This Wasn't Suppose to Happen

I was lying on the bathroom floor, trying to find the strength to get up and get ready for work. Whoever called this morning sickness obviously was insane, I was stomach sick 24/7 and spent most of the night in the bathroom on the floor as my stomach tried to get rid of any nourishment I managed to get down.

It had been about 6 weeks since that fateful day when Sid came to talk to me. I hadn’t heard from him and with the exception of Nate, I hadn’t seen anyone either…outside from work that was. I was doing my best to keep this under wraps, I didn’t want my co-workers to find out just yet. But I was certain they knew something was up, my breaking out into a cold sweat and running off to the bathroom to throw up must have sent up some red flags with them. If they did know, at least they didn’t mention it.

I was so conflicted; I didn’t know what I should do. Could I raise this baby alone? Was I even ready to be a Mom? Hell, I was only 27… I just got my dream job. Why, oh why did this have to happen to me?

Dragging myself off the bathroom floor, I walked into my room, holding onto the edge of the bed for support so I could make it to the closet. Grabbing the first items my hands touched, I quickly got dressed and headed out of the apartment and to my car. I was late again and I knew I would be reprimanded for it.

Sure enough, as soon as I swiped my card to allow me into the sports therapy department I saw my manager waiting for me. “Janelle, we have to talk”, April said as she turned and walked towards her office. I followed suit and took a seat across from her massive desk as she closed the door behind me.

“April, I’m…” she didn’t allow me to continue, instead putting up a hand to silence me. “Janelle, I’m not sure what is going on in your personal life, but its become evident that its hindering your professional life as well. You’re late all the time, you’ve become unreliable and your work is suffering because of it. I suggest you get your act together or I’ll be forced to find someone who is more than capable to fill your shoes”. She turned back to her computer, signaling that she was done. I stood up and walked out of the door without giving her another glance.

Great, just great… not only am I pregnant and sick but now I was in danger of losing my job. The money Sid gave me would cover medical expenses but it wasn’t enough to take care of me if I was fired or if I had to be taken off of work. The stress of everything was getting to me. I had a guy who was denying he was the father, a manager telling me I was in jeopardy of losing my job and I was pregnant. Tears willed up in my eyes and I fought the urge to cry. “Don’t let them see you cry Janelle”, I kept telling me self over and over again.

Walking into my small windowless office, I checked the hospital’s medical system to see if there were any new changes in my clients for the day. Making notes of the ones who had cancelled, I was hit with another round of nausea as I quickly reached for the garbage can. “There’s nothing left to come up”, I muttered as the dry heaves started. The only thing I wanted to do was go back to bed, curl up and stay there until this passed.

Once the nausea subsided, I laid the garbage can back down and placed my head on my desk. My mind was running in a million different directions and each thought was worse than the next. Looking at the clock, I realized that my client was probably here and ready to start his treatment.

I was halfway through the treatment plan when I decided to add a new exercise to get his knee moving, after explaining the exercise to him; I decided to demonstrate it just so he could get the picture. I lunged forward and felt a sharp pain ribbing through my body. I crumbled to the floor and could make out muffled noises around me. It was as if I was underwater, I couldn’t make out what words were being said, they seemed so far away; yet I could feel hands on me. I struggled to keep my eyes opened, but blackness kept coming in waves and I fought the urge to stay away and welcomed the quiet darkness. 

“Janelle? Janelle? Come on, wake up, I snuck in here and I only have a few minutes. Wake up!” I struggled to open my eyes and peered into a pair of hazel eyes behind a surgical mask. “Nate?”

“Yes, its me. What the hell happened?” I wasn’t listening to his questions; I was more concerned with his attire. Why the hell was he wearing scrubs? “Did you raid the doctor’s lounge or something?”

“I had to blend in”, he replied. “What the hell happened?”

“I don’t know, what’s going on, you’re the first person I’ve seen”, I explained as I groaned and turned over.

A doctor in a white coat approached and Nate hit the floor. “Is that the father of the child?” the doctor asked as he tried to peer over the bed. Nate slowly stood up, “Yes, I am the father of the child”, he said. I shook my head, I wasn’t even going to start with dealing with him at the moment.

The doctor shot Nate an odd glare and turned his attention back to me. “I’m Dr. Stone, Janelle. How are you feeling?”

“A lot better than I was earlier”, I admitted. The doctor nodded and made some notes on the chart. “Janelle, you are severely dehydrated and your body is working overtime to try to sustain both you and the baby. We need to get you eating and gaining weight”.

“That’s all fine, but I can’t keep anything down, I’m sick all the time and whatever I eat, it comes back up”, I explained and the doctor nodded. “Some women have a tougher time than others, there are different medications that can be used to combat the nausea, we will start you on one right away and hopefully you’ll find that the nausea will start to disappear. In the meantime, crackers are great and just nibble all day long if you have to. We really have to fatten you up, you are underweight and at a higher risk for a miscarriage or preterm labor”.

I nodded and he passed me a prescription. “I would recommend that you check in with your OB in the next few days to let him know what is going on and get rechecked”. I thanked him and he left me to get dressed.

“Nate”, I hissed, “I can’t believe you told the doctor you were the father”. I was struggling to put on my jeans and Nate was playing around with the blood pressure cuff. “Give it up”, I said as I elbowed him. “Why don’t you make yourself useful and actually help me?”

Nate turned in my direction and gave a grin before turning his attention back to the instruments on the wall. “You’re such a great help”, I muttered as I slipped my feet into my sneakers. I glanced around the room, making sure I had everything and walked towards the door. “Think you can tear yourself away from the medical equipment?” I asked Nate as he reluctantly followed me through the door. “Where did you get the scrubs?” I asked again as he held his head high and walked down the corridor as if he was a real doctor.

I climbed into the passenger seat of his car and leaned back, grateful to be headed back home. There was nothing else I wanted to do but crawl into bed and stay there for the next week. I was exhausted. Nate followed me into my room when we got to my apartment and flopped on the bed. “You telling the boy about what happened today?” he asked as he stretched out to make himself comfortable.

He doesn’t want to know about this, I explained as I grabbed my pajamas and headed into the bathroom to change. “Are you sure about that? Maybe he will get concerned and come over, I could do with some Crosby staring, I mean have you seen that guys ass?” Nate laughed and let out a snort. “Bad joke Janelle, of course you’ve seen his ass, you tapped that”.

“Ha ha ha”, I replied as I re-entered the bedroom. “Get the hell off my bed”, I gave him a shove and crawled in under my covers. “Fine, I’ll go get your drugs”, he said as he rolled over and sat up. “Okay”, I muttered as I was already halfway to dreamland.

I awoke to a dark room and slowly walked into the bathroom. Not hearing any sounds, I made my way out to the living room and saw my prescription sitting on the end table. Nate was nowhere to be seen and that was fine by me. I needed some peace and quiet. I sat down on the couch and put my feet on the ottoman when a piece of paper caught my eye.

J,
Called Crosby and he wants to go to doc appt with you. Text him date and time.
Nate xoxo

“Oh no he didn’t”, I exclaimed as I jumped up and reread the paper. “I’m going to kill him”, I said out loud as I tried to block out the thought of Sid accompanying me to see my OB/GYN. This so
wasn’t going to go well, what did I ever do to deserve this?