Chapter 19 – Scan
At Truro Hospital the next morning, Moira the OB nurse gave me a very bad scare as she turned from the ultrasound screen. The grainy image showed the head of my baby and a little nose, and I was enjoying the sight, in spite of the gooey gel spread over my abdomen for the ultrasound scan.
The nurse's eyes were staring at me but her mouth hung open. She hung the scanner back on the machine hastily.
"Anything wro… wrong?" I stammered at her.
Moira gulped and her eyes went wide. "One moment," she blurted out then sprinted away.
Oh no! Drama is not what I needed. I twisted my neck around trying to get a better view of the screen. What if I just brought the scanner thing over and ran it around on me, maybe I could see what got her so upset. I stretched out with my left hand, straining to reach the handle on the cart, when my head and shoulders slid off the bed, almost to the floor. I tried to grab something and get back up when the door opened.
Edith Montgomery bolted in with the nurse. "Miss Glasson?"
They slid me fully back onto the bed as I tried to explain. "Sorry… just wanted to see the uhm…"
Edith and Moira gave the screen odd looks, looked at me and then at each other.
"Looks like SGA - small for gestational age." Edith muttered. She turned her attention on me. "Think you made a mistake?"
This woman! Ugh! I bit my lip. "No..."
"Sorry. I didn't mean getting pregnant. I mean did you get your dates wrong?"
Was Edith trying to confuse me? I peered up at her from the wheeled bed. "I'm sorry, I really don't understand what you're asking."
The orange doctor gave me a fake smile. "Did you get the day wrong?" She stopped and let that sink in.
Lord, is she really asking what I think she's asking? "I'm sorry, what are you? You're confusing me…"
Edith would not stop prying. "When did you actually have sex with Dr. Ellingham?"
Yeah, she is asking, I realized. I didn't want to give the woman that information! But it was important for the baby, obviously. I pursed my lips and thought best how to answer. "Well, I didn't… actually make a note… in my diary," I said trying to keep it light. "I think the last time... that is… the occasion that we…" I squirmed.
Edith Montgomery, medical school classmate of Martin, a doctor herself, ex-fiancée of Martin, who did not marry him either stood there in her pixie-ish body with wide green unblinking eyes and I hated the sight of her and I could tell she was holding her breath.
My voice fell. "Uhm…" more lip biting on my part. "It was around the middle of October…. Oct. 11th… and a couple of times after that," I said sheepishly.
Edith looked to the side, blinked once, and took a deep breath. She turned to face me after three of four seconds of silence. "There. Wasn't so bad was it?" She smiled but it didn't look real to me.
She looked at the baby image on the screen again. "We'll have to make some checks; make sure the baby does not have intrauterine growth retardation…" Edith rambled on in a rapid recitation about small for gestational age, Doppler scans of my placenta, and relative maternal and foetal blood flows… and she went on and on.
It was almost not English it was so technical and I got the gist of it but it was like listening to Martin. The baby was small for 24 weeks and they were concerned. It should be bigger, Edith said. I looked past my now large breasts down to the giant belly I was carrying and couldn't imagine that the baby wasn't larger; must weigh kilos and kilos by now. One more thing to worry about, I realized.
Edith stepped away, put pen to pad and flipped open a calendar. "Let's see; we can get you in next Monday." She pushed the pen over the pad, ripped off a sheet and gave it to Moira. Then she marched through the door, but I saw her peep back with a sad look as the door clunked shut.
The nurse wiped the ultrasound gel off my belly and helped me stand, then I pulled my vest down and got my striped top sorted. Moira handed me Edith's scrawled appointment for more scans, and then with both hands, tenderly put a printout of the ultrasound showing the baby's head into mine.
"You'll be wanting this for the scrapbook then." She smiled. "Sorry I got upset… we don't see many SGAs; that is I haven't."
I stepped back into my shoes. "I understand."
"You'll be fine. Just have to…" she faltered, "check you out a little more."
"Yeah." I struggled into my little jacket. "You have kids?"
She held up her bare fingers. "No ring, see?"
I held my large belly with my right hand and held up my left hand showing her my bare ring finger. "No ring, see?"
Moira's face fell. "Sorry, Miss Glasson," she said like a wayward third-grader. "No, I don't have kids."
I gave my jacket a final tug to straighten it. "Someday you might look like this…" my finger pointed to my pregnant belly. "And you won't want to have the life scared out of you!"
"Sorry," Moira said meekly.
Joan was waiting outside the building and I slipped the ultrasound into my handbag and twisted the strap about. I would not tell Joan about this, I thought. She'll be far too upset and if I discussed it with her then I would get even more worried. So I tried to paint a smile on my lips.
"Everything fine?" Joan asked, who'd been playing with Buddy on the lawn.
"Yes," I lied. "Joan, I really can't thank you enough, driving me back and forth all the time. I should have taken a taxi."
Joan waved a hand at me. "Nonsense! I can't have you wasting your money with all you're spending on that room at the pub!"
"Yeah. I really do need a place of my own." We climbed into Joan's truck.
I resolved that I would not breakdown or cry, it would startle Joan. I looked at the capable old lady, my friend, and realized just how close we had grown in the last two weeks. She had almost become a mum to me or how I imagined a mum would act; not that my mum had been seen by me for a very long time.
Joan gave me a knowing look as she snapped her seatbelt. "Well, I might be able to help you, if you let me." She engaged the gears and clutch and we drove from the hospital lot.
I pushed any concerns I had about the baby from my mind wondering why Edith acted so oddly for those few seconds when I confessed when and how often Martin and I had sex – made love, really. I connected that question with her swift departure and sad look as she left the exam room.
Oh good Lord! Of course! The woman was still carrying a torch for Martin! All this time?
Did she think he'd been a monk for a couple decades? That only she had ever won his bloody heart? I knew that was it! She was jealous! Yes, that was it! That green-eyed monster had filled up those green eyes of hers! Her look was one of disappointment!
My back hurt, I had to wee already although I'd just gone, I had a headache, my feet were swollen and didn't fit my shoes very well, I felt fat and bloated, and the bloody seat belt was trying to plough a furrow between my baps. I felt large, pained yet somehow happy now.
She was jealous of me. Edith - Doctor Edith Montgomery - was jealous - of me! Jealous of six-month preggers, fat, bulgy - and getting bigger - me.
That made me really happy. "So Joan, tell me about this help you want to give me about a house!" I said happily. Buddy the dog put his head under my hand and I rubbed his furry head pushing the scan from my mind.