Meredith was now 20 weeks and today was very special for two reasons. One reason was she had an OB important and the other reason was it was Dia's 5 year old birthday. Dai was most excited about her birthday because she was going to be able to have some friends over froms school.
Meredith and Derek had the day all planned out, they would wake up extra early and go to their OB appointment and then when they got home, they would hopefully be able to wake up Dai. Waking up Dai on her birthday was very important for Meredith because it was one of the only things she remembered her mom doing for here when she was younger.
The alarm beeped loudly, causing Meredith to moan as she stuffed her face father into her pillow. Derek turned over and reached over to turn off the annoying alarm, he then sat up and leaned against the headboard and slowly rubbed circles on Meredith's back which was facing towards him. She had just recently started to show causing it to be very uncomfortable for her to lay on her stomach.
"Wake up Mer, it's time to get up." Derek said
"I know, the bed is just so warm." Meredith said pulling the covers up more around her shoulders
"But you get to see little bean today." Derek said, they had been calling the baby little bean for awhile now. It was good compromise between fetus, which was what Meredith wanted to call it and Baby boy which was what Derek wanted to call it. Derek really wanted a boy, he had been an only boy growing up besides Mark so of course he wanted a boy.
"I know, I know."
"You need to drink the water by your bed too, you haven't had many episodes since you started drinking one every hour." Derek said holding the water out so Meredith could take it.
Meredith rolled over and sat up, she then leaned against the headboard. She took the water and started drinking. She loved Derek taking care of her but drinking a full water every hour was getting annoying.
"I don't think I need to drink one every hour Der." Meredith said quietly
"Yes you do, plus you have an ultrasound today." Derek responded, getting up to start getting ready
"We'll take about it again later." Meredith finishing the water, she had gotten really good at drinking them fast because she has done it every hour she was awake for 5 weeks.
Derek and Meredith both got ready fairly quickly and hopped into the car, they had someone from the hospital daycare stay with Dai just in case she woke up while they were gone. Meredith placed her hand in her belly out of habit and Derek looked over and smiled with joy, Meredith was ok, she was alive and she wasn't throwing up anymore.
"Wait, we may get to find out the gender today, we haven't discussed what we wanted to do. What do you want to do? I mean we could find out and then decorate the nursery with all the colors or we could not find out and then BOOM elementate of surprise when bean pops out. But what if Dai asks then what will we tell her? I don't..."
"Meredith, you're rambling about the simplest thing." Derek interrupted
"I know, I just don't know what you want to do." Meredith replied shyly, she never liked to ramble it just happened sometimes
"Well, how about we flip a coin tails we find out, heads we don't. It seems fitting for some reason." Derek responded keeping his eyes on the road ahead.
"I mean why not, leave it in the hands of the universe." Meredith giggled.
Derek smiled and with one hand opened the center console so Meredith could pull out a quarter. Meredith reached in and grabbed the coin and then she flipped it in the air, grabbed it and flipped it over on the back of hand so that one hand still covered the top of the coin.
"Heads we do not find out tails we do." Meredith repeated while taking deep breaths. For some reason this little thing was stressing her out, it was so small compared to the fact that they are going to to an ultrasound and could ultimately find out their baby died.
"Yes, just look at it Mer, it's a little thing." Derek said reassuringly, he knew she had a tendency to freak out over the little things.
"Ok 3...2...1" Meredith flipped over the coin and just stared at it.
"Meredith what is it? I don't want to take my eyes off the road just in case a semi comes out of nowhere." Derek responded sounding a bit stressed out
"It's heads..." Meredith responded
"Ok, so we don't find out the gender today. We will find out when little bean makes and appearance."
"Ok" Meredith said
"Ok"
"Ok"
Derek pulled into the hospital parking lot and then went over and helped Meredith out of the car. Meredith walked into the hospital slowly. Once they made it to the OB floor, Derek went and sat Meredith down in the waiting room, gave her a quick kiss on the cheek then went to check her in.
Soon, Connie came out and called Meredith into the exam room. She handed her a gown and then left the room to change.
"Derek, I'm nervous. I don't know why, I wasn't this nervous with Dai." Meredith said sitting down on the exam table after changing
"It's gonna be ok Mer, I will be here every step of the way. I will hold your hand the whole time if you want me too." Derek responded. He moved his chair closer to the side of the table so he could sit closer to Meredith.
"Please do." Meredith said as she leaned back so she was laying down. She reached out her hand and Derek quickly grabbed it and squeezed tightly.
There was a knock at the door and Connie came in. "So, you ready to see your little baby?"
"Yes, and we decided we don't want to know the gender until bean is born so you don't need to worry about that." Meredith said lifting her gown with one hand, the other still in Derek's.
"Ok, how is your hyperemesis gravidarum treating you?" Connie asked while she squirted the gel on Meredith's stomach.
"I mean, I still get nausea but the medicine helps. Uh the vomiting has still been a problem every once in awhile. Derek makes me drink a bottle water almost every hour so I stay pretty hydrated." Meredith said
"Well, good for you Derek. The vomiting and nausea will probably not go away until birth but you are always able to come in if you need something stronger."
"Ok, thank you. I've gained some weight back too."
"That's good," Connie said while adjusting the machine so you could hear the baby's heartbeat, "there is the baby's heartbeat. Everything looks good for 20 weeks. I just need to check the baby's size."
Derek squeezed Meredith's hand tighter as a tear escaped his eye. Meredith looked at Derek and smiled, feeling all her previous nervousness go away.
"So, it seems the baby is a little small which would most likely just mean that it is a small baby. Meredith you are pretty petite so I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case."
"How small?" Derek asked
"It seems to be 6 ounces, I would like for it to be about 10 during this stage of pregnancy."
"Is there anything I am doing wrong?" Meredith asked worryingly
"No, there are many factors playing into this. But I believe there is nothing we need to worry about right now. Just make sure you are eating enough and drinking lots of water which I believe Derek has covered." Connie paused to look at Deeke and smile. "Now that's all I got for today so you guys are free to go!"
Connie cleaned Meredith's stomach with a paper towel and left the room. Meredith sat up and started changing back into her normal clothes.
"Nothing to worry about." Meredith repeated out loud
"Nothing to worry about." Derek echoed as they walked out of the hospital, still locked hands with Meredith.
//
When Meredith and Derek arrived home, they immediately went to wake up Dai. They obviously let her sleep longer than normal because of the appointment. When Derek and Meredith walked into her room, they laughed out loud. Dai was sprawled out in a starfish position, blankets were everywhere, and soft snores were able to be heard.
"Wake up Dai!" Meredith said as she crawled into bed with her daughter, Derek stayed behind watching the sight.
"mama!" Dai said finally waking up, she shot her arms up and wrapped them around her mom.
"Happy birthday sweet girl!" Meredith said
"Happy birthday Dai, I love you!" Derek said chiming in
"tank you!" Dai responded. "Pancakes?"
"Yes Dai, we can have pancakes." Meredith said getting up and picking up Dai with her.
The little family ate pancakes and made light conversation. All of them enjoying the company of one another.
Later in the afternoon, Meredith started setting up for Dai's party while Dai got dressed in her outfit. Meredith, with the help of Derek, pulled down the blue and white streamers and blew up some balloons. Dai had recently been into elsa so that was the theme of her birthday.
When people started arriving, Meredith set up some games and stood back and watched as the the small children talked and played together, subconsciously putting her hand to her belly. Derek pulled her into a hug from behind.
"I love you Mer. Thank you for sharing my daughter with me." Derek said as he kissed her check.
"I love you to Der." Meredith said leaning back into his big hug.
Meredith and Derek pulled away from each other and went to put candles in the cake. They sang happy birthday and cut the cake.
When the party was dying down and people started leaving, Dai came over to her parents and gave them a huge hug.
"thank you, you guys are bestest parents ever." Dai said
"Thank you for being the bestest daughter ever." Derek said
When everyone had left and Dai was asleep in her bed, Derek and Meredith went to their own bed and laid down together. Meredith crawled close to Derek and Derek hugged Meredith tightly.
"We really are the bestest parents ever huh." Derek said quietly
"Mhm, I love you. Go to sleep now." Meredith said closing her eyes
"Love u too." Derek said as him and Meredith drifted off to sleep.