A Bump in the Road -- Watty Awards 2011 --

Chapter 7: Precautions

He pushed back the limp sweaty strands of chestnut brown that hung around her face as she sat back against the whirlpool tub and tried to catch her breath.

More bright sparks and pops of light danced in front of her eyes signifying an impending blackout. Gathering the limp pale body in his arms and set her down in the exam chair once more.

He went over to the counter and rooted around in her leather Ferragamo bag. Cracking the tab off joseph passed Nicole a bottle of the hated but necessary insulin drink and made sure she swallowed a few sips. After several minutes of this the doctor finally arrived.

Hi, hi sorry im late, I'm marian delinsky – the woman bounced in pulling on a fresh white overcoat with her name and the clinics embroidered on the lapel.

Joseph – too scared by the recent episode to bother with niceties immediately dove at the doctor. I take it you are familiar with Nicole’s file ? her condition ?

Mr. Redford I did write my discertation on HDGS – she motioned to the award covered wall smilingly.

Now, Nicole, how are you feeling? I see you’re quite weak, and your colour is not making me happy. I’m just going to do a quick check of your vital signs and then we can continue on from there.

Your husband mentioned you were quite ill an hour ago but I see that the insulin drink is helping so I should think that your blood levels should become stable before you leave.

Reclining the chair, the doctor pulled the table of stainless steel instruments towards her chair and with a click of the remote control she had lowered a huge lcd screen from the ceiling that she explained was connected to the ultrasound monitor.

The vertigo finally passing, Nicole was able to answer some more of the doctors questions without fear of throwing up all over the doctors white coat.

Yeah, it does seem to come in waves – even if I’m not overexerting myself. All it took today was climbing into your chair to send me, well not exactly running, but heading for the bathroom.

And uh – she said glancing over to gauge joseph’s reaction – the other night we were uhh…fooling around and joseph said that I had started shaking uncontrollably and had gone into shock.

At 20 weeks – which is what you are now – I often tell couples that sex is completely safe and will not hurt the baby and can even be beneficial towards the very end of the pregnancy.

But in your case – its not the intercourse that is causing the problem – it’s the amount of energy output your body is giving which right now is about as limited as it can be without me ordering you on bedrest which I am seriously considering doing at this point although I know you have fought very hard against it.

The only reason I am not putting you on immediate bedrest is because I do think it will help you to avoid a caesarean section by getting some, very gradual amounts of fresh air and short slow walks will help with the leg cramps associated with later pregnancy.

Alright, she said flipping the monitor screen on, did we want to know the gender of the baby today ?

I think we’ve had enough surprises doc, Nicole said.

Ok, if you could just pull up your top for me, or joseph did you want to help her there, the doctor asked noting her patients shaky arms.

Grabbing the Doppler and the conduction gel the doctor set them to charge and started tapping the keyboard. We are just about set here, so I’m just going to pull your jeans down a little bit so I can get a better read of the pelvic area.