Jonathan got to the hospital and went to the waiting room. He found a nurse and asked her to let Dr. Kendall know that he was in the waiting room.
He sat down and tried to read a magazine, but couldn't focus on it. All he wanted was to see Jennifer and know that she was ok.
After about 30 minutes, Susan came to talk to him.
"How is Jennifer?"
"She's resting, which is good. But I'm afraid her situation is critical. She is only 18 weeks, so that complicates things. Her blood pressure is just refusing to drop, which means I can't discharge her. The baby is moving, but not as much as we would like. If her blood pressure continues to rise, we might have to take the baby early. And at 18 weeks, the baby would not survive".
He nodded.
"There is one thing I want to try, and I am holding off as long as possible. I gave her a shot for her headache, and if that works, but doesn't drop her pressure, I want to put her in reverse Trendelenburg position."
"What is that?"
"It's where we elevate the foot of the bed and lower the head of the bed, so that her head is lower than her feet. It's typically used when the baby is sitting too low in the uterus too early. That's not the case with Jennifer, but it also can help your blood pressure go down, so that's why I want to try it".
"How long will she have to be like that?"
"As long as possible. Hopefully, it will level her pressure off and then I can prescribe her a pill to take every day to help keep her blood pressure stable".
"Can I see her? I just want to tell her I love her, I swear I won't fight with her at all or stress her out".
"I will allow it. But I'm serious-no stress."
He followed her to her room, and he saw that Jennifer was still sleeping. He leaned down and kissed her, and then sat by her bed and held her hand.
"I love you Jennifer. I'm right here".
About 20 minutes later, Susan came in and took her pressure again.
It was higher than last time.
"Can I see you in the hallway?"
He nodded.
He got up, and covered her with the blanket, and leaned down and kissed her, and whispered in her ear that he loved her. He then headed to the hallway to speak to Susan.
"Jonathan, her pressure is increasing, not decreasing. I am going to give her a stronger shot, and it's going to make her sleep all night. She isn't going to wake up till the morning, so there's no reason for you to stay. She needs to stay as calm as possible, and you need to rest also. So, why don't you go home and rest and come back first thing in the morning? If anything changes, I will call you myself".
"If you think that's best".
"I do. She needs to be kept as calm as possible, and having her sleep is the best way to do that".
"Ok. Call the private line if you need me".
"I will check on her first thing in the morning, and call you and update you. Wait to come see her until you after you hear from me?"
He nodded.
He left and headed home, feeling like half of his heart was left behind.
***The next morning***
Jennifer slept all night and finally woke up at 7.
She felt someone grab her hand.
"Jonathan?", she said sleepily without opening her eyes.
"No ma'am, my name is Melanie. I am your nurse".
"Oh, I'm sorry. Where is my husband?"
"You have been alone in the room all night, ma'am".
"Oh. Is Dr. Kendall in?"
"She was here till about 2 a.m. She said she would be back at 9".
"Ok, thank you".
She laid her head back against the bed.
She couldn't believe Jonathan hadn't come to check on her at the hospital. This wasn't just about her, it was about the baby. She was doing this for the baby. Him not coming to the hospital just proves that he really didn't want the baby after all.
She was so hurt. She couldn't believe that she had been so foolish as to not protect herself from pregnancy. Because she hadn't, she was in the situation she was in now. If she had protected herself, she and Jonathan would be ok.
Susan came in at 9, and checked on Jennifer.
Her pressure had only dropped a few points.
"Sleep well?"
"Yes".
"How is your headache?"
"Gone".
"Glad to hear it".
"Can I eat something?"
"Yes. But not anything salty. I am completely cutting salt out of your diet, starting now".
Jennifer nodded.
She ordered breakfast while Susan looked over the printout from the fetal monitor.
"I think I am going to give you a dose of a medicine, that if it works, you can then start to take in pill form. We should know by this afternoon if it will work for you. If not, we will have to resort to drastic measures."
"Like what?"
"Like putting you in a de-elevated state, known as reverse Trendelenburg. It's where we highly elevate your feet, and lower your head, and you lay like that in order to reduce your blood pressure".
"How long will I have to stay like that?"
"As long as it takes".
She stared straight ahead, not liking either of her options.
Susan went and got the IV bag of the medicine, and came back and started an IV for her.
Her breakfast came, and she scarfed it down. As soon as she was finished eating, she fell asleep again.
Susan came back and checked on her at 11. Her pressure was dropping, so she prescribed the medicine in pill form for Jennifer.
"It is imperative that you don't miss this pill, Jennifer. Call me if you run out, loose them, whatever. I promise you, I will happily write you another prescription for them, but you need to take this medicine. You need to also not eat anything salty, up your water intake to 120 oz. /day, more if you can. I want you on pelvic rest for 4 days. And absolutely no stress. If you and Jonathan start to fight, literally get up and walk away. Do whatever you have to do to avoid stress. I mean it".
"I understand".
"And I want to see you every day for blood pressure checks in my office. On weekends, you can come to the hospital".
Jennifer nodded.
She signed the discharge papers, and Jennifer went to the bathroom and got dressed.
About an hour later, she was on her way home.
***Willow Pond***
Jonathan was sitting on the couch when Jennifer came in.
"Darling, what are you doing here?"
"I live here".
"I know that. I'm just surprised to see you is all".
"Well, sorry to disappoint you".
She turned and headed upstairs.
He followed her.
"Can I get you anything?"
"No".
She was changing into her yoga pants and a tank top again.
He walked over to Jennifer and tried to put his arms around her.
"Please don't touch me".
She moved past him and went downstairs. He followed her and found her on the couch.
He sat at the end of the couch, not touching her.
"Jennifer, can we talk a second?"
"Do we have to? We really don't have anything to discuss".
"Ok, fine. We can talk later".
He grabbed his keys and left. As soon as he shut the door, her eyes filled with tears.
She read for a little while on the couch, and then fell asleep.
About 2 hours later, he came home, and found her sleeping on the couch.
He picked her feet up and put them in his lap, and started giving her a foot massage.
She woke up about 20 minutes later.
"Oh, it's you".
"Hi".
She got up and headed to the kitchen.
A few minutes later, he went in to the kitchen to talk to her.
She tried to move past him and leave the kitchen but he wouldn't let her.
"How long are you going to keep doing this, leaving a room as soon as I enter it? Come on, Jennifer. This is insane".
"Is it? You don't want our baby, and you don't care about me, why should we spend time together?"
"That is your hormones talking. I know you don't really think that".
"No Jonathan, that's where you are wrong. This is me talking, not my hormones. I do really feel this way".
"Jennifer, that is ridiculous. You know that I love you more than anything, and it may have taken me a minute, but I am definitely on board with this baby".
"Are you? What does that look like, exactly? From where I'm sitting, you couldn't care less about me or the baby".
"Jennifer-calm down, please".
"Don't tell me to calm down! I have no need to calm down, Jonathan. The fact of the matter is, I was hospitalized last night and you didn't even bother to come to the hospital".
"That's not true, I was there. Susan wouldn't let me see you, except for about 20 minutes".
"Susan might be my doctor, but she is also my friend. She wouldn't keep you from me. she knows very well that I want you to be part of my life and my baby's life, and that the only one here who wants out is you".
"I don't want out, Jennifer. Honest".
"I can't do this with you, right now. I am going to go lay down".
She headed to the couch and got comfy.
He came and sat with her.
He picked up her hand and laced his fingers through hers.
He grabbed the phone and called Susan.
"Hi, it's Jonathan. I am putting you on speaker".
"Hi Jonathan".
"Listen, Jennifer has this silly idea that I didn't come to the hospital last night and that I don't care about her and the baby. So, can you please answer this question-Did you see me at the hospital last night?"
"First, let me check on my patient, please. Jennifer, are you staying stress free?"
"I was, till Jonathan came home. I am lying down now, and trying to rest".
"Jonathan, she has to be stress free, or she will end up in the hospital again".
"I understand that. I think it's stressing her out more to think that I don't care about her or the baby, so I am trying to convince her that she is wrong about that".
"I'm just saying, if he had bothered to show his face at the hospital, I wouldn't feel this way".
"Susan, can you please tell her that I was there?"
Susan didn't want to stress Jennifer any more than she already was.
"I'm sorry Jonathan, I did not see you".
"Susan, seriously?"
"Yes. Now Jennifer, if you think his being there is stressing you out, then maybe you two need time apart till we can get her blood pressure evened out".
"Listen, I have to go check on a patient. Jennifer, call me if you need me. Jonathan, leave her alone please and let her rest."
"Sorry Susan, thank you for talking to us".
"Anytime. Bye".
Jonathan was dumbfounded. He couldn't believe that Susan didn't tell Jennifer the truth.
"Jonathan, you and I aren't getting along and I can't handle stress because of the baby. So, maybe we should spend some time apart".
"You want me to move to the guest room?"
"I was thinking more like the corporate apartment".
"Jennifer, come on. I love you. You know that. This is just a big misunderstanding. Babe, please…don't do this".
"Do you think this is easy for me?"
"I don't know how you feel anymore, to be honest. You used to tell me, but now you scream at me, or you ignore me."
"Let's review, shall we? I tell you I want a baby, you say no. You give me every reason under the sun as to why you felt that we shouldn't be parents. Including insulting my abilities to take care of children. Then, you agree to think about it and take the daddy class, which you were amazing at. But you didn't really think about it, did you? No, because the second we get in the car you tell me that you had no intentions of having children with me. Which, by the way is an incredibly selfish decision, that you had no business making for me. But when I point that out, you get pissed at me, and don't speak to me. Then I tell you I'm pregnant, and you don't even want the baby, which you confirmed to me at the Bistro, and here, on the steps the next day. Then, you supposedly came around and got all excited. But the second something goes wrong, and I have to go to the hospital, you flake out on me. We live 15 minutes from the hospital, and you can't even be bothered to come visit. I tried to call you at the office yesterday, and tell you that she was putting me in the hospital, and you wouldn't even talk to me. I literally cannot see a way for you to make it any clearer that you don't want this baby or me".
"Jennifer, this is silly. Come on, you know me better than that. I didn't want to have a kid, that's true. But that doesn't mean I'm not glad that we are having a kid. I am happy about the baby, honest."
"Then, why didn't you come to the hospital?"
"I did come. I got home, you weren't here. I waited, because I figured you were out shopping somewhere. Then, when you still didn't come home, I called Susan. She said you were at the hospital. I said I am on my way, she said no, that you needed to stay calm. I told her that you were my wife and this baby is my baby, and she agreed to let me come to the waiting room. After she updated me, I begged her to let me see you. she had given you a shot, and you were sleeping. She told me that she would call me this morning after she saw you and let me know I could come visit, and you came home before I ever got a phone call".
"I called you myself yesterday and told you I was going to the hospital. You got snarky with me".
"Yes, because your rude comment yesterday morning hurt my feelings. Hormones or not, it wasn't nice".
"Well, I apologize for that. But you don't seem to get how miserable I am. I hate myself in the mirror, I am not in a good mood, and I don't know what I want from one minute to the next. You wanting to jump my bones isn't going to help anything".
"That's not what I was doing. I was making a joke, Jennifer. I was trying to get you medicine for your headache".
"So, tell me this. If you really did come to the hospital, why would Susan tell me that you didn't?"
"I have no idea. I can only assume that she has seen so many patients in the past few days she doesn't know what end is up".
He was quiet for a minute, and so was she.
"You know, there was a time where you trusted me no matter what. I never thought you having our child would put an end to that. Guess I'll go pack now".
He went upstairs to pack, while she sat on the couch and cried.