Don't Worry About Me

Chapter 15

Carolyn and Christopher are sound asleep in bed when they are all of a sudden woken up by Amelia running in.

"Mommy! Daddy! Guess what!!!" Amelia yells excitedly.

Carolyn opens her eyes and looks sleepily at her daughter who has jumped onto their bed. "What is it sweetie?"

"It's field trip day!!! We get to see all of the cute animals today Mommy!" Amelia says loudly.

Carolyn all of a sudden remembers signing a field trip permission form a few months ago giving Amelia permission to go on the field trip. They never had to sign one for Meredith as she was still living with her mom and did not yet have her diagnosis.

"That's going to be fun Amelia! You're going to have a great day! But sweetie, it's very early. Why don't you go back to sleep for a few hours and we'll wake you when it's time to get up?" Christopher said softly to his daughter. "Is Mer still sleeping?"

"Okay! And yeah! She's sound asleep, hugging her puppy!" Amelia runs back to her room and goes back to sleep.

"Christopher, what are we going to do about Meredith? That's going to be a lot of walking for her. I don't know if she can handle it." Carolyn says worriedly.

"I think she'll be okay. Plus I remember you signed up to be a chaperone so at least you will be there also and can help her with anything. Plus she's going to love seeing all the animals." Christopher says, reassuring his wife.

"Yeah, hopefully it will be okay. I don't want to make her not go but I'm just really worried about her having to walk that much. I know her braces really hurt her along with her now having difficulty with walking in general."

"She's going to be just fine. She's going to have a great time. Let's go back to bed for a little while." Christopher says.

They go back to sleep for a few more hours before their alarm wakes them up for the day.

"Morning." Christopher says, giving his wife a kiss good morning.

"Morning, I'm going to go make us some coffee."

Carolyn makes the coffee and they drink it in bed before they get ready for the day. Soon it's time to wake the kids up and get them ready

Carolyn walks into the girls room and sees Amelia already awake. "Why am I not surprised you're already awake Miss Amelia?" Carolyn chuckles.

Amelia giggles. "Mommy! I'm just so excited to see all of the animals!"

"You're going to have so much fun today baby girl." Carolyn gives Amelia a hug. "I'm gonna wake Mer up now."

Carolyn goes over to Meredith's bed and gently rubs the tiny girl's shoulder. "Wake up sweetie. It's time to wake up, Mer.

Meredith slowly opens her eyes. She starts wheezing now that she's awake.

"Oh sweetie, is your asthma bad this morning?" Carolyn asks softly.

Meredith nods and coughs. "Hard to breathe." Meredith whispers.

"Mommy, she's been making that sound during the night too!" Amelia says.

"Amy, next time you hear her doing that, come get either me or Daddy okay?"

Amelia nods.

"Mer, we're going to do a breathing treatment and then we'll get ready for your field trip today. Are you excited to go to the zoo?"

Meredith nods and wheezes more. "Baby... animals?" She asks in between coughs.

"Maybe!"

Carolyn gets the nebulizer and starts Meredith's treatment. Carolyn holds it to her face as she's too weak to hold it herself.