'Sorry Darlin', I'm not going to make the appointment. Send me the vid.'
Kim wasn't surprised. He'd been called out at 4am to a crime scene and when Adam had briefly talked to her when she woke up he sounded annoyed. It was a shit case, weren't they all but it was more the fact that he knew there was no way he was going to get a chance to slip away for an hour to go to their appointment. Voight was on a tear and every single one of them was firmly in his sights, seems he didn't enjoy being called out in the middle of the night to deal with yet another gang war either. He was sick of seeing young kids with bullets in them. "You slept well last night?" He noticed these things because every time Kim got up it wasn't exactly graceful these days and tended to disturb him.
"I did." Kim actually felt like she'd had the best night's sleep she'd had in weeks. She got up once just after midnight and then when Adam's phone rang but that was it. She was surprised when she woke and it was almost eight.
Sleeping so late also meant that she was running late for her appointment and she tried to hurry as much as you could when you were eight and a half months pregnant. Adam was always telling her to slow down a bit, especially in the last few weeks when he saw how uncomfortable she was getting. They knew the baby had moved and was head down, the pressure in her pelvis had suddenly increased over the last week or so and she often felt like she had a foot firmly implanted in her diaphragm so by the time Kim got to the Doctor's office she was feeling a little out of breath and light-headed.
She had also been having some Braxton Hicks contractions on and off over the past few weeks which had excited them initially but they were still waiting. This morning her back was a little stiff and aching but she didn't have time to stretch it.
The midwife bustled into the room, looking a little harried. Grabbing the next file off the top of the pile in reception had bought a smile to her face when she saw the name. Some couples just made your day better. "Is Dad coming?"
"No, he's caught up at work." Kim climbed up on the bed; having changed into the gown they'd given her. She'd be glad to see the last of these, they no longer met in the middle at the back and Adam had teased her about it on their last appointment. She'd slapped his hand away as he tried to play with her bare ass.
Amy, the midwife checked her blood pressure, did a dip of her urine which all looked good, measured the size of her belly, which was still growing much to Kim's dismay and asked Kim how she was feeling in general. "I finally got a good night's sleep, actually slept in which was nice. Adam left early so he wasn't annoying me with his early morning cuddles and chats."
Amy chuckled lightly. She heard that a lot. "Okay, let's have a look at what this little Ruzek is doing today." Amy slid Kim's gown up over her belly and she grimaced a little as the cold gel hit her skin while Amy laughed lightly and apologised. No matter how prepared you were for it, it was still a shock. "I guess you'll need a video of it to send to Dad?"
"Of course, he's disappointed to be missing out, we are hoping it will be the last time though. I am kind of over it and Adam has no patience what so ever." Kim was hoping that they were going to tell her that cervix was starting to make its move.
"Let me guess? He's trotting out the old 'let's have sex' line to bring on labour."
"How'd you guess?" Kim blushed a little, he'd certainly pleaded his case last night and she was more than happy to give in to him, anything that might move this along a little. Adam knew how to make her feel good even when she felt like an overstuffed beanbag.
"They know nothing about childbirth and labour but that they all seem to remember."
They loved this, seeing their baby and couldn't wait until they could meet him or her in a couple of weeks. Adam was starting to drive her crazy with his fussing and Kim was struggling to grin and bear it. She felt unattractive, not that Adam agreed but her skin was stretched so tight and it was often itchy and uncomfortable, no matter how much cream and lotion she massaged into it, and it took forever to get up and down and she was constantly complaining about indigestion. And her ankles, she'd love to see those again.
This was only the second appointment that Adam had missed throughout the whole pregnancy. Voight was more than happy to let him duck out for an hour or so to go with Kim. "I'm just going to get Dr Sanderson to come in." The way the midwife didn't look at her frightened Kim but she just tried to breathe through it. Dr Sanderson always came in at some point and took a look at all her tests and checked out the baby but she usually just arrived sometime the appointment or they met her in her office once everything was done.
Is there something wrong?" Suddenly she was alone in the room and she panicked, she tried to look at the screen but Amy had turned it away slightly and that made it worse. Kim was trying to get off the bed when Amy came back in with Dr Sanderson.
"Hi Kim." Dr Sanderson greeted her warmly. "How you feeling?"
"Well I was feeling good." Amy was standing beside her and urged her to get back up on the bed.
The Doctor pulled up the stool and grabbed the probe. She started running it over Kim's stomach and pushed it deep into both sides but said nothing. Kim gasped a few times as Dr Sanderson kept moving and pushing on her stomach. She captured some data on the screen and Kim's heart just continued to race.
"Have you noticed any decreased movements in the last few days?"
"No." she shook her head, almost defiantly. Kim couldn't think. Last night she'd definitely felt the baby moving, they both had and they had laughed about it. It had kicked Adam in the face as he rested his cheek on her stomach and talked to the baby, like he did every night. "It kicked Adam last night." She knew she sounded desperate.
"And this morning?"
"I don't know, I don't know." Tears streamed down her face and the harder she tried to remember the more she forgot and the struggle to breathe was starting to hurt. The midwife rested her hand on Kim's chest and encouraged her to take a few deep breaths but she swatted her hand away angrily. "I slept in and was running late, my back was aching but that was probably the baby pushing. I think I did." In all honesty she couldn't remember but she was willing to lie, to make it up that she had so that whatever the doctor was talking about she could tell her she was wrong.
"Kim." Dr Sanderson replaced the probe in its cradle and turned the screen so Kim could see her baby. "I think you should call Adam."
"What's wrong? Is something wrong?"
"Your baby does not seem to be moving as we would like and we are having trouble finding a heart beat. I want to admit you for a few tests." This was always the worst and she always hoped that she was wrong but that was rarely the case.
"I don't understand. Just tell me." She clutched at her stomach. "Maybe it's sleeping. It was moving last night. We felt it; we both felt it. I'm not lying." By now Kim had convinced herself that she had felt it move that morning, she had to convince herself because the alternative didn't bear thinking about. "And this morning I swear I felt it when I was in the shower."
Dr Sanderson rested her hand on Kim's shaking ones as she ran them protectively over her baby. "Kim, you need to call Adam."
