I Made a Promise

Chapter 71

"There's nothing you can do. My best suggestion would be to just... terminate this pregnancy. We can schedule you for D&C today and you can most likely go home tomorrow morning." She explained.
I sat up in the bed and moved away from her.

"Are you kidding me? N-no!" I yelled at her. I couldn't believe the words that were coming out of her mouth.
"Babe, relax." Daniel told me.
I looked at him.
"No, she's telling us to kill our baby!" I raised my voice.

"Skylar-" Dr. Collins calmly, she grabbed out for my arm but I pulled away.
"Don't touch me!" I told her.
She pulled away also and paused.

"Skylar... I have seen babies with these same irregular heartbeats... the lightheadedness and the tiredness you were feeling was your baby feeling those same symptoms... and all of the babies that I've seen that weren't terminated were born stillborn..." she explained.
I looked at her and then at Daniel.
"Is there.. any chance of our baby living?" He asked her.

She took a deep breath and shook her head.
"Not that I've seen..." she said.
"So then ask another doctor." I told her.
"Excuse me?" She asked me, confused.
"You just explained everything is us, but that was based on your own experiences. Let's ask some other doctors." I told her.

She didn't say anything expect she left the room.
I looked at Daniel and broke down.
"How could she ask us to kill our baby?" I cried.
"It's ok.. it's going to be ok..." he whispered.
"What if you ask David for some advice? Doesn't he work in pediatrics emergency medicine?" I asked him.
He nodded his head.
"Yea, I'll give him a call later, for now, let's just focus on you." He told me.

We sat there in pretty much silence between the two of us for what felt like an eternity before Dr. Collins came back with another doctor.
"Hi. I'm Dr. Kallie. I'm a NICU doctor here at the hospital... now Dr. Collins informed me about your babies condition and she wanted me to explain to you the options." The doctor explained.

Daniel and I both nodded out heads.
She explained to us exactly what Dr. Collins had told us.
"Ok yes. I get what you're saying, but is there any chance of our baby surviving if we choose not to terminate and try to go full term?" Daniel asked.

"Well, from another hospital I used to work at, I saw a handful of babies in your baby's position." she told us.
"Ok, and were they ok?" I asked her.
"I did see some babies live a completely normal life. Sure the pregnancy was high risk and extremely difficult for the mothers, but their babies were fine after birth. I've also seen this heart defect just resolve throughout the pregnancy and go away like nothing ever happened." She explained.

That gave me a bit of relief and I took a breath.
Dr. Collins looked a bit annoyed and confused by Dr. Kallie.
"Excuse me, Dr. Kallie-" She was telling her, but then Dr. Kallie interrupted her.
"If I'm correct Dr. Collins, you told me to give the parents my expertise. Which is is exactly what I did. I'm giving them the options. They deserve to know everything." Dr. Kallie told her.

Dr. Collins looked upset and annoyed.
"Thank you... Dr. Kallie..." she angrily chuckled.
"My pleasure. Best of luck." She smiled at us before leaving.
Dr. Collins looked annoyed and upset at Dr. Kallie before she left.
"So, you were given all the options. What will you choose?" She asked us.

"I'm carrying this baby till full term." I told her.
She nodded her head without looked at us.
"Ok... I'll support you on that... so I'm going to move all your appointments from now on until you have this baby to here instead of the clinic. Just in case anything were to happen. And we'll have to move your appointments to every 2 weeks now." She explained.

"Ok, whatever you need to do." Daniel said.
I nodded my head.
"what about work? I can still be at my desk job?" She asked me.
"Yes, you can still be at work. But you under any circumstances cannot be on active duty. You have to keep your stress level low and keep yourself calm. Any stress or worry can hand your baby's heart rate even more." She explained.

I nodded my head.
"What about her dizziness and tiredness? And what should we look out for?" Daniel asked.
"These dizzy spells will keep happening. However, if they worsen significantly, come in straight away. And as for anything else, just keep a good eye on her movement. If she seems to be getting weaker or not as active as before, that would be another reason to come in." She explained to us.

"Ok. Is there anything else I can do? To maybe help fix this?" I asked her.
"You can try eating more things like lettuce, chicken, eggs, basically more healthier foods. Anything that's lean will really help both mom's and baby's heart health." She explained.

"Ok, well, any last questions?" She asked us.
Daniel raised his hand slightly.
"Uh... could her heart rate have anything do with diabetes?" He asked her, timidly.
"It shouldn't be... why? Does diabetes run on either of your families' sides?" She asked us.

"Uh yea, he's a diabetic." I said.
Then Dr. Collins looked at him.
"What type and for how long?" She asked him.
"Type 1, and just over 2 years now." I told her.
"Does it run in your family?" She asked him.

He nodded his head.
"Yea, my mother's side. My brother or his kids never got it, but I got diagnosed a little over 2 years ago." He explained.
"Well, we wouldn't be able to tell any of that now. Perhaps when she grows up we can test. But as of right now. Aside from the irregular heart, she's ok." She told us.

Dr. Collins wrapped up the appointment and we left. Once we got in the car I looked at Daniel and I didn't even know what to do.
"Babe.. what if..." I said, but I couldn't bring myself to say what I wanted.
"Baby don't-... don't talk like that... she's going to be fine. She's going to be amazing. And so will you. In 12 weeks or less you're going to be back in that hospital giving birth to our baby girl and she's going to come into this world healthy as can be." He told me.

I looked at him and smiled through my tears.
"I love you..." I sniffled.
"I love you two more.. nothing will happen to either of you. I'm going to do everything in my power to protect you both for as long as I'm walking this earth." He told me, putting his hand on my stomach, easing my pain and worry.

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