"Hello, I'm Dr Wyler… nice to meet you" a female doctor smiled, meeting them out in the hall. Her mousy hair wisped out to the side as she stopped before them.
She shook Amelia and Owens hands, taking their names, and walked around, taking control of the wheelchair, dismissing the gentlemen in the burgundy scrubs. She pushed Amelia around a corner into a small ward like area and into a side room. She pushed the chair beside a desk and signalled for Owen to sit in the chair beside her. The women had an energy to her, one that eased some of the couples tension.
She sat down at the desk with a sigh and a smile, "right" she said, sliding a green file towards her and opened it. Amelia sat up straight, trying to see the page. "So… can I call you Amelia?" she said. Amelia nodded, squeezing the hand that Owen had rest of her knee. "Now before we get started, do you have any questions about anything that's happening? Has anyone spoken to you and your group?" Amelia and Owen glanced at each other.
"Uhh.." Owen stuttered, trying to gather his thoughts quickly, not expecting to have the opportunity. "No one has…" Amelia said.
"What is this place?" Owen asked. The mood suddenly morphing into one of thirst.
"This is the a military base. You're in the military hospital. The whole base has been adapted to suit its new purpose which is as a new settlement for survivors."
"What's going to happen?"
"You've all been cleared and don't have the disease. You'll be in the hospital for another…" she looked down at the file, "two more days, then you'll move to residential"
"Will we all be together?" Amelia asked.
"Yes you will be, You'll be in a block of your own" she said, nodding and pressing her palms against the desk. The couple fell quiet then. "Is that everything for now?" she asked, the pair nodded, sinking back into their nervousness.
"Okay… right, let's get to it…Are you aware that you are pregnant?" she said, bringing her hands together on the desk.
Amelia glanced quickly at Owen, "Yes… only recently…" she said, inhaling and shaking off the resistance to talk. "I had an accident about four weeks ago, I'm sure that masked the symptoms" she continued, more confidently.
Dr Wyler nodded and readied herself to stand. "Right… okay, well we're going to carry out all of the usual checks. Just to make sure everything is going to plan… okay?" she questioned, smiling at the pair as she rolled out from the table.
"Sure" Amelia appeared composed, only the strength at which she gripped Owens hand indicated her inner turmoil.
"I'm just going to weigh you, take your height… what is your original weight?" she said, guiding Amelia across the room to the scales. Dr Wyler held a clipboard in her hand and wrote down the measurements as they became apparent.
Owen sat quietly in the chair, watching, worried and curious. Amelia moved about the room, being measured and prodded. She'd meet his eyes every so often and smile slightly, though her eyes offered up mostly fear, and that fact made him want to walk across the room, stop all the tests and just hold her. He thought he could actually see that she was pregnant now; her hair, her breasts, her waist, just small changes that he hadn't noticed before, maybe all in his head. The realisation made his heart thump hard in his chest.
Amelia had to admit she appreciated the conversation, having been around the same people for the past three months. Even if it did include having to bare parts of her body that she wouldn't readily agree to after just twenty minutes of knowing her. "Okay you can pull your legs down from the stirrups now and lie flat for me" she said, guiding Amelia back by her shoulder.
She laid a blanket across Amelia's legs and tugged up her gown to reveal her stomach. "Owen do you want to come closer" she asked, as she multi tasked, writing a note onto the clipboard and pulling over the sonogram machine.
He hurried to shift his chair closer to Amelia, thankful to be involved and by her side again. Dr Wyler placed the clipboard down and began to palpate Amelia's stomach. "Your hormone levels indicate you're around twelve weeks… does that sound right?" she asked, blinking up at Amelia as she pressed against her abdomen. Amelia nodded distractedly, eyes fixed on Dr Wyler's busy hands. She felt numb with fear.
"Okay Amelia…I'm going to carry out a sonogram… Just relax" she said, drawing out her last words in a breath, preparing the equipment. Owen pulled Amelia from her mind, taking hold of her hand,
"Hey… it's okay" he whispered depressing a kiss against her forehead. The contact comforted her and she immediately wanted more, tugging his hand gently, meeting his lips. Dr Wyler continued her preparations. When she squeezed the gel onto her skin Amelia gasped against his lips and Owen chuckled, dropping another kiss against her forehead.
"Okay… there's baby" Dr Wyler twisted the screen slightly to face the pair.
Amelia held her breath… she and Owen could both see it; a healthy baby. Owen leaned forward slightly, across Amelia, to see the screen better. His mouth hung open, tears in his eyes. Amelia's eyes ran around the circumference of their baby's head, at the perfectly sized mass in the center, the brain, the beautifully forming… brain.
"Owen" she whispered. He smiled down at her kissing her sloppily. Their lips stretched into wide smiles, Dr Wyler stood in awe, "you seem very capable at interpreting the sonogram, are you medical professionals?"
They both nodded, clinging to one another, focus remaining fixed on the sonogram. The image blurred through both of their eyes as they filled with tears again. Their child's heart fluttered delicately.
Suddenly the image moved in sync with an audible rhythm and they both gasped. Dr Wyler beamed at them, feeling her own eyes begin to water, thankful too, for the hope that a new life brought.
They spent the next thirty minutes analysing every possible aspect of the baby, and Amelia's uterus, discovering that everything was progressing as good as could be. Another thirty minutes passed by, Dr Wyler took all of Amelia's medical history.
"Now this clean bill of health doesn't mean you won't have to make changes… the past couple of months will have been very stressful on you and the baby, you need to try to avoid stress…." Dr Wyler leaned forward against her desk. Amelia frowned. "Now I know what you're thinking, but now that you are in this facility I think you'll be able to… you need to just take it easy" Owen nodded more fervently than Amelia did. "Have you been having morning sickness?" Amelia worried her lips.
"Maybe… I had been having local anaesthetic injections for my injury and we thought I was having a bad reaction to it so…"
"Did you have any this morning?"
"Yeah… but I'm not sure that the local has completely worn off" Dr Wyler nodded, continuing her notes.
"Right… well, we'll keep an eye on that. Has it been very bad?" she asked and Amelia shrugged, looking up. Owen seemed dissatisfied with her answer. "It's been bad" he said, Amelia eyed him sharply.
"I don't want any drugs" she said, quickly turning back to Dr Wyler.
"That's okay, I'll put you on 25 mg of vitamin B6, to take three times a day, as well as your basic prenatal vitamins. I'll get the nurses to get you some ginger tea, and ale… biscuits?" she said. Amelia smiled, "sure" she said, smirking at Owen, both of them surprised at how warm and friendly the women was.
"You're at the end of your first trimester so it should be easing off soon, I want to see you for your next appointment in two weeks, after that every four weeks until you're twenty eight weeks, Okay?" she said, leaning down to collect the vitamins from a draw.
"Mmhm" Amelia said, feeling more overwhelmed by the second. She laid her arms across stomach and closed her eyes, inhaling an even breath, she felt Owen's hand on her thigh.
"I'll walk you back" Dr Wyler said, smirking. The dynamic was one that she was familiar with, a frightened mother, and the over-eager, likely to be overprotective, father.
They stood and Amelia wrapped her arms around herself, shrugging her shoulders as a chill running through her. She craved the day that she'd get her clothes, or any normal clothes. Owen curled his arm around her shoulders, the vitamins rattling in his hand.
Dr Wyler paused at the door, looking over Amelia, shivering in her hospital gown and tightened her lips. She walked to her desk and bent behind it, lifting up a navy zip up fleece. "Here" she held it up, towards Amelia, smiling warmly. Amelia hesitated, "please, I have some others" she continued, walking closer to Amelia and opening the garment for her to put on.
"So what did you do… before?" Dr Wyler asked, walking beside them as they walked down a long corridor back to their room. "We're both surgeons" Owen said, glancing across at the woman. "All but two of the adults in our group are." her expression twisted into one of surprise and she slowed.
"Really? What kind?" she said, folding her arms. "Well I'm trauma. Amelia is…"
"Neuro" Amelia looked up from the sonogram picture in her hand.
"And then we have pediatric, general, and foetal" he continued. Amelia listened vaguely, her main spread of attention was on the image. "Wow… Okay, well, we may call on you all some time" she said, nodding frantically. Owen smiled, nodding slightly, looking to Amelia. He smirked and draped his arm across her shoulders, pulling her tightly to her side. She was mesmerized by the image.
"This is you …" Dr Wyler said, pausing beside the door and pulling out her key card. "If you need to see me, just let the nurses know…" she glanced in through the door's rectangular window.
"My first name is Nina by the way, it was really nice to meet you" she smiled sweetly, tucking a curl of sandy hair behind her ear and reaching out, placing her hand against Amelia's shoulder. The couple smiled genuinely, relieved to have finally met someone who didn't treat them like criminals.
She unlocked the door and waved them in. "Rest, Amelia, and I'll come and see you in a couple of days to check on your morning sickness" she said lastly, Amelia nodded.
"Thank you Nina" Amelia said, turning back to her as she walked into the room, Arizona stood up, greeting Owen with a concerned smile. Ray jumped up and ran to Amelia. "Oh Nina?" Amelia called after her quickly, before the door closed. Nina stopped and moved into the room, "you wouldn't be able to get something for the kids to play with? They're bored out of their minds" she asked, hopefully. Ray clung to Amelia, face against her stomach. She looked up shyly.
Nina came into to room a fraction, meeting everyone's eyes and smiling. She saw Ellis at the end of a bed, a cardboard toilet roll center in her hand, a smiling face, with an eye lacking, drawn on it. She chuckled, looking back to Amelia, "I'll see what I can find" she said, nodding.
Ray tugged of Amelia's arm, peering up at her, "Ginny" she whispered, immediately pressing her face back against Amelia's stomach. "You…" Amelia began, looking back to Nina, who had sensed that there was more. "You don't know when we'll get our cat back?" Amelia asked her, laying her hands against Ray's back, sonogram held between two folded fingers.
"I'm sure you'll get her back in a couple of days, maybe sooner…Listen, is there anything I can get anyone else, I know they aren't particularly good at communicating in this ward?" she said, looking around at everyone.
Everyone gawked at her, pausing their movement as they tried to quickly decide whether to trust the women. Arizona stood up from her bed and stepped once towards where the Woman stood beside Amelia. "Some…" she began, pulling her gown around herself tighter, "Some clothes… will we get our clothes back?" Arizona met the Nina's eyes. Nina smiled, nodding slightly. "You'll get your clothes back when they move you to the residential area in a couple of days but I'll gather up some clothes for you today" she spoke clearly to Arizona, not moving her blue orbs from hers.
Arizona grinned appreciatively, "Thanks" she said.
"Owen said you're all doctors?" She asked, glancing around, gaze gravitating back to Arizona's. Arizona nodded again "I'm Foetal and pediatric" she said, before pointing to everyone else, naming their specialty.
"Well, we'll almost definitely have work for you all, if you're up for it?" She said, crouching down to greet Ellis, who had slipped from the bed and dawdled over to her. "Hey" she whispered, beaming at Ellis.
"Sure" Arizona said, folding her arms across her chest in an effort to attain some modesty. Nina stood, ruffling Ellis' hair.
"Okay, I'll get some clothing, it may just be scrubs but anything is better than the hospital gowns. Bring it to you in a little while, Okay?" she backed towards the door, scanning the room, nodding. The group had perked up, smiling toothily, "Yes thank you doctor" Evelyn spoke up.
TBC x