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Story Notes:
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author.  The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise.  No copyright infringement is intended.

*The usual disclaimers apply—written in an attempt to cheer myself up a little—hope it makes others happy as well—thanks to Cheryl for brainstorming help—this is not beta read—any mistakes are the sole property of the author—any ideas for future Jenna baby stories appreciated—and thanks for the ideas already suggested—hope you enjoy :)*

 

Diaper Duty 

4247 Maplewood Dr.

 

Sunday,  February 5, 1989

 

3:00 AM

 

He could deal with this.

 

He was Lee Stetson.  He’d faced down KGB spies, ruthless terrorists, mercenaries—compared to all that, this should be nothing. Right?

 

But then he looked down at the tiny creature lying on the changing table. 

 

Jenna Leigh Stetson. His daughter, the life that he and Amanda had created, brought into the world almost seven days ago.  Lee remembered the feelings that had welled up in him as she’d opened her eyes and looked at him for the first time—the way her tiny fingers had curled around his finger—holding tight. 

 

Only now—

 

Her face was bright red, eyes squeezed shut, mouth open—a high-pitched wail of protest issued from that little mouth, filling the room. Tiny limbs flailed, little hands covered by the sleeves of her pink flannel pajamas. 

 

Lee ran both hands back through his hair, drawing in a deep breath and then blowing it out in a whoosh.

 

“Oh, munchkin—”

 

Who was he kidding?   Lee had done tough things before, but this—

 

Jenna’s cries turned into full-fledged screams—he was going to need to do something—and do it soon. It wasn’t like he was a complete novice. He’d done this once before, in the hospital with Amanda supervising—but that had only been a wet diaper. Lee had known, though—the second he’d lifted Jenna from her crib—from the smell alone—this wasn’t just a wet diaper—this was—

 

Should he wake Amanda?  No—that wouldn’t be right—Amanda had already been up twice before—she needed her sleep. 

 

‘Enough thinking, Scarecrow—time to act’

 

“Don’t worry, munchkin,”  he soothed, not knowing if she could hear him over the noise she was making. “Daddy’s going to fix it—I’ll make it better.”

 

First part—get the clothes off and out of the way—he remembered that much. Carefully Lee unfastened the snaps of her pajamas. Jenna’s legs were bent up at the knees in a way that reminded him of a frog—Amanda had told him that was normal for very young babies.  Lee took her by the feet and lifted her legs, scooting the garment underneath her and out of the way. 

 

What was next? New diaper, that was it—Amanda said to put the new diaper underneath Jenna before he took off the new one—in case she decided to go while he was changing her. A stack of diapers lay on top of the dresser. Lee grabbed one off the top along with the plastic container of baby wipes and the tube of diaper cream.   He unfolded the diaper—looked at it—one end had little tabs and the other end didn’t—but which end went under her?  He checked the diaper she already had on—noting that the tabs went in the back. Lee lifted Jenna’s legs again and placed the diaper underneath, making sure it was situated in the center.

 

The time had come to remove the dirty diaper.  Lee unfastened the tabs—pulled the diaper down—

 

“Oh my—” there were no words to describe what he was looking at—Lee held his free hand over his nose, but that didn’t help to block the smell. There was so much of it—it was gooey and sticky and—he bent a little closer—

 

Was it supposed to be green?  Was that normal too? 

 

No time to worry about that now—holding his breath, Lee tried to wipe off at least some of the mess with the diaper before removing it—being careful to wipe from front to back—that much he remembered—and put the dirty diaper at the end of the table.

 

Wipes were next. Lee snapped open the top of the container. He managed to pull one wipe through a miniscule hole, but the next wipe ---in frustration he simply removed the top of the container and grabbed at least ten of the things. He wiped around her umbilical cord stump and her front area—lifting her legs once more he cleaned the back area too. Diaper ointment next—Lee had watched Amanda do this before—he gently applied a layer to the whole diaper area.  Jenna’s screams turned into whimpers and then stopped altogether—turning her head she opened her mouth and yawned into her sleeve. .

 

“I know how you feel, munchkin—Daddy will be done in just a minute.”  He put the diaper ointment aside and turned his attention to the diaper itself—there were little tabs on the back part—

 

“Release the tabs,” Lee muttered to himself—but the sticky part stuck to the diaper itself and then to his fingers—how the hell did they expect anyone to release that?  Lee finally managed to loosen the things and stick the adhesive to the diaper—being careful to fold the front part of the diaper down so it didn’t cover the umbilical stump.

 

“There—all done,” he told Jenna—when suddenly she squirmed and the diaper loosened—the tabs came undone. The next thing Lee heard was a sound— a very  faint sound, like a faucet being turned on low—his heart sank—

 

‘She didn’t—she couldn’t have—’ But checking her diaper, he knew that she had.

 

“Oh no—Jenna.” 

 

Removing the wet diaper and putting it on top of the messy one and the mountain of wipes, Lee repeated the same wipe and diaper ointment process again— except for a few whimpers Jenna was mostly quiet, probably exhausted by how long her father was taking to complete a simple task.  Now for fastening the diaper—he looked at the tabs again. Should he really attempt—suddenly a solution hit him.

 

It would be perfect.  Supporting her head and her diaper simultaneously Lee lifted her into his arms. 

 

“Daddy’s just taking you downstairs to get one thing,” he told her. “Please, please don’t go again. Okay?  I’m begging.”  Jenna’s only response was to open her mouth in yet another yawn—repressing the urge to yawn himself, Lee kissed her forehead. He took her downstairs to the living room. There it was—right where he’d left it—he and Jamie had been using it to repair the vacuum cleaner hose.  Taking it and Jenna back into the nursery he placed her on the changing table and used it to secure Jenna’s diaper.

 

“There you go, munchkin.”   He pulled her clothes back down and fastened the snaps on her pajamas. Lee lifted Jenna into his arms once more—she snuggled against him, her head tucked underneath his chin. He hummed softly while he rubbed her back

 

“Hi there.” 

 

The voice startled him.  Lee turned to see his wife standing in the doorway, smiling.

 

“Hope we didn’t wake you.”  He said, placing a now sound-asleep Jenna back in her crib. “She didn’t need to be fed this time—it was just a messy diaper—well actually two diapers” 

 

“So I can see,” Amanda said as her eyes fell on the changing table.

 

Ahh—well things did get a little messy—” Hastily Lee scooped up the dirty diapers and the wipes and put them into the diaper pail as he spoke, putting the rest of the supplies on top of the dresser where they belonged.

 

“Lee—”

 

 “—And  maybe I got a little impatient with the wipes, but she was crying so hard at first— ”

 

Amanda walked over to her husband, wrapping her arms around him. “Relax—I think you did just fine on your first solo diaper change.”

 

Lee smiled, pulling her body close “You really do, huh?” 

 

Amanda’s own smile widened. “Yeah, I do.” 

 

“You know something?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“I can do a great job on a lot of things.” 

 

“Believe me, I know—but right now I think we should probably go before we wake Jenna.”

 

“Yeah, you’re right.”  Lee hesitated. “There was one question that I had though—Jenna’s poop—it was green.  Is that normal?”

 

“Very normal—I can remember Phillip used to get all kinds of colors—pale yellow, green—you name it.”

 

“That’s a relief.” 

 

“Speaking of questions, Stetson—I have one of my own.”  

 

“Yeah?” 

 

“Will you explain to me why on earth there’s a roll of duct tape on the changing table?” 

 

 

The End

 

 

 

 

 

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