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Chapter Fourteen
First Scan
Ethel played with her hands in her lap, twisting them around nervously as she sat in the waiting room. It had been a few weeks since Ethel was disowned by the family and the girls were made homeless and they were still trying to find them a home but that was not why Ethel was so nervous. She was ten weeks pregnant now which meant it was her first scan and she might not say it out loud but she was terrified of the whole thing.
Ethel was sat in the middle of her sisters as Ada stayed in the background keeping an eye on them, of course as Ethel was a minor and she was in charge of her she could not of let them go to the appointment alone so had escorted the girls.
"Ethie calm down" Esmerelda told her from her right. She knew Ethel was nervous and she did not want her to stress herself out to much.
"But what if there is something wrong? What if it reminds me of him and I can't look at it? What if the nurse isn't nice, what if..." Ethel said thinking of all the what ifs as she did so.
"Or what if you are panicking to much?" Esmerelda replied and Ethel sighed. She hated when her sister was right.
"I can't help it, you try be the one in my position and let me see you not panic" Ethel replied knowing Esmerelda would be way worse than she was.
"Just try to calm down, think positively" Esmerelda told her sister as a woman suddenly walked past, saw Ethel and her sisters, saw they were in uniform and that they were sat in a maternity ward and glared at them in a disapproving way, not even knowing which was pregnant but knowing whichever it was was school age.
"I think there must be some dust in your eye for you to be squinting like that" Esmerelda commented and Ethel and Sybil just stared at her in shock. What was happening to Esmie? Before either girl could say anything a nurse walked out with a clipboard and looked around.
"Ethel Hallow" she said and Ethel and her sisters stood up. Ada was not sure whether she should go in or not but she figured it was not really something that required an adult and it was more a family thing. She would wait outside for them.
Ethel and her sisters walked into the room and sat down as the nurse took a seat opposite and smiled at them.
"I just need to go over a few things before we start the scan, which of you is Ethel?" she asked and Ethel raised her hand slightly, turning red from embarrassment, wondering what the nurse must think of her.
"Right so you are thirteen but will be fourteen when baby is born is that right?" she asked Ethel and she nodded knowing it sounded even worse when it was said out loud like that.
"And you left current address blank" the woman told them and Ethel looked at Esmerelda in a pleading way wanting her to answer.
"My sisters and I are waiting to be placed in a foster placement so we don't have an address right now, we attend Cackles so Ethel will be living there for the time being" Esmerelda explained just grateful this was a witching hospital and she could mention Cackles. The woman nodded, satisfied with that answer. Why they were in foster care was not her concern. If they were not placed by Ethel's next scan then she would be concerned.
"Right well you should be around ten weeks and this is your first scan yes?" she asked Ethel and she smiled slightly and nodded. Ethel liked the nurse, she wasn't asking her why she was pregnant at her age or where the father was which she was grateful for.
"Good well why don't we get you up on the bed and we can have a look at how the baby is doing?" the nurse said kindly and Ethel paled but nodded not sure if she was quite ready for this moment. She took a quick glance at Sybil and then stood up and walked over to the bed as her sisters awkwardly followed.
"It is nice of you two to support your sister during this time" the woman told them, having met young girls before in similar situations with no one around them. Sybil clutched onto Esmie and became shy and Esmie smiled awkwardly muttering a thanks.
"Right I am just going to need you to lift your top up" the woman told Ethel who moved it up to expose her stomach, embarrassed by his whole thing even if she had no bump.
Despite witches having magic, pregnancy was very similar to non magical people. They did not use spells or potions to look at the baby as it could terminate the pregnancy so the nurse had the same type of scanner you would find in any other normal hospital. She got some gel and put it on Ethel's stomach and she tensed up from the nerves. The nurse smiled sympathetically at her she could tell the girl was fearful.
"It is okay Ethie" Esmerelda told her reaching for her hand knowing that her sister at the best of times ignored her physical contact but Ethel grabbed her hand squeezing hard, maybe a little to hard but Esmerelda didn't mind, as she held Sybil in her other arm.
When the nurse put the scanner on Ethel she tensed up more. She didn't know if it was because she no longer liked to be touched after her assault or if it was pure nerves but she assumed it was a bit of both.
The nurse moved the scanner over Ethel's stomach who looked around the room facing away from her and everyone felt silent, waiting.
The nurse smiled as she found the baby and spoke in a cheery way. Clearly she was not concerned about anything.
"There we go, there is baby" the nurse told her and even though Ethel was terrified she would look at her child and hate it and want it out of her because all she would be able to think about is it is the result of being raped she was curious, she did want to see it and she turned her head slowly to look at the foetus on the screen.
A small black and white grainy image was on the screen of a shape that was clearly a baby, Ethel looked at it and felt something inside her, but it wasn't hatred, not even close. She couldn't take her eyes of the grainy image and she realised that funny feeling inside her was because she had just fallen in love with it, an overwhelming feeling of love and protection went through her body and she knew in that moment, adoption was of the charts. This was her little baby.
"My baby..." Ethel said as she stared at the screen with a far away look of love on her face and a sparkle in her eyes. Esmerelda smiled as she knew Ethel was absolutely in love with it already, which was probably a good thing because Esmerelda was falling in love already too.
"It looks like an alien" Sybil commented as she turned her head to the side to look at the image.
"SYBIL" Esmerelda told her off at her comment.
"It does, I never said it meant it wasn't cute" Sybil said as she looked at the image and smiled, not quite as googly eyes over it as her sisters were but she did think it was cute.
"Is everything alright with it?" Esmerelda asked as she realised they had being so busy staring at it they hadn't even asked anything.
"Yes, good healthy heartbeat, good size, everything is as it should be" the nurse told the oldest happily.
"Now I assume you would like a picture?" the woman asked chucking as she could tell the girl was madly in love with the grainy image.
"Yes, I want a picture of my baby" Ethel said talking like she had done when she had a crush on Zac and was acting all soppy.
"Can we get four?" Esmerelda asked wanting one for each of her sisters. She knew what they were like they would fight over it or Sybil would steals hers so if they had one each it would solve the problem, and an extra one just for precaution.
"It is suppised to be one per person" the nurse told her but Esmie sighed. Ethel would never let them look at the picture, she would want it all the time.
"Please, I will pay you for the extras if you want me to" Esmerelda told the lady and the nurse smiled at her.
"Alright I shouldn't really but I will do you four copies" she said as she printed out the pictures and then took the scanner of Ethel. When the image disappeared of the screen Ethel looked like her whole world at ended but she was happier once she was given the picture.
"Everything looks fantastic, an appointment will be sent tO you for your next scan" she told Ethel who got up looking at the picture and still looked at it as she left the room. Ada was waiting for the girls and was happy to see Ethel looking at the picture so intensely. It had gone well it seemed.
"Everything alright?" Ada asked and Esmerelda nodded awkwardly as she hugged her sisters. Things were still awkward since their disagreement.
"Great, back to school then" Ada said feeling the awkwardness.
As Ethel was pregnant they couldn't transfer so they were flying which Ethel could still do until she was further along in pregnancy, because of this Esmie took the picture of her sister gently.
"My picture, get your own!" Ethel complained.
"We have to fly Ethie, you can have it back later" Esmerelda told her sister not wanting her to think she was being mean.
"Please let me carry it, please" Ethel begged and Esmie gave in and let Ethel carry it in her pocket. She regretted her decision though once they took off.
"Ethie, you are going the wrong way!" Esmerelda told her sister grabbing a hold of Ethel's broom. She had sneaked the picture out of her pocket and was looking at it as she flew, going the completely wrong way. Esmie had no choice, she took it off Ethel and told her sternly she could have it back when they were back at school which sent the girl into a strop but at least she would fly straight and not end up at Pentangles from going the wrong way.
Esmerelda though was thrilled. She had being worried about how Ethel would react to the scan but it went better than she ever expected it to and Esmerelda was glad that she knew Ethel would not even think about adoption again because she was already head over heels in love with her niece or nephew too, just like she had been all them years ago when she was given a grainy image similar to the ones they had today of her baby sister Ethel and then a year later Sybil.