Flying Solo

Chapter 8 - Ear of Corn

18th February 2014 - 24 weeks

Valentines day was a few days ago and Jordan felt like she could've kissed Susie and her grandson Mason. They had bought her a gift from her baby. It was a small mug saying 'Worlds Best Mum' and Jordan was elated.

Mason is only 17 and a quiet, shy boy so when Susie left to tend to customers Jordan was shocked to see Mason still stood there fidgeting nervously on the spot whilst pulling some weird faces at the floor. 

"You okay there Mase?" Jordan had asked him.

"Er, yeh. I-I got you and your baby something for valentines. So, er, yeh. Here you go. I’ll be going to help my nanna now. Yeh, so, yeh. Happy Valentine's Jordy." He sheepishly handed her a small bag. 

He scuttled off to help Susie out front and Jordan was stood gobsmacked that Mason had done something so sweet. She was completely speechless when she saw what was in the bag. 

A small silver pendant with a clasp. When she opened the clasp there was a small space for her to put a photo. It was truly beautiful. When moving the bag to put the pendant back in she came across a small box at the bottom. 

Opening the box she found a small baby bracelet with small teddy bears and it was then that Jordan realised that the necklace and bracelet matched. It was such a cute gift that it brought a tear to her eyes.

Jordan of course knew that Mason had asked Susie to help pick them out and bought them but it was such a meaningful gesture that when she eventually found him moving stock in the back room, she planted a small kiss on his cheek and thanked him.

His cheeks flushed beet red but Jordan saw the smile that crept on his face from it. She knew she had made his whole day with that.

That was 4 days ago. 

Today however, Jordan was sitting anxiously in her doctor's surgery waiting to see her midwife. Her baby bump was very prevalent now and it had caused a few looks here and there but it was nothing that Jordan couldn't handle.

She had recently taken to always having her hands on her bump. So much so that she had felt her baby's first kicks. The initial few had made her feel a little bit nauseous but she soon adjusted.

When she had shown her closest friends the movement, they had all had similar reactions to Jordan and found it gross but soon found it amazing.

She was currently sitting in a very hard plastic chair which was not comfortable for her whatsoever. After a few minutes of shuffling to try and get comfortable in her chair, Jordan gave up on that idea and began to pace back and forth behind everyone else waiting.

For some obscure reason, her back was terribly achy today and whilst Jordan wasn’t concerned about her back aching she was scared that it was because something was wrong with the baby.

After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, that was actually only 5 minutes, she was called in to see Emma.

“Hello darling. Oh, look at that beautiful bump. My, wow. You really are glowing. Pregnancy suits you.” 

“Thank you. This backache isn't it though. I'm in agony.” 

“Stand up let me have a feel. I might know why.” Emma hummed and muttered a few things to herself whilst feeling around Jordans bump. “Yeh, your baby is just being a monkey and laid pressing against the nerves. Walking around is doing you good though because it forces the baby to move. They're a right kicker though aren’t they. Trying to push me away.”

Jordan chuckled and nodded in agreement.Rubbing her belly over and over whilst smiling softly at it.

“My dad bought me a change bag that I wanted. It's really lovely. I'm sorry. I don’t know why I said that. That’s not important.”

“Don't worry, I love it. It's nice to hear about supportive parents.So, today we’re going to measure this beautiful bump and we’ll listen to the heart and that’s pretty much it for today. Nice and simple and then you can go and do some shopping.”

“Sounds good to me.” 

Jordan laid on the table whilst Emma took a tape measure to her bump. From what Jordan could understand her bump was a little bit bigger than average for her stage of pregnancy but that was nothing to be concerned about.

Emma told Jordan that it could be because of a number of things such as eating a big lunch, her water intake may have been higher. There were so many small things that could affect it so it was nothing to be concerned about. 

Hearing her baby's heartbeat was an otherworldly experience for Jordan. The fast thumping of a human life inside of here. It was such a moment for her to appreciate that she couldn’t help but cry. 

She had been fighting her emotions all day and this was the final straw. 

“Don’t cry darling. It’s a lot I know. So magical. Your baby's heartbeat is sitting at a perfect 130 beats per minute.” 

Jordan was confused. That sounded way too fast to her but Emma picked up or hesitancy straight away. “That's normal. Their hearts are smaller and so they beat a lot faster than ours. If it goes above 160 beats per minute or drops below 100 then we can be concerned but everything is fine for you.”

Jordan left with an amazing feeling and still a little bit of back ache so she was going to the shop to treat herself to a box of meringues because for the past week, that is all she has been wanting to eat.

Whilst shopping for her craving food she also came across three incredibly cute outfits that she knew she had to buy and so with her craving satisfied and some more clothes for the child who is already being spoiled rotten she left happy and content.

The irony isn't lost on her though. She was eating meringues full of sugar and her baby was the same size as an ear of corn which is actually healthy for her.

Returning home she found her parents house a mess. Literally, there was chaos everywhere. They had bought her so many new things for the house she was yet to find to live in. 

Jordan was grateful to no end but walking in to see her mum and dad arguing over marble print plates or plain grey was something she would miss once she was on her own. Moving out was becoming more and more daunting but as usual she was putting on a brave face. 

So Jordan had begun counting down. 16 weeks until she meets her baby. Give or take.