Chapter 8: Dire Situations, Drastic Changes.
June ran through like a lightning bolt. As the month went on it got progressively hotter and I could barely stand it. It felt like it was ten times hotter. My belly grew considerably and I was showing. Nora swears I get bigger every time he sees me.
My doctor said the baby was growing normally but that I needed to take it easier because he was already an inch longer than a normal baby at this mark. By mid June I was technically in my second trimester if you went by weeks. I began to feel fluttering and some kind of flicking in my belly, all the time. I started getting worried about it so I asked my doctor when I had an appointment and he just smiled and told me it was the baby moving. This made my heart glow and made me smile every time I felt it after that. He or she had been moving since day one, I realize that . . . but I couldn't feel it like I could now! No matter what I was doing or how much of a headache I had or how much Rick the dick yelled at me . . .
Around the same time, Miku and Kari came home from being overseas, having been there for six months. Miku had a scar already from being scraped by a bullet and Kari had a long scrape down her back from being cut in a hand to hand fight with someone. They were only home until they were needed again, whether it be sooner or later.
Miku was the first to remark on me when he got home that evening.
"Alice! Your belly is blowing up like a balloon! It should be popped immediately!" Miku said, holding up a toothpick.
I was lying down on the couch, a pillow behind my head and my heavily swollen feet on a pillow. I groaned feeling overwhelmingly nauseous and just ill in general. "Don't even think about it . . ." I said, rubbing my belly gently, aching all over because I had just gotten off work.
"Geez Batty, lighten up and take a joke." Miku said rolling his eyes.
Kari sat at my feet and looked me over considerably. "You look sick . . . feeling okay?" she asked, concerned.
"I'm exhausted . . . working two jobs and going to college is a toxic combination. I'm exhausted when I come home but I have homework to do . . . plus the assistant manager at Shell gas . . . he's the worst. I call him Rick the dick, he makes me get on my hands and knees to clean the floors instead of giving me a mop like a dignified person . . . he makes me lift heavy boxes . . . and claims that the dolly is broken." I sighed heavily.
Miku frowned and flicked my ear. "You need to quit."
"Miku, I can't . . . we need the money. We've saved up for the hospital visit but we still need a crib, clothes, diapers, bottles . . . just . . . all kinds of stuff. The crib will probably cost us the most . . . and on top of all this stuff we need for the baby, we have bills to pay . . . I have to have internet for school." I argued.
"Does Goku know this guy is working you like a dog though?!" Miku shouted, getting angry. "Pregnant women aren't supposed to be worked like dogs . . . it can seriously cause some problems . . . you could kill your kid doing that stuff."
"No . . . Goku doesn't know . . . and I know it could hurt our baby . . . that's what I'm worried about . . . but the job market is rough, we need the money. I don't want to hurt our baby I feel terrible if I've been doing so . . . I'll see what I can do but don't tell Goku." I sighed and hug my head. "He's probably stressed enough as it is."
Two weeks later it was the last day of June and my belly had doubled in size. I felt sicker and weaker as the weeks went on. I was working the register one day, staring off into space smiling as the baby was really active. Rick came up looking angry, wiping away my smile.
"The delivery truck has been outside for fifteen minutes. Why the fuck haven't you or anyone else gone to get the things?" he grumbled at me.
I sighed, not arguing and walked out back to get the things being delivered. It was mostly crates of soda but they were still rather heavy. I bent over to pick one up and felt a pain in my lower back and caused me to groan and hold my back. I vomited a little on the ground then felt like I had wet myself or something . . .
I panicked, worrying I had thrown myself into premature labor or something . . . I went to the bathroom and checked myself out . . . and found blood.
Goku was sweating profusely as he worked among the thousand degree pieces of steel and lifting the huge slabs that weighed a ton and slid them one by one into a machine. His arms began to ache after the twentieth piece of steel, lifting so much weight over and over but he pushed through it and kept moving several pieces of steel into the other machine then starting the other machine once his machine stopped. That machine sent the slabs of steel down another conveyor belt that would move one slab forward, stop for a few seconds then move on. A worker used a huge piece of equipment to bend and warp the steel into the same shaped part. Once all of the slabs of steel had been shaped, a whistle blew signaling that it was time for lunch break.
Goku left the work floor and went to the rotted picnic tables that sat in one area outside of the factory after grabbing his lunch box and opening it up to find the homemade meal Alice had made for him today that filled up the tall box. It was a huge lunch.
Just as he was about to eat, his supervisor, Jonathan, the boss's son came out holding an old cell phone, yelling. "Mr. Son? GOKU SON!? SON GOKU?!" He yelled getting louder by the second.
Goku ran up to him. "Yes sir?"
Jonathan handed Goku the cell phone. "Phone call. They've been on hold for an hour or so . . ."
"Why didn't you tell me? It could be an emergency!" he frowned.
"Because you were working! Now answer the damn phone or I'll just take it and hang up! And it's coming out of your paycheck!"
Goku gritted his teeth then turned away from Jonathan answering the phone.
"Hello?"
"Goku! What the fuck man? Why didn't you answer the phone?!" Miku yelled. "You need to get your ass over here NOW."
"What happened?" Goku asked, growing worried.
"Something happened to Alice while she was working." Miku took in a deep breath, sighing. "She called all of us when she got to the hospital and she asked me to call you. There might be something wrong with the baby."
Goku felt as though his heart stopped and the world turned extremely slow now. He shook where he stood, nervously as Jonathan was trying to get his attention. He turned away from his boss regaining some of his composure.
"W-Which hospital?" Goku asked.
"The one in the middle of town . . . I suggest you get your ass over here as soon as possible. She's been back for awhile." Miku said.
Goku hung up the phone handing it to Jonathan. "I'm sorry, but I'm leaving. My wife is in the hospital and something may have happened to our baby. I gotta go, NOW. Bye."
He ran to the entrance of the factory. "NIMBUS!" he yelled as the puffy yellow cloud arrived and he jumped on it, flying to the hospital, soaring through the clear skies.
I lied there hooked up to all kinds of beeping machines as they ran several tests on me. I shook where I lie, crying my eyes out, fearing the worst. Fearing I would end up giving birth to a stillborn child, that my baby was dying, that I had sent him or her into an early labor that they couldn't survive.
Goku suddenly burst through the door as a nurse argued with him not to come in here. He sat next to my side on a small metal stool hugging me.
"Are you okay? Is the baby okay?" Goku asked, shaking.
I looked up at him still crying, unable to give him a comprehendible and he hugged me tightly as he shed a few tears himself.
Doctor Schwartz, my doctor who was following me through my pregnancy and would deliver the baby, walked in the room with a serious expression and I shook in Goku's arms, terrified of what he would say.
"Alright . . . let me tell you what's going on." He said, pulling up a rolling stool. He showed me a sonogram picture of my womb pointing to the top around the uterine wall. "You have a mild placental abruption . . . which is why you experienced the severe pain followed by slight vaginal bleeding. Now, you're lucky it wasn't severe otherwise the baby would be dead. Luckily it isn't too severe but that doesn't mean it can't become severe. I'm placing you under bed rest because I don't want you to take any chances. Four to five months of bed rest to prevent the placenta from completely detaching. I don't want you working or even lifting anything over five pounds. Other than this minor abruption, I haven't found anything else wrong, but do either of you have any questions?" He asked looking at the both of us.
Goku looked at him completely confused. "Umm . . . what's a placenta?"
The doctor laughed slightly and scratched the back of his head. "The placenta is what feeds the baby and gives it oxygen from the mother, which is why it's attached to the uterine wall in the womb. If it becomes completely detached, the baby dies because it can't get any oxygen . . . it's not supposed to come unattached until the baby is born. Your wife had a minor placental abruption meaning it barely became detached but it can still cause problems and if she isn't careful . . . it could become severe very quickly. The more she moves around, the worst it could get."
"Oh . . . okay . . . so . . . she has to stay in bed all the time?" Goku asked, squeezing my hand. "You aren't keeping her here are you?"
"We're not keeping her because she stopped bleeding which is a very good sign. Be glad that she did. She doesn't have to stay in bed all the time, she can move around the house a little, but she can't do a lot of house work . . . she needs to lay down most of the time. We'll release her as soon as I put these results on file and fill out the necessary papers . . . you have a good evening, I'll see you next Tuesday and make sure you're careful." The doctor said, dismissing himself and leaving.
Later that evening, Goku and I were lying in bed and he was holding me, rubbing my rounded stomach, half asleep. He kept kissing my neck over and over and my cheek.
"You scare me to death, Alice . . . please don't do it anymore . . . and take it easy . . . stop worrying so much . . . I'll make sure we're fed and the lights are left on . . . I promise . . ." he whispered.
I sighed and turned around; kissing him and then we both went to sleep. The next day began four months of bedrest.
