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“Oh, well, we don’t usually let anyone back there unless they’re family.”
“I’m her fiancé,” I blurt out before I turn on my most charming smile.
The receptionist narrows her eyes at me, but I can tell she’s going to give in. They always do. “I’ll have to ask the midwife if it’s okay.”
“I’m sure Nurse Tenley will be fine with it. We can give her a call if you want,” I offer, unlocking my phone and pulling up Tenley’s name in my contacts.
“Hey,” Tenley's voice rings out over the speakerphone when she answers. “Where are you?”
“I’m in the ER. The very lovely and very capable professional at the front desk just wanted to get your permission before I join you.” I raise my brow encouragingly.
“Hi, Nurse Tenley. Just making sure it’s okay for me to send your patient’s fiancé on back,” she says aloud.
I hold my smile as best I can and pray my face isn’t as flushed as it feels.
“Oh, yes. Please allow my dear brother-in-law to join us. We’re heading to radiology for an ultrasound right now,” Tenley replies cheerfully. “And damn, don’t I wish I’d answered this call on speakerphone.”
I clear my throat as I slip my phone into my pocket, and the receptionist smiles knowingly as she leads me through a hallway to meet Tenley and Loren.
“Hey,” I greet them, genuinely glad to see Loren smiling back at me from the hospital bed. I reach over and clasp a hand around hers. “How are you?”
“I’m fine. We’re just going to check on the babies now.”
Tenley wheels the bed forward again, so I continue walking beside Loren and holding her hand. “So, what’s going on?”
Loren scrunches up her nose. “I started feeling this pressure during class, and later I noticed some bleeding.” I frown out of concern, but she must assume she’s made me uncomfortable. “I’m sorry, TMI, I know.”
I shake my head quickly. “No, of course not. I mean, if you’re living through it, the least I could do is listen to you talk about it.”
She smirks. “It seems like whatever was going on has slowed down since I’ve been resting in the ER.”
I glance back at Tenley, looking for a signal or a gesture as to whether I should worry.
“Bleeding is a pretty common symptom, and it can indicate so many things, some minor and others more serious,” she says, pressing her lips in a hard line. “But I’m hopeful we’ll know more after the ultrasound.”
We turn to pass through a wide set of double doors, and Tenley deftly maneuvers the bed into a smaller exam room with an even bigger sonogram machine than the one at her clinic. She gets started right away, and I’m relieved when she lifts Loren’s shirt instead of making her take off her pants this time.
“Okay,” Tenley begins, shifting around on the screen and taking measurements. Her face is hard to read as she drags the wand over Lo’s belly, and her silence makes me even more anxious.
“The babies look fine,” she announces a few minutes in, and I let out the breath I’ve been holding as I give Loren’s hand a gentle squeeze. “But I think I’ve found the problem.”
“What kind of problem?” I ask.
Tenley sighs. “Lo, it looks like you have a condition called placenta previa.”
“And that’s …” I gesture impatiently for her to continue.
“It’s when the placenta, which is the organ that attaches to the uterine wall and transports oxygen, blood, and nutrients to the babies, is sitting over the cervix and blocking the opening to the uterus.”
“Is that bad?” I consider myself to be a pretty intelligent man, but they weren’t exactly teaching me this stuff in law school.
“We’ll have to keep a close eye on all three of them, and Loren will need to take some precautions to ensure that the placenta isn’t damaged, or else a very dangerous amount of bleeding could occur.”
“How dangerous are we talking here?”
“Life-threatening, for her and the babies,” she replies, her tone serious. “But, so long as she’s careful, there shouldn’t be any complications. And there’s still a chance that the previa could correct itself later.” She reaches down and pats Loren’s arm affectionately before she continues the ultrasound. “It’s common to see this in multiples. Two fish in a tiny tank means less room. You’re actually relatively lucky that they’re sharing one placenta, because that frees up a little more space.”
“Oh. So what do we need to do? Will she be bedridden or whatever?”
