Sorry again for the wait. School is back in session which is both good and bad. I am more motivated to write, but have less time to do it! As a reminder to all readers...this story will have a happy ending so do not fret too much when plot developments pop up. As always I would love to know what you think! Thank you everyone for the continued support:)
P.S Mary is 7 months pregnant for this chapter, and her and Matthew are in their second semester of school.
Mary was sitting in her normal seat in her sociology class waiting for time to speed up. She really hated her three-hour class, especially being pregnant. It was hard to sit down for three hours without getting uncomfortable. Now that Mary was visibly showing her pregnancy she received many disapproving looks from other students and faculty. This made Mary very self-conscious, but knew that this was something she could not hide and should not feel ashamed of. Luckily for Matthew, he did not experience the same judgments since he would not gain weight to show he was going to be a father. Mary thought this was a very unfair part of how women have it harder in life than men. Perhaps she would consider fattening him up a bit. It would not be too difficult since she had regular cravings for Ben & Jerry's ice cream.
Matthew was not totally ignorant of how uncomfortable Mary would get walking around campus feeling as though everyone was judging her. He did not know how to properly share the burden with her though. He tried to walk with her to as many classes as he could but he did not think that it helped her much. Mary really did appreciate the simple things Matthew did for her though, and the way he made her forget that she is not a bad person just because she is pregnant. Even when he would just hold her hand it still made her feel warm inside and to know that he cared for her.
Mary had to come back to reality though and stop daydreaming. She loved sociology, but this professor started treating her very differently ever since he learned that she was pregnant. She began the semester as a very enthusiastic student and went to talk to him after class all the time, until she could see in his eyes how disappointed he was with her. He would frequently glance for too long at her stomach and was caught by Mary most of the time when he did. He began talking about Karl Marx and Max Weber when Mary began to feel a jabbing pain in her stomach. She lurched forward in reaction and wrapped her arms around her stomach. The pain continued to increase and she had to get out of her seat and head to the bathroom. When she stood up to exit she saw some blood left on her seat and immediately fainted. Mary's friend Anna ran over to her and yelled for someone to call an ambulance.
A few hours later Mary woke up in a bright hospital room. She could not remember what had happened, but immediately her hands went to her stomach. Was the baby okay? She looked over and saw Matthew asleep in the chair beside her bed. "Matthew! Matthew, wake up!"
He woke up smiling and felt relieved at the sight of her big brown eyes finally open. He walked over to the side of her bed and grabbed hold of both of her hands. He could see the worry on her face, so before she had a chance to ask him he attempted to explain what happened. "Mary, relax it is okay!"
"But the baby… is he okay?"
"Mary, we need to make sure that you are okay. The doctor told me to call him when you woke so he could properly explain to us both what happened."
"Please call him right away then!"
Within a couple minutes a short man with white hair and a lab coat walked in. "Hello Miss Crawley, you gave us all quite a scare today. Now Mr. Crawley has told me that he hasn't told you yet, so I will try to do my best to deliver this news the best I can."
Matthew was still holding Mary's hand when the doctor began to explain, "Miss Crawley what you have experienced was a placental abruption. This would explain the bleeding that occurred. Did you remember having any cramps before you fainted?
"Yes, I did. I went to get up to go to the washroom when everything went black."
"Okay, experiencing cramps is another symptom of this problem. Now luckily we have caught this early enough that we can monitor you more closely for the duration of your pregnancy."
"You mean the baby is okay?"
"Oh yes, I thought Mr. Crawley would have told you that as soon as you woke. This makes things a little bit more complicated and you will have to remain on bed rest. There was not enough of a separation to cause a miscarriage, but it does not mean that it could become more severe. So you must remain on bed rest until the baby matures enough and hopefully be able to deliver the baby without complications."
Mary was having a hard time digesting this information. Would her baby be okay in the end? Would she be okay? The doctor had to leave to attend to another patient, so she would have to wait to have any further questions answered. What would happen with school if she were to remain on bed rest? As much as she wanted all her questions answered she could not ignore the overwhelming fatigue taking her over. As Mary began to settle down and relax, Matthew remained at her side and did not let go. Just as Mary began to fall asleep she could hear Matthew repeatedly whispering, "everything will be okay, just fine, fine, everything fine, everything just fine…"
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