Beating For Two

Chapter 7

Tuesday, January 7th

Sixteen weeks and four days

Christmas passed quickly, too quickly for my liking, and before I knew it, the holiday was over and I found myself back in school. The days seemed to get longer and longer that week and when it came to Friday, I was barely able to stay awake throughout the day. I managed to fall asleep three times that day and I wound up getting yelled at all three times. I didn't know anything about pregnancies other than what Dr. Hayes and Dr. Wright had told me, so I had no idea if the tiredness I experienced was actually a side-effect of the pregnancy or if it was just me being a tad more lazy than usual. I wanted to know for sure, though, so that's why I found myself lying on my bed – as usual – when I came home that afternoon, my phone plastered to my ear while I was waiting for Dr. Hayes to pick up.

“Dr. Hayes' office,” a familiar female voice said after about twenty rings.

“Oh, hey, thank God I reached you,” I said, letting out a relieved sigh, “It's Louis. Uhm, Tomlinson.”

“Oh, of course, hello,” she said, “What can I do for you?”

“I was just wondering if it's normal to feel tired, like, all the time,” I said, “I've fallen asleep three times during classes this week because I can't seem to stay awake even though I sleep more than enough at night. So, what's up with that?”

“Fatigue is completely normal,” she said, “A lot of the energy in your body is being spent helping the baby grow. You'll probably keep being a bit more tired than usual throughout the entire pregnancy, but it should become a bit better within the next two weeks or so. In the meantime make sure you rest a lot, if only a quick nap once or twice a day, and go to bed a little earlier than you usually would. Also, you should try and eat three to four hundred more calories than you've previously done.”

“Eat even more? I already feel fatter than a cow,” I said sadly.

“The most important thing is to keep your baby healthy, though, isn't it?”

I sighed. “Yeah it is. Okay, so I have to rest a lot and eat more, is that it?”

“More or less, yes. And make sure that the extra calories you eat aren't candy bars and French fries, okay?”

“Yeah, I kinda got that,” I hummed.

“Well, other than that, it would be good for both you and the baby to take a walk once a day. It doesn't have to be very long, but just a short round around the block would probably make you feel a lot better.”

“This whole pregnancy-business require that I pay quite a lot of attention to myself, doesn't it?”

“It sure does,” she said on the other end of the line, “And you're still taking the vitamin supplements, yes?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. Since I have you here, I can might as well ask you if you have made up your mind yet about whether or not you want to keep the baby.”

“Oh. Yeah, I... I was thinking that I might, you know, go through with the pregnancy and then give the baby up for adoption,” I said hesitantly, slightly worried that she would tell me that it was an awful plan.

“And you have thought this through?”

I nodded, but then realised that she couldn't see me. “Yeah,” I said. “Or, well, I think so at least. I can't abort it, I won't be able to go through with it, but I can't really keep it either, so I thought adoption was a good... option.”

“It sounds like a very sensible solution,” she said and I breathed out in relief, “But if that's the case, we should probably set up an appointment for you to get a new check-up.”