P.S. InkySubstance, you may have heard the name Remy from Sarah Dessen's novel This Lullaby. Yeah. Just remembered that.
Week Twelve
You may actually start feeling better from your extreme tiredness and nausea this week. Others will hang on to it for awhile longer. Your abdomen may start expanding, especially if this is not your first pregnancy.
While your baby's brain is not the same size it will be at birth, it does have the same structure. Bile is being secreted by this time. S/he weighs about 14 grams and is approximately 3.54 inches in total length.
If your practitioner uses a doppler, you may be able to hear your baby's heart beat at this prenatal visit. It will sound very fast. Some say that they hear clicking or the sounds of horse hooves. Your risk of miscarriage is greatly reduced once you hear this sound...
Elaine leaned forward slightly as to see the print better, accidentally dropping a bite of pancake onto her lap. She picked it up and threw it into the sink, which was much closer than the garbage can, and went back to eating breakfast and reading. After a minute, she heard nearby footsteps and turned around to see Scipio descending the staircase and yawning.
"Good morning, sleepyhead," she said, grinning at him. "I made pancakes."
"I was wondering what smelled so good," he said, getting a plate and putting pancakes on it. He covered them in syrup and sat down next to her. "You made these?"
"Yeah."
"Well, they're good."
"What, is my cooking usually horrible?" she asked playfully, finishing her pancakes.
"No! It's just...these are good."
"Thanks. Oh, everyone's outside," she added, answering his unasked question. "Except for Mosca. He went to some boat shop or something."
"Oh. I was wondering where everyone was," Scipio responded. Elaine put her now empty plate in the sink and sat back down, reading her book again. Scipio finished his breakfast in silence and, after a moment, Elaine suggested,
"Why don't we go outside? It's a beautiful day."
Scipio agreed and they went outside to sit on the hammock. Riccio, Prosper, and Bo seemed to be playing tag, while Hornet was sitting on the grass and picking flowers. With a feeling of guilt, Elaine suddenly remembered what had happened between she and Madalyn the previous day, but she pushed the thought out of her mind. She'd call her later today and apologize.
They had a bit of trouble fitting together on the swingset, and Elaine laughed when Scipio ended up in an odd position so that there was room for both of them. Scipio sat up at this and started to tickle her, and Elaine, gasping for breath from laughing so hard, said, "Stop. Stop, Scipio, seriously. I'm really ticklish."
She should have never said this, because Scipio started tickling her even more. Elaine, still laughing, said, "If I die of suffocation from laughing so hard, it'll be all your fault!"
"Aw, come on," responded Scipio playfully. "You're no fun." He stopped tickling her and gave her a kiss.
From behind them, they heard Hornet say, "As adorable as it is, get a room, you two! Now Bo will think there's cooties all over the hammock."
"Oh, shut up," said Elaine, sticking her tongue out at her. She cuddled closer to Scipio and put her head on his chest, watching the clouds. There was a light spring breeze, and it ruffled her hair. Elaine felt content and sleepy all of a sudden and closed her eyes. She didn't mean to fall asleep, but the next thing she knew, Scipio was shaking her awake.
It was still the early afternoon, but some time had passed. "...wake you up, but we've got an appointment with Dr. Cooke in half an hour..." Scipio was saying as she blinked and yawned.
"W-we do? I forgot all about that." Elaine sat up and stretched. Then she got off of the hammock and went into the house to give her hair a quick brush. They called a taxi and, after waiting on the front yard for a few minutes, it arrived. The young couple sat together in the backseat, told the driver where they were headed, and they were off.
"So..." Elaine looked over at Scipio, trying to break the silence. The silence that was now awkward instead of understanding, like it had once been. Once, she hadn't had to think of something to talk about, like now. "Um...how are you doing?"
She knew what a stupid question it was as soon as it had left her lips. Scipio gave her an odd look, and she knew what he was thinking: You live with me, shouldn't you know? He simply answered, "Fine. Umm...how are you?"
"I'm okay." Scipio turned his face away from her, to the window, and Elaine suddenly felt a desire to punch him in the arm. She felt hurt, neglected. It wasn't as though she expected Scipio to pay attention to her every second of every day, but she was starting to feel like she was being ignored.
"Why are you asking, anyway?" Scipio asked. Elaine could feel the sudden tension in the air. Oh, God. Please don't do this, Scip. I don't need this right now...
"Well, I couldn't think of anything to say, and I was just wondering if you were okay."
"Of course I'm okay. If I wasn't, I'd tell you."
"I know. I just...couldn't think of anything to say."
Scipio went on as though Elaine had not spoken: "Anyway, why do you care so much?"
Elaine narrowed her eyes. "Well, God, Scipio, I don't know. Maybe it's because I actually give a damn about you." She knew they were making a scene in front of the taxi driver, but she was so fed up with Scipio at this point that she couldn't care less.
"Okay. Well, if that's the case, you don't have to get so mad about it."
"I am not getting mad! You're just being a jerk."
Scipio was getting annoyed. He knew that Elaine was very grumpy and pregnant, but that didn't stop him from getting tired of it. "Me? A jerk? Shit, Elaine, you should look at yourself. I was wondering why you asked and you call me a jerk."
"And why did you ask in the first place? Is it so abnormal for someone to ask someone she cares about how they are? If you would stop being so angry all the time, you wouldn't explode over the tiniest thing."
"I am not---!"
Elaine suddenly realised that they were at the clinic. She thanked the driver, handed him the money, and got out of the car, Scipio following her.
"God, Elaine, what's with you---?" he began.
"With me? There is NOTHING fucking wrong with me, Scipio, for your information. I think you're just being a jerk about the whole thing and---"
"Elaine, don't---"
Elaine put a hand up to his face. "Stop. Scipio, just stop. I can't deal with this right now." She felt so angry at him she thought she might just snap if he went on one second longer. Besides, she could feel tears at the back of her eyes, and the last thing she wanted to do right now was cry in front of the person who currently thought she was pathetic. She opened the door of the clinic and checked herself in for the ultrasound. Afterwards, she sat down on one of the couches in the waiting room and pretended to read a magazine, temper rising by the second. Scipio sat down next to her, though at a distance, and she thought of ways to cause his death in the most violent ways. Elaine would later feel guilty about it, but as for now, for the second time in her life, she hated Scipio.
"Elaine?" Dr. Cooke popped in the room and smiled once she spotted Elaine and Scipio. "Hi, how have you been lately?" she asked Elaine as the three of them headed towards her office.
"Um...still throwing up in the mornings. And I've got headaches all the time."
"Well, morning sickness should be going down soon," said Dr. Cooke as Elaine sat down in the chair. "That and the headaches are normal. Have you been eating a lot lately?"
"Yes. Every second of every day, pretty much."
"Well, just be sure that you're getting enough Vitamin C and eating healthy foods." Dr. Cooke was getting out the cold goo again, and Elaine flinched just looking at it. "Have you started any kind of excercise routine?"
"Yes. I'm doing yoga for about fifteen or twenty minutes every day."
"Good." Dr. Cooke put the goo on Elaine's stomach and she flinched again. "Just take it easy, and get plenty of rest. And avoid stressful situations, because they are not only bad for the baby, but bad for you."
Elaine thought of Scipio, who was sitting right next to her, and felt angry again. She turned her attention to the ultrasound screen as Dr. Cooke moved the probe around on her stomach. After a minute, she saw a white oval-like shape on the screen. "Oooh! Is that it?" she asked, suddenly excited.
"Yes." Elaine was surprised at how much the baby had grown in such a short amount of time and felt nice and fuzzy inside to see her baby again. She knew that Scipio was probably thinking the same thing, but didn't look at him, as she was still mad. "In about seven or so weeks, we should know the gender."
"Oh, I can't wait," said Elaine. Which was the honest truth. She could already imagine dressing up an infant daughter, playing around with her hair, doing all that girly stuff with her when she was older. But if they had a son, she wouldn't mind, and she'd be just as happy. She had a feeling it was a girl, for some reason.
After Dr. Cooke asked Elaine a few more questions, they were sitting outside waiting for the bus that usually came around this area at this time. There was a feeling of awkwardness in the air. Elaine was still angry at Scipio, but it had started to turn more into terrible guilt. She looked down at her stomach and remembered what Dr. Cooke had said: Avoid stressful situations. Elaine mentally apologized to the baby; arguments were easily stressful situations.
As the two got onto the bus, Elaine looked at the back of Scipio's head, his dark hair. She remembered how, when they'd first met, she'd felt so enchanted with him. And now, one year later, look at what their relationship had become.
Elaine knew what was coming. The repetitive chants in her head just weren't enough: Don't cry, it's okay, don't cry, don't cry. She sat in a seat with Scipio and looked out of the window, like he had done earlier. No, she wasn't trying to copy Scipio in the least...
Elaine was trying to hide her tears.