"I can't believe your mom's pregnant," Jo said one afternoon as she lounged at the pool with her boyfriend, Kendall. "Are you excited? Babies are so cute."
"They're also noisy and smelly and take up space." He sipped his pink smoothie.
"You're not excited?"
"I am. I'm just worried."
"About?"
"My mom's been so sick. I know it's the 'morning sickness,'" he air quoted, "but it still worries me. She hardly eats and I know that's not a good thing. Everything seems to make her sick, especially Carlos's corndogs. It seems just being in the same room makes her nauseous. "
"How's Carlos taking it?"
"Surprisingly well. He mostly eats fresh ones and just consumes them before he gets to the crib and he keeps a box of frozen ones in Lucy's apartment, you know, because she lives across the hall."
"How are you taking it?"
"Not having Carlos's corndogs in the crib?"
"Yes, that." She gave him a look. "No, the whole baby thing."
"I'm excited, I am. I just thought the next baby in the family would have been ours."
Jo choked on her smoothie. "You think about that?"
"Yeah, don't you?"
"Maybe, but…" she blushed. "It's a girly thing to think about."
"Why? I can see myself having a future with you. It's a fun thing to dream about."
"And it's not scary?"
"Why should it be? I love you."
"I think I'm going to cry. I love you, too." She leaned into him and gave him a kiss.
Breaking apart, Kendall checked his phone.
"Oh gosh, I'm late. I'm taking my mom to her doctor's appointment and if we don't leave now we'll miss it." He pulled a face as he stood up handing his unfinished smoothie to Jo. "All those women things and women parts."
"You're such a good son to do this."
"I wouldn't do this for anybody."
"Just your mom."
"And maybe you."
"Oh, gee thanks. I'll remember that."
Kendall smirked, kissed Jo on the lips, and then ran through the lobby to the elevator.
"Mom!" He called out as soon as he entered the apartment. Most of the time when he called for her she appeared like magic. "Mom?" Hearing a sound from the bathroom he ran to the door and knocked on it. "Are you in there?"
"Yes," came the faint reply.
Kendall hesitantly reached for the door knob. He did not want to walk in on his mom on the toilet or worse naked in the bathtub.
"You have to unlock the door if you want me to come in."
Fully dressed, Mrs. Knight opened the bathroom door, her clothes disheveled and her hair a mess.
"Are you okay? We need to leave now for your appointment."
"There was blood," she simply stated.
"Did you hurt yourself?" What he wanted to ask was why she sounded like a child.
"No, maybe. Blood, Kendall." She pointed to the loose fitting sweatpants she wore.
"Oh!" Kendall's eyes widened understanding what she meant. "Do you hurt?"
"A little."
"We'll let's hurry, then. Good thing you already have an appointment with Dr. Carter scheduled."
A tear dripped down her cheek.
"It's going to be okay."
"No, it's not," she said softly.
He actually agreed with her, but he couldn't let her know that. He had to keep her spirits up. He had to keep his spirits up. Frantically, he looked around for the keys.
"Why don't you use the keys in your hand?" She asked reasonably.
Kendall smiled. "These are to the BTR-mobile and well, Carlos, was in there earlier and since I saw him with a corn—" he stopped when he noticed his mom turning green. "Well, he was in there earlier and I don't want you to feel worse than you do already."
"You're such a sweet boy." She kissed his cheek. "Keys are in my purse."
Roughly fifteen minutes later they were safely in Mrs. Knight's car on their way to the OB/GYN. Mrs. Knight claimed to be feeling little cramps but she also claimed it was nothing she couldn't deal with.
"Answer this," Kendall said pulling his phone out of his pocket and tossing it in his mom's lap when it began to ring.
"It's from Gustavo."
"You should definitely answer it."
"Kendall Knight's phone…this is his mother…No, he's not busy. He's only taking me to my scheduled doctor's appointment…No…And I'm his mother…" She put her hand over the phone. "He wants you to come in for a recording session. He says he needs you to redo your track on the new song."
Kendall sighed and took his phone from his mother.
"Gustavo—"
"Dog, get your butt in here. Now."
"Gustavo, I'm taking my mom to her doctor's appointment."
"She's an adult. She can go by herself."
"No, she really can't. You do know she's pregnant, right?"
"I remember. But, Dog, I need you to rerecord your vocals for the new track."
"We'll have to do it later or tomorrow. My mom's more important than that. We already discussed this that I would be available for her."
"Fine," Gustavo sighed. "I'll get James to come in."
"You do that." Kendall hung up his phone and nonchalantly placed it in the cupholder between the seats.
As soon as he did that his mom's phone rang. She took one look at the screen, pressed ignore, and tossed it in the cupholder next to Kendall's.
Stopped at a red light Kendall picked up the phone.
"Mom, that was Mitch!"
"I don't want to talk to him." Leaning against the door handle, she looked out the window instead of at Kendall.
"Don't you think you should talk to him?"
"Why? He's the one who wants to get rid of the baby. Maybe this is his wish coming true," she added in a soft whisper.
"If he's calling you maybe he wants to talk." Kendall handed the phone to his mom before putting his foot on the gas as the light had turned green. "You don't have to call him now. Actually, I would prefer you wait til I'm not around, but please talk to him. This is his baby, too."
"When did you become the parent and me the child?"
The very second Kendall pulled into the parking lot, found a decent space, and turned off the engine Mrs. Knight practically leapt out of the car and threw up, barely making it to the grass.
"Um, Mom," Kendall pulled off his plaid button down. "Wear this."
"I'm not cold."
"That's not it."
After tying the shirt around his mom's waist he pulled into her a hug and let her cry in his shoulder. He was afraid she'd hear how fast his heart was beating. He couldn't let on how nervous he suddenly became about this appointment.
"Let's just go in there and let the doctor tell us what's up," he said gently, stroking his mother's back and trying to lead her to the front door.
"The last time I saw you was to confirm pregnancy and now we're," Dr. Carter checked her chart, "8 weeks along. How are we doing, Jennifer?"
Sitting in the chair, Jennifer wanted to kick her legs and scream, but she remained calm and answered the doctor.
"Earlier today I found some bleeding and I am experiencing extremely minor cramps." She didn't want to cry in front of the doctor but couldn't help it when a tear leaked out. Kendall, standing next to her, squeezed her shoulders in support.
"Many women experience vaginal bleeding in the first trimester and there's a chance it may be nothing. We'll have to perform an ultrasound to check on the baby. Has the bleeding stopped?"
"I—I—"
"I noticed a spot on her pants before we came in, but it wasn't that bad," Kendall admitted. "Also, she's been really sick and not eating much. Is that normal?"
"Well, the first trimester is the worst time for morning sickness. In the first few weeks moms can even lose weight due to it. You might be experiencing Hyperemesis gravidarum. I'm not quite sure that's it, though, as you are measuring at a good weight at 8 weeks. Are you able to keep any food down?"
Jennifer nodded. "A few bites here and there."
"Yeah, it's probably just severe morning sickness which should begin to subside in the next few weeks. If you really feel it's causing trouble don't hesitate to call. I want to take care of everything and make sure this is a healthy pregnancy, which is why," Dr. Carter popped up suddenly with a wand in her hand, "we're performing the ultrasound now. If we can find the little peanut everything should be okay. Unfortunately, it's too early to hear a heartbeat. Just put your feet up here and raise your shirt. Now, you said the bleeding has stopped?"
"I think so."
"OK, just lift up your shirt and I'll apply this cold gel and voila." Dr. Carter moved the wand around Jennifer's small abdomen. A black and white image showed up on the screen. "I'm not seeing anything. I hope little peanut is—aha!" She smiled. "There's the little booger."
"Oh my gosh!" Jennifer exclaimed.
"That thing?" Kendall asked. "Well, it kind of does look like a booger."
"My baby is not a booger!"
Dr. Carter smiled. "Sorry, that's not what I meant. It's a pet name in the family and it just sort of slipped out. Of course your baby isn't a booger. I do think embryos resemble peanuts, don't you?"
"I think it looks more like a lima bean," Kendall remarked.
"My little lima bean." Jennifer wiped her eyes. "I don't mean to be getting emotional. This is my third child, I should be used to it."
"It's been what did you say your daughter was fourteen years old?"
"A change of life baby," Kendall said earning a smack in the shoulder and a look from his mother. "Is it a boy or a girl?"
"Too early to tell," Dr. Carter said. "We can tell that the baby looks healthy and to be measuring at the correct week. Slight spotting usually means nothing, but if you have any concerns do not hesitate to contact me."
"The baby's fine?" Jennifer questioned sitting up.
"Yes, the baby's fine." Dr. Carter smiled. "And if nothing else comes up I won't expect to see you until the 12th or 13th week. Keep taking your prenatal vitamin and you know the rest."
Jennifer pulled her shirt down and took the chart from the doctor. She looked over at her son.
He patted her shoulder and reached for her hand to help her off the chair.
"Everything's going to be fine," he said. "Everything's going to be fine."
I do know pregnant woman are capable of doing things for themselves and don't need someone at their side all the time, but I feel in this case this is what Mrs. Knight wants. She doesn't want to do this alone and frankly, after what she saw in the bathroom she really doesn't want to go alone. (and btw, it's not a change of life baby!)
I like seeing your reasons as to why you want the baby to be a certain gender. Thank you all for your responses!