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“Com…plication?” Nicole murmured, her face going even paler.
“Yes. Now I don’t want you to worry, because this is a relatively mild case, and we’ve got a plan in place to make sure both you and the little one are both happy and healthy.
“I’m putting you on bed-rest until the end of your pregnancy, and we should all prepare for an early labor. From some of your test results, we can extrapolate anywhere from six and a half to eight months, so nothing in the dangerous or NICU realm.”
“Bedrest? NICU?” Nicole repeated. I was pretty sure she was in shock and could only parrot back words, so I gently stroked her head again. That dark pit in my stomach was growing more and more by the second, but it just made me more determined to protect the woman in front of me.
“So I’m sure you can see now why we wanted to make sure you had a partner or support here. The next two to three months for you are going to be difficult, but not impossible. We’re also going to need you to go to biweekly checkups on your doctor, just in case anything suddenly develops. We’ll also give you a list for symptoms to look out for, what activities you can do often, what you can do occasionally, and what you should never do, as well as a diet to help you through this last stretch of the road.”
I had never seen someone who worked so hard to get on their feet only to have life smack them back down again. Couldn’t Nicole get a break this one time? Couldn’t life just cut her the tiniest bit of slack?
“Hey, you okay?” I asked, noticing her glazed over look.
“I…I…” She stared past me to see only the doctor. “But is my baby going to be okay?”
“As long as you follow doctor’s orders and we stay on top of this, then yes. You should have one very healthy, happy baby.”
She nodded, and I saw several emotions play across her face. I was so glad that I had arrived. I couldn’t imagine her going through all of this alone.
Granted, I hadn’t had time to go through my own emotions yet, but that could wait until after Nicole was taken care of. Right now, she was my top priority above everything else.
“I need a minute, if that’s alright,” she said finally, still looking past me to the doctor.
“Of course, if you need anything, just give the nurse a ring. As soon as the two of you are ready, we’ll discharge you with those instructions and you’ll be on your way.”
She nodded and then the three walked out, but not before one of the nurses took an empty cup from Nicole’s tray and replaced her tissue box with a new one from a cabinet. She was gracious enough to shut the door behind her, then we were alone.
She said nothing, sitting there light a statue staring into oblivion. For a moment, I was worried that she didn’t want me there, that I had intruded onto a moment that I wasn’t meant to be a part of, but when I stepped back to give her some space, she gripped my hand with an iron-like strength.
“Please,” she said, voice barely above a whisper. “Sit with me for a while.”
How could I ever say no to that, and why would I want to? It took me several frustrating seconds to figure out how to lower the rail on the side of her bed, but once I did, I planted myself there, pulling her close to my side.
It wasn’t the most comfortable fits, with one of my legs supporting myself with a foot on the floor while the other stretched across the bed, but my comfort didn’t matter. Nicole’s did.
“Is this alright?” I asked, giving her shoulders the gentlest of squeezes.
She nodded, not saying anything. But I understood the silence. The beautiful, incredibly strong woman in front of me had packed up her entire life and risked everything for this baby. To find out that there was a risk -even if it was a small one- to it’s life had to be devastating. I couldn’t imagine what it was like for her.
Well, maybe that wasn’t entirely accurate. I could imagine a little of what it was like because it was happening to me. Suddenly all those visions I had had before, of picnics with our little ones, seeing their first steps, their graduation, their first love, all of those were blurred and crumbling, giving way to trips to the hospital, crying over a crib, and even never getting to meet them at all.
Considering she was the one literally growing our child within her own body, I was more than willing to believe it was that much worse for her.
