Chapter 2 #3
“What’s wrong?” I push against the current toward Kelly, panic rising in my chest.
“I don’t feel right.” She winces again and doubles over.
“Told you to lay off those pickled cucumbers,” Daniel laughs as he reaches us.
Kelly ignores Daniel, her face contorting with pain.
“Babe? What’s wrong?” Daniel moves toward her, grabbing her arm.
“I think it’s the baby.” She slowly lifts her chin up, her breath coming short.
Suddenly, the air filling my lungs becomes scarce and I start to panic. “Let’s get her back to the beach,” I shout at Daniel.
Daniel and I move to either side of Kelly and sling her arms over our shoulders, then reach under her knees to lift her and carry her quickly back to shore.
Three specks of blood are barely visible at the lowest point on her bikini bottoms. I catch a look of sheer terror in Daniel’s eyes.
A wave breaks against the shore, washing against our toes as we place Kelly down.
“We need to get you to the hospital straight away,” I say. “Daniel, you pack up everything. Kelly, let’s get you to my car.” I scoop Kelly up into my arms and head up the beach toward the parking lot.
“Daniel!” I shout, snapping him out of his daze.
“Right. Pack everything. Head to the car.”
He runs ahead, collapsing the beach umbrella and throwing the towels and clothes into bags, leaving me to walk at a slower pace toward the wooden stairs at the back of the beach and up to the car. Kelly’s weight is nothing compared to the gravity of the situation unfolding.
I focus on the need to get her into my car and to the hospital. I can’t tell if the rapid heartbeat is mine or Kelly’s or both.
I breath in through my nose and out through my mouth, urging Kelly to do the same.
“It’s going to be alright. You’re going to be alright,” I say, unsure who I’m trying to reassure more.
Daniel’s been pacing up and down in the hospital waiting area for the last ten minutes while I sit alongside Kelly in one of the brown padded chairs. He’s moving almost as fast as I drove the short two-mile journey from the beach to Providence Mission Hospital.
“Can someone please help my wife? There’s something wrong with our baby!” He yells, stopping at the desk yet again.
“A doctor will be with you shortly, sir.” The woman sitting behind the counter is unfazed by Daniel’s outburst. “Take a seat and they’ll call you through when they’re ready.”
Daniel marches over to us and plonks himself down in the seat next to Kelly. His leg bounces up and down like a child on a bouncy castle.
“You’d think, given that they’ve taken your credit card, that they’d be a bit quicker to see us.
” Daniel was confused when I handed over my card when we’d arrived, unaware that healthcare isn’t free at the point of access in America like it is back in Britain.
He tried to fight me and put his card down instead, but I insisted.
“Baby.” Kelly grabs his leg and forces him to stop bouncing it up and down. “They’ll be with us shortly.”
“Kelly Foster-Reed?” A woman in green scrubs calls out Kelly’s name from behind us, a folder clasped in her hands. Kelly’s gaze shoots toward Daniel in a See? Didn’t I tell you? look as he jumps up out of the chair.
“Here.” He points down to Kelly.
“This way please.”
Once we’ve worked our way down the various hallways and into the room, Daniel helps Kelly up onto the exam table.
“What are we here for today?” the doctor asks, placing the folder down on the counter.
“It’s the baby. There’s something wrong. I had stabbing pains at the beach and then started bleeding.”
The doctor looks down at Kelly’s bikini bottoms and then back up to her.
“So, you’re experiencing cramping and spotting? How far along are you?”
“Seventeen weeks,” Kelly says firmly.
The doctor nods and rolls the ultrasound machine by the window over toward the bed before grabbing a bottle of ultrasound gel and squirting it on Kelly’s belly.
The transducer makes a squelching sound as the doctor rubs it across Kelly’s smooth stomach, trying to locate the baby.
“Be careful,” Daniel says, gripping Kelly’s hand tightly.
Their attention is locked on the ultrasound screen next to the doctor.
“Sounds like we’ve got a healthy heartbeat,” the doctor says as an image of the baby comes into focus on the monitor.
If that’s what a healthy heartbeat sounds like, then mine is anything but.
Daniel’s jaw unclenches slightly and a small smile appears on Kelly’s face.
“Right.” The doctor nods. “Well, it looks like you have a healthy baby here, and it seems to be around the right size for how far along you are.”
She spins the screen slightly to give Daniel and Kelly a better view. The baby is lying sideways across Kelly’s belly with its hand slightly raised.
“How come my wife had bleeding and cramps then?” Daniel asks.
“It’s not uncommon for bleeding to occur throughout pregnancy, especially when there are changes in your cervix.” The doctor turns her attention from Daniel to Kelly. “It can be quite common after sex, for example.”
Daniel’s face turns a bright shade of red as a wave of nausea hits me. I scan the room for a bin. The last thing I want to think about is Daniel and Kelly having sex, but knowing the baby is safe is the main thing here.
“Hold on,” the doctor says as she turns her attention back to the screen. She moves the transducer back and forth again, and then stops.
“What! What is it?” Daniel and Kelly glance at each other before they both turn toward the screen.
“I can see what gender the baby is. Would you like to know what you’re having?”
“You wanted to wait until the birth, right?” Daniel asks Kelly.
Kelly looks at Daniel, then toward me.
I nod enthusiastically, eager to find out and finally have some good news after the last couple of months.
“What are we having?” Kelly squeezes Daniel’s hand as they both draw a breath.
Our jaws collectively drop when the doctor shares the news.