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Saturday 14th February 2015
Sam laid with her eyes closed as Tom kissed the back of her neck and gently stroked her arm.
"Happy Valentines day." He whispered - they had both agreed not to bother spending money on a card or present for each other as they wanted to save it for their child - not that they had to worry about money of course because they were both on brilliant salaries and Sam had even more in her savings than Tom because the army had paid for her to go to medical school so she had no student debts.
"Mm." She mumbled as she tried to focus on something other than the queasy feeling in her stomach.
"Now, I would be romantic and cook a full English for you but I'm guessing you'd rather I didn't." He concluded.
"Mmhmm."
"How sick do you feel on a scale of one to ten?" He asked curiously as his 10 week pregnant wife had experienced morning sickness every morning since she had been six weeks gone.
"Four?" Sam replied questioningly as she reluctantly opened her eyes to see Tom leaning over her - a sight that she wanted to wake up to every morning for the rest of her life.
"Okay, so it's not too bad." He said softly as he asked her the same question every morning, and sometimes she had replied with a sarcastic 'twelve'. "What do you want to do today? Have a lie in?" He asked.
"I'll get up soon." She mumbled. "Maybe later, we could drive out of town a little bit and take Shadow for a nice long walk somewhere quiet." She suggested.
"Sounds lovely. How about I pop to tescos now, and get a couple of bits so that we can have a picnic?"
"Okay. But nothing too..." She trailed off as she tried to find the right word.
"Unhealthy, but not too healthy either because you want a treat, but nothing too sugary or fatty either." Tom said and Sam raised her eyebrows in astonishment. "Don't look so surprised, I know you better than you think." He said smugly. "Go on, you have a nice lie in, and I'll go and sort out our lunch. Any requests?" He asked as he got out of bed.
"Can you get a French stick? And maybe some nice crisps please?"
"What flavour crisps? Because some 'nice' crisps is a bit vague." Tom stated.
"Um... Salt and vinegar, or ready salted please."
"Sure. I'll be back soon, okay." Tom had pulled on a pair of jeans and a shirt, so he gently kissed Sam on the forehead and then went to he doorway. "Ring me if you want me to come home. And if you vomit, I want you to tell me when I get home okay?" He said sternly.
"I will, now let me sleep." Sam moaned as she grabbed one of Tom's pillows and covered her face with it. Tom chuckled before he grabbed his coat, keys and wallet, and left the apartment.
Sam was alone, lying in bed when she decided that she could no longer hold her bladder and she had to go to the toilet. After washing her hands, she glanced in the mirror, properly for the first time in ages and looked down at her abdomen. Her white vest top and black pyjamas bottoms that she had slept in were comfortably tight, and do as she looked in the mirror, she could see that her baby was already changing her body. Slowly, she brought her hands up to her top, but she paused before she eventually rested her hands on her abdomen to feel her child. She found it odd that inside her was a fully developed foetus, and all it had left to do was grow and grow and grow, into a beautiful baby. Inside her, was another beating heart - one so much tinier than hers. And that thought was daunting: she alone, was responsible for providing her baby with the best nutrients possible. Only it wasn't just hers, it was Tom's too. She was going to have to give Tom the perfectly healthy child that he wanted, but would such an emotional roller coaster give him what he wanted, if she was the one in charge?
It was late February, and so it was still quite chilly. But thankfully it wasn't raining and it was actually a little bit sunny, so they were both wrapped in plenty of layers when they sat down at an old picnic bench in a forest, in the middle of nowhere, where they had taken Shadow for a long walk.
"Right, now this is where I find out if I've got all the wrong foods wrong, or if it's perfect." Tom stated as he lifted his rucksack on the table whilst Shadow laid down on the floor besides Sam to catch her breath back.
"Well I'm just really hungry so you can't go too far wrong as long as it's edible." Sam replied bluntly.
"Right. We've got tomato soup, with French stick to dip in it. Salt and balsamic vinegar crisps for a little snack, and for pudding, we've got tescos finest clotted cream fudge." Tom explained as he put the large flask out on the table. Along with a plastic container filled with slices of lightly buttered French stick, a family sized bag of Kettle crisps and a bag of individually wrapped fudge.
"And I like all of that so 10 out of 10, well done." Sam said patronisingly and Tom let out a sigh of relief. He poured some steaming soup into the two plastic mugs and then passed one to Sam as they begun dipping the French stick slices into the soup and eating the meal that put a warm feeling inside of them. "Happy Valentines day by the way, I was too tired to say it earlier." Sam admitted.
"Happy Valentines day." Tom grinned. "You're glowing." He said softly.
"No, I'm shiny. My face is greasy no matter how many times I wash it." Sam stated bluntly.
"Well then we can stop in tescos on the way home and get you a new face wash." Tom said kindly. "Though we might have to get you a spot cream as well." He had to stifle a laugh as he looked at the white head on her chin.
"I forgotten how much they hurt." Sam admitted. "I went to squeeze it this morning but it really bloody hurt."
"Oi, watch the language." Tom scalded.
"Tom my voice is distorted by amniotic fluid, she can't hear what I'm actually saying." Sam replied.
"'She'?"
"What?"
"You said 'she'." Tom smiled.
"Did I? Oh well, I suppose it's better to say she, than it." Sam shrugged.
"So you want a girl then?"
"I don't know." Sam moaned. "I don't want to say a prefer a gender and then get the other gender because that'll sound like I don't want them."
"Hey, it's only me here; no one else is going to find out and judge you. And just because you'd prefer a girl to a boy, doesn't mean that you'd love a boy any less." Tom said reassuringly. "If I'm honest, I've always wanted at least one boy and one girl, but for this one, I'd rather have a boy. But just becuase I've said that, doesn't mean I won't love our baby if she's a girl." Tom explained.
"'For this one'?" Sam raised an eyebrow. "What on earth makes you think that I want to go through this all again?" Sam retorted.
"Ah, you wait. As soon as you give birth and you get our beautiful baby in your arms, your heart will melt and you'll be ready to do it again in a split second." Tom stated. "Speaking of which, I've been wanting to ask you something."
"Well that sound ominous." Sam said worriedly.
"No it's nothing terrible, I just... I'm not entirely sure how comfortable you're going to be going into labour-"
"I would imagine I'm going to be very uncomfortable, to say the least, when I'm in labour." Sam stated.
"No, I mean. I'm not sure how comfortable you're going to be about your body with the midwife putting her hand up there and everything, so I don't know if you would let me physically watch our child being born... Because I want to be the first person who touches them and then puts them onto your chest, I don't want some medical professional holding our baby first. And I want to cut the umbilical chord." He explained slowly.
"You are a medical professional." Sam quipped.
"You know what I mean."
"So you want to deliver the baby basically, and then cut the umbilical cord?" Sam said simply.
"Yes."
"Yeah, that fine; it's nothing you haven't seen before." Sam winked and Tom's anxious face broke into a smile.
"Thank you, really it means a lot." He said sincerely.
"It's fine. But just to make this clear, you're not putting your 'hand up there', as you put it. Not even once." Sam said sternly and Tom just chuckled to himself.
In the evening, Sam and Tom were sitting watching a romantic movie that had just come to and end after a peaceful Valentines day.
"I know we haven't been very intimate recently, but... Well how about we go to the bedroom and make love?" Sam suggested as she put a hand on his chest.
"Wow, now tell me what you really want." Tom joked. They hadn't had sex since their baby had been conceived 8 weeks ago because since then, Sam had either been too nauseous or too tired, or her breasts were too sore so she hadn't been in the mood. But after a relaxing day, she hadn't used a lot of energy, and it was evening which was when she tended not to feel sick, and her chest felt fine for once so she felt that Tom had been so patient with her, and he deserved something more intimate than cuddling in bed or kissing. "But seriously, that sounds nice." He said softly. "You sure it's what you want?"
"Of course it's what I want." Sam said bluntly.
"Oh I get it. This is your hormones making you extremely horn-"
"Do you want to make love? Yes or no?!" Sam demanded because she really didn't want Tom thinking that pregnancy was affecting her in that way.
"Alright, of course I want to." Tom chuckled as he scooped Sam up in his arms and then carefully carried her through to the bedroom.
Coming up: Sam's first antenatal appointment with her first ultrasound at 12 weeks!
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