Chapter 30 –Prenatal Care
The following Thursday…
Abby is walking along the corridors of the OB floor, sporting a colorful bruising that developed round the laceration on her brow. She is heading for her first booking in appointment with the obstetrics. She knows what to expect after working few years as a nurse in OB. She feels a bit anxious going alone, as she would have preferred to have company of a friend to go with her, like Susan Lewis, unfortunately who is running late for some reason. Deep down she would like John Carter to be there, even though he has treated her badly, Abby feels forgiveness after he confessed to her in his letter he left her before leaving the country. At the end of the day, he is the father and should be part of the child's life.
She enters the waiting room and walked to the reception area. No one is present; she presses the bell for attention. Abby turned to look around the room and sees there is half a dozen pregnant woman sitting in the waiting room, doing various thing like flicking through magazines, doing breathing exercises and rubbing their swollen tummies comparing the sizes with each other. She spotted the very cosy Sam and Luka in the corner. Abby smiled and raised her hand to wave at them. They wave back and Luka planted a kiss on Sam's cheek, she turns to him to give him a full kiss.
"Get a room" Abby muttered under her breath
"Hello can I help you?" The receptionist greeted.
"Yes Abby Lockhart, I have an appointment with OB Doctor"
"Let me look" The receptionist looked at the PC screen "Oh yes Abigail Lockhart"
"Abigail Lockhart" she mouthed and rolled her eyes
"Would you like to take a seat Miss Lockhart"
"Doctor Lockhart… thank you" Abby said correcting the woman who is wearing an embarrassed smile. She walked over to Sam and Luka and sits next to them.
"Hey Abby, your first appointment?" Luka asked holding Sam's hand
"Yep, it is, I guess this is your first scan?"
They both nodded playfully, they kiss each other again and giggled. Abby forced a smile thinking that she is going to throw up and her thoughts were when she was looking at them giggling away like two teenagers…
'Looks like they've sorted their problems out then, maybe the baby has bonded them close again, lucky them I have no-one for sure, I don't know if Carter will ever be in my life. Life's a bitch then you die oh well I am going make sure this Carter Jr is going to have the best in life, the child hood that I never had"
"So are you going to find out what sex of the baby at your 20 weeks scan?" Luka asked.
"Erm. I've haven't really though about it, probably not I'll leave it as a surprise"
"We want to know" Sam smiled "Good way of preparing the nursery"
"Hmm I am not going to do the nursery in pink if it's a girl" Abby laughed "I hated pink ever since Carter took me to a charity dinner and fished out a horrible pink dress for me to wear, I'm going to do a neutral color"
"If it's a girl I want to called it Lilijana after my grandmother"
"No Luka I don't want our child having a foreign name"
"Sam we agreed that you pick the boys and I pick the girls name!"
Abby raised her brows at the pair, wondering if this going to be a full-blown argument. She leaned over to pick up a magazine.
"What do you think Abby?" Luka asked
"What?" Abby raised her head from looking down at the magazine
"Lilijana"
"Nice but it's not up to me" She chuckled, flipping the pages. "Perhaps you could shorten the name to Lily?"
"Lily… that's lovely! Oh thanks Abby" Sam smiled. "What you think Luka?"
"Beautiful" Luka grinned, lost for words.
"Oh I'm sorry I'm late Abby" Susan said rushing in, out of breath looking stressed out "I got held up with my appointment with my lawyers, it took longer than I thought"
"That's ok, I wouldn't be offended if you weren't up for it"
"No not problem, I don't want to let you down, at least it would keep my mind off things" Susan sat down next to Abby and is surprised at who else were present "Oh hi Luka, Sam I didn't see you both there"
"Hi" The couple waved at the same time.
"Lawyer? You having problems?" Luka asked in curiosity.
Susan grinned, shaking her head; she doesn't want to talk about it.
A nurse walked into the waiting room and called out a name. "Samantha Taggart?"
Sam and Luka both get up and nodded at Abby and Susan. "Bye"
"Saved by the bell" Susan said blowing out air in relief.
"How did you get on with your lawyer?"
"Not good I am so…" Susan replied and lowered her voice to swear, "Fucking furious with Chuck, he's applying for custody of Cosmo"
"No that won't happen, if it comes to the worst it be a joint custody" Abby said reassuring her friend.
"Yeah my lawyer said that"
"Susan, I've been invited to my cousin's wedding, back at home on Valentines weekend"
"That is nice for you, to get away"
"Well I was just asking if you wanted to come along. Give me company, thought you could do with a break yourself"
"I wouldn't say no to that" Susan's face brightened up "I love to go, I definitely need a break, to get away from here and I haven't had one since… well I can't remember!"
"We'll travel, early Friday morning, ok?" Abby asked leaning over to put the magazine back on the table.
"Fly or drive?"
"Minneapolis is only 400 miles from here which probably take 6 hours by car to get there"
"Yeah why not have a girly road trip!" Susan snorted in her laugh.
"I'll book the hotel rooms later this afternoon"
"Yeah try get a double singles please, I don't want to be alone in my room in a strange place"
"Strange place? You have never been!" Abby joked at her friend.
"Abigail Lockhart?" The nurse announced at the doorway.
"Off you go Abigail!" Susan nudged her friend who is unimpressed being called by her full name.
"Abigail Lockhart? Please take a seat," the Obstetric said, looking down at the notes in front of him. Then looked up and recognised his patient "Oh Dr Lockhart, I thought the name was familiar!"
"Call me Abby" The brunette smiled and sat down.
"Oh hello Dr Lewis"
"Hi Dr Trenton" She nodded.
"Right… as you know the procedure of your first booking-in for your antenatal care" He gets up from behind the desk and walks round to sit on the front of his desk. "Can I have your urine sample if you have one?"
Abby opened her bag and pulled out a Lab envelope containing her urine sample and her bloods.
"I've got my bloods here too to save you doing it" Abby gave him the samples.
"Thank you" He said looking surprised. He takes it from her and gives it to the nurse who is standing on the other side of the desk. "Janet, can you get me the result for these samples please"
Dr Trenton got up and walked back to sit behind his desk, he picked up a pen and opened the file.
"Can you tell me when was your late date of LMP (Last Menstrual Period)? How long your average cycle and how many days does it last?"
"LMP was November 14th, the average cycle is 25 days and lasts for 7 days"
The Doctor picks up a EDD (Estimated Delivery Date disc to check what date the baby is due "You are nearly 7 weeks pregnant and your baby's EDD is August 21st"
"Oh a Leo baby!" Abby chirped
"You have a Mulitgravida pregnancy history, on my records you had a termination 9 years ago, is that correct?"
"Erm… yes" She muttered under her breath. She closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip.
"Maybe I ask the reason for it?"
"My marriage was a sham, it was a bad time"
"Abby I have a few questions regarding you and your family medical history"
Abby turned her head to look at Susan, forcing a grin at her and mouthed "Interesting"
"Do you or any one in the family have a heart problems, had a stroke, Cancer or suffer from asthma?"
"No"
"What about the baby's father?"
Abby leaned forward and puffed out her cheeks at the question, how much does she know about Carter?
"I know that his grandmother died last year from heart problems, but that was old age" She leaned back into the chair and crosses her legs "and of course his brother died of leukaemia when he was a boy"
"Is there any other conditions your family suffers from?"
Abby nodded at Dr Trenton and sat in silence staring at him. He looked back at her peering over his glasses waiting for her to answer. A minute passed and Susan leaned over to tap on her shoulder "Abby" She jerked when she is woken from her dreaded thoughts.
"Oh yes... erm… my mother and younger brother suffers from Bi-polar Disorder" Abby answered clearing her throat and folded her arms.
"Ok" Dr Trenton responded and writes in the notes "If you don't suffer from it yourself, the chances are low for your baby to get the condition"
Abby turned to Susan, raising her brows. She nodded in return.
"Right Abby how are you feeling in general? Have you had morning sickness?"
"Yes I feel generally well and I have had a few sickness, but it's easing off now"
"Ok I will have to do a pelvic exam on you now, would you like to hop on to the couch" Trenton asked pointing his arm in that direction.
"Is this a new procedure?" Abby asked with a frown "I don't remember this when I was a OB nurse, only happens if you have problems"
"Well medical rules change all the time, we have to check for prolapsed uterus or pelvis dysfunction, where the pelvis separates"
"Of course I should know that, I've dealt with them in the ER"
"Dr Lewis is here, she can chaperone for me"
Abby gets up and walked to the couch and Trenton drew the curtains across.
"Let me know when you're ready?"
A minute passed a voice calls from behind the curtains. "I'm ready"
Trenton drew back the curtain and stepped forward snapping on his surgical gloves. Abby is laid across the couch, without her pants on but a sheet draped across her pelvic area.
"Lube please" He asked putting his hand out at Susan who frowned back at him. 'Who does he think he is? I'm not his nurse, I am the Chief of Emergency Medicine!' She slams the tube in hand. He squeezes the lube on two of his fingers.
"Please can you relax, I am going insert my fingers" Trenton inserted them in her and with the other hand; he examines her lower abdomen by pressing gently. Abby looked up at the ceiling, pursing her lips. "That's fine, no problems there"
"Thank you" Abby said sitting up and Trenton again drew the curtain.
A knock on the door, a nurse popped her head round the door. "Have the results here"
Abby drew back the curtain, finishing buttoning her pants. She sat herself down in front of the desk.
"The results come back fine, no protein or sugars in your urine. Your bloods results should come back in a few days stating your blood group and haemoglobin level, one last thing I need to take your blood pressure" He leaned over to strap the belt on Abby's arm and switched the machine on to read the pressure. "120 over 70, very good"
"Is there any question you would like to ask?"
Abby shook her head; she has the expertise knowledge in that medical field.
"We would like to book you in for a scan at 12 weeks"
Abby and Susan leave the Obstetrics office; they noticed Sam and Luka in the corridor entering the elevator. They are fixated at their scan picture of their baby. They rush to catch that ride, by the time they get there the door have already closed.
"I don't mind taking the stairs" Abby said catching her breath "Oh Susan… thanks for coming"
"No worries"
"And… would you be my birth partner?"
"Of I course I love to…but what about Carter?"
"Can I guarantee that he will be there? Anyway if he is present, I still want you to deliver our baby"
They both make their way down stairs.