His Baby Girl by Rosa Mink
Chapter 12
Mel
Ican’t keep the stupid smile off my face as Clint walks me up to the clinic. He insisted on staying home with me yesterday and today. Most of me wanted to tell him to just go to work but the rest of me couldn’t, enjoyed being taken care of and pampered by him.
So far, we haven’t had to worry about Jenna. She attacked the nurse when her food was brought in Sunday morning, earning her a two-week mandatory stint. If she argued, she was going to face assault charges from the cops so we have two more weeks before that might change.
My stomach rolls slightly and I press my hand to it, drawing Clint’s attention to me, his brows knitting together. “I told you we should have stopped for something to drink for you first.”
“I feel like if you poke me, I’m going to start spouting water,” I joke as we reach the lobby. The smell of coffee makes my nose twitch but not in a good way. “Ugh, I’m so glad I don’t have to smell that continuously at the truck stop anymore.”
“Let me get you a bottle of water,” Clint says, sitting me down in a comfy chair where the smell of coffee isn’t so bad.
“I’m sick of water, babe. If I drink more of it, I think I might puke right now.”
“Alright, iced tea? No?” he adds when I shake my head. “Okay, how about orange juice? It’s full of vitamin C, it’d be good for you and the baby.”
His hopeful expression is too much, and I relent, letting him go get me an orange juice as we’re a bit early for the appointment. He comes back with a huge cup of it for me and a tea for himself and I let out a soft moan at the first sip of it.
“Good? See, what did I say? Daddy knows just what his baby girl needs,” Clint teases, sending heat flaring through my body. I lean into him in the elevator, letting my body slip against his as I grin. “Be a good girl or I’ll turn you over my knee and spank you right here.”
“Someone would get a show then for sure.” I let out a little laugh at the look that hits his face, but it turns into a coughing fit as we reach the clinic.
“Well, that doesn’t sound much better,” Marla says looking at me.
“I laughed which then turned into coughing,” I tell her before she takes us back to a room.
Dr. Bradley comes in sitting down on the stool in front of me and stares at me full on. “Heard you laughed until you coughed?”
“Not a big laugh but I think it just caught some of this gunk working its way loose.”
“Alright, let’s have a listen,” he states, before nodding in agreement with me. “It’s sounding better but I want you to continue the breathing treatments for another three days. Continue on with the antibiotics, until they’re gone, and we’ll get you back up here when they’re finished. For now, I’d rather not do another chest x-ray unless necessary. You know the drill…”
“If I start feeling worse come in, don’t think it’ll get better on its own. No way I could possibly get around that with this guy,” I add patting Clint’s chest with a grin.
“She can’t,” he agrees, handing me my orange juice and I gladly consume it.
“Drinking plenty of fluids?” Dr. Bradley asks and I nod looking to Clint who agrees. “Well then, I’d say we’re finished up here, I’ll take you downstairs to visit the birthing center and the doctors there for your appointment.”
“Appointment?” I state with a glance at Clint. I know I agreed that the birth center and maternity clinic sounded the best option for us, especially with Dr. Bradley right upstairs but I hadn’t made an appointment yet.
“I called to see if they had anything available for today, for us to take a little tour so you could see it, check it out,” he tells me, and I sigh, giving him a soft kiss before letting him and Dr. Bradley take us down to the third floor.
The nurse at the front instantly moves into the back when she sees Dr. Bradley and I’m a bit relieved when she returns with a woman.
“Mel, this is Dr. Helen Bradley—my sister,” he adds when I glance at him curiously. “She still uses her maiden name.”
“That’s the name that went through med school so heck yeah I’m still using it,” she states before reaching over to shake my hand. “It’s nice to meet you Mel, come on back and we’ll show you around. My brother filled me in on your asthma diagnosis. In pregnancy we usually see one of two things, it gets better during pregnancy, or it gets worse. Either way, we want to ensure that you stay on the right medications to keep you and the baby healthy.”
The rooms we check out are a million times better than that cold one that I woke up in four years ago, terrified. It feels safe here, like the clinic upstairs.
“We are prepared for any and all emergencies as well,” Helen tells us as we reach the end of a hallway that’s secured. “We have two operating rooms right here in the event of a major emergency, most others we can handle in-room. The operating rooms are reserved for things such as emergent C-sections, and all of our nurses are surgically trained so you are guaranteed to receive the best medical care possible. We also employ several midwives for those that desire a more natural birthing experience. Again, board certified doctors are on standby in case of any emergency, but we can say that those are far and few in between. We pride ourselves in the maternal care provided to our patients.”
“All tests and services are performed here?” Clint asks as we move to the opposite hall and Helen motions us into a room.
“Yes, this is our ultrasound room. We do have portable ultrasound machines in every birthing room, but this is our main imaging section and this,” she says as another woman comes into the space, “is our main ultrasound technician, Sasha. If you’d like to get a peek at your baby and confirm your due date, it’s all ready and waiting for you. The bloodwork you had in the ER ran all of the regular tests that we would during early pregnancy, we have a couple that they don’t run to get a read on other hormone levels, and we can get that after the ultrasound.”
Clint glances at me and I nod, not about to argue now that I’ve seen the place. Knowing that Dr. Bradley will be just a floor above us if anything would happen makes me feel a million times better. The feel of the entire place is calm and that’s what I need most.
“This early in pregnancy we use a transvaginal ultrasound wand, it’s for internal insertion. Let me know if you feel any major discomfort,” Sasha warns, and I try not to laugh at the look on Clint’s face seeing the wand.
It drops when a whooshing sound starts and and it turns towards the huge screen on the wall.
“That is your baby,” Helen states, as they study their screen. “Fetal heart rate looks good, and size is measuring right about seven and a half weeks. Everything looks normal anatomically. Sasha, can up get a look a little higher and to the left?”
“Just relax,” Sasha states moving the probe and suddenly the whooshing is distorted from what it just was, and I glance from the screen over to them.
“Is everything okay?”
“Yes,” Helen says directing our attention back to the screen. “That echoing sound is from the position of the ultrasound capturing both heartbeats. They’re just a little out of sync with each other but both are strong. It’s harder to get a clear look at the second sac with where it’s implanted but from everything I see here, you look to have two healthy growing fetuses.”
“Two? Twins?” A bit of panic hits as I look at Clint. Not because I don’t want two babies with him but twins means…
“More than half of all twin births are vaginal births,” Helen states drawing my attention over to her. “The potential need for a C-section with twins is higher than with a single delivery, but it greatly depends on the size and positioning of the babies. We specialize in vaginal twin births, so don’t get discouraged or worried Mel. We have you.”
I nodded, relaxing a bit as Clint dropped a kiss onto the top of my head. His hand squeezed mine and the remaining worry faded.
“Nothing is going to happen to you, baby girl. I’m right here with you.”
I smiled as his beard teased my cheek, reaching up for it with a tug. “This might need a trim before they get here.”
“Anyone else saying that and I’d tell them to go…you know where. But two babies might make it a bit of a mess,” he mused as we finished the ultrasound. I slipped over to the chair for the blood draw then gladly went home with Clint wondering how Jenna would react to this latest bit of news.
