I really appreciate your reviews! For some reason, they weren't showing here but now they are! I am receiving them through my email so I really enjoy reading them, especially to those who review every chapter! Thank you so much and please keep them coming! Also I think this will be the last update for a few weeks, my prelims start on Friday for 2 weeks and I have been updating whilst revising but I am under a lot of pressure to succeed so I need to focus on them! Cheers, Nic x
I had been awake for hours; it felt like I had been up all night.
I told Nick, I convinced Nick everything would be ok.
Why was I so confident?
I started to run my fingertips over his chest, trying not to wake him but I clearly failed as we awoke imminently.
"You alright" He asked me as he propped himself up on his elbow.
"Yeah, yeah course. Excited" I lied.
"Carla, please stop acting as you are rubbish at it!" He joked, trying to send a serious message.
"Hey!" I said as I slapped his arm.
"It will all be okay? Won't it?" I asked sheepishly.
"I hope so. I really hope so" He whispered as he brought be into a hug, me cuddling into his chest and placing a hand on my bump.
"Ryan, don't worry about them. It's their loss" I said to my son who had yet again not got the job he had gone for.
"Honestly Mum, there isn't many jobs left in the area" He replied.
"What about Tilsley's Bistro?" I suggested.
"They are always banging on about being short staffed" I added.
"I've never been a waiter before?" He stated.
"Well you have the looks and Andy would teach you" I said.
"May as well try" He said a little more upbeat.
"They have their scan today so I'd probably wait until tomorrow" I replied, remembering the trauma I went through a few weeks ago.
"How are you coping Mum?" He asked me since we were alone.
"Im okay darling" I lied.
"Mum I can read you like a book, what's the worst?" He asked as he reached for my hand.
"Everything Ryan. I can't sleep because all I see is the car coming or the pain in my ribs is excruciating. I can barely even turn my neck and as for these bloudy crutches, the sooner my stiches settle in, the better" I added.
"I'm so sorry Mum" He said as he bowed his head.
"Hey, hey, hey. What have you got to be sorry for?" I questioned, puzzled.
"I promised you I would protect you and look at you" He said as I could feel a tear coming on.
"This couldn't have been stopped Ryan, believe me. Don't feel like this because when you can protect me, you won't because you've already backed out of it" I said as I brought him in for a hug.
"Carla Tilsley"
"It will all be okay" Nick reassured me. Oh how the tables had turned.
"Carla, how are you?" Claire asked me.
"I'm okay thanks, bit weird me having the scan!" I said, referring to Michelle's scan.
"This is my husband Nick. Nick this is Claire, she has been with Michelle" I said as they greeted each other.
"How has Michelle been keeping? She asked as I lay myself down on the bed.
"Eh, not the best. She has really been struggling with the crutches but she is a soldier and carries on!" I joked.
"Haha. She is a lovely lady and deserves the best" She said which really touched me.
"She is" I replied.
"Right then Carla, have you had children before?" Claire asked as she put the tissue around my clothes. Nick started to comfort me buy rubbing my shoulder as he knew I didn't like talking about my miscarriage.
"No but I miscarried in June 2014" I answered.
"Oh I am sorry to hear that. Well hopefully everything will be okay this time around" She responded.
I turned to Nick and he took my hand in his.
"This will be cold Carla and you will start to feel some pressure in a minute" Claire said as my ultra-scan began.
Over 5 minutes had passed and she hadn't said a word. I was getting worried and Nick could tell. He started to place kisses in my hair but I still felt anxious. Then our worst fears came true, Claire called for a superior supervisor.
"Is something wrong?" Nick asked as I was getting to emotional.
"I don't want to say anything until my supervisor arrives" Claire said, not making eye-contact with either of us.
"Nnnick, I can't do this. I can't do this again" I started to say panicking.
"Hey, hey, hey, you might not have lost it" He whispered, stroking my hair.
"C'mon Nick, we both know this isn't normal" I said as I could feel tears trickling down my cheeks.
"Carla, Im Tricia. Sorry, have we met before?" She asked a little puzzled.
"Yes, my friend Michelle was here a few weeks ago with a split in her placenta after being in a car crash" I said.
"Ah yes, is she doing ok?" She asked.
"Bearable I think" I said, not wanting to go into deep conversation, I just wanted to know if our baby was still here.
"Steve, where are you?" I shouted.
"I am trying to make a cup of tea but it is difficult with only one hand" He replied.
"Well Im on crutches so I am no use" I said with a tone.
"Michelle, look, we are both as useless as each other and it's just a shame that it has come at this time but please do not use a tone with me. We have to be strong together through this" He said, which sounded patronising to me.
"Steve! Shut up! I am carrying your baby while I am dealing with constant pain! You have no bloudy idea! Just stay out of it!" I shouted as I made my way out of the backroom.
"Ey, what going on in here?" I heard Liz say as she shut the door behind her. I made my way over to the door to ear drop.
"I don't know Mum, I think everything it just taking its toll on her but she keeps pushing me away and I can't help her" He said.
I walked away into the bar, annoyed at Steve's snide comments.
20 minutes after Tricia arrived and we still heard nothing. Nick was trying to distract me by keeping me in conversation about our Bistro. It felt weird calling it ours.
"Carla, how far along were you when you lost your baby?" Claire asked which did worry me.
"I was around 16 weeks" I replied.
"How did you lose it, if you don't mind me asking?" She added.
"It was put down to extreme stress, it's a long story" I replied not wanting to go into depth.
"Right, thank you" She smiled.
"Have I lost it again?" I asked.
"No, you haven't" She smiled.
Nick and I breathed a huge sigh of relief. He placed kisses in my hair.
"So, is there something wrong with me?" I piped up.
"No, not quite. We just needed to know how stretched your womb would have been because it will stretch quite big this pregnancy" Tricia replied.
"Is the baby big?" Nick asked.
"Not baby, babies!" Claire said as she turned the screen around.
"Carla, your carrying triplets!" Claire smiled.
"Wow, Nick" I said, a slight hint of worry in my tone.
"Congratulations" Tricia and Claire said.
"We will take a few measurements and obviously, the babies will be considerably smaller but so far, all is looking good" Claire added bringing tears to my ears.
"Nick, 3 babies at once? How are we going to do this?" I questioned him, baffled but pleased.
"Like we always do. Carla, neither of us have lived a "normal" life, so what's the difference?" He asked.
"I love you Tilsley" I said.
"I love you, and our 3 wee ones" He said as his head indicated to my bump.
"Right then Carla, right now, all three babies are looking as comfortable as possible. Your placenta is the rarest, trichorionic which means each baby has their own placenta, this isn't bad however. You will need more scans than a normal pregnancy but I will refer you to Tricia after this where she will tell you exactly when you need certain tests. Normally, we do not run tests detecting Downs syndrome until your second appointment but because this is your second pregnancy, we wanted to let you know in case the result was positive for Downs syndrome" She said, letting me and Nick process this information.
"So do any of our babies have Downs Syndrome?" Nick asked.
"From the tests run earlier, we can see no sign of Downs Syndrome" She said which was pleasing although it wouldn't matter if they did.
"You are in terrific health Carla which is brilliant for the babies as well as yourself. I will let you go speak to Tricia, she is only next door" She said as she said goodbye.
"Thank you Claire" We both said.
"Steve, I am sorry the way I snapped earlier" I said nervously as we were standing behind the bar.
"Hey, don't worry about it. Your hormones are wild right now and we aren't exactly in the best condition the now are we?" He said as he lifted his arm in its stookie.
"Thanks darling, I shouldn't take it out on you though" I said, reinforcing how sorry I was.
"Come here you" He said, indicating for an embrace which was difficult when I had crutches and one of his arms was restricted.
"I can't believe this Carla" I said as I placed my hand on her bump.
"I know. I am going to get so fat" She joked.
"Don't worry sweetheart, everything will be okay. I promise" I said as she moved her head to my chest.
"I know, I have you, everything will be okay"
