Chapter 26 - You're Exactly Where You're Supposed To Be

"She's in A-Fib.  Charging, stand clear."  One jolt.  Jon can't believe what he's seeing.  He wants to get close to her, he wants to touch her, but there isn't room and he doesn't want to get in the way.

He stands next to the incubator that his brand new son and daughter are in, with his hand in the hole, holding each of their hands.  

"Come on baby, come on Beth.  Don't do this to me now." he says, loud enough for the neonatal nurse to look up.  She's unaffected by the commotion going on on the other side of the room.   Her patients are just as fragile and they are her focus.

"Charge to 250." the doctor shouts.  They shock her again.  Everyone looks at the monitor and it flatlines. One continuous sound that sounds like death.  Jon's heart sinks and he has the strong urge to vomit.  He can't look.  He turns and looks at his brand new babies in the safety of their warm bed and rests his head on the top.  The room is quite.  He's looking through the glass of the incubator at his daughter and son and feels completely devastated when he is startled by someone saying, "And she's back.  Normal sinus rhythm.  Let's get her put back together."  Jon looks over at the monitor and watches the line move and listens to the beep.  Her heart is beating and it's beating strong.   He cries even harder.  

The nurse reaches over and rubs his shoulder, "Mr. Adams would you like me to get you a chair?" She smiles a warm smile, knowing the look that's on his face.  She's seen it before and the outcome isn't always a good one.  He has the same ashen gray face that all the others had.  She knows the probability of him passing out is pretty high.

He stands up straight, wipes the tears off of his cheeks and tells her, "No, I'm good.  Thank you."

"Are you sure?  We're going to be in here a while yet."

Shaking his head, "No, I'm good.  Is she going to be okay?"  He remains standing while she does her job.  He counts all the little toes and all of the little finger, twice.  Once for himself and one for Beth.  All are present and accounted for.  Another set of perfect Bongiovi children??

The nurse looks over at what they're doing, looks at her vital signs on the monitor and says, "It's looking good.  Her vitals appear to be strong and stable."  He lets out a sigh of relief, just before the nurse can say, "I need to give them a Vitamin K shot and do dome tests, they are going to cry."

He laughs a little and tells her, "I've been through it before.  They're tough."  

The nurse has her hands in the bed wiping of what she can and taking care of what needs to be taken care of.  Jon watches her as she wipes the baby girls face.  When she wipes away the blood and the vernex, he can see it - he can see his family trademark, she has the mole. The same mole that he and Rowan have.  He smiles.

The babies are taken care of and Beth is ready to go to recovery.  Jon doesn't know what to do.  Does he go be with the women he almost lost or does he go with the babies and stay with them, like he was told.  He was given a bracelet that says Baby Girl Adams and Baby Boy Adams, to match the ones that Beth and the babies had on.  As all three are wheeled out of the surgery room, Jon needed to decide which way to go.  Left would take him to the recovery room with Beth and right would take him to the nursery.  He has to go with his heart, he has to do what his heart promised that he would do.  He went with his babies.

They are taken into neonatal ICU for observation and treatment of their lungs.  They have great color, they can move all of their extremities and both cry very loud, but not for very long.  Jon needs to have on a long sleeved gown and gloves at this point, simply just for precaution.  At the side of their bed, he stands vigil while the nursing staff does all that they need to do.  

At one point, Jon is greeted by a doctor in a white coat and a face mask.  "Hi there.  I'm Dr. Merchant, Chief Neonatal Pediatrician here at the hospital.  Given the complexity of this case and who all of you are, I decided it not be best to give you an intern." and he waits for Jon's smile.  He doesn't get one.  The doctor starts to examine the babies and Jon takes a step back, watching every move that was made.  

The doctor starts to examine baby boy and asks Jon, "Will he be circumcised?"

Jon nods, "Yeah, yeah I think so."

"Do you have any concerns?" 

Jon points to baby girls face and asks about the marks that the forceps caused.  "Will those go away?"  The doctor started to examine her face, making sure that her mouth could open and close symmetrically, as well as her jaw moving side to side.  "I don't see any problem, but I'll call in a specialist just in case."

"Are they healthy, are they going to be okay?" 

"They are beautiful.  A little small, but that's to be expected with twins, even more so with premature twins.  They look great."  That got Jon to smile. Smile wide and from the heart.

He stayed with his babies until the nurse from recovery came and got him.  "You can go be with her now, we're moving her to her room."

"Is she awake?" he asks the young nurse, as he follows her.  He couldn't leave until the nursery gave him confirmation that they would come and get him even if one of them just had the hiccups.

He walks through the curtain surrounding the bed that she's on and one look at her and he cannot keep it together.  He bends over and scoops her close, kisses her face and her head and says, "They are perfect."

"Are they okay?" she mumbles with her face buried in his chest.

"Twenty fingers and twenty toes."  he releases his hold.  "How are you feeling?"

"Like I have been left for dead.  My chest hurts." she says as she rubs her chest, "Did everything go okay?"

Jon starts to tell her what happens and he can see that she isn't even listening to him, her thoughts are in one place and one place only.  He laughs at her a little bit, "Will they let you go?"

She looks up at him, "How can they stop me?" she wants to see her babies, she needs to see her babies.

"Let's wait until they get you into your room and then I'll go get them and bring them to you." he tries to calm her anxiety knowing that it could get bad.

"When are they moving me?"

"I think right now.  That's what they said when they came and got me."  Jon looks around and sees a nurse.  "Excuse me."  he says a little loud.

The nurse looks at him, "What can I do for you?"

"When is she being moved?  She wants to see her babies." he asks, in a telling kind of way.

"Any time now, they are prepping her room for her now." the nurse explains and that makes Beth even more anxious.

"I've been here all day, my room should be ready."

Jon sits with her and loves on her while they wait.  He tells her about her surgery, how she coded and how perfect the babies are.  He briefly tells her about the forceps on baby girls face and tries to move on, but she's stuck there.  He explained it a little better, told her that the doctor checked her out and that he's bringing in a specialist just to be sure.  That seemed to calm her down.

They are ready to move her.  Jon follows her as she rides on the surgical cot down the hall to her room.  Once she's settled into a better bed, with a clean gown and fresh teeth, she scoots back on the bed and asks Jon, "Can you go get the babies?" She is smile from ear to ear.  Jon can see the pain that she's in, but she won't fess up to it just yet.  She's dying to see her babies.  Jon kisses her, and as he leaves he says "Baby Girl has my mole."

Jon heads to the nursery and starts the 'checking out' process for his children.  At the nurses desk, she verifies his bracelet along with his ID.  As she hands it back, an alarm sounds and the voice over the hospital intercom says CODE ADAM.  LOCK ALL WINDOWS AND DOOR!!