santa"!
Why is Jim’s mom named Betsey? I know that since “Health Care”, everyone (including myself) has been under the assumption that “Larissa Halpert” (Jim’s emergency contact) is Jim’s mom… however, according to IMDB.com, for the episode “Niagara”, Perry Smith, who played Jim’s mom, is credited as “Betsey Halpert”. There ya go.
