One Step at a Time
Chapter 1: A Change is Going to Come
What have I done? What have we done? Oh God, Matt. How am I going to tell him? I can't tell him. I don't know how. But I have to. Karen's mind was racing as she laid back on the bed. It was late so she couldn't talk to Matt until the morning. She laid there for a few hours staring up the ceiling thinking about what she had just found out. Suddenly she found herself at three in the morning still hadn't slept yet. She couldn't hold it in any longer. She picked up her phone and sent a quick text to Matt. "Hey, we need to talk. It's kind of important." She pressed send and laid back on the bed. A few minutes later her phone dinged.
"Blimey Kaz! It's 3 AM!" He responded.
"I know. I'm sorry. I've been up all night. Can we meet tomorrow? Lunch?"
"Yeah. See you then. Get some sleep."
Karen threw her head back onto the pillow and closed her eyes. Clearing her mind was easier said than done. When she awoke it was already 11:00. Karen climbed out of bed sluggishly and moved into the bathroom. She felt like she was going to be sick from the nerves of telling Matt. She undressed and climbed in the shower letting the water run over her relaxing her slightly. She ran through what she was going to say time and time again. In the shower, as she got ready to leave, going over to the restaurant, she kept running over what she was going to say to him. How she was going to explain what was happening.
"Kazza!" Matt smiled as he hugged her. "So, are you alright? It looks like you haven't slept in ages."
"Yeah, yeah." She nodded encouragingly. "I just- there's some things I need to tell you..." She trailed off.
"Kaz?"
"I-I'm pregnant." That's not what she planned.
"You-what? Is it...?" Matt trailed off.
"It's yours." Karen nodded. Spain was the simple answer.
Matt stopped. She's having my baby? Matt was scared. It was a one night thing. They got drunk. It was a mistake. Even if they were a couple, neither of them were ready for a baby. They couldn't care for a tiny human right now. Matt stopped with the panic and started thinking reasonably again. One step at time. "I- have you been to a doctor?"
"No. I just found out last night. That's why I couldn't sleep. I'm going to make an appointment when I get home."
"Do-do you want me there?" Matt asked lightly.
"I-" Karen stopped. This is his baby, she thought to herself. He does have a right to be there. "Do you want to be there?"
"Of course I want to be there." Matt looked around before continuing. "How about we go back to my flat and we can talk more there, okay?"
Karen nodded. "That sounds lovely." They hadn't even ordered anything since they had been there so the two of them changed the topic of discussion and ate lunch. Karen pecked at her food. She had been feeling a little nauseous and she didn't really feel like eating.
"You didn't eat much." Matt said as they left the restaurant.
"I'm not really hungry. I feel kind of ill. Probably morning sickness." She said looking down at her stomach. She wasn't showing yet, obviously. She probably wouldn't start showing for a month or two. She couldn't have been more than six weeks along. She didn't notice until she got all the symptoms of her period but she never got her period. Last night, she finally worked up the courage to take the test, after she had spent most of the day throwing up. She had been nauseous for the past week. "Better safe than sorry," she told herself before buying the test, talking herself into taking the test was a whole other story. She spent a week going back and forth listing the pros and cons in her head. She finally told herself that she couldn't avoid it forever. She would have to find out if she was pregnant sooner or later and, for the baby's- if it was there- sake sooner was probably safer. So, she did it. She took the test and now she's here. "What are we going to do?"
"We are going to take this one step at a time," Matt comforted. "That first step is making an appointment with the doctor."
Karen nodded slowly. "Makes sense. So, you aren't mad?"
"No, Kaz. I'm not mad. I'm surprised but I am not mad."
"What is everyone going to say? Our parents? The media? Matt people are going to freak out."
"Slow down. It'll all be okay."
"We have to wait until my first trimester is over before we tell anyone though. Just in case something happens."
"We can do that." Matt nodded.
When they got to Matt's Karen called her doctor and made an appointment for a sonogram a couple of weeks from then but she had a normal appointment made for the next day. She needed to get bloodwork done and have a few tests performed to make sure she was perfectly healthy. She spent the rest of the afternoon talking to Matt and spent the day his apartment before going home and going to bed to catch up on the sleep she missed the night before.
The next couple weeks seemed to drag on for ages until it was finally time for the first sonogram. Matt came and picked Karen up for the appointment and went with her to the hospital. This baby might have been unplanned, very unplanned, but he wanted to be there every step of the way. The two sat patiently in the waiting room as Karen filled out some paperwork. She turned it in before going to sit back down next to Matt to wait for her name to be called. After a few minutes a nurse called them back. Karen laid on the examination table and waited for the doctor to come in. "Hello Karen." Dr. Marshall said as she walked in the room. "How have you been? Have you been taking care of yourself?"
"I have. I don't think Matt here would have anything less." Karen joked looking to him. He shook his head 'no' with a smile.
Dr. Marshall asked Karen a few more questions about her health to get an overview, all of which Karen gladly answered. "Okay, everything sounds great. How about I have you lay back and we can start an ultrasound to check out the baby." Karen nodded as she laid back on the exam room table. "Now, this is going to be a little cold," she warned as she squeezed some gel onto her abdomen. Karen winced as it hit her stomach sending tingles up her spine. The doctor then took the probe and moved it around as she watched the black and white screen. Matt and Karen both attentively watched over her shoulder.
"Is the baby okay?" Karen asked carefully and quietly.
"Perfect. They both are," Dr. Marshall smiled at her.
"Both?" Matt and Karen both asked simultaneously looking at each other and then back at the screen and to the doctor.
"You are having twins. Congratulations." The doctor smiled to them. Matt and Karen started at each other in shock before Karen felt a tear roll down her cheek breaking her out of her trance. She quickly wiped it away hoping Matt wouldn't notice her crying.
"Kaz? Are you crying?"
"I-no-I'm just really happy." She smiled to him. She was also scared to death.
"Well," Dr. Marshall broke in. "You look like you are about 9 weeks. I'll need to see you in about a month. Any questions? Here are your sonogram photos. Congratulations." With that the doctor left. Matt and Karen followed soon after making an appointment on the way our. The two of them got into the car and went back to Matt's.
"Can you believe we're having twins?" Matt asked the red head.
"No. Definitely not. That's completely crazy." Karen laughed a little as she looked down at the sonogram. "They just look like little blobs."
"They're our blobs." Matt smiled.
"We just have a few more weeks until we can tell everyone." Karen stated. "It's going to be harder now considering we have proof." She handed him one of the sonogram images and gladly took it and put it in his wallet. "Don't tell anyone. Something could still happen or go wrong. I just want to be on the safe side."
"I won't tell anyone, Kaz. I promise."
When the two of them got back to Matt's, Karen laid down on the couch. She was starting to feel nauseous again. Her morning sickness hadn't been too bad but she still had it. It seemed to be that at 2 PM every day, like clockwork, she would have to stop whatever she was doing and lay down to avoid throwing up. She should only have a few more weeks of that too, and then the real fun would begin. The constant fatigue, and nausea would stop but then there would be weird cravings, mood swings, not to mention her growing size and with twins, all of those things would be amplified. Something that she and Matt were both not ready for.
"Feeling any better?" Matt asked quietly as Karen woke up from her nap a couple hours later.
"A little bit," Karen sat up slowly. "I cannot wait until my first trimester is over. That's when the real fun starts."
"The real fun?"
"Yeah, like the crazy cravings, and mood swings, and rapidly expanding me. It's going to be a blast." Karen stated with a smile. "You're probably going to hate me by the time these next 7 months are over."
"Probably."
"Wow. Thanks."
"You said it." Matt defended.
"Shut up." Karen smiled. "What are we going to do after they're born? I mean, neither of our flats are big enough for two babies and I think we're going to have to move in together considering we both want to be there for both of them all of the time."
"We will figure something out. We are probably going to have to move. It'll be okay."
Karen nodded. "There's just so many decisions to make before they come."
"Don't worry. It's not good for you to be stressed out right now. Just stay calm. We'll figure it out. One step at a time, remember?"
"One step at a time."