We're Having A Baby!

Four

Trigger warnings: mentions of ed.

words.

Month: February 2023

Charlie:

I'm fifteen weeks pregnant today and we're telling my parents. I don't think I've ever been more nervous about something. I ended up having a panic attack about it and Nick suggested that I could write down what I want to say like I did when I told them about my eating disorder. I've written but as I'm sitting on Nick's bed waiting for him to finish showering, I can't help but reread it and reread it and reread it. 

Mum, Dad. I've got something to tell you. I would like you to stay quiet while I speak, please. This is quite significant and will affect the rest of our lives. I don't want you to get angry about it but I understand if you're not very pleased.

As you know, I have the ability to carry a child and that's what I'm doing right now. I'm pregnant and Nick is the other father. We were drunk and forgot to use protection and here we are. I'm fifteen weeks pregnant and the baby is healthy. We're hoping you can come for my twenty week ultrasound so you guys, Sarah, Nick and I can find out the gender at the same time.

We hope you support us in our decision to keep the baby, even though we are both still teenagers. 

I'm still reading it when I feel an arm sneak around my shoulders. I lean into Nick's side. I'm so nervous about this, we know that my Mum often looks over how I feel and she's quite stuck in her ways. Her reaction is the one I'm most worried about, I think my Dad will be disappointed but supportive. They were quite young when they had Tori so hopefully they're slightly understanding. Nick reminded me about how Mum had a good reaction when I told her about being gay and my eating disorder, so hopefully it won't be too bad. The thing is though, I'm telling her that her sixteen year old son is pregnant, I'm not telling her about my sexuality or a mental illness. 

Nick gets dressed, blow dries and styles his hair. When he's done, he looks at me. I take a deep breath and give him a slight nod.

"Alright, lets do this." I say as I walk to towards him.

"It will all be okay, Char." He tries to comfort me.

We put our shoes and coats on then head out the door. The walk to my house is spent in a comfortable silence. Our intwined hands swinging between out bodies. My baby bump is starting to show slightly so I'm wearing one of Nick's jumpers to cover it up. I like the baby bump, while it's small it's quite cute. I want everyone I want to know, know so I can wear a less baggy top and show it off. Pregnancy seems to change my confidence. 

 Nick:

We arrive at Charlie's house. He lets us in with his house key. I'm really proud of him, he's being really brave doing this. I know how nervous he is to tell his Mum and see her reaction. 

"Mum? Dad?" He calls after he's closed the door.

"We're in the lounge, honey." Jane says.

We take our shoes and coats off and head into the lounge. He's holding onto my hand and it feels like he's grabbing it for dear life. I can feel him slightly shaking, he's holding the paper in his other hand. We sit on the sofa and say we have something to tell them, I notice Julio eyeing the piece of paper. 

Charlie reads what he's written. He doesn't look up the whole time. I keep my eyes on Charlie, I can see his parents out of the corner of my eyes. When he's done, he looks up and silently asks for them to say something. They just look back and forth between Charlie and I, shocked, but they don't say anything.

"Mum, Dad? Say something, please." Charlie says, voice wobbly.

"Well, I think I speak for both of us when I say that we are a little disappointed," Julio speaks up first, "But I'm not completely surprised. I can feel the love you have for each other, radiating off of you. I knew this pregnancy would come eventually. Although, I am very excited to be a grandpa... Right, Jane?"   

"Yeah, yeah. Um, a little disappointed but not overly surprised. I'm happy for the both of you. Of course we'll come to the ultrasound, I gotta find out what my grandbaby is going to be. Are you showing Charlie?"

"Um, yeah a little. You want to see?"

Jane nods her head, Charlie stands up and pulls my jumper up slightly and his joggers down a little. Jane and Julio coo at the bump. I have to agree with them, Charlie sporting a little bump is very cute. It's hard to believe that the baby in his womb is mine and the fact that I'm having a baby at eighteen. I would have graduated sixth form when the baby arrives so he/she will live with me and I'll take a gap year to look after them. Then when Charlie graduates, he's going to take a gap year as well. Then he'll come to the university I'm at and we'll buy a flat and hire a nanny to look after our potato while we are at lectures. Charlie stresses, we had to figure out what we were going to do almost immediately after finding out he was pregnant.

When the conversation is over, we head up to Charlie's room. When we were leaving the lounge, Julio clapped my back and told me to remember the condom next time. That had both Charlie and I blushing. We sit on his bed and cuddle for a bit before I speak up.

"See, didn't go that bad did it?"

"No, I guess not. Mum surprised me a bit."

"Yeah."

"Can we listen to The Ark now?"

I nod my head as Charlie grabs his phone and goes onto Spotify. I will never understand the obsession he has with those boys. It's cute to watch him get all excited about them, though. So when he tells me a fact that he's told me a million time before, I react like it's the first time I've heard it. 

I will never understand what I did to deserve Charlie walking into my life. But whatever it was, I'm thankful.