Dinner was chill, Eddie cooked on the grill. In between dessert and a Dallas Cowboy Preseason game Dianna sat us all down and started talking.
"As you all know, I have been auditioning to be on Bravo's show Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Because Jessy was in her coma for a bit, they put me on recurring because they thought I was going to be boring. Recurring means they wouldn't be filming here unless I was having a party or something. However, they just bumped me up on main cast."
My jaw dropped. Ironic how in my dream I was watching Beverly Hills with my mom when it all started... I didn't even know this was happening.
"When does filming start?"
Dianna and Eddie look at each other somewhat nervous but excited at the same time. "That's the problem actually. Now I get it for my older ones, how you guys probably have to talk about it with your PR people so I understand if you have to leave; however the camera crew will be setting up stuff tonight, do some filming for when we're watching the game but more importantly, they are filming tomorrow morning."
Everyone kind of just rolls their eyes but nods.
"You can all stay?"
They nod. Nick says, "Anything for you Dianna."
She claps and I get more annoyed than usual. I didn't even know this was happening! Jessie looks all excited because she gets to be on TV. Bitch please.
Within twenty to thirty minutes a camera crew is in the house, and as the commotion dies I go up to Dallas and say, "Love how you aren't making your announcement."
She looks at me half sad, "Don't worry we still are."
"For the camera?"
She nods, "I have a feeling my mom needs this. You know me, I'm a momma's girl."
She is talking about giving her mom more drama. You see, in the reality television world, the more drama is created, the more likely you will be asked back for the next season. Understandable.
I shoot her a look, "Are you sure about that? It's probably gonna get heavy. Kinda shocked you're gonna do it."
She shrugs, clearly bothered.
I say sympathetically, "More importantly though, how are you?"
She shrugs again, "I'm okay. I mean it's rough, but what am I gonna do? I love both these babies, no matter what. It won't matter if they have a mental illness, diabetes, down syndrome. They are my children, and it's just something my baby girl will have to deal with. She's gonna struggle, but Nick and I will support both of our children no matter what."
I nod and give her a hug, pretty moved by what she just said. Quickly the cameras are rolling and we are casually and awkwardly watching the game. The Patriots are actually playing the Cowboys so this should be interesting. In the break, both Jessie and I went and put on our Patriots jerseys; which caused uproar. At half time though, Nick and Dallas told everyone to stay put. Everyone sits in their respective TV watching positions. Jessie and I sit on a chair together. On the couch there is the rest of the gang, with Maddie on the floor with the dogs and Marissa. Nick and Dallas take a deep breath, holding each other's hands and slightly smiling with sadness in their eyes.
"We decided to have the Amniocentitis test done, just to make sure everything was okay."
Maddie excitedly says, "So we have confirmed gender results, right?"
Dallas nods, "Yes we are in fact having both boy and girl."
Dianna concerning says, "But there is something else, what is it?"
With Dallas' eyes tearing up, Nick continues. "With the test, they take out fluid around both of babies. They then can screen for chromosome abnormalities. In our case, something came back funky. The reason why Jessy had to go stay with Justin last week wasn't because I had to go do something. It was because our baby girl has been screened positively for Down Syndrome."
The room's energy gets shot to death. Everyone is staring sympathetically and crying.
Dallas gets it together enough to say, "There is new research and development for medicine so our girl with be able to think better. Overall I know we will love her no matter what. She will be a great additional family member as anyone else, and I can't wait to hold her."
It gets awkward with people not knowing what to say. There are hugs exchanged and more tears. Eventually the game was turned back on and the Patriots somehow lost against the Cowboys. Bummer for Jessie and I, but good thing for the rest of them. Soon everyone left and it was just Jessie, Dianna and I sitting at the kitchen table talking.
Jessie says, "Do you think everything is gonna be okay with Dallas and Nick?"
Dianna takes a breath and says, "I don't know. I mean, I'm sure they are gonna love their children no matter what."
"I know, but is Nick gonna be able to have a career at all now? Children with disabilities are a lot of work."
I roll my eyes and breathe hard. "Wanna knwo what? That kid is still going to be their child. And you love your children no matter what, and they will do whatever that child needs."
"I know that but..."
"No buts about it. I was a huge problem child because I had ADHD to the extreme, but my parents and my brother did everything to make me feel normal as a child. I had developmental delays to the point that although I loved to talk, no one could understand me because of my horrible annunciation. I was put in a special needs physical education class, the same one their child will be in."
"Jessy, I get that. I'm just saying, that their lives are gonna be really different."
"That's what happens when you have a kid, deal with it."
She rolls her eyes and Dianna finally speaks up.
"I would like to say, Jessy is right when she says that we will all love that baby girl no matter what. I get that the issue is close to your heart, but Jessie is also right. The child is gonna be a lot of work, but it will pay off in the end because I'm sure she'll be happy. Now you need to go to bed, it is almost eleven and you have your last/first official day of school."
I roll my eyes and give her and Jessie a hug. Tomorrow should be fun.
----
I wake up the next morning to chaos. I have a camera man ringing my door bell at 4:30 am. They try to make as little noise as possible, but it wasn't jiving for me. I lay in bed for about an hour, falling back to sleep off and on. Right as I fall into that deep morning sleep we all love after not being able to, Dianna of course comes and wakes me up. She tries to sit on my bed and do the motherly approach, cuddling and rubbing me but I get nasty with her, and start legitimately growling. After about five minutes of Dianna trying to gently reason with me she puts her foot down and starts yelling. Knowing I'm kind of up because of the grin on my face, she gives up and tells me my mic pack is on the dresser and I need to be downstairs in 10 minutes if I want her to do my hair. I roll my eyes at that and go into my bathroom. Jessie must be living it up, sleeping in her own room since Dallas and Demi, and their guys finally went back home. Instead of lying in bed for the next 15 minutes like I normally do, I pick myself up, get dressed, put on my mic pack and get over it. Today I'm wearing a black and white striped dress with a leather jacket and flats. So I can get everything on camera I go downstairs without having my makeup done and everything. Apparently Madison is having a harder time waking up than I did, so Eddie is getting a glass of water. This is beautiful. The camera crew rushes up the stairs just as fast as I do. We walk in to find Dianna standing at the door and Eddie counting down the moments until water will be dropped.
"Five, four, three, two..."
At the count of two Madison rises her upper body up and says, "I am up."
Eddie nods his head, gives her a peck on the cheek and leaves the room. Well isn’t that cute. We all leave the room and go back downstairs to eat breakfast. Dianna made us eggs, bacon, and toast. I quickly eat then go into the bathroom to do my makeup. We have everything set up so we have everything on the first floor which is fine since they have two separate bathrooms. I do my signature look of gold eye shadow, black eyeliner on the inner lids, mascara, and red eyelids. My hair is honestly, naturally pretty wavy so I just put a crap ton of mouse in it last night after my shower. With this I had to oil it to make it not frizzy which it will end up anyways. Forgetting how fast I get ready, I brush my teeth and sit on the couch in minor exhaustion.
Eddie at one point comes in and says, "How do you get ready so fast?"
I shrug, I might be at my own pace but it is a lot faster than whatever extensive cosmetic some hair and makeup artist does. After about 30 minutes of me watching some re-runs of Full House Madison is also ready, looking less formal than I of course. Dianna takes a picture of us, freaking out because her baby is going to her first day of high school. Let me puke.