It was the next day and Carla was waking up from a night of peaceful night sleep. To her surprise, Peter was already there sitting beside her bed leaving her to reach out and take his hand as she began to wake. He smiled at her stroking his fingers across her cheekbone as they looked into each other's eyes and took in their appearance. She yawned sleepily and he immediately bent down and brought her in for a hug which comforted her. A nurse then came in with some food for Carla which she ate whilst Peter talked to her about what it was like at home.
"S-S-i" she whispers, Peter smiles and nods
"Yeah he's ok" Peter shrugs, Carla narrows his eyes "He's a great kid he's been keeping all of us afloat. I'll tell you something that boy is amazing"
"G...g...o-o-o...d" she responds with a small smile, she adjusts her position slightly so she was sitting up causing her to frown
"What?"
She grabs his hand and places it on her leg, she looks up at him and then grabs her phone
"It's tingly. Pins and needles"
"I'll get a nurse" Peter rushes out of the room to find a nurse and returns
"What does it feel like?" the nurse questions, Carla just bites her lip,
"Pins and needles in my foot"
"Ok," the nurse says gently, "Can you close your eyes for me?"
Carla closes her eyes and the nurse moves her hands up and down Carla's legs starting at the top then making her way down to her feet, she squeezes Carla's toes one by one causing Carla to gasp, her legs or toes dont move though.
"Could you feel that?"
Carla nods
"Ok then" the nurse breathes out glancing at Peter who looks up unexpectedly "This physio could be working then"
"Is that a good thing?" Peter asks, the nurse nods
"I'll go and get your doctor and then we'll talk some more about what we're going to do. He will most likely want to run some more tests. We really want to try and get you to be able to move to a chair"
"Try now"
"We can't now I'm afraid, maybe later. You have a meeting with the midwife first and then after we can try"
"Fine"
"Come on love don't be like that'' Peter responds softly, she just scowls "I know it's annoying for you baby but we'll get there. It's a slow process"
"You're doing really well Carla" the nurse assures her and Carla just scowls again "I'll leave you two to it, the midwife will be down in around an hour"
Carla goes to pick up her phone
"I just can't do anything"
"I know, love, but you will, you having that sensation in your feet is a good start"
"I just want to be normal"
"You're normal in my eyes sweetheart" he kisses her on the forehead "You're still the sane Carla in my eyes"
"I don't feel it"
"I know" he softens gently as she cries into his chest "You'll get there with our help"
"I want to go home"
"You have to stay here sweetheart where they can help you. If there was a way that you could come home then I would want you home. I don't like being away from you either"
"I hate this"
She cries more as he tries to soothe her gently by running his fingers through her hair
"We're going to get you better Car, we will" he assures her as the midwife enters the room
"I can come back, I am early"
"It's fine"
"How have you been feeling?" the midwife asks, Carla sighs slightly shaking her head and picking up her phone
"I just want to be out of here with my family"
"It must be hard for you Carla and we completely understand everything you are going through. How do you feel about the pregnancy?"
"I haven't had much time to think about it"
"Alright" the midwife smiles preparing the transducer "I can refer you to some mental health services if you have any worries about the pregnancy, you can just talk to them about how you're feeling"
"I dont know"
She shrugs glancing at Peter who smiles at her
"You've seen her notes on her mental health right?"
"Yeah, I have, with Carla's complex pregnancy it may be worth speaking to someone about the way she feels about everything. I could maybe contact the adult mental health services if you want or I can put a referral in?"
"Maybe you should love" Peter responds, Carla shakes her head "Just think about it sweetheart, we want to make this as easy as we can with you amongst all the complications and it may be easier for a professional to understand the way you're feeling"
"It's worth thinking about" the midwife smiles picking up the bottle of gel "Shall we start then?"
"O...k...k" Carla nods rolling her jumper up and allowing the midwife to place the gel onto her tummy, Carla flinches
"Did you feel that?" the midwife questions as the tears fill Carla's eyes "I'll get a nurse"
"Thank you," Peter says bringing Carla in for a hug "You're getting your feeling back sweetheart, did it feel cold?"
"Hm" she whispers as Peter kisses her on the head as a nurse enters the room with a small smile
"She felt the temperature"
"Ok let's try something," the nurse says grabbing some ice which she brought with her "Can you feel this Carla?"
"No" she shakes her head as the nurse places the ice on her tummy
"Ok," the nurse sighs "It looks like it could be a reflex and when I squeezed your toes earlier that was most likely a reflex as well. I'll still speak to the doctor though for you and then we'll all have a chat"
"Thank you," Peter says quietly wondering if Carla was actually feeling things or if these were just reflexes
"Shall we continue Carla?"
"O...k-k" she nods allowing the midwife to place the transducer onto her stomach
"Here," the midwife says quietly turning the screen around, Carla looks at it with a small smile on her face "A nice healthy heartbeat, it's amazing really considering everything your body has been through, its growing right on track right now"
"Thats amazing" Peter breathes out looking at Carla whose eyes were focussed entirely on the screen in front of her "A literal miracle"
"Essentially" the midwife smiles at Carla who was taking in the picture of her baby "We'll continue to monitor you closely as sometimes things can change rapidly but right now everything looks perfect. I couldn't be happier"
"Thank you," Peter says quietly looking at Carla who had tears in her eyes at the whole situation
"I'll print off some photos" the midwife smiles as she prints off some photos and passes them to Carla who examines them and wipes the gel off her stomach "I'll leave you to it"
"Thank you," Peter says once more as the midwife leaves the room, Carla passes him one of the photos "You don't have to"
She picks up the phone,
"I want to"
"Well thank you" he smiles, she grins up at him "Why don't you try and get some rest for a bit before the doctor comes, you look tired"
"O-O-k…k" she smiles pulling the blanket up over her body, Peter kisses her on the forehead
She slept for around two hours. Peter was there by her side and waited for her to wake up so that they could speak to the doctor. Soon the doctor came and it was concluded that Carla's feelings were just involuntary reflexes causing her to get rather angry that all hope had been shattered. The doctor suggested they upped physio but she shut him down obviously annoyed at the whole thing as she wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. She then started to ignore Peter and he knew she was annoyed at the whole thing so he left her to it and went back home as she was very upset at the moment and irritated by the whole thing.
"Hey Si"
"Hi dad" he smiles slightly standing beside him "How are you? Have you been to see Carla? How is she?"
"Twenty questions, son" he chuckles slightly as Simon grins "Yeah she's fine, she had pins and needles in her feet today so they examined her and she had some movement but they were just reflexes so she's quite upset at the moment as she thought she was making progress so I decided to just give her some space so she did not get annoyed with me"
"Wise choice" Simon nods "How are you?"
"You know, it's hard seeing her like that. There was talk about how they might have counselling for her so she can come to terms with her recovery"
"I asked about you though," Simon says, Peter sighs "How are you?"
"Tired, I feel like I can't do anything which will make the situation better for me and for her and you"
"You don't need to worry about me," Simon says quietly "I'm fine"
"Si, you don't have to pretend you know that right?"
"Look, just focus on Carla and yourself, I have mum looking out for me and then there's Nick. It's all good"
"I don't deserve you, you know that right, son?"
"Soppy" he pulls a face causing Peter to laugh slightly "But seriously I'm fine"
"Well as long as you are. I'm going to head back in as it's pretty nippy out here" he says as Simon nods "You can come in for a while if you want?"
"No it's fine," Simon says as Peter nods "See ya"
He watches double-checking his father was indoors before sighing in relief, he walks into the ginnel and pulls out a brown envelope seeing the wad of cash which was in there. He sighs shaking his head and then pulling out his phone and smiling; he sends a text,
Thank you for the money
At least someone cared...
"Where have you been!" Leanne exclaims as Simon pulls a face
"Out doing the chippy deliveries" he rolls his eyes causing her to sigh in relief "Was I late or something?"
"Yeah by two hours" she scolds, "You said you finished work at six"
"Yeah well there were more deliveries than expected, the more I do the more money we get" Simon responds "I was also speaking to dad"
"How is he?"
"He doesn't look the best. I'm not going to lie. He's trying to do his best for Carla as she had a bit of a blow at the hospital apparently"
"Poor Carla," Leanne sighs, shaking her head "Is she going to be ok?"
"I don't know, Dad doesn't seem to think she's coping" Simon shrugs "There were talks about her speaking to a counsellor again but I guess it's understandable when you can't walk or talk"
"You should go and see her she'd like that" Leanne suggests, Simon nods and shifts around slightly
"Yeah maybe" he mumbles "We'll just have to see. How has your day been?"
"I spoke to Imran and he's keeping my job open for when I'm ready," Leanne says, Simon looks up somewhat hopeful "But I just don't feel ready yet, y'know"
"I understand" Simon tries his best not to sigh as he felt guilty "I'm going to put my stuff away then maybe we can eat"
"Yeah that sounds good," Leanne says as something comes to her head "I also had a text from Toyah"
"Oh?"
"Yeah she and Imran are thinking about fostering this child which was placed with them, she was unsure as they're of a similar age to Oliver give or take a couple of years but I said it was ok. Would you be ok with it?"
"Yeah it's fine" Simon shrugs "Anyway let me put this stuff away then we can eat yeah?"
"Sounds great" Leanne smiles as Simon goes into his room and shuts the door, he pulls out his phone and checks it seeing a text there,
Anytime Si, day or night
At least Carla cared...
