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“Thank you, Janice. That means so much to me.”
We talk a little while longer, until she says she has to get back to work. Before she goes, she gives me her phone number and makes me promise that I’ll call her if I need anything.
Once she walks away, I realize I seriously have to pee. I find the sign for the bathroom and make my way down the hallway. The bathroom is small but clean. I lock the door and hang my purse on it. After handling my business, I start to clean up, and my heart drops.
The toilet paper is tainted with a reddish-brown streak.
I take a deep breath, and with shaky hands, rush to grab another pull of toilet paper and wipe again. This time, it comes back a little cleaner, but the blood is unmistakable.
* * *
An hour later, I’m sitting in the town’s women’s health office, waiting for the doctor to come see me. The waiting room was empty when I got here, and my wait time in the room has been less than twenty minutes, but my heart is so anxious that it feels like the time drags on forever.
After folding up a makeshift pad out of toilet paper in the bathroom, I looked up the office location and didn’t think twice about immediately heading that way. It was only six blocks over, but it wasn’t until my brain had caught up to the moment that I realized walking might not have been the best idea.
The receptionist made it clear that being seen without an appointment is incredibly unorthodox, but she seemed to take pity on me in my worried state and said she could move some things around in order to get me seen.
I considered texting Chase while I waited, but I knew he was at an appointment with Emily that was more important. He didn’t need the extra worry.
There’s a quick knock on the door, followed by a short white-haired man entering the room. He’s wearing a plaid bowtie with matching suspenders and little wire glasses.
“Hello there, Miss McCormick, I’m Dr. Hulbrooke. It’s a pleasure seeing you today.” He pulls his squeaky-wheeled chair underneath him, clasps his hands together, and smiles at me warmly.“You’re just about fourteen weeks along, is that correct?”
“Yes, sir,” I reply. I wish I could respond with the same enthusiasm he has, but worry has me wired tight.
“Well, congratulations! Have you been seen by a doctor prior to this?” He rolls over to the laptop perched on the counter and looks through what I assume to be my digital chart.
“I was seen at twelve weeks back in LA. That’s where I’m from,” I finish.
He turns and peers over his glasses at me.“Oh, you’re quite far away from home then, huh? Well, we only have an ultrasound tech in twice a week, and this isn’t one of her days, but I’ll make sure we get everything squared away for you.” He pats the top of the chair, where a pillow rests. “Why don’t you just lie back and roll your pants down your hips.”
He walks over to the cabinets and starts pulling out supplies while I get comfortable. “Did they give you an ultrasound?”
I nod again. “They gave me a dating ultrasound around the time they confirmed the pregnancy.”
When he walks back over, he hands me a small sheet of fabric, which I tuck into the band of my pants. He rolls over a metal table and places his laptop and a small rectangle box down on top. After he hooks the two up, he grabs the ultrasound jelly in one hand and the ultrasound probe in the other.
“We’re not very fancy around here,” he says apologetically. “But it gets the job done.” He presses some buttons on the laptop, then begins the ultrasound. “So, when did you say the bleeding started?”
“Just this morning.” My fingers are wrapped into tight fists, and I’m craning my neck to better see the screen of the laptop that’s pointed his way. When he sees me struggling, he chuckles and turns the screen to face between us. He settles the probe back onto my stomach while my uterus fills the screen.
Dr. Hulbrooke is quiet for a few moments, wiggling the probe around and pushing harder into my stomach. Then he presses a button on the laptop, and the sounds of the baby’s heartbeat fills the room. Just like the first time I heard it, my heart swells; this time, relief joins the feeling of happiness.
“It’s okay?” I ask frantically. “The baby’s okay?”
Dr. Hulbrooke sends me a sweet smile and pats my arm. After a few moments, he turns off the sound and adjusts the wand on my stomach again.
“So, if you look right here,” he says, pointing to a dark oval on the screen. “This is called a subchorionic hematoma, which is just a fancy way to say you have some bleeding inside your uterus. Now, you see how it’s on the outside of the baby’s amniotic sac? That’s pretty good news for us. It means that the sac that protects the baby is intact, and we can expect the hematoma to go away on its own. In terms of size, it’s relatively small, so I wouldn’t expect it to stick around for much longer. And it shouldn’t affect the baby at all.”
He pulls the ultrasound wand off my stomach and hands me another sheet to wipe off the goop.“My recommendation is to take it easy the next few days. If the bleeding gets heavier, do give us a ring, but I wouldn’t anticipate that happening. I saw that we’ve already got another appointment on the books in a few weeks. Around the twenty-week mark, we’ll do an anatomy scan to make sure the baby’s measuring well. It’ll be with our ultrasound tech then, so you’ll also havethe ability to see the sex, if you’d like. Be sure to book that before you leave today so we have no issue getting you in.”
I take a deep breath. “Thank you, Dr. Hulbrooke.”
He places his hand on my arm. “Everything’s going to be okay, Miss McCormick. Don’t you worry about a thing.”
