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~ShoamEmily

~

3rd of May, 2008
Michael is 49, Angela is 44

Angela: By the time we reached the hospital my eyelids felt very heavy.

"Stay with me, Mrs. Jackson," Javon ordered and scooped me out of the car. "Someone help!"

I could faintly hear people recognizing me when Javon carried me to the emergency department.

A sharp cry left my lips when I felt another pain in my lower back.

"How many weeks in is she, sir?" someone asked Javon.

"I- I don't really know, I'm only her husband's head of security..." he said.

"Mrs. Jackson," a man said softly as bright light came in contact with my eyes. "Follow the flashlight."

I tried my best to follow his instructions but my vision was all blurry.

"Her pupils aren't responding! Get me an ultrasound and an OR ready now!"

"Are you sure it's safe, doctor? Her blood pressure is very low..."

"We have to operate. The baby isn't getting enough oxygen."

Hands lifted up my shirt and pressed on my belly, hard. I let out another scream. The pain was unbearable.

Then they pressed something else on it. A faint heartbeat was heard.

That's when I started going in and out of consciousness.

The bed I was on started moving faster. And suddenly I was in an OR with a doctor was standing over me.

"Everything will be alright, Mrs. Jackson." he smiled, placing an oxygen mask over my mouth and nose.

I was out in seconds.

~

It took me a while to come back to my senses.

When I did, I noticed the white hospital room that surrounded me.

My eyes traveled to my arm where an IV was stuck. Blood was running into my body in a steady stream.

Then I saw my big baby bump and let out a big sigh.

I ran a hand over it as tears streamed down my face.

"You're okay..." I whispered with a big smile on.

The door of my hospital room opened and a nurse came in.

"Oh, Mrs. Jackson, you're awake! I'll get Dr. Holden." she said.

When Dr. Holden came in he instructed the nurse to leave so he could have a word with me.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I'll explain soon, but didn't we talk about unnecessary stress, Mrs. Jackson?" he said.

I groaned, "We did."

He sighed and said he'd like to do an ultrasound.

Once the scanner was placed on my protruding stomach, my baby's heartbeat was heard throughout the room.

"This is your baby, as you know," Dr. Holden pointed to my baby. He then placed the scanner to the side of my belly. "And that's the placenta. Do you see how it's lifted a bit? It's beginning to detach from the uterus wall. You had partial placental abruption, Mrs. Jackson. We're lucky we caught this now, or else we could have ended up in the delivery room."

"So my baby's okay?"

"Yes, but this could've been very dangerous. It still is. You lost a lot of blood, too. I want you in complete bedrest from now on. And until I'm sure you're absolutely fine, you're staying here. I want to monitor you closely."

I raised my eyebrows, "Here as in the hospital?"

He nodded, cleaning the gel off my stomach.

Scoffing, I leaned back. "Why did this happen?"

"Like I said, unnecessary stress. And it's mostly common in older women... We knew this was going to be a risky pregnancy when you decided to keep it."

"Yeah... But everything was perfect until now."

He patted my shoulder and reassured that as long as I'm in his care nothing will happen to me or the baby.

"You need to rest," Dr. Holden ordered. "I'll come check on you in a couple of hours."

~

I was woken up again by my mom and Katherine. The worried looks on their faces said it all.

"They wouldn't tell us anything... We were so afraid." Katherine said with a hand over her heart.

My mom stroked my hair and smiled sadly at me.

"Mamma, I'm okay, I promise... I just have to be here for a while."

She kissed my forehead, leaving her lips there.

"Are the kids here?" I asked them.

"Yeah, but they won't let them in. Your doctor said you can't see them until tomorrow. He claims you need to avoid any kind of stress at the moment." Katherine sighed.

"But they're going over to Debbie's in a couple days. I promised to spend every minute with them."

My mom rubbed my arm soothingly, "Doctor's order's, bella. The last thing we need is for you to go into early labor."

"I know..."

"You can call them," my mother-in-law offered. "Here."

She gave me the phone and I heard Paris's voice.

Tears of joy stung my eyes when she started talking about how worried she is.

"It was so scary, mom... There was so much blood..." Prince said.

"I know honey, but I'm okay now. And the baby's good, too. I swear." I told them.

"Grandpa said we can't see you." Eric mumbled and I knew he was frowning.

"The doctor said I need to rest for a little bit... I'm also staying at the hospital for a while. I promise we'll see each other tomorrow."

"Do we still have to go with Debbie on Monday?" Paris questioned.

"Yes, honey..." I said.

"But you're in the hospital! We have to help Grace with AJ and the twins. It's not fai-"

"Paris," I cut her off, my voice coming out stern. "We talked about this. I know it's hard but there's nothing we can do. Okay?"

"I'm sorry, mom..."

My heart was beating faster at the sound of her hurt voice. I knew this wasn't good for the baby so I decided to hang up.

I sighed, "I gotta go, guys... I'll see you tomorrow. I love you."

"We love you, too, mommy!" Blanket made a kissing noise.

I hung up and gave Katherine her phone back.

My happy tears turned into sad ones quickly.

"Can you leave me alone?" I asked.

Both my mom and mother-in-law agreed and left.

"Shit. Fuck." I cursed to myself when all the emotions flooded me.

I hated being rough with my kids, especially when it came to something as sensitive as going with Debbie. It hurt my soul to hear Paris like that.

The baby inside me started kicking all of a sudden. I cracked a half-smile through my tears.

"You're making me too sensitive," I complained while rubbing the spot they were kicking. "I love you."

~

4th of May, 2008
Michael is 49, Angela is 44

Angela: The next morning, I was woken up by one of the nurses. She gave me breakfast and said Dr. Holden should come by soon to do some checkups.

With my legs crossed under me, I ate breakfast quietly. Just as I finished, my doctor came in.

"How are we doing this morning?" he asked with a grin.

"Good." I answered.

"Should we start?"

I nodded and he instructed me to lay on my back.

His warm hands were placed on my round bump. He pressed a few places very gently and said everything felt prefect.

Dr. Holden then checked my cervix, "You should still experience some bleeding in the next couple of days, okay? So don't be alarmed."

Lastly, he did an ultrasound and declared the baby was fine.

He looked at my chart again. "And it looks like your blood pressure is back to normal. This is amazing progress, Mrs. Jackson."

"So can I see my kids?" I said.

"Of course. Just make sure they don't touch you too much, your abdominal area is still very sensitive."

I couldn't hide my excitement when I thanked him.

He left and a few minutes later the children came in.

They went in for a hug but I stopped them.

"Sorry guys," I reached out my hand and Paris held it. "I can't have anyone hugging me."

They nodded as if they understood.

"I missed you." I told them.

"We missed you, too, mom." Lily showed her perfectly lined teeth.

We spent the day talking to watching TV as the kids lay together on the couch that was in the room.

It was around 19:00 when Grace came to take them home.

"Don't forget to pack everything, okay? Javon will bring you here in the morning to say goodbye before Debbie comes and picks you up." I told Prince and Paris.

I placed a kiss on all of my children's heads and they left.

~

5th of May, 2008
Michael is 49, Angela is 44

Angela: It was the same routine all over again. Going to the bathroom, breakfast, then Dr. Holden came to check on me.

Once he was gone someone knocked on the door. I thought it was Javon with the kids so I told them to enter.

But it was Debbie who opened the door.

"What are you doing here?" I rolled my eyes so she'd notice.

"How are you, Angela?"

I motioned towards myself. "You're really asking?"

She sighed, closing the door after her.

"Is it bad?"

I nodded, "I have placental abruption. My doctor said I'm too old. And to make it even worse, I'm grounded in this awful place now."

"That is bad." Debbie shook her head.

"Is there something you needed, Debbie? Because if not, I'd rather you leave. I really don't need anything else to stress me out."

"Yeah, actually," she took a seat on the edge of my bed. "I'm here to make peace. We need it to make this shared custody thing work."

"Seriously?" I raised an eyebrow, skeptical.

She placed a hand over my own. "Seriously. I know how hard it's been for you since Michael's been gone. And this pregnancy, too... I don't know how you do it."

"Believe me, I don't know how I do it either."

Debbie smiled sympathetically.

"Was it planned?"

"This pregnancy? No, I actually wanted to abort once I found out I was pregnant. You know how hard AJ's pregnancy was... I didn't want to go through that again. But my former doctor didn't exactly go through with my plan..."

It was quiet for a minute before she spoke again.

"So are we good?"

"I don't know, Debbie..." I shrugged. "I don't think we could ever be 'good'... Alrhough I'm willing to try and be adults about this. We don't want Prince and Paris to see us fight all the time, right?"

"Exactly. Thank you for understanding." she rubbed my hand.

The door opened again and Prince and Paris ran in. Javon raised his eyebrows in surprise when he saw Debbie.

"Are we good here, Mrs. Jackson?" he asked.

"Yeah, everything's great," I grinned at him then looked at my kids. "Are you two ready to go?"

"Yup." Paris said.

"I'll see you next Monday, okay? And call me whenever. I love you."

They both gave me a kiss and Debbie led them out of the room.

"You two seem... Friendly." Javon commented.

"She came to make peace," I snickered, knowing Michael and I gave Debbie too many chances to be peaceful with us. "I told her we should get along for the kids' sake. I hope this goes well."

"It's going to be a lot quieter now, huh?"

I sighed sadly, "Yeah, I guess... Could you do me a favor, Javon? Go check on Michael... Please."

"Of course, anything else?" he smiled sweetly.

Before he turned around to leave, I grabbed his hand. "Thank you for everything you're doing for my family... I know you don't have to stay now that Michael isn't here... I really appreciate it. You've been so helpful."

"I'd do anything for Mr. Jackson, just like he would for me. He made me who I am today, you know. I was a mess when he hired me six years ago... So really, it's nothing. I'm more than happy to do this."

"Still, I don't expect you to stay. You've done more than enough for us."

Javon only shook his head, "I'm not leaving. I'd never leave him... Or you. This family needs me and I understood that a long time ago."

"Thank you." I said while squeezing his hand tighter.

He blushed deeply and said he's going to check on Michael. I giggled to myself.

Was I responsible for that?

I leaned back on my pillows, an annoyed sigh leaving my lips. Another wave of emotions flooded me. But now I wasn't just missing Michael, but also Prince and Paris. Not to mention I was grounded in a boring white room.

This is going to be the worst week ever.