Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Ahole could’ve formed in the hospital’s vinyl flooring from the amount of pacing Yanna was doing.
She was panicking, and the only feeling of fear stronger than the one at the present was finding out she was pregnant and not knowing who her baby daddy was.
When she and Onyx arrived at her mother’s house, they found her passed out on her bedroom floor.
With no time to wait for an ambulance, Onyx carried her to Yanna’s jeep and drove her to VCU Medical Center.
They’d been there for a little under two hours and were waiting for family to arrive for support.
“Did you talk to Troi? Did she call Auntie Kamilla?” Yanna questioned Onyx as he approached her with an apple and a bottle of water.
“I just talked to her. Both her and Ms. Kamilla should be here any minute. My mumma called me to check on you. I told her what happened, so she’s on her way here too.”
Yanna’s head nodded. “Okay, good. Damn, where is the fucking doctor? Like, how long does it take to run tests or whatever the hell they’re doing?”
“It takes as long as it takes. Here, eat this apple and drink this water. Then sit down somewhere because you doing too much stressing right now.”
Yanna reluctantly accepted the apple and took a bite before taking a swig of water. Seconds later, Troi entered the waiting room with her mother, Kamilla, in tow. They both immediately ran over to Yanna, wrapping their arms on either side of her body.
“What happened?” Kamilla questioned.
“She called my phone and tried to tell me something was wrong. The line went silent, but I could tell she didn’t hang up. Onyx took me to the house, and she was passed out when we got there.”
“The doctor is coming now,” Onyx informed as a doctor wearing blue scrubs walked up to them.
“Family of Janis Priest?”
“Uh, it’s Janis Munroe. I’m her daughter, Jaiyanna Munroe.” Yanna stood and responded.
“Ms. Munroe, I’m Dr. Zuma, the attending on call tonight, and I evaluated your mother when she came in. We noticed some signs that presented alarming to us, so we went ahead and ran a few tests… how long has your mother struggled with alcoholism?”
“For at least fifteen years or so,” Kamilla cut in and answered.
“And you are?”
“Her sister, Kamilla Munroe.”
“Okay, well, it looks like Ms. Munroe has severely damaged her liver, and she is now in end-stage liver disease and has been for some time now.”
“So what does that mean?”
“It means she’ll need a new liver immediately.”
“And if she doesn’t get one?” Troi inquired.
“If she doesn’t, I’m afraid she won’t live very long.”
“O-okay so then what are we waiting for? Put her on the—the list or whatever — so she can get a transplant.” Yanna urged.
“Unfortunately, we won’t be able to put your mother on the transplant list. In the state of Virginia, UNOS requires a patient to be cured of alcoholism for at least six months before they’re eligible to go on the transplant list. Your mother, I fear, does not have that kind of time.”
“What are her options?”
“Well, we can try liver dialysis, but that’s extremely temporary and doesn’t fix the problem. Your mother’s illness would still be terminal.”
“There’s gotta be something else,” Onyx interjected.
“There is. Ms. Munroe isn’t eligible to go on UNOS’ list, but she is eligible for a directed donation. As her daughter, we can test you to see if you're a match.”
“Okay, where do I go… I’ll do it now.”
“No, Yanna, you can’t,” Troi blurted.
“What? What do you mean? I’m her child, I should be a match, and if I am, I’m donating tonight if I can.”
“You’re not because you’re pregnant. If she needed a kidney or something, then maybe, but a liver is different. You can’t donate liver while you’re pregnant, Pooh.”
“You’re pregnant?” Kamilla asked.
“Yea.”
“Aww, congratulations, boo boo. We’ll talk later, okay?”
“Okay. So what now? How can I help her?”
“You can test me,” Troi offered.
“Yea, and me too. One of us has to be a match,” Kamilla followed up.
“Very well. If you ladies would follow me, I’ll get you up to the lab and tested. If either of you are a match, we’ll be able to coordinate the donation within a few days.”
The ladies dispersed, leaving Onyx and Yanna alone in the waiting room.
Onyx did his best to try and calm her down, but it was a job easier said than done.
What seemed like several hours but was only one passed before Troi and Kamilla returned to the waiting room.
By the looks on their faces, it was clear to see neither of them were matches.
“Oh, my God. You weren’t matches?”
“No, Pooh, neither of us were,” Troi replied solemnly.
“She’s--- she’s going to die. I spent so much time avoiding her, and now she’s… she’s going… she’s… oh my goodness…”
“Yanna, just breathe. We’ll figure this out, okay?”
“I can’t … we can’t… there’s no time to figure it out she ” Yanna was trying to speak, but the words wouldn’t materialize.
She looked at the faces of her family members, all looking at her with expressions of regret because they also knew her mother was going to die.
Feeling as if she were going to implode, she became flushed and dazed.
Her body temperature rose steeply, and she was suddenly burning up.
She took a step back to sit down, but the unsteadiness overcame her.
Before anyone was able to react, Yanna was hitting the ground.
The sound of chattering around her stirred Yanna from her unconscious state. Her eyes squinted, adjusting to the bright lights. A quick assessment of the pulse oximeter on her finger, and the white blanket covering her body, and she deduced she was in a hospital room of her own.
“What the hell happened?”
“You passed out,” Troi replied.
“I know, but why?”
“You had a panic attack, caused your body to overheat, resulting in a spike of your blood pressure which led to a syncope episode,” A doctor responded, entering the room. “Hi, I’m Dr. Hollingsworth.”
“Hi. I’m fine, right? You can let me go?”
“Not so fast. Now that you’re awake, I’d like to do an examination just to make sure there is nothing else for us to be alarmed about. Can we do that?”
“Yes, but can we hurry up so I can check on my mother, please?”
“Ms. Kamilla is upstairs with her,” Onyx stated.
“It’ll be quick. We’ll all step out to give you a moment to change into a gown.” The doctor ushered Onyx and Troi out of the room so Yanna could change. They reentered shortly after, and the first order of business was a transvaginal ultrasound.
“It looks like the fetus is measuring at about eight weeks along,” the doctor explained while they all looked at the small blob on the screen.
Onyx and Troi looked to Yanna to see if her gestation would pinpoint who the father was, but she shook her head.
If she was eight weeks pregnant, then she conceived around five to six weeks prior, which meant Trell was still a possible father.
Onyx gave her shoulder a subtle squeeze to let her know everything would be okay.
As far as he was concerned, the paternity didn’t matter.
The miracle he was viewing on the small screen was enough to make his heart skip a beat all on its own.
He wished his brother was witnessing it.
“While we’re here, I want to ask if it’s safe for me to have an amniocentesis. There’s a question of paternity, and I want to establish it as soon as possible.”
“It’s usually safer to do an amnio after 15 weeks, but you’d be fine to do one now as well.”
“What are the risks?” Onyx asked.
“Well, with an amnio there are risks associated as with any other procedure.”
“Like what?” Yanna questioned.
“There is a 1 percent chance of miscarriage as well as---”
“We’ll wait,” Onyx and Troi interrupted. They’d heard all they needed to hear. One percent was one too many, and no one wanted to take that risk, no matter how minuscule.
“Only about 1 in 200 women suffer miscarriages, and if we wait until after 15 weeks ---”
“Hell nah, she ain’t gone be the 1. Ain’t shit gone change if we wait until the baby is born.”
“Ms. Munroe?” The doctor looked to Yanna for confirmation.
“It’s fine. We can wait.”
“Very well then. Would you guys like to hear the heartbeat?”
“Please.” Yanna beamed anxiously as the doctor turned on the monitor’s sound. A gasp fled Yanna’s mouth as she heard the tiny flutter. “Oh, my God.”
“That’s fucking amazing.” Onyx hadn’t heard anything so magical since first hearing Kian’s heartbeat.
“My goodness, Yanna.”
“My baby.”
“Damn, my brother should be hearing this. This could be his child, and he’ll regret missing these moments… keep that playing, please.” Onyx took his phone from his pocket and opened the voice memo app. He held his phone near the machine and recorded.
“I’ll get you guys a few pictures of the little nugget printed out.”
“Give us a bunch of ‘em too.”
“Yes, sir.” The doctor smiled and obliged Onyx’s request, printing off more sonogram pictures than she normally would. “Ms. Munroe, you can go ahead and get redressed. I want to keep you up here on the monitor a little while longer for observation, but you should be fine.”
Yanna sat up on the bed as Troi handed her her clothes.
“Can y’all go check on my mumma for me? I’ll be okay down here.”
“Yea, I’ll go check on her, but um… Onyx talked to Dr. Zuma, and since neither of us can do it, he’s going to get preliminary testing done to see if he’s a match.”
Yanna’s head swiveled towards Onyx, tears automatically welling in her eyes. “Seriously, Onyx?”
“Yea. If she don’t get a liver, yo ass just gone keep stressing. Gotta keep yo mind right for the sake of my niece or nephew.”
“Maybe,” Yanna replied solemnly.
“What you mean, maybe? Yanna, I don’t give a damn about no paternity test or DNA… you will still be my family, regardless. That baby will be my family, regardless. Let’s make this my first and last time having to explain that to you.”
“Okay, I hear you.”