When I opened my eyes, I was laying on a cold white bed in what looked like a hospital room. The kids immediately came into my mind.
Oh Lord. Did I drop Devry?!?
"Nurse! Nurse!!" I yelled, frantically.
A few seconds later a brunette nurse came in. "Yes?"
"I need to leave. I have kids I'm supposed to be taking care of. Their mother is here..I have to take care of them."
"You can't leave, hon. You passed out, out there."
"Where are my - I mean - the kids? Did I drop the baby?"
"In the waiting room talking with a social worker. And no, the nurse you were talking to caught him before you fell." A social worker? Oh, this can't be good.
"I have to right now." I said, getting up out of the bed.
"Ma'am, I'm sorry but you can't leave. It's against the law to leave. We haven't done any tests yet."
"I don't care what the law says." I said, putting on my shoes. "I don't care what the tests say. I know what's wrong with me already, I'll save the doc' some time."
"Then what's wrong with you?" She inquired.
"I'm pregnant, OK? It's probably just dizziness. I heard that was one of the symptoms of this crap, right?" I was fed up with all these tests, and doctors, and people telling me what I need to do.
"Ma'am, in that case, you still need to stay here. We need to make sure the baby's alright. You do care about the baby, don't you?"
I froze and sighed. I looked at her. "How long is this going to take?"
"About 30 to 45 minutes."
I groaned and stomped my feet. "I don't have that kind of time.."
"Please, it's for your baby's sake." She pleaded.
I thought about it. I guess it was time for me to start doing for myself, and less for others. I did have a kid on the way. "OK, fine."
I laid back down on the bed.
The nurse smiled. "Great. The doctor will be in here momentarily."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
**In the waiting room**
"How long have you been living with Alea?"
"I think it's been two days. I don't know." Ryan said in monotonous tone.
The social worker nodded. Doesn't seem like I'm going to get anywhere. She thought.
"So, you never answered my question. How did your mother fall?"
"I told you the first time you asked. She was cooking and she fell. That's it. I don't know anything else."
"I'm guessing you all don't have the same father." She said, scanning over all of the kids. Tamara and Tanya were glaring her down.
Ryan shot her a sharp look. "Why do you say that?"
The social worker's face grew red and she tugged on the collar of her shirt. "Oh, I don't..I don't know." Bad assumption to make.
"Why are you here?" Chris spoke up.
"I'm here to watch you guys while your mother and this Alea person, are being taken care of."
"What happened to Alea?" Ryan sat up.
"Remember, she fell. She's in one of the hospital rooms being taken care of. Don't worry." She went in her purse and pulled out a pack of Skittles.
"Want some?" She offered.
"No thanks." Ryan sat back in his chair and continued to stare at the spot on the floor.
She nodded, putting the Skittles back in her purse. "So, do your fathers or father live with you?"
"We live with Tyler. Devry's dad."
"Devry..that's the baby, right?" She said, glancing over at the nurse that was holding him.
"Yeah." Ryan looked over at Chris, who nodded at him. "We're hungry, you gonna' get us something to eat?"
The social worker looked surprised. "Um, sure. What do you guys want?"
"Doesn't matter."
The social worker sighed. "OK, I will try to go find a vending machine. You kids stay here." She said, walking off.
When she was out of sight, Ryan said, "I just wanted her to leave. I hate questions."
"Me too. Gives me the creeps." Chris added in.
"I want to see mommy." Tanya said, poking Chris.
"Me too." He said.
"Me three." Ryan added in.
"Me four!" Tamara, said giggling.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
**Back in Alea's hospital room**
I rubbed my stomach, realizing that a tiny little human was growing inside of me. It was so much to grasp, it almost felt unrealistic. I was going to be a mom.
Soon, the only thing that would matter was my baby. No more only thinking about my self. Just the baby. Then, Sean popped into my mind. I still hadn't told him. I would have to tell him as soon as I got out of here - if I ever got out of here.
"Alea Peters?" A tall, Hispanic doctor came in with a clipboard.
"That's me. What do you have for me, doc?"
"My name is Dr. Sams. Just a few tests. I hear you're pregnant?" He said, pulling up a chair and sitting next to my bed.
"Yes."
"How wonderful. How far along are you?"
"Uh, I'm not exactly sure yet. I just found out yesterday."
He looked at me weirdly. "They didn't tell you how many months you were?"
I looked down and played with my fingers. "I found out at one of those STD testing clinics."
"Ah, I see. Well, we can let you know today, if you'd like?"
"I can't. I really have to get back to the kids. I planned on making an appointment with an OB/GYN soon anyway."
He shrugged. "Suit yourself. Make one as soon as possible though. Right now, we're just going to make sure there's no internal bleeding or complications from the fall. Do you feel any discomfort?"
"No, not really."
"Any nausea?"
"Yes, I've had tons of that lately."
He chuckled. "That's apart of the process, unfortunately. There are medicines that you can take to make it more bearable though. I can write you a prescription for it."
"Thanks."
"Alright, I'm going to roll your bed on down to the sonography department to see what's going on." He said getting up, unhooking my bed from all the wires and cords.
"Alright." I said leaning back.
When we got to the sonography area, I grew even more nervous.
He must have read my mind because he said, "Don't be nervous. I promise it's not as scary as it looks." He said with a sincere smile.
"OK, the sonography technician will be in here in just a minute." He walked out of the room.
I sighed and looked around the room trying not to panic. I needed to call Sean, but I didn't want to worry him, plus I haven't even told him the reason I'm even in this room..
The room was dark and super cold. God, I hated hospitals. The hospital was where they pronounced mom was dead. I remember that day like it was yesterday..
Eric and I had stopped by McDonald's after I got out of school as we usually did when he wasn't working. I had ordered a large fry and a McFlurry and he got his usual Big Mac with extra cheese. We were sitting in a booth talking about this new movie we wanted to see when his phone started ringing.
He put his burger down and answered it. "Hey dad. What's up?"
"Son...you need to come to the hospital right now." Eric's facial expression changed dramatically. He looked terrified.
"Why? What happened?" He questioned. I mouthed 'What's wrong?'
He shrugged.
"Your mother..she passed out at work and she was rushed to the hospital."
"What the.. why was she at work? I thought we all agreed that she stop working until she started feeling better?"
"I thought so too, son. Seems she's been sneaking off to work for the past month now."
"I can't believe this. Look, we'll be down there in a few minutes." He hung up and looked at me.
"It's mom."
When he said that, I knew things would change forever.
When we got to the hospital, it was already too late. She was gone and there was no way we could get her back. If only she hadn't worked herself so hard..
"Alea Peters?" A petite short haired woman walked in the room. I quickly wiped my eyes from the tears that had formed.
"Yes?"
"Hello, my name is Cynthia. I'm your sonographer for today." She put on some gloves and turned on the machine.
"Hi Cynthia."
"I see we've got a little one in the oven, don't we?" She said, grinning.
"Can you tell?" I laughed, but deep inside I was being serious.
"Just a little." She reached in a drawer under the machine and pulled out a tube of gel. "I'm going to rub this on your stomach. I'm gonna' warn you now, it's very cold."
"Great." I said, sarcastically.
She raised my shirt and rubbed the gel on. My stomach flinched, but eventually I got used to it.
Next, she pulled out a small wand. "This what I'm going to use to look inside of your stomach at the fetus."
"Will it look like a normal baby? Like, with fingers and all?"
"Not quite. I'd say you're probably about 3 months along. The fingers and stuff haven't formed yet. It'll look mostly like a blob."
"How lovely." We both laughed.
"Is the father here?" She said clicking some buttons on the machine.
I swallowed a lump in my throat. "I haven't told him yet."
"When did you find out?"
"Yesterday. I planned on telling him today."
She nodded. "That's good. He deserves to know."
"I'm a little scared. This wasn't exactly..planned."
"Nothing to be ashamed of, hon. My first child wasn't planned either. I was only 21." She smiled. "It was the best thing that ever happened to me though. Seeing a little baby inside of you, knowing that one day it will call you 'Mommy'."
I smiled.
"It's a good feeling. I'm sure he'll be happy."
"I hope so."
"Alright, it's going to appear on this screen."
I looked at the screen but all I saw was black and gray blobs moving.
She moved the wand around my belly.
She chuckled. "This one likes to hide, I see."
"Probably still asleep." I said, grinning.
"Ah! Found him - or her." She pointed at a small area on the screen. It still looked like a bunch of gray and black to me.
"You see?" She pointed to another area. "This is where the head is going to form."
I felt overwhelmed. The fact that I was having a baby was now confirmed. I almost felt like crying. I wished Sean was with me to look at this.
"The baby looks fine. No damage was done or anything. Your baby is healthy and you look healthy too."
"This is unbelievable." I said to myself. I watched the small blob move around on the screen.
"It is. Your blood pressure was kind of high though, so try to eat a bit healthier and stay away from stressful situations." Oh, that's funny.
"Will do." I said.
"Alright, make sure you schedule an appointment with an OB/GYN, OK? We don't want anything to go wrong."
"OK, I will. Thank you."
She rubbed the gel off of my stomach and pulled my shirt back down."Dr. Sams said something about writing a prescription for you. When you go out of this room, take a left and he's in the second room on the right."
I got up. "Thank you so much Cynthia. You've been really helpful."
"Don't mention it, hon. You take care." She turned off the machine and left the room.
I followed her directions and found Dr. Sams' office. I knocked on the door even though it was already open. "Hello."
He looked up and took his glasses off. "Hello. Alea, right? I have your prescription right here." He got up and handed me a small piece of paper.
"Just take that to your nearest pharmacy and they will fill it for you."
"Thank you Dr. Sams." I began to walk out.
"Don't forget to make that appointment!" He proclaimed.
As I was walking back to the waiting room to get the kids, I passed the intensive care unit. I wanted desperately to go in to find Bridget, but I decided not to.
It was time to start caring about me. I had a baby on the way.