The Strypes Pregnancy Series

Morning Sickness

Evan:

You stroll down the aisle, admiring the variety of highchairs. Evan follows behind you, dawdling slightly. You snicker at his dark glasses and trilby he's wearing to avoid being spotted. You're on a quiet baby shopping trip.

You're looking a price tag when you suddenly need to vomit. You run to the store bathroom. A couple of minutes later, you emerge to find Evan waiting with some mints and a bottle of water.

"I should have realised that the air freshener they're using in this store could have set you off. I'm sorry, babe."

You take the water from him. "What are you sorry for? You've been so helpful. The water, the mints, the plastic bags... Evan, I couldn't ask for a better husband."

He takes your hand and leads you out the store. "Hey, let's get a smoothie. Will you be okay with that?" he asks.

"Yeah, sure. That'd be great. There's another eight months until this baby is born, no rush."

Josh:

You wake up at 6 AM and groan at the time. Then, you groan in a different way as you gag and run to the bathroom. You are currently in the worst period of your morning sickness and you always threw up the most in the morning.

You run into the bathroom to be greeted by Josh sitting on the edge of the bath. You try to ignore his presence as you vomit but when you're finished brushing your teeth you turn to him.

"Thanks for the help, Josh."

"What's the problem? I'm ill too! I have flu or something."

"Are you kidding me? I'm carrying your child but apparently your runny nose means you're too sickly to help me. Well, screw you. I'll go out so you can sniffle in peace."

You stomp off into the bedroom and quickly throw on a pair of jeans and a jumper. You pick up your bag and are heading out the front door when Josh gently grabs your arm.

"Please babe, I'm sorry. I know I'm a pathetic, snivelling idiot who doesn't deserve you but I promise if you stay home today we can spend all day snuggling in bed talking about how bad we feel and eating chocolate and pickles together. Please? I love you..."

"Well, when you put it like that..." You smile and take his hand as he leads you upstairs.

Pete:

Vomit mixes with tears as you stare into the toilet bowl. All around you are tissues and rubbish. In the mirror, you can see the reflection of yourself: your unbrushed and unwashed hair, your pyjamas you've been wearing for the past week, your hollow cheeks and barely-there belly.

You've had severe morning sickness and it's basically up to chance whether it goes away or not later in pregnancy. You are sick up to thirty times a day and it's been keeping you tethered to the bathroom. You can barely keep down a cracker and even the slightest movement makes you queasy. Pete keeps asking you to go to hospital but you know you wouldn't even make it out the door without vomiting twice.

To make it worse, one of your worst fears is being sick. You can't even look after yourself any more: luckily, Pete is doing a great job. Every day, he brings you water and crackers even if you can't bear to eat or drink them. He rubs your back and holds your hair whenever you need him to and he sits and talks to you for as much of the day as he can. He also spends time researching how to help you and calls the doctor when you need advice. You don't know what you'd do without him.

Today, Pete wakes up earlier than normal and comes and sits with you. It's still dark outside. Within the first ten minute he's sat next to you, you've thrown up twice. After he's made sure you're okay and aren't going to be sick again, he takes your hands in his and looks into your eyes.

"Y/N, we can't keep pretending that this is going to get better and you're going to be okay. I know you don't want to go to hospital but you do, you really do."

You would have shaken your head if you could, but the movement would have made you vomit again. Instead, you whisper "I can't. I won't make it."

"Babe, I'm going to call an ambulance. You haven't eaten it drunk anything that hasn't come immediately back up and I'm worried that one day I'll go out and come back to find you unconscious. Please."

Tears drip down your face as he dials the number on his phone. Your head begins to spin as you hear the person on the line saying that the ambulance will be here in ten minutes. Pete leaves the room and returns a minute later with a jumper and a folder of your medical notes.

He gently kisses you on your head as you hear the doorbell ring.

"I'll meet you at the hospital, okay? It'll be okay, babe."

Ross:

"Rosssss..." you drawl, sulking. "Why can't you tell me what's happening?"

"Because then it wouldn't be a surprise, obviously" he winks. "Come on, you've got an hour to get dressed."

You roll your eyes but put on the dress you chose earlier. It's a blue dress with a wide skirt that successfully hides your small bump. You don't know where you're going but you haven't told anyone that you're pregnant yet and you don't want to risk it. You then put on a pair of black heels and to finish spend the rest of the time you have applying makeup.

You're so busy applying eyeliner that you don't notice that Ross is no longer in the room. You're about to shout his name when he calls you from downstairs. You cautiously head into the living room, pushing the door open slowly.

You scream as all your friends jump out from behind the furniture.

"Happy birthday!" they shout. Ross stands smiling in the centre of the room, holding your birthday cake. He motions your forward and asks you to cut the cake.

You blush, smile and step forward into the middle of the room when suddenly you feel the familiar taste of bile in your mouth. You try and excuse yourself but everyone has closed in around you. There's no time left to run to a bathroom...

You grab a bowl from the table and huddle in a Irene while you vomit. Although you can't see them, you know all the guests are backing away and possibly grabbing their coats.

You sigh miserably as you realise you've ruined your party. You and Ross weren't going to tell anyone about the pregnancy until the third month, so you can't even explain the real reason.

To your surprise, Ross appears next to you, still holding the cake but this time with a bottle of water as well.

"I'm sorry honey. I didn't know the cake would set you off. If you're feeling better, do you think we could try again? We'll have to get some more bowls, though."

You smile weakly and stand up, still a bit wobbly. Weirdly, everyone cheers; although you do notice a few people at the back of the room with handkerchiefs over their noses, most people are still clapping.

You whisper to Ross: "I would blow out the candles, but if anyone wants to eat it afterwards..."

He smiles. "You're right. Hey, everyone, do you want to come help yourselves to cake?"