"Date of birth?"
I licked my lips. "February 5th, 1987."
"Is this your first pregnancy?"
I blinked. "Yes, ma'am."
"Planned?"
Was that really a required question?
"Well, no," I answered, honestly.
The nurse looked up at me and smiled. "Sorry, standard questions."
Why?
"It's fine."
The nurse nodded her head and looked back down at the pink folder. "Any known allergies to medication or food?"
I shook my head. "Nope."
She went on to ask a bunch of questions about the medical history of my family and myself. I froze up when she asked if there have ever been pregnancy complications with the women in my family.
"Not durin' pregnancy, but me mother died while givin' birth to me brother. She lost a lot of blood and didn't receive a blood transfusion in time."
"Sorry for your loss."
I swallowed. "Thank you."
After a moment, the nurse launched back into the questions she needed to ask and I was grateful because I really didn't want to think about my mother dying during childbirth when I was in an emergency room for a pregnancy I just found out about.
"When was your last menstrual period?"
"I can't remember," I replied honestly. "Mine are very irregular so I was never good at keepin' track."
The nurse nodded her head and made note of what I said.
"Do you have a date for possible conception?"
I grunted, "Yeah, the 1st of April."
"The 1st of April... are you sure?" the nurse asked, not sure if I was lying or not.
"Pretty sure," I replied.
Like I could forget the day I fell into stupidity or the day I let stupidity fall into me … three times.
Keela snorted behind me.
"I'm sure you have already taken a test, but I have to ask if you have or not."
I nodded my head. "Yes, I took one today. It was one of those digital ones; it said I was over three weeks pregnant."
The nurse wrote that down.
"I'm going to need you to go into the bathroom through the door behind you and urinate into this jar," she put a little clear jar with a silver twist cap on the desk in front of me, "and then bring it back out to me."
I did as the nurse asked; peed into the little jar, wrapped it in tissue and returned back to my seat.
"Here you go," I said and handed her the tissue-wrapped wee jar.
The nurse put on latex gloves, took the jar, and stood up from her seated position. She walked over to the left side of the room, binned my tissue, and removed the cap from the jar. She dipped a little stick into the jar and pulled it back out. The tip of the stick was a bright hot pink.
"Yep, you're with child," the nurse said and chuckled to herself.
I wanted to smile at her, but I was so freaked out that I could do nothing more than stare at her. Luckily the nurse didn't seem to notice my anxiety and gestured me over to the hospital bed next to her.
"As your conception date is a few weeks back I won't have to perform a vaginal ultrasound. If you would lie down on the bed and pull up your t-shirt, I can check and see how the baby is doing by using a probe on your stomach."
Oh, fuck.
"Okay," I whispered.
I did everything the nurse said. I laid down on the hospital bed, pulled up my top until my bare stomach was showing, and then I waited. The nurse stepped closer to me and looked down at me.
"Can you unbutton your jeans and shimmy them, and your underwear, down a little?" she asked. "The baby will be positioned very low right now."
I began to sweat. "Sure."
Again, I did as she asked. I unbuttoned my jeans and pulled them down a little, along with my underwear. "Is this enough?" I asked.
"Yep, that's perfect."
I looked left when Keela sat on the spare chair that was positioned there. "You okay, boss?" she asked, smiling.
She looked so happy.
I shook my head. "I'm so scared."
"It's all goin' to be okay, you'll see."
I nodded my head and looked back to the nurse when she cleared her throat.
"I'm going to squirt some gel on your lower stomach and use this probe." She held up a device that looked like a microphone. "We'll take a look at your baby. Okay?"
Okay.
I nodded my head and said nothing. I was afraid I would throw up again if I opened my mouth and spoke.
"This will be a little cold," the nurse said and squirted the gel.
I flinched when it made contact with my skin. "Shite."
Keela and the nurse laughed.
"It really is cold," I murmured to Keela, who was still laughing at me.
"Okay, let's find the baby," the nurse chirped and placed the probe on top of the gel and began to swirl it about.
She pulled a monitor closer to us, and stared at the screen as she moved the probe around. I stared at the screen too, but all I could see was black, white, and some grey. It looked like a shitty station on a television that had a poor connection.
I thought it would have taken the nurse awhile to find anything, but less than a minute later I heard a little chirp come from her mouth. I looked at the nurse and saw her smile.
"This little one was hiding from me," she mused and began to take what I thought was measurements of the baby. I couldn't really tell though because I still couldn't see anything but the fuzzy screen.
"Can you see it?" I asked Keela.
She was silent as she stared at the screen so I looked back at the nurse. "I can't see it."
The nurse smiled and pointed to the screen. "Do you see this little bean shaped blob right here?"
"Honey, that's it. That's your baby. Just the one baby, too."
It was?
I widened my eyes. "Really?"
I squinted my eyes then gasped when the nurse enlarged the picture.
"I see it!" I whispered.
I could see my baby; the little shape before it was zoomed in looked like a little bean, but now it was definitely a baby.
The nurse pointed at the screen. "That's the head; the little stumps there are the arms and legs. Still quite small, but forming beautifully."
"Really? So everythin' is okay?" I asked then held my breath.
"From what I can see everything is progressing perfectly."
The relief that filled me was whole.
Thank you, Ma.
The nurse then zoomed in more on the screen and I froze when I saw a little flutter within the centre of the baby.
"The flicker right here is your baby's heartbeat." The nurse smiled and leaned over to the machine where she twisted a knob. A loud and quick paced thudding filled the room.
"And that is the sound of your baby's heartbeat. It's nice and strong."
I felt Keela's hand grip mine. "Aideen," she whispered.
I swallowed down the lump in my throat and fought back the tears that suddenly wanted to burst free. "I know."
"Baby is measured at twelve weeks exactly, expected due date is January 1st."
I widened my eyes. "January 1st?"
The nurse nodded her head.
"Oh, my God," I whispered and used both of my hands to cover my mouth.
Keela grabbed hold of my hand and smiled with me. Her eyes began to well up with tears.
"Does that date mean something to you?" the nurse asked, curiously.
I nodded. "It's me ma's birthday."
The nurse smiled. "That's a clear sign she is watching over you. That's lovely."
I smiled wide as pride filled me. "Thank you so much."
"It's my pleasure. I'll print out some scan pictures for you to show family and friends." She placed some tissue on my stomach and said, "You can clean away the gel now."
I did just that. I swiped away the cold gel, folded the tissue over and repeated the action until my lower stomach was dry and gel free. I gave the tissue to Keela who binned it for me. I tugged my jeans back up, buttoned them up, then got up off the bed.
"Here you go," the nurse said and handed me a large white envelope.
I peeked inside and saw a few scan pictures.
I gave the envelope to Keela and I said to the nurse, "What happens now?"
The nurse smiled. "We will pick a follow-up appointment date for you and you will receive a letter in the post within the next week. It won't be until you're twenty weeks. The appointments are spaced out so you don't have to come in as often, but don't confuse it with not coming in if you need to. This room is always open; a nurse is always on duty for the emergency room."
I nodded my head in understanding.
"You can also attend your local medical centre for weekly check-ups. We have a nurse there who will listen to the baby's heartbeat and give your tummy a feel. We have classes here at the hospital for parents or mothers-to-be and friends who you can sign up and attend whenever you like. They get you prepared for birth and for the arrival of the baby. I'll give you some pamphlets that you can read up on, and if you decide on a class just go to our website, login, and sign up. Your patient number is your username and your date of birth is your password. Please allow twenty-four hours for you to be registered."