Reality Check

207 Multi-Status

November - 10 weeks 

I'm having a hard time believing there's nothing wrong here, I wasn't this big until I was around four months along with Alex. It sort of feels like everything is stronger this time around, my nausea - I definitely don't remember being that sick last time, I can barely keep anything down and I'm much more tired too. And now there's this pain in my lower abdomen that hasn't let up for the past two days. Maybe I should mention it to Layla. 

                                                                      ***

This time I left Alex at Daycare, I don't want to take him to an appointment until I tell him, he might not even understand or be interested in them anyway. 

"So, Elliot, you've been taking your vitamins?"

"I have but I'm puking so much I don't even know if they're doing anything at this point."

I sat down on the exam table with an exhausted sigh.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, I'm just so tired, I never expected it would be like this, it was never like that with Alex."

"Every pregnancy is different, Elliot, but I'm sure it'll get better in a few weeks." 

She was measuring my blood pressure.

"Hmm, your BP is a little high today. Something bothering you?" 

"No... I feel fine." 

"That's alright, get on the scale."

"I might've lost a couple pounds, this morning sickness is killing me." I stepped on the scale. 

"Alright, we'll see about that later, I can prescribe you some anti-nausea medication. You can lie down now." I took my shirt off and lied down on the table.

"Why didn't you bring Alex with you today? I wanted to see him."

"I-uh, I haven't told him yet." 

"Come on, are you trying to tell me, you think you could lose this baby? You had a successful previous pregnancy, you have a beautiful baby boy and you're doing everything to the letter this time around, you have nothing to worry about." 

"I don't know Layla, this was all just too easy, I keep waiting for something to backfire."

She started feeling around my stomach."

So far the only thing that's backfiring are your symptoms."

"You tell me..."

She pulled out the tape measure to measure my stomach. She frowned. 

"What?" 

"Strange..., I wouldn't expect this measurement-, unless..."

She hastily walked all the way around the table to the ultrasound machine and turned it on. Right away I got anxious, I propped myself up on my elbows to see what she was doing. 

"Unless what? Can't you just tell me?"

"Lie down Elliot. Sorry, it's gonna be cold." She pushed me back to the table, put some gel on the transducer and began roaming around my lower abdomen. I couldn't see the screen, the dread was devouring me by the second. 

"Is something wrong with the baby?"

"No, no, everything's fine, it's just-"

She turned the screen my way so that I could see it; Two little bean-shaped creatures facing each other, against a black background. My fucking heart skipped a beat, what the fuck, this has to be a joke right?