Broken Promises

Chapter 2

Parking was always an issue and Stuart cursed as they circled the same level of the multi storey car-park for the third time,

'Ah ha they're leaving, finally,' he said, pulling to one side and putting his indicator on. The car in question reversed slowly out and Stuart parked the car.

'I'll just get a ticket, how long do you think we need?' we asked her,

'I have no idea, probably 2 hours,' she replied, staring ahead at the grain of the dashboard. Stuart returned ticket in hand,

'£4.20 for 2 hours, unbelievable,' he told her as he placed it on the dash in view, Sophie pushed open the car door, and slipped out of the car. They made their way towards the maternity department, the hospital was a maze, ancient buildings sewn onto newer ones. They finally reached the Early Pregnancy unit, ten minutes early.

'Sophie Barrett,' she told the receptionist,

'Please take a seat I'll let them know you're here,',

'Thank you,' Sophie sat on one of the purple chairs they were directed to, Stuart joining her he took her hand and squeezed it. Sophie studied his face, she knew it so well, the rounded face with high shapely eyebrows, gentle crow's feet at the corner of soft brown eyes. He looked at her inquisitively, then gave her a small smile, Sophie always thought her husband was handsome, even now his brown hair becoming more peppered with grey.

'You're doing great sweetheart,' he told her, Sophie sat hunched in the chair, she took a small mirror out of her handbag and checked her face,

'Oh, god I look awful,' She said, running a finger across the purple rings under her eyes,

'You look fine, don't worry,' Stuart replied kissing her on the head, he stroked her chestnut brown hair.

'Sophie Barrett?' a nurse in a navy uniform called.

'Yes,' Sophie motioned a hand, then steeled herself before standing up from the chair, Stuart kept her hand in his, Sophie stumbled slightly, Stuart held her arm and supported her as they entered the examination room.

'My name is Hannah, I'm one of the Advanced Nurse Practitioners here,' she said. Sophie and Stuart introduced themselves to her, her voice was soft and warm, she gave them a small smile.

'Am I right in saying you think you are having a miscarriage?' Hannah asked her.

'Yes, I took a test a couple of weeks ago, I was 6 weeks pregnant. I woke up at about 3 in the morning in pain and bleeding,' Sophie explained.

'Ok, I'm very sorry to hear that, has the bleeding been very bad?' asked Hannah.

'It was initially, it's slowed down a bit. I passed a big clot when I was in the shower though,'replied Sophie, her voice faltering, tears falling down her cheek.

Hannah gave her a gentle look,

'Have you had much pain?' she asked.

'It was really bad but its ok now,'

'Good ok, so what we need to do is an internal scan to check if there is a pregnancy still there or if it's gone, it will also tell us if you passed it completely, we'll also take some bloods to check your pregnancy hormone levels, is that ok?'

'That's fine, my husband isn't too good with blood though so he'll have to step away for the bloods,' Sophie explained, Stuart pulled a face,

'No problem, let's get the bloods done now, then I'll take you through to the scan room,'

Stuart got up and stood away from them, to stare at a poster on the wall from the 'Miscarriage Awareness Society' Hannah grabbed a tray from the side, Sophie took her cardigan off and offered her arm to Hannah, she pulled a blue tourniquet tight around Sophie's arm, and cleaned the area of skin where a vein was bulging in the crutch of her elbow.