Nothing.

“Jim!” She nudged his shoulder, whispering a little more adamantly this time. He groaned, and rolled over in bed trying to get away from the offending gesture.

“Jim, honey, I need you to wake--GAAAAH!” She abruptly grabbed onto his thin t-shirt as the sharp contraction tore through her stomach.

“JIM!” She managed to cry out as she tried to control her breathing, at the same time cradling her belly, trying to soothe the pain.

That managed to do it. Jim sat up in bed, rubbing his eyes as he tried to figure out why Pam had woken him up. She still had a death grip on his t-shirt, and the contraction was still continuing by the time he realized what was going on.

“God, you’re…okay, how bad is it? How far apart are they?” He placed both hands on her shoulders as she leaned over him, her head dipped down in concentration. He kissed her head and wished so much that he could take away the pain.

“They were 7 minutes, now they’re 5. We need to go…now!” She breathed out, now leaning over the bed as Jim jumped up to throw some jeans on. Once his pants were on, he ran back over to Pam and helped her out the bedroom door and into the living room. Her contraction had ended, but her forehead was beaded with sweat and she was still panting heavily.

Jim ran to the kitchen and called Debbie, who answered the phone after three rings, and said she was on her way over to watch Jackson. He grabbed their bags and loaded them into the car and ran back in to get Pam.

They made it to the hospital in record time, and had both significantly calmed down when they remembered they had already been through this before, and didn’t need to panic.

Jim parked the car, but didn‘t make any attempt to get out. Pam turned to him, a confused look on her face. He had a mischievous smile on as he met her glance.

“You sure you want to do this?”

She let out a chuckle, and his smile grew bigger.

“Yeah.” she whispered. “Lets go have this baby.” She squeezed his hand, and he gave her a look of adoration before undoing his seatbelt and getting out of the car.

---------------------------------------------

The sun came up, and went down again, and still no baby. Pam had been in labor for 18 hours, and had just barely started to make progress. The word “c-section” had been thrown around, and they were all calmed when Pam’s contractions finally became more intense, and her dilation increased.

Dr. Garen and her nurse hovered over Pam as her latest contraction ripped through her body with a vengeance. Her hand clutched Jim’s, and he had his other arm around her as she began following the doctors orders to push.

“GAAAAAH!” she cried out as she threw her head back against Jim’s chest, taking a deep breath to push again.

“I can see his head, Pam. Just a few more pushes!” Dr. Garen said.

“AHHHH!” Another big push, and another deep breath.

“You’re doing great, honey. Keep pushing, it’s almost over!” Jim whispered, his face pressed into her messy hair. She nodded, and took another deep breath and began to push.

A shrill cry filled the air, and Jim thought it was the most beautiful sound he’d ever heard in his life. The sounds of chaos and pain all faded away when he leaned over at looked at their new little miracle for the first time.

Pam’s painful cries were replaced with sobs of joy when she also laid eyes on their baby. Dr. Garen cleaned out his mouth and nose, and deposited him onto the cloth laying over Pam’s stomach. His cries were quiet but determined as he flailed his arms around and kicked his legs. Jim reached out and cupped his face as he leaned down and placed a kiss on his forehead, his tears dropping on the baby’s skin.

“Hi, baby.” he spoke, and the baby seemed to calm down once he heard his daddy’s voice. Pam cradled her son close to her chest and she too placed a kiss on his forehead and cheek.

Jim was asked to cut the umbilical cord, and the baby was quickly taken away to be washed, measured, weighed, and checked over. He started whimpering as soon as he left Pam’s arms.

Jim stood over by the nurse and doctor while they cleaned the baby up, but walked back over to Pam after a few minutes. She looked peaceful and radiant, more beautiful than she’d ever looked to him in his life. Jim caught her eyes, and he smiled as he wiped the tears away from his face. Pam smiled back, and Jim walked over to her and knelt down beside the bed. He reached up with both hands, placed them gently on either side of her face, and wiped her tears away with this thumbs. Her tears were still flowing, but he knew they were from her overwhelming happiness, and they only made his start up again. He leaned forward and gently kissed her lips. He could feel her mouth turn up into a smile, and he couldn’t help but smile himself.

He pulled back slightly, enough to look her in the eyes again. He continued to stroke her face gently as he spoke.

“How do you feel?” he whispered.

She didn’t answer. She didn’t need to. Her face told him all he needed to know. She was beaming, and he could feel her happiness radiating.

“God, I love you.” he whispered again.

“I love you, too.” It was her turn to stroke his face. He leaned forward again to kiss her forehead, letting his lips linger there.

“You did so great.”

“How soon until he can start soccer lessons? I kind of have a thing for soccer dads.”

The question caught Jim off guard, and he couldn’t help but laugh outloud.

“Pam?”

The both turned and looked up at Dr. Garen’s nurse, who now had the baby wrapped tightly in a blanket.

“7 pounds 2 ounces. 20 inches long. He‘s perfect.”

Jim stood up and took their son from the nurses arms.

“We’ll be back in a half hour to have you feed him. Let us know if you need anything.”

“Thank you.” Jim said, and turned around to place the baby in Pam’s arms. Dr. Garen and her nurse left the room and shut the door.

The baby had his eyes open, and was squinting as they darted around the room, never quite focusing on anything. Pam scoot over and Jim joined her on the bed. Pam ran her fingers lightly across his perfect, warm face and through his wisps of light brown hair. She leaned back into Jim’s chest and sighed happily.

This perfect child represented much more than the love of two people. He represented the strength of a little family, the realization that dreams can become reality, and that trials can be overcome having faith and a lot of love. The gift they held in their arms was worth every single minute of everything they had both gone through to get to this point, and they both thought of everything they had to look forward to in the future.

“He’s got your nose.” Jim observed. “Your hair, too.”

“Poor kid.” Pam laughed.

Jim smiled as he opened up the blanket to free his arms and legs. The baby’s hand immediately closed around Jim’s index finger, gripping it tightly with his fist.

“He’s definitely got your hands, that’s for sure.”

“Poor kid.” Jim said. “He’s in for a rough life.”

“Not necessarily…I love your hands.”

“Oh, do you now?” Jim displayed a shocked look on his face. “Well, I love your hair. I guess we’re even.”

“I suppose.” She rubbed the bottoms of his tiny feet, and he seemed to like it because he promptly fell asleep. “So, does he look like a James or a Carter?”

“Carter, for sure.”

“Yeah?”

Jim nodded. “Carter Halpert.”

“I love it. It’s too bad his namesake isn’t here to meet him.” They had chosen the name Carter in honor of Pam’s grandfather who had passed away when she was just 16 years old.

“I’m sure they’ve already met.” Jim said quietly.

“You think?” Pam asked.

“Yeah.”

The sat together silently for another few minutes just watching Carter peacefully sleep. He made little noises, and Pam fell in love with him more with each passing moment.

“Should I go tell everyone?” Jim was referring to both sets of parents who were waiting down the hall.

“Yeah, hurry back, though. I need to feed him soon.”

“I will.” Jim kissed them both, and headed out the door.

---------------------------------------------------------

“What does he look like?” Jackson asked, as he held Jim’s hand while they stood in the elevator in the hospital.

“He’s really little. I think he looks a little bit like mom, but mom thinks he looks like me, when I was born.”

“Oh. Can I hold him?”

“Yeah, you can hold him just like this!“ Jim leaned down and scooped Jackson up into his arms, and tickled him as he held him like a little baby. Jackson howled with laughter, and Jim remembered just three short years earlier when he had held this same little boy for the first time just as he was doing now. He ceased the tickling when the elevator door dinged open but kept Jackson in his arms as they walked over to the maternity ward.

They rounded the corner and stopped by the glass windows to look in and see if Carter was there. Sure enough, the second baby Jim looked at had the name “Carter” colorfully written above his head in the crib.

“There he is!” Jim pointed to Carter, and Jackson pressed his face and hands up against the glass, while still in Jim’s arms.

“He’s so teeny-tiny!” Jackson observed. “I want to hold him!”

“You can hold him in a few minutes. Let’s go see mommy first, she’s wants to see you.”

“Yeah, mommy! I want to go see mommy! Bye-bye Car-cur!” Jackson waved at his little brother as they walked away.

Jim laughed at Jackson’s pronunciation of Carter. They learned a few weeks ago that he couldn’t pronounce it, and he figured that would be the name they’d all end up calling him for a while.

They knocked lightly on Pam’s door, and Jim turned the handle and they walked in.

“Mommy!” Jackson yelled, and practically jumped out of Jim’s arms. He ran over to Pam’s bed, jumped up onto it, and threw his arms around his mom.

“Oh, I missed you, Jackson! Did you get to see Carter?”

“Yeah, daddy said I could hold him!”

“Maybe daddy will go get him?” Pam looked up and Jim winked at her before he walked out of the room.

“Did you know that you used to be tiny just like Carter?”

“I was?” Jackson asked in amazement.

“You sure were. In fact, you were even smaller than him. Mommy and daddy weren’t expecting you to be born so soon, and you were very small and very sick when you were born.”

Jackson though about it for a moment. “I won’t let Car-cur get sick, mom.”

“I know, sweetie. You’re going to be such a good big brother.”

Pam heard the door open and looked up to see Jim and Carter enter the room.

“I got to change his first stinky diaper!” Jim proudly announced as he walked over to Pam. “And judging by the way he’s whimpering and squirming, I think he’s a little hungry. Do you want to hold him, Jack?”

“Yeah, yeah!” Pam lifted Jackson off her lap and placed him next to her on the bed and showed him how to put out his arms. Jim leaned down and gently placed Carter in Jackson’s arms, showing him how to hold his head. Jackson had the biggest smile on his face, and could barely control his excitement. Carter sneezed and Jackson thought it was the funniest thing he’d ever heard.

Jim stood back and watched. For what seemed like the 10th time that day, he felt a single tear run down his cheek. Pam looked up as Jackson played with Carter’s toes. She winked at him, and he knew nothing would ever compare to this moment.

Pam looked back down and showed Jackson how to count Carter’s fingers and toes.

1, 2, and Jim thought of the different directions his life had taken to lead him to this point. 3, 4, 5, and he thought of how lucky he was to be married to an angel, and now be able to welcome another miracle into the world. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and he thought of the many, many years that he had to look forward to with this perfect family of his. He didn’t stop at 10, or even 20, but rather looked at his wife and sons, and thought that maybe, just maybe, he had a glimpse of eternity.

------------------

It was the same routine every morning. Jackson would help Carter out of his crib, they’d make their way into Jim and Pam’s bedroom, and one or both of them would read the boys a story.

This particular Sunday morning started off no different. Jim awoke to 1 year-old Carter’s incoherent babbling along with tugging on his shirt in an effort to wake him up.

Jim glanced at the clock on the nightstand and let out a loud yawn.

“It’s too early, baby. Why don’t you go back to sleep?”

Jackson piped up and walked over to his daddy’s side of the bed. He had a book in his hand, and a look of hope in his eyes.

“Daddy, will you read me this story?”

Jim couldn’t help but smile, and lifted both boys up onto the bed and nestled them between him and Pam’s warm bodies.

“Let’s see…what do we have today? Ah, ‘Arthur’s New Baby Book‘!”

Jim turned the brand new book over in his hands. It wasn’t one he’d seen before, and he asked Jackson where it came from.

“Mommy bought it yesterday.”

“Huh.” Jim shrugged and opened up the book to the first page, and began reading.

For as long as I can remember it’s always been mom, dad, me, and D.W.

Pam rolled over in bed and bit her lip to keep from smiling as she watched Jim turn the page.

We liked it that way. I mean, D.W. always bugged me, but I liked our little family. One day, that all changed…

Jim turned the page again, and was surprised to see something fall out of the book. He stopped reading and picked up the picture that had fallen out of the page.

It was a Polaroid…but not just any Polaroid. It was a Polaroid picture of a pregnancy test. A positive pregnancy test.

Jim swallowed and slowly turned his head over to Pam. She had her hand over her mouth, but he could tell she was smiling brightly.

“Surprise!!!” Jackson yelled, and Jim took his eyes off Pam for a second to look at his son.

“You knew about this, even before I did?!”

Jackson nodded, and Jim looked back over at Pam, who now had tears running down her cheeks.

“Surprise!” She whispered.

Jim laughed and crawled over both boys, right on top of Pam and kissed her firmly. He kissed her until Carter started whining, and Jackson started jumping on the bed.

“Hey, boys? How about you go get dressed? Mom and I need to be alone for a minute.”

“’Kay!” Jackson jumped off the bed. “Car-cur, come on, let’s go get dressed!”

As soon as the door shut, Pam rolled them both over so she was leaning over him, hands on either side of his face.

“Are you happy?” she asked as she brushed her lips lightly over his.

“Yeah.“ He wrapped his arms tightly around her, and pulled her body into his. “So happy.”