Gold Love

Chapter Seventeen

Calvin's holding my hand while we wait for the Doctor to walk in as we wait in front of her mahogany desk.

"I wish they'd told me yesterday on the phone. This is killing me." I frown and turn to look at Calvin who lifts my hand and kisses the back of my hand.

"Everything's going to be okay, baby. They want to tell us in person and they didn't have any appointments yesterday."

His blue eyes also look worried, but he's trying to reassure me so I nod and the door opens. Dr. Brady walks in and takes a seat across from us.

She gives us a tight smile, "First I just want to point out before we go any further. If we take care of things properly, there's nothing to worry about."

Calvin's hand tightens on mine as he glares at her, "Well we're pretty worried. Can you tell us what the results were?" He snaps.

My eyes widen, I didn't think he'd talk to the doctor that way, "Calvin." I lower my voice as if it's going to lower his and he looks at me and sees that I'm frowning and mutters a sorry.

Dr. Brady clears her throat, "Ms. Lewis, your hemoglobin count came out low. Meaning you have anemia. When you have anemia you don't produce many red blood cells and have a lower ability of the red blood cells to carry oxygen or iron. I can give you a prescription where you're required to take a daily iron pill with your lunch so you can get the iron you and your baby need. The baby is dependent on your blood and anemia can cause poor fetal growth, preterm birth, and low birth weight if not taken care of properly. But like I said, there's nothing to worry about if we do."

I frown, I don't know what to say. She said so much that I need to take in. I don't even know what anemia is. She just told me, but that's a lot. It can affect the baby? The lump in my throat starts to form.

"How dangerous is it?" Calvin asks making me meet her eyes again.

Thank god, Calvin is here. I didn't even think to ask that.

She sighs heavily, "This is theoretically speaking because Ms. Lewis's hemoglobin count isn't so bad, but it is very low where I want to prescribe daily iron pills. Pregnant women with anemia are twice as likely to die during or shortly after pregnancy compared to those without the condition, statistically speaking. But like I said, that's if not taken care of properly."

Calvin sits up straighter while I feel like I want to sink in my seat, but I have to ask. "Is it permanent?"

She smiles softly, "No. Most likely your count will go back up after the pregnancy if we take care of it."

I nod and Calvin looks at her intently, "Aside from the iron pills, what can we do to prevent it from getting worse?"

She smiles brightly, "I'm glad you asked that. Well, for starters, your diet. Eating iron-rich foods such as meat, chicken, fish, eggs. etc. Eating foods high in folic acids, such as dried beans, dark green leafy vegetables, and orange juice. Uh... Eating foods high in vitamin C, such as citrus fruits and fresh, raw vegetables. Here's a list of foods you can eat and there's a website link if you want to look at it on your phone."

She passes me a paper with all times of foods listed on it.

I look back up at her, "Will it be safe to take the iron pills with the prenatal vitamins?"

She nods, "Yes, that's all very safe. But I do want you to go down to the lab every time after your monthly visits with me. So we can keep track of your hemoglobin count because I am worried about how low it is. If it gets any lower we might have to start doing injections."

Calvin shakes his head immediately, "It won't get lower."

She gives him a tight smile and meets my eyes again, "Also, I want you to steer clear of any stress as it also plays a factor in anemia."