I shifted in my seat, putting my focus on the street ahead. “I just don’t want him to get too excited or nervous, or whatever he feels. He has a lot going on at work.”
She scoffed. “When doesn’t he?”
“I’m going to tell him. I just want to make sure that my chances aren’t too low, you know?”
“Yeah.” She tapped a finger on the steering wheel. “You think he’ll be excited to know?”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “We’ve only talked about kids a few times—mostly when we were in Belize. I don’t think he minds the idea of it anymore.”
“Well, that’s good to know.” She rolled up to the clinic, parking in the lot. Shutting the car off, she asked, “You ready?”
I nodded and grabbed my satchel, getting out of the car with her. We walked into the clinic, where several women were already waiting. After checking in, it only took ten minutes for Dr. Bhandari’s nurse to call us back. She checked my weight first, and I was surprised to see I’d gained seven pounds. After I left a urine sample, we were taken to the exam room, and the nurse did a blood pressure check, checked my pulse, and then informed me that Dr. Bhandari would be coming to see me at any moment.
“Good morning, Miss and Mrs. Jennings!” Bhandari sang, trotting into the room.
Mom and I smiled at his cheerful demeanor. “You’re in a good mood,” Mom noted.
“Oh, I am always in a good mood! I start my mornings with deep meditation. Gets me through the days, even the tough ones. But enough about that.” His eyes swooped over to mine. “I hear that someone may be expecting!”
I laughed. “Yes.”
“Well, I have your test results from your urine sample here, and if you had any doubts before about being pregnant, you can put those to rest because you are indeed expecting, Miss Jennings!”
“Really?” My heart seemed to beat harder and faster as I held my belly. “Do you think everything will be okay?”
“That is what I am going to find out right now. Do me a favor and lie back on the table for me. Let’s see how everything is looking.”
If I thought my heart was beating too fast before, it felt like it was going to pump out of my chest now. What if he checked and nothing was happening? What if something was wrong?
I laid back as he called the nurse in. She helped get me situated, feet in the sock-covered stirrups, and Dr. Bhandari went straight to work. He ran the wand of the ultrasound over my stomach, his eyes focused on the computer screen. “Ahh…there that little one is.”
I stared at the screen, narrowing my eyes. I didn’t see much of anything at first, just black and white spots, but then he clicked a button, and focused on one spot in particular.
“Do you see that?” he asked, pointing to a circular spot on the screen. “That is your baby, Miss Jennings.” I gasped and looked over at Mom, who’d cupped her mouth. Dr. Bhandari kept moving the wand and clicking. “You know, I was looking at the last ultrasounds of your damaged uterus. It looks nothing like before.”
“Seriously?” I asked. “How does it look now?”
He stopped moving the wand to focus on me. “Strong,” he said with a smile. “Were you taking the vitamins I recommended?”
“Yes.”
“They seem to have paid off for you! The embryo looks firmly attached there.” He placed the wand down and picked up a clipboard. “Have you had any bleeding in the past few weeks?”
“No. None.”
“That is great to hear, too.”
“So are you saying her body will be okay for pregnancy?” Mom asked.
“I would say that she is very high risk. Although the embryo seems to be holding on and looks secured, there are a lot of variables at work here. I suggest visiting me or another preferred doctor every week. I’d still like to get some internal ultrasound images. Those can be a little more uncomfortable, but they will allow me to really see what is going on in there with the baby and the lining of your uterus.”
“Sure. Anything,” I breathed. My heart was fluttering so fast in my chest.
Dr. Bhandari got his images, but while I laid on that bed, all I could think about was what Cane would say when I told him. There was still a possibility of something bad happening, but maybe if I did exactly what they said and took it easy, it would be okay.
When we were done, Dr. Bhandari told us he’d send me his suggestions via email once he looked over the images, to determine what to do next. In the meantime, he’d given me some prenatal pills and a prescription for a nausea medicine.
Mom stopped by Panera for lunch, although I couldn’t really down the food. It looked amazing, but the aromas were really making me want to barf. We didn’t stay there for very long.