Blooming Flower | SAMPLE

Chapter 1

†BAILEE†

Being here makes me so uncomfortable. I am not a fan of hospitals. Then again, who is? Since I haven’t been feeling well lately and my sister Hailey has been insisting I go to the doctor and get myself checked out. She assumes that I’m pregnant and that my stomach is getting bigger, and I can only laugh at that assumption. I have been taking Depo-Provera for three years now and I see no reason to stop right now. My stomach has always been a little on the big side. I am standing at 5 feet 3 inches and the last time I weighed myself, I weighed a hundred and ninety-seven pounds. I’m a little overweight for my height, I know, but my clothes still fit, and my husband loves all the extra fluff, so I’m not bothered by my weight.

“I’m not pregnant!” I said to her, “I don’t know why you insisted I come here!”

Hailey flips through a magazine she took on the table in the waiting room nonchalantly and rolls her eyes at me as I continue ranting, “it’s just a precaution Bailee,” she responded calmly, “I’m telling you, you’re pregnant.”

Having your eighteen-year-old sister tell you—you are pregnant is quite annoying. “You’ve been saying that for four months now, Hailey,” I reacted. “I’ve had no symptoms of pregnancy. Besides, it’s my body, and I’d know if I was pregnant.”

“Have you seen your period lately?” she questioned

“Yes,” I answered, “about two months ago... I had some light bleeding—”

“Then there you go,” she said, “it’s at least two months late, so you’re probably 20 weeks along.”

I groaned, looking around the waiting room of the doctor’s office at the other expecting mothers of different ages, from young adults to some who looked like they were about to hit menopause. Some of them were glowing, happy to know that they were expecting a special little one, some were eager for their test results and some were dead in scared as though being pregnant would be the worst thing ever to happen to them. Don’t get me wrong—if I was pregnant, I would be the happiest expecting mother on the planet, but I got diagnosed with PCOS and Fibroids when I was seventeen and I was told it would be difficult for me to get pregnant, especially with my hormonal imbalance. I had to get on depo because my condition had me seeing my period over two hundred days in a year. Besides, how can I be pregnant when I’m on birth control and I have had no pregnancy symptoms?
I looked down at my breasts, that are bigger than usual, and squeeze them. Normally this would be a pregnancy symptom, but I simply chucked it up to mother nature letting me know that she’ll soon be visiting me as the time to update my depo shot was approaching. According to my schedule, she might be right on time.

“You know, I could have taken a store-bought pregnancy test at home Hailey,” I spoke again. “I didn’t need to come to this doctor to basically be told that I’m fat and need to get some exercise and change my diet.”

“Would you stop being so dramatic, Bailee?” she scoffed. “Lately, I’ve noticed you’ve been passing out, having weird cravings, and you even had a panic attack yesterday,” she added

“That’s because I’m stressed!” I lashed out, “with the new house falling through and work talking about layoffs, how else do you expect me to feel, Hailey?”

“Regardless of whether you get laid off from work, Jasser makes enough money to support you both and potential future kids,” she stated

“I know,” I complained, “but staying home all day, cleaning and doing laundry... that’s boring.”

“Well soon, you’ll have some company,” she said cheerfully, “if you’re pregnant, which I’m sure you are, staying home for a few years won’t be so bad, I’m sure he or she will keep you extremely occupied and always on your feet.”