“Excuse me Molly, but Doctor Jensen wants us to monitor you while you’re with us.” As she spoke, she moved towards the bed I was lying on.
“Sure. Whatever it takes for the baby to be safe.”
“Hello Judy,” commented Adele, smiling at the nurse.
“Adele Jensen,” she commented. “My goodness. I haven’t seen you for a long time.”
“It’s been too many years.”
“It certainly has. The last time I saw you we were working together in the maternity ward.”
“That was a long time ago.”
“It was. You’re no longer nursing, I hear.”
“I do part time work for my daughter,” Adele explained, both ladies ignoring Matt and I. It was fine by me. Their chatter took my mind off what was in the manila folder Adele had handed Lara, and I had to restrain myself from reaching for it and having a read.
Thankfully I didn’t have to wait long, as Lara re-entered the room in a hurry.
“So sorry about that. I just have another emergency coming into the hospital tonight. Busy, busy.” She fussed as the nurse started to connect me to the monitors. “Now, where were we?”
“You were about to open that folder,” I quickly added.
Lara smiled before lifting the file and scanning the contents. Upon closing it, her expression was light. “Just as I thought.”
“What was the bleeding about?” Matt asked before I had the chance.
“Well, it appears that there are two gestational sacs in Molly’s uterus, but only one has a heartbeat. It’s quite common especially if twins run in the family. What we’ll do now is to wait another week when we’ll repeat the ultrasound. If the second heartbeat was just being shy and hiding behind its sibling, we’ll know then.”
“So, there’s still a chance there could be two?” Matt asked. It was hard to tell if he was horrified at the thought or still in shock.
“Yes. We originally thought Molly was seven and half weeks pregnant, but I’m going to say that you’re closer to six and half weeks. Which is great. It just makes your due date around October 13th. Let’s hope it’s not a Friday,” she joked.
That was no joke. Thanks to mum and Grandma Mabel, we had a superstition for everything under the sun. “Thanks.” I gulped.
“Ummm, Doctor, could I ask a quick question.?”
“Yes, Matt?”
“It’s in, ummm, regards to the baby.”
“Of course. What would you like to know?”
He blew out a fast breath. “Well, ummm, what happens to the baby if Molly and I are cousins?”
Lara looked like she’d been slapped. Adele’s mouth dropped open, and the nurse nearly choked.
“Are you?” Lara asked, her jaw almost hitting the ground.
“Ummm, there’s a good possibility.”
“We didn’t know until today,” I hurriedly added. “I don’t make a habit of hooking up with my relatives.”
“No. We had no idea!” added Matt. “My mother, Jemima, never told me anything about my family tree, so I’ve been looking into it, and I’ve just found out who my father is. His name’s Darryl Altman and well, we believe he’s Molly’s uncle,” Matt babbled, nervously wringing his hands together.
“Oh. Okay. Ummm, let me see. Cousins, hey?” She gave a small smile, but I was positive a hint of hysteria lurked within it. “I’ve never had an actual case like this, but I believe the risks to the baby are nowhere near as high as they once thought it could be.” Her brows narrowed as if she was pulling information from the far corners of her memory. “There is an increased risk in birth defects, but we’ll keep a close eye on things.”
That was a partial relief. One that I could see Matt shared.
“What happens now?” I asked.
“I’d like you to stay in overnight so we can monitor you. Nothing to worry about. I prefer prevention to a cure. I do want you to rest. No excitement, and no stress. If all goes well tonight, then you can go home in the morning. I want to see you in my surgery one week from today when I’ll do another ultrasound and we’ll see what’s happening. Mum—sorry, Adele,” she corrected herself, blushing. “Could you please make Molly an appointment to follow this up. Molly, if anything changes don’t hesitate to contact me or come back here. Now if you’ll all excuse me, I must attend to the other emergency.”
Once they’d left and I was hooked up to the monitors, Matt moved to hold my hand, tears brimming behind his lashes.
“I’m sorry Molly. I’m sorry I’m the one who gave you the news and it’s threatened the baby.”
“Do you know, before today I wasn’t sure how I felt about being a mother,” I admitted. “I was doing everything right, just like my app said I was to do. I took the responsibility seriously.”
“You’re going to be a great mother.” He kissed my temple as my own tears brimmed.
“But I hadn’t fell in love with the idea. I had no feelings toward what was growing inside of me. And it scared me. But seeing that tiny pulsing dot on the ultrasound monitor made everything so real. This baby has a heartbeat.” My bottom lip trembled as I rubbed my stomach.
“And there could be two of them,” Matt added, as a commotion sounded along the corridor outside my cubicle.
My curtain was pulled back with a flourish and the pale faces of my family stared back at me.
Danny held the curtain as mum rushed towards me, her eyes puffy. She dabbed her red nose with a handkerchief and peered at the monitor.
“What does all this mean?” she cried.
“Everything is okay, Mrs Fuller,” Matt reassured her as Grandma Mabel pushed Danny aside and moved to stand next to mum. Before I had a chance to protest, my cubicle was full. Andrew stood patiently behind dad, as Lizzie maneuvered herself past Danny.
“Is that baby okay?” Danny choked, elbowing her for pole position alongside me.
“Yes. Well, one of them is. We’re not sure what’s happening with the second one.”
“Second one?” squeaked Mum.
“The ultrasound showed there could be two of them.” Matt hurriedly explained the situation. Once he’d finished silence descended around us.
It was only broken as Grandma whispered, “Well I’ll be buggered.”
Danny grinned and nudged Matt in the ribs. “Way to go,” he muttered.
Mum gasped. “I’m going to have to knit more jumpers.”
Dad ground his jaw. “Does that mean you need two change tables, because I could easily do that. I’ve nearly finished the first one and it would be no trouble for me to whip up a second.”
“Did the ultrasound show if it’s a boy or a girl?” Mum asked. “Or maybe it’s one of each!” She was way more excited about the prospect of twins than I was. “Did they tell you, love?”
“The baby is the size of a pearl,” I advised her.
“That’s tiny!” squealed Danny.
Grandma swished her teeth and pursed her lips. “Geez, if it’s a boy can you imagine the size of its pe...”
“I don’t think it has one,” I hurriedly interrupted.