The Story of Zalfie

26: Lower back Pains

It was one week we had, had in Zakynthos for mine and Alfie's honeymoon. We were 1/4 of the way there.

Today we were going on a boat tour around the outside of the island. We would be snorkelling and then going to see a shipwreck in a cove.

The bad thing was it was 8 hours, and I'd probably experience sea-sickness especially because I was now around 8 months pregnant.

However, I wasn't going to let that spoil my day.

Infact, we were already on the boat and had completed our first dive into the salty waves to admire the reefs and coral below.

Alfie had never looked so perfect. The salty water had made is curls dry and vigorous, and this held them into the correct place on top of his head.

He was looking at me like I was something more special, but I didn't believe that. My hair was in a messy high bun, I wore makeup that morning but it came off in the sea as well as a swimsuit. Not a bikini, a swimsuit. To hide my stretch marks.

The sun was shining brighter than it had our previous week. We had spent our many first days down by the pool and occasional trips to the beach. Alfie had even taken some surfboard lessons and was beginning to get pretty good if I may say so myself.

There wasn't a cloud in the sky, the small boat wasn't as crammed as I expected it to be either, there was a lot of room to breathe.

We had been on the boat for the past 3 hours and I had taken a travel sickness pill due to the rocky motion beneath the deck.

We were going to spend two hours at the wreck so we were able to get pictures and swim and sunbathe. Then afterwards, we would be on the boat for another hour, stop to snorkel and then go back to home.

There was only another fifteen minutes of the boat trip until I began to feel uncomfortable. I was getting lower back pains, but I thought nothing of it.

I had experienced this before and it was usually due to travel sickness.

Alfie turned is head to see me looking quite frustrated.

"Are you alright little one?" He asked me.

"Yeah, just feeling a bit ill that's all."

I wasn't sure he quite believed me, but he continued to admire the view of the cliffs along the side of the boat.

And it was beautiful. You could see the way the cracks in the rock made mesmerising patterns and the occasional cove would appear. I only wondered what lurked in those dark and creepy caves.

We pulled into the beach area where boats upon boats were all in a row. Some boats even had some watersides coming out the back, but I assumed that would have been much more expensive and I wouldn't have been able to go on one anyway.

The ramp into the shore slid out the back of the boat and holding hands me and Alfie both yelped in agony as the shells below the water nipped at our feet as we strolled on the sand.

The shipwreck was brown and rusty, and many tourists had written their names on. It was only when the memories came rushing back to me when I spotted my signature from last time. I wrote next to it, "Zoe Deyes, 1 year later" with the space I could use.

Once Alfie had rewritten his name, we sat by the water and let the sun burn our skin. When the waves came they would wear away the sand below us until eventually we were sat in the water.

It was a mixture of hot and cold. The burning sensation on the top half of my body and the ice cold tingly feeling in my legs.

It was then the pains came rushing back and much stronger. It was then I remembered that some women got lower back pains in the early stages of labour.

I knew that if I revealed this Alfie he would begin freaking out, especially as I was only 8 months pregnant and 3 weeks from my due date.

This caused me to panic, not so much as I would have a panic attack, but I did get worried.

Then again, I had seen premature babies born 4 months before they were meant to grow up healthy and fit. But also, that was probably luck.

I knew I could, could, could be wrong. But what if that slight possibility that the baby was coming now was actually a correct statement, and it was born unhealthy?