A Bump in the Road -- Watty Awards 2011 --

Chapter 7: Precautions

Waking up to a room blanched with sunlight, Nicole opened her eyes to find the man of  her dreams passed out sound asleep with one hand on her belly and the other covering her heart.

Stirring, josephs hand began to stroke her belly as he leaned over to kiss her good morning.

This felt so right, to be nestled in the musculature of his arms, with only the silent swell of their baby between them. Don’t you have to be at work soon ? Nicole murmured into his shoulder.

No darling ive had melanie cancel all my appointments and meetings for the day, we have to be at the doctors in an hour for the ultrasound as well don’t you remember ?Oh, she breathed, oh I completely forgot…

They were silent during the cab ride to the specialist appointment. Nicole broke the silence and avoided the prying ears of the listening cabbie by saying “Qu’est ce que tu voudrais? Un petit garcon ou un fille mon amour?”.

The driver, annoyed at not understanding the conversation turned up the tinny radio blasting out Bollywood whines and wavers.

Looking up from his blackberry he saw her drumming her fingers on her lap, she looked shot to pieces with worry. Her once neatly manicured fingers were now gnawed on.

Cutting his business contact off mid-message Joseph tossed aside the phone and took Nicole’s hand and kissed each finger. What I want, is a healthy strong baby and an even healthier mother.

Her eyes widened and her hand shot to her stomach. Joe joe joe joe joe joe! Nic what is it? Are you alright do we need to go to emergency, are you hurt? All 6 feet 2 inches of him tried to get down in front of her forgetting to even take off his seatbelt.

No, joe I, I felt it, joe I felt our baby move she managed to choke out before tears started rolling down  her face. Joseph walked her into the clinic as if she were an invalid, a fragile porcelain figurine instead of a flushed sturdy woman.

As joseph took care of all the insurance papers and other paperwork, Nicole sat back in the poky plastic waiting chairs and tried to focus all her energy on the little being inside her trying to feel the strange bubbly fluttering that she now recognized as her baby.

They both flicked through baby and pregnancy magazines for the next 40 minutes until they were called into the exam room. Having been classified and registered as a high risk pregnancy, Nicole had been referred and booked into one of the most prestigious hospitals in the country, Celeste Memorial.

Looking around the spacious surroundings of the exam room Nicole was amazed. Sparkling clean sterile equipments was laid out carefully, huge bay windows let in the mid morning light through frosted glass for privacy, and an ensuite bathroom replete with massage whirlpool tub and full room service were just some of the features.

Nicole could not seem to get comfortable in the cream leather reclining chair and kept shifting and turning until she saw joseph watching her and smirking and glared at him.

Pulling a sleek silver lever on the side joseph quickly manipulated the chair into a much easier position for her. A perky young nurse knocked lightly on the door and popped her head in to say that the doctor would be with them in about 20 minutes as she had stepped out to attend a birth at Toronto General.

However the minute physical effort of getting into the unwieldy contraption was causing Nicole’s stomach to gurgle in a way that was all too familiar. She tried to quiet the heaving of her stomach and laid her now clammy forehead against the cool leather. Uh, Joe, she started and rolled her head over to look at him.

His still amused expression changed to one of worry as he took in the sweaty sheen and pale green pallor of her face.

Rushing to the luxurious ensuite bathroom Nicole proceeded to throw up repeatedly all over it. Joseph had wet a towel and was holding it to the back of her neck as he held her hair back as her shoulders shuddered again and again as she palmed the sides of the toilet bowl.