“How you doing, Beesly?” Jim asked as the automatic doors parted in front of them.

“Okay.” She glanced down.  “A little wet, but okay.”

Pam stepped up to what seemed to be the front desk and smiled nervously at the nurse.

“Hi, I think I'm in labor?”

The nurse took one look at the wet patch between Pam's legs.  “Well, well, it looks like you are.  Name please?”

“Pam Halpert.”

The nurse quickly entered Pam's information into the computer and brought a wheelchair around the desk.  Jim placed the towel they brought with them on the seat of the wheelchair before Pam eased into it.

“Okay, Mr. Halpert?  You're in charge now. We don't deal with babies down here.  You'll have to take her to Labor and Delivery.  So, go down the hall, through those doors, take a right, then a left.  Then you'll see the elevators.  Take them and get off on the third floor.  Take a left then an immediate right and you'll see it there.  There's a buzzer, so press it and they'll let you in.”

“O-okay,” Jim stammered.

“Did you get all that?” Pam said as Jim started pushing her down the hall.

“Pshh, yeah, I got it.  I've got a photographic memory, so...”

“Ha, right.  I guess we can ask for directions if we need to.”

After a few wrong turns and some backtracking around the halls, Jim and Pam finally made it up to the third floor.  Before long Pam found herself feeling slightly exposed in an open-backed hospital gown lying on a bed in a birthing room.  She swept her eyes around the room as she waited for Jim to return from the nurses station.  Balloon valance curtains puffed out above the windows and a continuous vine of red and pink roses wrapped around the white room on the wallpaper border.  Her eyes finally landed on a clear plastic bassinet.

That's where the baby goes.  There could be a baby in there...soon.

Jim entered the room to find Pam wide-eyed, staring at the empty bassinet.  He stood beside it.

“Hey,” he whispered while running his fingertips across the flannel blanket that lay inside.  “Is this where she'll...?”

“Yep,” Pam answered bluntly.

“Wow.”

They were both humbled into silence and became lost in their thoughts until a nurse walked briskly into the room with a clipboard.  She cliped it onto the end of Pam's bed and began wrapping a blood pressure cuff around Pam's arm.

“Hi, I'm Liz.  I'll be your nurse for today, until 7,” she offered as she quickly filled the cuff with air.  “I'm just going to take your blood pressure and then we're going to get you started on an IV.  Then I'm going to take some blood, just to make sure everything's okay.”

“An IV?  Why does she need that?” Jim asked.

“Well, with her water being broken there could be a risk for infection, so it will protect the baby against anything like that.”

Jim was amazed at the efficiency of Nurse Liz.  Within minutes she had taken Pam's blood pressure, written on the chart, taken 3 vials of blood and inserted an IV needle in Pam's hand.

“The doctor will be in soon to examine you soon.  Oh!  Here he is right now.”  Nurse Liz stepped back and stood beside the IV stand as a short, middle-aged man in scrubs strolled into the room.

“Good morning, who do we have here, Mrs...,” he grabbed the chart and flipped it open, “Halpert?”

Pam nodded as the doctor continued to scan the chart.

“Okay,” he said as he hooked the chart back on the end of the bed, “I'm Dr. McKendrick, the doctor on call.  Your own doctor will be along in a little while, but for now, you're stuck with me.  So I've read your chart, now let's hear you tell the story.”

Pam recounted her abrupt early morning wake up call as Dr. McKendrick pulled back the bedsheet and placed his hands on Pam's belly.  He pressed and pushed to try to determine the position and size of the baby.

“So, Mrs. Halpert, how big do you think this baby is?”

“Well, I get those pregnancy weekly update e-mails, you know the ones that tell you what's developing each week and how big the baby is?  So, I think it should be about 4...5 pounds?”

Dr. McKendrick continued to prod and press against Pam's rotund stomach.  He sighed and crossed his arms.

“My dear, you'll be lucky if this baby is 4 pounds.  It seems a little on the small side to me.”

Jim's face fell and his gaze dropped to the ground as Pam bit her bottom lip.

“Are you having any contractions yet?” The doctor asked as he brought the sheet back up over Pam's belly.

“No, nothing.  Just water.  Umm...it hasn't stopped yet.  How much water is in there?  I mean, shouldn't it all be out by now?” Pam asked.

“Well, that's the neat thing.  As long as you don't have contractions, the amniotic fluid will continue to re-generate inside the uterus to protect the baby.  So, unless contractions start, you're going to feel like a leaky faucet for most of the day.”

“Um, Dr. McKendrick?” Jim piped in.  “Pam is 35 weeks, that's kind of early.  Is there any way to stop the, uh, water?  Or stop labor?”

“No.  The amniotic sac is broken.  There is no way to repair it. The baby's lungs should be fully developed by now.  There is a chance that the baby could have some problems breathing, but we can help it along with that.  35 weeks is pretty much on the cusp of a safe time to go into labour, so I wouldn't worry too much.  All righty, I'm going to get some gloves and we'll take a feel inside.  Be right back, folks.”

The doctor and nurse left and Jim and Pam were motionless.  His words rolled around in their heads and left them reeling.

You'll be lucky if this baby is 4 pounds...there is no way to repair it...could have trouble breathing.

Pam placed her hand on her belly.  “Please be okay,” she whispered while continuing to stare ahead in front of her.

~*~

The office of Dunder Mifflin Scranton was starting to fill up.  It was 8:30 am and employees were starting up their computers and slowly starting the day.  Erin had finished faxing off an order form to a client in Poughkeepsie and sat down behind her desk to listen to messages.  One message caused her to jump up from her seat.

“Oh my God!!!  Pam's having the baby!”

There was a slight stir amongst the office workers and then Michael burst through his office door.

“What about a baby?”

“Jim called and said Pam's water broke.  They're at the hospital right now!” Erin said excitedly.

“She's only 34 and a half weeks,” Dwight exclaimed. “That could be considered pre-term labor.  You know, I once had this sow that went into labor weeks before she should have and the piglets came out half--”

“Ew!  Dwight!  No one wants to hear your disgusting animal labor stories!” Michael spat.

“Well, I called it,” Meredith shouted from her desk.

“What are you talking about, Meredith?” Angela sneered.

“Yesterday, I told her that she was about to pop.  She was walking like she had a pickle up her--”

The whole office errupted in groans.

“Well, I hope everything will be okay,” Phyllis quietly added.

Michael rushed into his office to grab his coat and came out to stand between Jim and Pam's desks.

“Okay everybody, listen up.  This is Jim and Pam.  Their incredibly hot sex created a love child.  I need to be there for them.  What if Jim passes out?  What if they need someone to cut the cord?  I cannot sit here and do nothing.  I will birth that baby myself if I have to.”

“Michael,” Oscar interjected, “I don't think Jim and Pam need you there.  There are trained medical professionals to help them.”

“Uh, Oscar, do those medical professionals love Pam like I do?  Are those medical professionals going to hug and hold Jim when he's scared?  I mean I'm practically the Godfather of that baby.  They need me.”

Michael began to put on his coat when Dwight ran over to help him.  “Michael,” Dwight whispered, “Please let me come with you.  I know a lot about animal husbandry and birthing--”

“Dwight!  No!  Yuck.  As if Pam wants you hanging around offering to birth her piglet.”

Dwight stepped back, offended.  “Fine, I guess I'll just call Charles and let him know that I'm in charge of the office for the day?  Since you are taking the day off?”

“No!  No...ugh...no, okay.  Fine.  You can come along.  Stanley!  You're in charge.  Make me proud my brotha.”

Stanely continued to sit motionless, but shifted his eyes towards Michael.

“All right!” Michael clapped and rubbed his hands together.  “Let's go have a baby!”