Cami's Decision

The days quickly came and went and before Diane knew it, she was putting the finishing touches on Cami’s surprise baby shower. A few days after she and Nurse Atkins had their chat, she found out that Cami would be having a girl so everything in the living room, kitchen, and backyard was decorated in pink and yellow. Cami loved bright colors so her mother knew that she would be happy with the decorations.

  She would most certainly be surprised when she returned home with Kaci from a special outing that they had together. They had spent the day in the park eating junk food, catching up on the latest gossip, and talking about boys and the baby. Afterwards, they went to the mall and browsed inside numerous apparel stores and treated themselves to ice cream with extra sprinkles. It had been such a long time since they had spent time like this together, and both girls had really found themselves enjoying each other’s company.

  Then, Kaci received a phone call from their mother; Cami couldn’t make out what Diane was saying but her guess was that it was something funny because of the funny look on Kaci’s face.

  Several minutes later the girls were on the road making their way towards home. Cami couldn’t figure out why they were leaving so early. She’d asked Kaci what the rush was but she only said that their mother had something important to tell her. She figured that it must be something good for her sister to be smiling so much.

  When she arrived at home, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. There were more cars than what she was used to seeing parked in front of the house and in the grass. It wasn’t her or Kaci’s birthday so she didn’t know what was going on. While sitting in the driver’s seat of her car, she looked over to Kaci for some type of clue as to what was going on, but she had turned sideways to face the passenger’s side window so that Cami couldn’t see her face.

  Cami rolled her eyes, got out of the car, and slowly made her way to the front door. She was eager to know what her mother wanted to tell her but she was a little worried as to what it could be. She looked back at Kaci who was still sitting in the car.

  “What are you going to do—stay in there all day?” she asked irritably.

  Kaci opened the passenger’s door and climbed out of the car. “I would but then I’d never get to see the look on your face when Mom told you,” she said with a smile.

  “Told me what?”

  Kaci walked up to her and whispered. “If I tell you this, you have to promise that you won’t tell Mom that I told you.”

  “I promise so what is it?”

  “Mom’s pregnant.”

  Cami blinked several times and then shook her head as if she couldn’t believe that this was happening. “What did you just say?”

  “Mom’s pregnant,” Kaci repeated.

  Cami was shocked. How could her mother be pregnant? She didn’t even know that she was seeing someone. “So why are all of these cars here?”

  “She invited people from work to be here when she made the announcement. Don’t you think it’s exciting? We’ll get to have two babies in the house at the same time.”

  Cami just couldn’t believe what she was hearing. If her mother was having a baby, too, she wouldn’t have time to help her with her baby. “I can’t believe this,” she mumbled.

  She turned around and turned the door knob and stepped inside the house. “Surprise!” everyone shouted. Her mother was smiling as she wrapped her arms around her oldest daughter, but Cami was still trying to process the information that Kaci had told her. “What is this?”

  “Your baby shower,” Diane replied happily.

  “But Kaci told me that you were going to tell everyone that you were pregnant.”

  Kaci erupted in giggles. “I can’t believe that you actually believed me! You should’ve seen the look on your face,” she said while pointing at Cami.

  “Kaci, really? I am so going to get you back after I spit this baby out,” Cami said as she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

  Still chuckling Kaci said, “Don’t you mean after you push, push, push the baby out?”

  Cami playfully grabbed her sister’s arm and pulled her in for a hug. “You’re such a troublemaker, Kaci.”

  “I had to get you just once.”

  “Well, I can assure you that I’m not pregnant. Besides, we don’t need two crying babies in this house at one time. It’d be enough to make me run away,” Diane added.

  Everyone laughed.

  Cami could feel herself begin to relax. She was so relieved that there weren’t going to be two babies in the house at one time. She didn’t know if she could handle that.

  She loved all of her mother’s decorations. Everything was pink and yellow. There were cupcakes, gifts, and flowers everywhere. She really loved the pink cupcakes that had a yellow heart in the shape of a “C” on top. There was a three tier banana cream cake sitting on one of the tables that had “Cami and Baby” written on top in pink icing.

  Before she sat down to open any gifts, she grabbed a paper plate and began to piled cupcakes and potato chips on it.

  Diane raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you think you should open your gifts first?”

  Cami bit into a cupcake. “I guess I could.”

  “After that you can have some barbeque ribs, baked beans, and macaroni & cheese.”

  Cami stuffed the remainder of the cupcake into her mouth.

  Kaci eyed all of the food that Cami had piled onto her plate. Since she’d gotten pregnant, she had been eating everything in sight. Kaci was certain that she wouldn’t be having children anytime soon.

  For the rest of the day Cami opened her gifts and spent time with her friends and family. The only person that was missing was River. Diane had invited him but he couldn’t make it since he had to work.

  She had received enough diapers and formula to last for at least three months. Her mother had given her a crib, baby monitor, and clothing for the baby. She received a bath and body gift set and $500 gift card from Skylar and his parents. Nurse Atkins gave her a $250 gift card and several children’s books while she received a gift bag filled with baby products such as lotion, shampoo, and wipes from Marissa and her mother, Christina. All in all, she received a lot of gifts—a lot more than what she or her mother thought she would get.

  Later that evening everyone made their way to the kitchen to get some barbeque ribs, baked beans, and macaroni & cheese. There was an overwhelming feeling of love inside the home. Everyone was happy and cheerful. They were celebrating a life that had not yet been brought into this world, and they had also relieved Cami of some of the worries that she had about purchasing items for the baby.

  The formula and diapers wouldn’t last forever, but it was a great start, and she was grateful for it. This was definitely a day that she was going to remember for a long time.

  Chapter 30