Blood Type, again
When we got to Edward's room, I could barely recognize it. The most familiar component was his relatively new and massive bed- I was grateful that Carlisle didn't need to substitute a hospital bed that likely would have had me wanting to jump out of it immediately. But the center of Edward's bed looked as inviting as ever. It was what was surrounding the bed that was making me nervous.
Ridiculously sophisticated medical equipment. A fancy computer with attachments to everything. A drip IV. An EEG. And- of course- a heart monitor- the fancy ones that they always show in the ER in movies where as someone dies you slowly see the waves, the blips, slow down (or speed up), then disappear. I wondered if I would hear that happening to myself.
After giving my hand a final squeeze, Edward quickly sat to the side in a small chair that had been placed next to one of the computer monitors. He obviously wanted to give Carlisle space to perform his exam and get things started, didn't want to interfere until he was needed.
The first thing that Carlisle did was hand me a plastic cup. "As your father-in-law, I hate to ask you this, Bella," he began hesitantly, "but I need a urine sample." I had to sympathize with his awkwardness. I grabbed the cup from him; dashed down the hall, quickly peed the required amount into the receptacle, and returned to Edward's room. I embarrassingly presented Carlisle with my sample. Carlisle set it onto a tabletop, next to a basket of indicator dyes, litmus paper strips, and God knows what else. He turned back to me, handing me a Q-tip. "Please swab the inside of your mouth, Bella," he requested calmly. I obliged. Finally, he withdrew a needle, gently grabbed my forearm. "Bella, I'm going to take a small blood sample from your finger. Look away. If you feel lightheaded, let me know." He carefully pricked the needle into my skin.
Ouch. That really hurt. I instinctively tried to jerk my hand away, but Carlisle had a firm grip. Moments later, I could smell the iron scent of my blood as he squeezed it from my fingertip into a tiny plastic tube. I had to fight not to faint. It was amazing- I had gone through almost this exact procedure merely a week and a half earlier in the meadow, and had felt fine. But, I rationalized; I had pricked my own finger. Plus, I was really focused on getting laid.
A couple of seconds later, it was over. Carlisle had taken the blood that he had needed. He had now turned his back to me, mixing all of my bodily fluids with things that would tell us that, hopefully, I was prepared for this, ready. It took him a minute to mix everything together, and had managed to hook up the tube to an electrode on the computer somehow. He then set a timer, I was presuming, to wait for the results. In the meantime, he turned back to me.
If Carlisle could blush, he would, as his outstretched hand contained one of those awful hospital smocks. Without a word, I knew what he wanted, and this time expertly maneuvered into it where I was without having to reveal anything or go down the hall. It was one of those tricks to being a girl, I suppose.
Once I was in the proper attire, Carlisle began examining me. He took a bright flashlight-looking apparatus to my eyes, ears. He took a tongue depressor and poked around, looked in the depths of my mouth. He took my blood pressure with a sphygmomanometer, and critically examined my pulse. He then retrieved his stethoscope for what I was guessing was the most crucial part of the examination.
Carlisle placed the stethoscope to my chest and found my heart beat, listened. It was thumping so loudly, I could hear it myself. Buh-boom. He moved the instrument around to different areas of my chest and back, listening each time for any change. Buh-boom. Suddenly, I was overwhelmed with sadness so profound that I couldn't contain it. As long as your heart is still beating, Bella… Buh-boom. Bella, Jacob imprinted. Buh-boom. Jacob wasn't going to stop me. A small part of me had been irrationally hoping that he would magically show up here, swoop in on a chandelier, and rescue me. Buh-boom. It was ludicrous- his mind was on other things now, and even if he cared about me enough to want me to stay human, he didn't even know if the transformation was supposed to take place. Or when. And even if he had, I had pushed up the time by 24 hours. If I had been trying to set up a damsel-in-distress situation for him to be my knight in shining armor, I failed miserably. Tears filled my eyes. I quickly closed them, and lowered my head, to try to prevent them from falling.
Thankfully, no one noticed. Carlisle had finished examining my heart and had turned to discuss things with Edward. I could hear them speaking about complicated physiological things like the viscosity of blood versus venom, and what my VFR (venom flow rate) would be given my blood pressure and heart rate. Edward then asked Carlisle if everything was all right.
Carlisle nodded stiffly. "Her examination went well. I think you can call the others in. We're just waiting on a confirmation of her 'lab tests'"- he gestured to his makeshift laboratory to his right- "but her specimens looked good from the naked eye. The timer should go off in a minute, and then we'll be good to go."
Edward called in the rest of his family. Carlisle had me lay down in the middle of the bed, where he attached the electrodes to my chest, my head. Everybody entered the room, forming a circle around the foot of the bed- and Edward came up to my side, grasping my hand with both of his. I was nervous, flushed- and his cool hand helped to put me at ease. Everyone's gazes moved from me to Carlisle, waiting expectantly.
BEEP! Suddenly, the timer buzzed. Carlisle went over, turned it off, and examined several results in his "laboratory". Approaching a piece of paper of some sort, he gave it a cursory inspection, then did a double-take. He went to check the results on the computer monitor, shook his head. A perplexed expression on his face, he immediately waved the slip of paper through the air before examining it again. He picked it up and strode over to his family, huddled around the footboard.
"Is everything all right, honey?" asked Esme.
"I saw that," Alice said, trying to be helpful. "I just didn't understand what it meant."
Carlisle turned to address me. "Bella, everything looks good except for this one result. It seems you have significantly elevated levels of HCG in your blood. It was confirmed by ultra-sensitive thin-layer chromatography of your urine." he attempted to explain.
I was lost, anxious. "What does that mean, Carlisle? Am I sick?"
"No, you're not sick, Bella," Edward jumped in, sheer pain in his voice. He looked at me with heartbroken eyes. "HCG stands for human chorionic gonadotropin. It's secreted by an embryo. You're pregnant."