Carla was sure that Liam was breaking every speed limit on the way to Weatherfield General, not that she cared. She was so consumed with fear. The worry and uncertainty she felt when she found out was nothing in comparison to this. In her head, she was bargaining with whatever higher power was up there; making all sorts of promises, just so long as the baby was ok. After losing Paul, she couldn't lose his baby as well.
Once they had arrived, Liam took Carla straight to the maternity ward. He took her to the desk, where she didn't speak. So he spoke for her. He rested a reassuring hand on her back, letting her know that she wasn't alone.
"My sister-in-law. She's pregnant and she said she's bleeding." He told the nurse at the desk. She didn't seem fazed by the issue, which made him seem more at ease, but Carla's demeanour didn't change. He hadn't seen her like this - this broken - since they were younger, and he didn't like it one bit.
"Alright my love, what's your name?" The nurse asked her.
"Carla, Carla Connor." She told her, her throat burning from where she had been crying so much.
"When did the bleeding start?" The nurse questioned.
"I don't know, about an hour ago? We came straight here as soon as I found out." She explained.
"Well, you definitely did the right thing." She smiled sympathetically. "How many weeks are you?" She asked.
"I'm not too sure. I only found out yesterday, and I haven't got an appointment yet. The GP said he couldn't fit me in until late next week." Carla replied.
"Alright my love, take a seat over there and I'll see if I can get a midwife to take a look at you." She explained. Carla nodded in response, as Liam lead her to a row of plastic chairs at the end of the corridor.
"Are you ok?" He asked her, as they sat down.
"I don't know." She sighed. "Liam, what if I lose the baby? I can't lose that as well." She added, more tears threatening to fall. She didn't even think that possible; she'd cried so much over the past week. Her eyes constantly burning, as if she had been punched.
"You won't, you'll be fine." He told her, resting his hand on her knee.
"But I was drinking." She reminded him, tormenting herself.
"Well you weren't to know, were you?" He told her. "Just don't panic, I'm sure the baby'll be fine." He added.
"Are you Carla?" A midwife asked, coming over to the both of them. She nodded, her face showing nothing but fear and uncertainty.
"If you'd like to follow me." She instructed her, as Carla followed her. Liam decided to wait where he was. As much as he wanted to go with her, if it was bad news, he didn't think that she'd want him with her.
"So, the nurse said you had experienced some bleeding?" The midwife questioned.
"Yeah. I just saw it and panicked." She recalled.
"That's understandable. So, because we don't know how many weeks you are, I'm going to take some blood if that's ok, and try to work it out from there. If you're early on, an ultrasound scan might not be the best course of action." She explained calmly, a stark contrast to how Carla was feeling in that moment.
"Yeah, that's fine." She agreed.
"Alright, I'll get that sorted for you." She smiled softly. "I know it's easier said than done, but try to relax." She advised her, leaving the room to get the things she needed.
Carla was left in the room alone for only a matter of minutes, but even in that short space of time, she went through hell. Torturing herself on how she should have been more careful, how she should have known earlier.
"Sorry, I hope I wasn't too long." The midwife told her, coming back into the room.
"No, it's fine." She lied, her voice wavering.
"Let's get this sorted, and we can come up with a plan of action from there." She smiled, Carla rolling up her sleeve.
Carla almost didn't notice that the midwife had finished taking her blood. She was far too distracted.
"There we are. I'll get this off to the lab and we'll take it from there." She smiled once more, leaving Carla once again. She contemplated asking for Liam to join her, to keep her company. But she decided against it. If anything was wrong, she didn't want to make it harder than it already was, and she didn't feel like having to put up with his small talk or distractions.
I seemed like forever until a Doctor came to see her. When she saw him, it put her on edge. If it wasn't that serious, surely he would be far too busy to see her.
"Mrs Connor?" He asked as she nodded. "So, we've got your bloods back, but they're consistent with hormone levels that we'd expect to see in someone a little more than a few weeks along into their pregnancy." The doctor told her, which set alarm bells for Carla.
"What does that mean?" She asked. "Is the baby ok?" She stressed, the fear evident on her face.
"I think you might be further along than we first thought." He explained.
"How much further?" Carla quizzed him, trying to think of how far along she might be.
"Around the twelve or thirteen week mark, but we can't say for sure until we conduct an ultrasound scan. That'll confirm just how far into the pregnancy you are." He told her. She nodded, agreeing to the ultrasound. Although, now she was confused. If she was further along, that meant that Paul had every chance to find out while he was still here - and that could have changed everything. The crash might not have happened, Paul might not be dead.
Carla was soon taken into another room, which had an ultrasound machine in it. The room was pretty empty and it made her feel lonely. She wanted nothing more in this moment than to have Paul with her. She knew that he would have supported her through anything, and this would be no different. She longed for him to be next to her, holding her hand and reassuring her that everything was going to be alright. Now it had hit her more than ever before; he wasn't there anymore.
"This will be a little cold." The sonographer warned, as she put the freezing gel on her stomach.
Carla closed her eyes and bit her lip, before hoping just one more time that everything would, for once, turn out ok. She waited for a while, until she could no longer stand to be left in the dark. "Is it alright?" She dared to ask, looking up to the ceiling, not daring to look at the small screen to her right.
"Would you like to take a look?" The sonographer asked, a reassuring smile on her face.
"Can I?" She asked, now looking at the older woman. She nodded and smiled, knowing the signs of a worried mother, and sensing that she needed reassurance. Carla turned her head to the screen and was amazed at what she was seeing infront of her. A sense of pride washed over her. That was her baby. Her and Paul's. But the pride soon turned to worry once more when she remembered where she was. She still didn't know if the baby was alright.
"Can you see that little flutter?" She asked, with Carla humming in response. "That's baby's heartbeat." She smiled, pointing it out on the monitor. "It's measuring about seven and a half centimetres, which seems really small at the moment, but it would make you around the thirteen week mark." She explained. "The Doctor was right." She confirmed. "Don't worry. It'll grow more, the further along you get." She chuckled slightly, still noting Carla's worry.
"Is it ok though? What about the bleeding?" She asked nervously, her voice shaking slightly.
"You'll be able to talk that through with the nurse, but from what I can see, it's nothing too concerning. Baby seems absolutely fine. It looks like someone just wanted to give their mummy a little bit of a scare, that's all." She smiled, pitting Carla's mind at ease.
"Well, they certainly did that!" She chuckled, now not wanting to take her eyes off the screen.
"Would you like to know your due date?" She asked softly.
"Yes please." Carla replied, a small smile on her face as she continued to look at her baby.
"Baby's due around the 9th of December. But bare in mind that they could come a couple of weeks before or after that date." She informed her, before putting the probe back in it's holder. "I'll print off a couple of pictures. Then I think the midwife will go through appointments with you and answer any questions that you have." She explained, before leaving the room to get the pictures from the printer.
"Thank you." She smiled. The image of her baby still on the screen. She couldn't quite believe that this was going to be her life. The next six months would be filled with getting everything ready for a baby - one that, just a week ago, she never thought she'd have, especially without her husband here. But the scare had made her realise just how much the baby meant to her.
The midwife came back into the side room and talked Carla through appointments and how to take care of herself. She answered all the questions that she had and presented her with a folder, containing all of the documents she'd need for now.
After that, she was told that she was free to go. She grabbed the folder and headed back out to the waiting area, where Liam was still sat.
"What's the matter? Is everything…?" Liam questioned, practically leaping from where he had been sitting, desperate to know if everything was alright. Carla had been away for a long time, and the longer she was being checked over, the more he started to worry.
"Say hello to your little niece or nephew." She announced, turning the scan photo around, so that he could take a look.
"So it's…" He prompted.
"Fine." She nodded. "Nothing to worry about." She smiled, seeing the excitement on his face at the prospect of being an uncle once more.
"So the bleeding?" He asked.
"Normal, apparently." She told him, rolling her eyes slightly at her initial panic.
"Well, thank God for that." He sighed in relief.
"Exactly." She replied. Liam could see how tired she looked. Having no sleep last night, the grief of losing Paul and the fear she'd just experienced at the prospect of losing her baby; it had really taken it out of her.
"Come on, let's get you out of here." He told her, placing his hand on the small of her back before leading her out of the ward.
The pair made their way back across the car park. The day suddenly seemed a lot brighter. Although they still had the weight of Paul's passing on their shoulders, knowing the baby was ok was a huge relief to the both of them. As they made the walk to the car, Liam broke into their joint reflective silence.
"Are you sure you're going to be able to fly?" Liam asked, it suddenly dawning on him that she should be more careful now with a baby on the way.
"Midwife gave me the all clear, she said that there was no reason why I shouldn't be able to go." She explained.
"Well, put it this way, I'll be handling the rest of the funeral stuff from now on. You should be resting." He argued.
"I'm not an invalid, Lee." She reminded him.
"No, but you are pregnant, so you should be taking it easy." He replied, knowing that he needed to put his foot down on this. Carla wasn't one for just taking is easy, but he wanted to look after her and his niece or nephew. Paul would have done the same for him, just as he had once done for Michelle.
"I have the next six months to take it easy. I need to do this." She protested, earning a sigh from her brother-in-law.
"You need to look after yourself and the little one." He stressed. He should have known that she wasn't going to make this easy.
"And I will be doing." She assured him. "I just want the funeral out of the way first, then I can focus on me and the baby." She sighed mournfully, resting her hand on her stomach. Liam decided to leave it for the time being. He knew better than almost anyone that Carla was determined. At least she knew that he was there for her if she needed him.