Melendez awoke when he heard his wife retching once again. Melendez groaned, but pushed himself out of bed. He walked towards the bathroom, only to find the door closed. He knocked and asked, "Audrey, are you alright in there?"
"I'm having an absolute blast," Lim answered sarcastically before vomiting some more, "Who knew something the size of a lime could make me feel so miserable," Melendez went to open the door, but Lim had locked it, so he went to get dressed for work. Lim came out of the bathroom and said, "I'm thirteen weeks along. You would think I'd be past the morning sickness phase by now. I was with Mei-Li."
Melendez sat down on the bed as he tied his tie, "Well, you know as well as I do that every pregnancy is different."
"I know," Lim lied down, "Doesn't make it any less miserable."
Lim had taken one of her vacations this week, so she was thankful she didn't have to try to keep everything down in front of everyone at work. Melendez kissed her clammy forehead and asked, "Did you need me to take Mei-Li to preschool before work? I have time."
"Please," Lim muttered into the pillow, "Hopefully, I'll be able to function enough to care for her this afternoon."
"Okay," said Melendez, "I love you."
Lim sat up in bed, but heaved again and said, "Since you put me in this condition, I don't love you right now."
Lim ran to the bathroom and Melendez sighed in frustration. It had been four years since Lim had been pregnant with Mei-Li, and boy had they both forgotten how awful the symptoms of pregnancy could be. Melendez went into Mei-Li's room and Mei-Li was on the floor, still clad in her pajamas, playing with her dolls, "Daddy, how come Mommy hasn't come to help me get dressed?"
"Well, Mommy's not feeling well, Princess, so I'm going to take you to school. Mommy will pick you up from school when she's feeling better," said Melendez.
Mei-Li wrinkled her nose and said, "Mommy's been sick to her tummy a lot."
"I know, mija. But believe it or not, that's actually a good thing. It means the baby is growing well," said Melendez, "Now, let's get you ready for school."
Melendez helped Mei-Li get dressed and made her breakfast before driving her to preschool. As soon as her husband and daughter were gone, Lim went downstairs to attempt to find something her stomach wouldn't promptly expel. She finally settled on toast with peanut butter and took it to the living room. She sat down on the couch and turned on the television, hoping to find something decent to watch, though there wasn't much. It pained her to have Neil and Mei-Li watch her suffer without being able to do anything about it—it also didn't help that she often blamed Neil for her current state because "if he had just remembered to put a condom on, she wouldn't be puking all the time." Lim was still battling fatigue and nausea, so she set her phone alarm for 11:30 AM that way she would wake up in time to pick up Mei-Li from preschool. Sadly, her 90 minute nap was too short.
These days, a trip anywhere involved extra steps besides simply grabbing her bag and heading out the door. She had to make sure she had water, crackers, breath mints, and a few plastic bags in case her stomach decided to betray her while out driving. She arrived at Mei-Li's preschool and went to wait with the other parents, most of them a full decade or two younger than her. Though Lim had grown accustomed to the stares she received as an "old" mom with both a preschooler as well as a growing baby bump, she would be lying if she didn't admit that she felt out of place with the other waiting parents. Finally, Mei-Li happily ran towards her and said, "Mommy!"
"Hi sweetheart," Lim smiled and kissed her cheek.
She put Mei-Li into her booster seat and began the drive home, "Mommy?"
"What honey?" asked Lim.
"Can I have Burger King?" asked Mei-Li hopefully.
Lim wasn't one to constantly feed fast food to her daughter, but she wasn't sure she could stomach cooking today, so she answered, "Yes, you may."
After ordering a four piece nugget kids meal for Mei-Li and a caramel sundae for herself, she drove home and set up an area at the kitchen table for Mei-Li to eat, "Mommy?" asked Mei-Li.
"What?" asked Lim, quickly eating her sundae. One of the things that confused Lim about being pregnant was rotating between being hungry and being nauseous.
"How come YOU can eat ice cream for lunch and I can't?" asked Mei-Li.
"Because right now, I eat what I won't throw up," said Lim.
"Oh," said Mei-Li.
"Tell you what? After you finish your chicken nuggets, we can watch a movie or play a game," said Lim.
"Can we play doctor? I can make you feel better," said Mei-Li hopefully.
"Fine," said Lim, "We're playing in mine and Daddy's room though."
"Okay," Mei-Li agreed happily.
Mei-Li grabbed her pretend doctor kit she had received for Christmas and brought it to her parents' bedroom. She always went on and on about how she wanted to be a doctor just like Mommy and Daddy; that was if being a Disney princess or a ballerina didn't happen. She crawled into bed next to Lim and Lim said, "Looks like I'm your first patient, Dr. Lim-Melendez."
"Mmhm," said Mei-Li, "So…what do you do as a doctor?"
"Well, it's like when you go to the doctor," said Lim.
"Do you listen to people's hearts?" asked Mei-Li. Lim nodded and Mei-Li used her pretend stethoscope to listen to both Lim's and the baby's heartbeats, "They both sound like drums. Now I need to check your temperature," she stuck the fake thermometer into Lim's mouth and then asked, "Mommy, what's it supposed to be?"
"98.6," said Lim.
"98.6," repeated Mei-Li. She also pretended to check Lim's blood pressure and reflexes before asking, "Did that make your tummy feel better?"
"A little, but do you know what would really make me feel better? If you'd get the saltines out of my nightstand drawer," instructed Lim. Mei-Li got the crackers and handed them to her mother, "Thank you, sweetheart."
"Mommy, can we watch Paw Patrol?" asked Mei-Li sweetly.
"Sure, honey, just go get one of your DVDs from downstairs and we can watch it here," said Lim.
Mei-Li retrieved the DVD and Lim stuck it into the DVD player before snuggling next to her daughter. Soon, Lim fell asleep, so Mei-Li tucked her mother into bed the way Lim did to her before kissing her on the cheek and going back to her show.
Melendez arrived home later that evening, and when he didn't see either of his girls on the first floor, he went upstairs and found Lim asleep and Mei-Li watching TV. He entered the room and whispered, "Hi Princess."
Mei-Li looked over at her father and said, "Ssh, Mommy's sleeping."
"I see," said Melendez. He crouched down in front of Lim and gently rubbed her head, "Audrey."
Lim startled awake, but smiled when she saw her husband, "Neil, gosh, how long have I been asleep?"
"Depends on how many episodes of Paw Patrol have played through," said Melendez.
"I watched all the episodes already," said Mei-Li.
Lim sat up in bed and asked, "How was work?"
"It was fine, but I missed you both, like always," he smiled, "How are you feeling?"
"A little queasy still, but better than this morning," answered Lim.
"There's still some of the chicken noodle soup Mom made for you in the refrigerator if you feel up to eating," said Melendez.
Lim nodded and stood. Mei-Li asked, "Daddy, can we have mac and cheese tonight?"
The thought of mac and cheese caused Lim to gag and immediately run for the bathroom, so Melendez said, "How about this, mija? We let Mommy eat first since her tummy's still upset and then I'll make you mac and cheese later when Mommy can be up here away from the smell. Deal?"
"Deal," Mei-Li nodded. Melendez went to leave the room and she asked, "Daddy?"
"Yes?" he turned to face her.
"Do you think I can be a good doctor like you and Mommy one day?" asked Mei-Li curiously.
Melendez came back over to her and lied down next to her, "Let me tell you a little story, mija. When I was a resident, meaning when I was learning how to be a doctor, there was this other resident. She was kind of weird. She wore comic book t-shirts and she always ate the exact same lunch. But she was smart. She would get operations and knock 'em out of the park over and over again. I couldn't stand her. And then one day I realized, I was competing against her, but she wasn't competing against me. She spent her time observing, asking questions, preparing herself, to be a great doctor."
"Is she Daddy?"
"Mommy is one of the best doctors in the country. And if you're anything like her, you'll make a great doctor too."
