Luna~
"It's been incredible. We're really on a September push. Coming into September with 80 wins is an amazing feeling. They've fought through a lot of diversity this year," Couns tells us all. I use my knee as a platform to write all of that down.
"I'm proud of them. I really am," he adds.
"You mentioned a lot of diversity just now. Just to clarify, is that being all injury-related? The constant moves of bringing guys up from Triple-A," I say wanting more clarification before I go on later.
"Yeah. I feel like we've used a lot of guys this season. Every single one of them has shown up in different ways this season. It doesn't get said often, but the guys putting the work in down in Nashville, are a great group of guys. I wish rosters could be expanded more to just 28. They've helped us a lot this year. We owe a lot of our wins to them. We've got a great system at the front office that is also helping us win. We're winning because we have such a great group of guys that push each other to be their absolute on and off the field."
I back out of the group gathering around Craig as he sat on the backbench. I got what I needed and I can get more later.
"There's our favorite reporter," Travis says, getting my attention as I finished up some of what Craig was saying.
I look over at him and some of the guys and smile, "Boys, how are you?"
"Great. We got a good atmosphere in here tonight. You hanging in there?"
"Oh, yeah, doing great," I say as a wave of lightheadedness comes about me. Okay, maybe not right now.
"You sure?" Travis asks me, grabbing the back of my arm so I don't fall over.
I unintentionally buckle my knee to keep myself from falling but that probably wasn't the best idea. "Yeah, I'm fine."
He doesn't believe me one bit. "Travis, I promise I am fine."
He lets go of my arm and I continue up the dugout stairs, even though I'm still incredibly dizzy.
I must've missed one of the steps, causing me to drop my stuff, and brace for the ground. I use my knees in defense to keep my stomach from hitting the ground. Shit. Both of my knees hit the ground and an immediate shooting pain goes straight through my right knee. I'd rather it be my knees than my stomach right now.
"Someone go get Christian," Travis yells even though it's like I can barely hear him. I feel like everything is moving in slow motion.
Travis and a few of the other guys get me to sit on one of the steps as I hold my knee in agony.
I look up in time to see Christian running down the hallway with a few other guys behind him. "Someone want to tell me what happened?" he asks, moving past everyone.
I'm still trying to catch my breath as I keep holding my knee, not even caring that it's definitely bleeding.
He crouches down to my level, "Are you okay?"
I don't answer him because I can't. I'm way too focused on my baby to answer any questions. I could've really just messed everything up.
"She was talking to Couns before she came over to us. I noticed she didn't look like herself. Almost as if she was dizzy. I tried to stabilize her but she said she was fine so I let go. I think she missed a stair," Travis tells him.
"Can you stand?"
I shake my head, "I don't know."
It's like I don't remember falling just now. I know it happened. But I can't remember if my stomach hit the ground. If it did, I could've just ruined our chance to hold who would've been our healthy, perfect, beautiful baby.
Christian hands me a towel and I take it to wipe off my hands as he carefully wipes off both of my knees. I wince as he straightens out my right leg. This is exactly how I felt when I tore my ACL. All of this because I fell.
"We got you, okay?" Christian says as he and Travis get on either side of me.
I'm pretty much silently sobbing because I don't know if I just fucked everything up for us. They get me up and the rest of the guys clear a path for us.
They get me to one of the couches in the clubhouse with every single person following us in. I know all of them care for us but I can't do the hovering right now.
I look up at Christian, "Christian, please get them to stop hovering," I say quietly. Of course, the day I fall, I wear a flowy dress that's a bit short in the front because of my bump. I don't need an accidental slip and then the whole team knows my business.
He looks over at Travis and nods behind him.
"Guys, let's give them some space. Let them figure this out. I know you all want to know what's going on since they're family to us but they don't need everyone staring at them. I know we're not in the most private area, but just steer clear of this vicinity for right now," Travis tells them all.
"Thank you."
"Let me know if you need anything."
"Does your leg hurt?" Does he really have to ask that question? Of course, it hurts.
"That was a stupid question. Sorry. How'd you fall?"
"I don't remember falling. I'm pretty sure I missed a step. All I know is that I fell and used my knees in defense of hitting my stomach to the ground, which I still don't know if it did. I know that I buckled my knee before I fell, which wasn't smart."
"Luna, Christian, if you want to come back to the trainer's room, that'd be fine. We can get you cleaned up," Theresa tells us.
"You want to go?"
"Yeah, I trust her."
"Do you want to see if you can walk?"
He holds his hands out for me. I put all of my weight onto my left leg and ease myself onto my right. My adrenaline must be through the roof because I feel like I can walk just fine.
I slow us down a bit because the adrenaline is wearing off and it's taking more and more out of me to walk on my own with Christian's guidance. "Just stop for a minute. Stop pushing yourself."
I lean up against the wall and take all of my weight off of my leg. "Whatever is going through your head right now, stop thinking it. You did everything you could to not fall onto your stomach. Our baby is going to be fine."
"You don't know that."
"Look at me."
I look up at him, "We will get an appointment scheduled soon to make sure everything is good. But you have to tell me if anything is wrong or hurts because then we can go to the ER instead, okay?"
"Okay," I say quietly.
We get down to the trainer's room and I sit on one of the beds. Christian stands next to me as I start to calm down. "Are you gonna be okay if I go talk to Couns to see if he can take me out of the lineup?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine."
He kisses the top of my head before quickly heading out.
"Has your knee been swollen for a while?" Theresa asks me.
"Yeah, but both of them have been for a couple of weeks."
"How far along are you? I also assume you had a few surgeries from the scars that I can see."
"26 weeks and yeah, about 13 years ago though."
"You've had problems with it before?"
"Yeah. If I'm too active it'll flare-up. You don't think I tore something again, do you?" That could one of the worst possibilities, besides my baby not being okay.
"It's possible. I know you said your knee buckled. I can't recommend an MRI just because you are more than three months pregnant. But I do want to recommend going in to see your doctor. They're going to give you more information."
Who knew at 29 I'd have to go see if I tore my ACL again. Christian comes back in, "He already scratched me. He wants us to go back home and figure this out."
"What I can recommend is that if you can't get in with your doctor soon, if you have a knee brace, I'd suggest wearing it. I know they're annoying and you probably hated it, but I think that's the best thing you could do right now, especially if you can't get in tonight. Make sure you're icing every twenty minutes on and off and keeping it elevated and don't bend your knee."
Christian rubs my back as I've officially calmed down and my head is much clearer than it was ten minutes ago.
"The best thing you could've done was to have fallen on your knees and you did just that. I am by no means an OB, but I do believe you don't have anything to worry about. Go get checked out as soon as you can. Baby and yourself."
"Thank you," we both say.
She smiles and nods before returning to her actual job. "Let's go home."
"Do you have your phone?"
He hands me his phone since I know I dropped mine when I fell. I call my dad so he knows we're going to have to stop by. "Christian? What's going on? Is everything okay?"
"Dad, it's me. Are you home?"
"Oh. Yeah, I'm home. What's going on? Isn't there a game?"
"Yeah, there is. Do you know if you still have my knee brace?" He should have it because I know I don't have it at the house.
"Yeah, I should have it. Does somebody need it? You don't sound all that excited about this."
"Dad, I fell at work and I messed up my knee again."
"You fell? Are you okay? Is the baby okay?"
"I'm okay right now. My knee's a bit swollen. But I just need that brace until I can get in."
"I'll go find it. Are you heading over now?"
"Yeah, they're sending us home for the day."
"I'm home right now and I'll find it. Do you need anything else?"
"No."
"I'll see you in a bit."
I hang up and hand him his phone back, "Does he have it?"
"Yeah, we can head over there."
"Why don't you stay in here while I get your things from your office and whatever was in the dugout. David might come down to talk to you for a minute. Then we can go home."
I nod again, "Okay."
As Christian walks out, David walks in. He throws his hands up, "Kid, you gotta stop getting hurt on the job," he says, completely joking.
I laugh along with him, "What are you gonna do with me?"
He laughs, "In all seriousness, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I should be. I just got really dizzy but thought I was fine and missed a step."
"You're not going to like me for this next part. I don't want you coming in tomorrow. Come back when you're 100% sure that you and your baby are okay. Got it? Sophia is more than capable of taking over for a few days. Get that knee checked out and more importantly get your baby checked out. I'd hate to hear if something were wrong if you didn't get checked out."
"I will."
"You said you fell yesterday?" Dr. Bowen asks me as I laid back on the bed. We couldn't get in until this morning.
"Yeah, I missed a step at work and fell straight on my knees, hence the scrapes and knee brace."
"Have you felt any movement?"
"Last night. It wasn't very strong, but it was something."
"That's a good thing. Even if it wasn't very strong, movement is such a good thing to notice after a fall."
Well, that makes me feel a whole lot better. I didn't sleep well last night because the only thing on my mind was my baby. Even Christian was up with me a few times just because I'd find myself starting to breathe faster and start to freak myself out with my thoughts.
"I should let you know that as you keep progressing, you will feel fewer big movements just because your baby is starting to cram inside. You will more likely see outlines of fingertips or toes rather than a huge kick. Once one of my patients hits the third trimester, which you will next week, to keep track of how many times you feel movement. It doesn't have to be exact but you'll see that as you progress, you'll feel less movement, which is normal."
She puts the gel on me and spreads it out before turning the monitor on. She smiles, "Okay, well, I don't see anything you should be worried about. The umbilical cord is out of sight, which is good because we know it is not harming the baby." She turns the sound on, "And the heartbeat sounds really good. I'd say around 150 beats per minute."
Pure relief floods through my body. That's what I needed. I loosen my grip on Christian's hand as she continues to move the probe around. "Since you're here, I'm going to go ahead and do the 3D/4D ultrasound. There's really no reason to wait a few more weeks when you're here."
Christian leans down and kisses my forehead as she sets up for this next scan. I think he can really tell that that's exactly what I needed to hear. That our baby is okay and that their heartbeat is strong.
"I'll start with the 3D imaging. This one will just be pictures that I get from moving the wand around. They will turn out a bit blurry especially if the baby is moving."
She turns the monitor back on and we're instantly met with our sweet baby's face. The moment that picture came to the monitor, is the moment I lost it. They have their hands covering their face a bit but this is still the best appointment we've been to.
"Now I'm going to switch over to the 4D imaging which will be like a live video."
She does a few things before switching over and we see our beautiful baby. They've got some chunky cheeks so far. I'll I can see is that is completely Christian's child. Literal twins. It's almost freaky.
Our baby yawns and I can't even control the tears that roll down my face anymore. So freaking cute. I look up at Christian as he's at about the same place I am, a complete puddle.
He's trying so hard to hold it in but is very unsuccessful. "Looks like your little one is tired right now. I would expect more movement when you start to settle down for the night. Babies can be little devils and disrupt your sleep a lot through the next couple of months. But hang in there. I'm very glad you made an appointment to come see me after your fall. Baby looks good. Still on track for early December. They'll have these 3D photos ready for you at the front desk."
She turns the lights on, "Now for your leg. Since you're more than 3 months pregnant, there are no scans that we can do to get an accurate diagnosis if there were damage to a ligament. So I'm going to do a few tests on my own just to give you something. Your knee is visibly more swollen than your left knee. It's not recommended, but if your ACL is torn, we can do an emergency repair, however, I would not recommend it. In a couple of weeks, you're closing in on your seventh month and I wouldn't feel comfortable having you get surgery with only a couple more months of being pregnant. Because with that comes physical therapy and all that stuff that I'm sure you don't want to go through again."
"Oh, yeah, no. I don't want to do that."
She laughs, "I figured."
"Now, I can't be for sure and once you have your baby I recommend getting your knee checked out. But, I really don't feel a difference between either knee, which is a good thing. Most of the time if we feel something structurally different, it's not good. It's probably going to hurt for a while but keep icing it. No ibuprofen unless it is absolutely necessary and only low doses. You're not going to like me for this, but I'd keep wearing the brace just to be sure. It's going to give you more stability and also make sure you don't lock your knee again. Do either of you have any questions?"
I shake my head, "No, I'm good."
"Okay, well, I do want to see you back here before you leave for Arizona. Just one last check-up before you head out and have this beautiful baby."
"Of course, we'll see you before we leave."
"Awesome. Thank you for coming in today so we could get you both some clarity and relief. Those images should be printed already and at the front desk."
We both smile and nod as she gets up to leave. "Easy. I got you," Christian says as he helps me down since I'm no longer able to bend my leg with this bulky-ass brace.
I feel like I'm back in high school with this brace on, except this time I'm 29 and pregnant. "You feel better now?"
"Way better."
"I know. Me too." He hugs me and we stand there for a couple of minutes. I would've felt so bad if something was wrong. But I am so thankful that nothing is.
I quickly get changed into a white dress that accentuates my belly, making me look huge. I'm way more stable than I have been. It's already been a long day with it being my first full day back after I fell.
I put some different earrings in and look in the mirror. I notice Christian standing at the doorframe, watching me.
I turn a bit to see him. "Wow, look at the bump. Someone really wants to show themselves today."
"Tell me about it. I think we're almost to the point where I don't think I can see my feet anymore."
He laughs a bit, "You sure you're up for this?"
"Well, Christian, it's kind of my baby shower. I don't think I have a choice to not be there."
"I think everyone would understand why you couldn't come."
"Christian, I will be fine."
"Just let me know if you aren't."
"I know."
He hugs me, "You want to head up?" I nod but hug him a little tighter than I normally would.
We take one of the elevators up to the suite level since I really shouldn't be testing my leg by going up a few flights of stairs. Christian opens the door for me and we're greeted by my sister and his mom.
"Only you would get hurt while you're pregnant," my sister says as she hugs me.
"Only me."
"There's food over on the counter. You both can sit upfront. We'll get everything set up. Just relax for a couple of hours."
I stray off from Christian and get some food because I'm very hungry and so is this baby. I hug a few of the other wives that I know helped out with this. I'm so thankful for everyone here.
Christian sits down by me as I watch all of the gifts and leftover food get filtered out of the room. I'm not allowed to help since I'm hurt so I'm just been observing.
"Doing okay?"
I lean on him, "Just exhausted."
"You've had a long day. Work and a baby shower."
"Did you see my mom showed up?"
"Yeah, we talked for five minutes, and then your sister came over."
"She saved you. Did she saying anything?"
"Only that she wished that she could see you more often."
I don't say anything to that because I don't want to start anything about her. But, that sounds about normal.
"Okay! Cars are packed. I'm going to follow you to your house and help get everything at least to the nursery."
I know my sister will not take no for an answer so I take my head off of Christian so he can stand up to help me up. Not having the mobility to even stand up on my own is very degrading. I wish that I could just do it on my own but the last time I tried that I lost my balance and almost fell, again.
We wait for Trin to double-check the suite just in case something was left. "Thank you for this."
"It's really no problem. Neither of you has the time to plan so I figured I'd take this up on my own since you did a lot when I was pregnant with Micah. Now that you're somewhat crippled it was just perfect timing."
"Well, we both appreciate it a lot and we don't have to bring up my injury every time."
"Yeah, we do."
I shake my head as we get on the elevator. "And when we get to your house. You are going to sit down on the couch and watch."
"That was a given. He barely lets me get water from the fridge."
"Just looking out for you, that's all."