Monday 13th April 2015
At 19 weeks pregnant, Sam seemed to be experiencing every pregnancy symptom there was but not usually all at once. However, she had become to accept those symptoms and she had gotten used to them, but it was one Monday morning that she was feeling odd. And she hadn't told Tom, but he was bound to find out eventually.
"Um, Tom, is Sam alright?" Fletch asked concernedly.
"As far as I know she is. Why?" Tom replied.
"Because she just had to ask me to take a patient's blood because she had pins and needles in her hands which is a bit weird isn't it? I mean, it's certainly not normal."
"I'm sure she's fine." Tom said reassuringly to Fletch, who then went off to finish the task of sending the blood off however, it left Tom wondering what could be making Sam have such an odd symptom...
Her head was spinning, as was the room and with every sound something pounded into her skull. Her vision was blurred but as she looked up to stretch her tingly neck, she felt blinded by the ridiculously bright lights above her. She felt sick too, but she didn't have the energy to run to the toilets so she stumbled into a cubicle and pulled the flimsy curtain around her as a pathetic attempt at blocking out some of none noise of the busy ED.
"Isn't cubicle 4 supposed to empty?" Zoe queried as she looked at the curtained area.
"Yes, it should be." Tess replied.
"Well why is the curtain closed?" Zoe demanded as she strode over and ripped the curtain back - she expected to find a pair of young nurses snogging each other's face off but instead she found a much more excusable scene. Sam was fast asleep on the bed on her side, with the pillows thrown on the floor and she had her arms cradled around her bump which was emphasised by her still too tight scrubs. And she oddly was wearing a pair of black crocs rather than her usual trainers.
"Aw, bless her." Tess laughed softly.
"Sam, c'mon we need the bed, you can't sleep here. Go home if you're that tired." Zoe ordered but she got very little response. "Sam?" Zoe repeated worriedly.
"I've got a headache." Sam mumbled without opening her eyes.
"Right. Um..." Zoe trailed off awkwardly as she didn't want to cause the doctor any more pain but they were running at full capacity and they needed the bed.
"And my feet hurt." She croaked.
Zoe glanced at Tess worriedly at Sam's lack of response so the former midwife approached the end of the bed and pulled up the bottom of her trouser leg ever so slightly.
"That's probably because your ankles and your feet are swollen." Tess said quietly. Zoe poked her head outside of the cubicle quickly and saw Sam's best friend walking by.
"Ah Fletch, can you go and get Tom please? Tell him Sam needs him."
"Sure, is she alright?" Fletch asked worriedly as he peered past the consultant's shoulder to see his best friend in a darkened cubicle laying on the bed with her eyes closed.
"She will be once she's got Tom." Zoe said reassuringly so the nurse quickly walked off to find Tom, whilst Zoe went back to Sam. "Sam are you in high risk for preeclampsia?" Zoe asked.
"No, it's just a headache, water retention and bloating. I'm fine, stop fussing." Sam moaned.
"Well I just want to check, can you sit up so I can check your blood pressure." Tess asked as she grabbed an arm cuff.
"Take it while I'm sitting down." Sam moaned.
"No, because that won't give us a proper reading. C'mon, I'll put some pillows behind you." Tess said encouragingly and reluctantly, Sam very slowly got up with the help of Zoe, and Tess tucked the pillows behind Sam's back.
"How much have you had to drink today?" Zoe asked whilst Tess attached the cuff to Sam's upper arm and inflated it.
"About a litre and a half of water." Sam muttered. "Stop fussing, it's just a headache."
"What's going on?" Tom demanded as he entered the cubicle.
"Don't shout." Sam scalded in a whisper.
"Sorry, but what're you checking her blood pressure for?"
"I just want to rule out preeclampsia as a precaution okay. But her blood pressure is fine. So I just need a urine sample please Sam." Tess replied as she took the cuff off and Sam groaned as she clutching her banging head.
"I take it back, I don't want this baby just get rid of it." She mumbled.
"Hey, you don't mean that." Tom stated as he took one of her hands in both of his. "Have you had some paracetamol?"
"No. I can manage without." She grumbled and all the medics looked at her like she was mad.
"Sam, a small dose of paracetamol isn't going to hurt our baby. It's perfectly safe." Tom said softly.
"Sam, have you got a history of migraines?" Tess asked curiously.
"That would explain the pins and needles earlier." Tom pointed out.
"I had them when I was a teenager but I haven't had one in years." Sam stated.
"Well fluctuating hormones could trigger one." Tess stated.
"God, why didn't I think of that?" Sam groaned as she sat up properly but she quickly clutched her pounding head. "Ooww, I feel like I've just been to one of Robyn's parties."
"Well the best thing to do is rest until it passed because it's clearly aggravated by physical activity. Take some paracetamol, drink plenty of water and go home where it's quiet." Zoe ordered. "Tom, you can have the rest of the day off too if you want to take her home because she's in no fit state to drive."
"I can hear you y'know-" Sam paused as she placed the back of her hand over her mouth. Tess grabbed a sick bowl and held it for Sam, but after a few moments she waved it away. "I'm fine."
"Right, I'll go and get our things from the locker room and a few bits from pharmacy, then I'll bring the car to the entrance okay?"
"Yeah, whatever." Sam muttered as she very slowly laid back down again. Tom pulled the curtain shut to give her a little privacy, when he bumped into Fletch.
"Ah, just the man I was looking for. Sam's having a migraine so I'm taking her home but I need to get a few things first. If I ring you in about five or ten minutes, would you mind just waking her up and walking her out to the entrance for me if I drive around?" Tom asked.
"Yeah sure. Is the baby alright?"
"A migraine isn't gonna hurt the baby as long as we keep Sam as stress free as possible so I'm sure he or she is fine."
Sam opened her eyes slightly as she felt arms go around her but she knew they weren't Tom's - she knew exactly what his hold was like.
"Get off-" Sam tried to shout as she weakly pushed the person in the chest.
"It's alright, I'm taking you out to the car." Fletch said softly as he carefully heaved her off of the bed and placed her down into a wheelchair. "You're heavier than I thought you'd be!" He admitted jokily as he took the brakes off and grabbed Sam's stethoscope from the bed and put it on her lap before he slowly wheeled her through cubicles. Sam kept her eyes closed because the light only aggravated her headache and she trusted that Fletch would take her where she needed to go. "I want you to get plenty of rest okay. My dad used to have pretty bad migraines, and do you know what made him feel better?"
"Morphine?" Sam joked halfheartedly.
"No, my mum used to massage the back of his neck to increase circulation and it didn't cure it, but he said that it helped to deal with the pain." Fletch explained. "Just ask Tom to massage the back of your neck every now and then and see how it goes."
Slowly, Fletch wheeled Sam out of the building where Tom was parked around the corner.
"Wow, I didn't think you'd be in a wheelchair." Tom smirked as he opened the passenger car door. "It must be bad." He admitted as both men helped Sam to get into the car with as little movement as possible. Tom then reached across and clicked her seatbelt in place for her before he quietly closed the door. "Thank you for bringing her out."
"No problem. Try massaging the back of her neck, it might help." Fletch advised.
"Will do, thanks." Tom went around and jumped in the car, only it took him a few moments to realise that Sam had groaned because when he had gotten in the car, he had shaken it. "Sorry, I didn't think." He apologised.
"Well why change the habit of a lifetime?" Sam joked quietly and Tom smiled.
"I've got burn gel packs and sick bowls from pharmacy so we're just gonna get you tucked up in bed so that you can get some rest alright?"
"Thanks." Sam mumbled. "Can you go a bit slower please?" She asked as she pulled the sun visor down despite the fact that it wasn't very sunny.
"Yeah, sure." Tom immediately slowed his speed to lessen the force of the bumps and jolts on them as Sam was clearly feeling worse because of the movement.
"There we go." Tom whispered as he had just helped Sam to lay down on the mattress with the pillows thrown on the floor once more because elevating her head only made her feel worse. After getting home, he had locked the front door to keep them safe whilst Sam emptied her bladder before she settled down. Tom closed the curtains, but opened the window to let some air in, and then placed a sick bowl on her bedside cabinet just in case. "Is there anything that I can do for you at all? You want a drink or something to eat?" He whispered as he crouched down besides her. "Or you could have some paracetamol." He added coyly.
"Can you just leave me alone and keep the noise down please?" Sam asked quietly as she kept her eyes closed.
"Yeah, yeah sure. Whatever you want." Tom nodded. He was slightly disappointed as he had hoped that she would've asked him to hold her or to give her a massage or something a little more intimate. However, he knew that migraines could be so painful that they could be debilitating so he put a bottle of water and her phone on her bedside table, before he left and closed the bedroom door behind him so that Shadow wouldn't go in and disturb her rest.
"Shadow, get off!" Tom whispered. Sam awoke to find her dog licking her bump where her shirt had rolled up in her sleep so she swatted her away and pulled her shirt down whilst Tom got onto the bed besides her with a steaming bowl. "Right, how're you feeling?" He whispered.
"Not brilliant." Sam shrugged.
"Well migraines can last anywhere from 4 hours to 3 days long so I suppose we'll just have to wait and see." He sighed. "But anyway, you haven't eaten since breakfast and it's nearly dinner time so I've got you some nice chicken broth." He stated as he lifted a spoon up, blew on it and then held it towards her mouth.
"I'm not a five year old." Sam huffed as she sat up a little bit and leant on the headboard of the bed.
"No but you're poorly, and you deserve to be looked after." He stated and reluctantly, Sam let him put the spoonful of soup into her mouth. "And I've got a few little presents after this to make you feel better." He smiled.
"If it involved paracetamol-"
"It doesn't, trust me; you'll like them." Tom stated as he put a bit more into her mouth.
"It wouldn't be too bad if I could just sleep through it but I keep on waking up every hour or so needing a wee." Sam admitted.
"Well migraines can cause increased urination so it could be that, as well as the HCG in your blood, and the baby pushing on your bladder." Tom listed and Sam smirked.
"Look, I don't want to be mean but... Would you mind, sleeping on the sofa tonight please? No sorry, that's unfair, I'll sleep on the sofa-"
"No don't be silly, I'll get the blow up bed out and sleep on the floor by the end of the bed so you've got room to get up and go to the toilet." Tom stated.
"Ugh. The thought of blowing up the bed now makes me feel like I'm gonna pass out." Sam admitted.
"Well then it's a good job that I've got strong lungs." Tom smiled as he continued to spoon feed Sam whilst she rested her hands on her bump.
"Thank you, for looking after me."
"Oh it's my pleasure, you got me a day off of work." Tom smirked.
Once Sam had had enough of the chicken broth, Tom reached under the bed and placed a colourful stripy gift bag with pink and blue tissue paper sticking out of it on the bed in front of her.
"What's this for?" Sam asked innocently.
"I got you a few little presents when we went to London so that I could give them to you when you needed cheering up, and I think that now is the ideal time. Go on, look what's in it." He said encouragingly. Sam opened the bag and smiled as she pulled out a small plush border collie dog. "I got that from Hamleys, and I thought rather than go with the original toy bear, that could be our baby's first toy."
"It's adorable." Sam smiled. "But we'll have to keep it out of reach of you-know-who." Sam remarked as they both looked at Shadow who was lying between Sam's legs as she wagged her tail whilst looking at the toy. Sam put the toy besides her before she took out a small pile of thin children's books. There was The Hungry Caterpillar, Guess How Much I Love You, The Cat In The Hat and Green Eggs and Ham.
"I want to read to our baby every night until they go off to sleep." Tom said softly.
"It's gonna be a long time until they'll be sleeping at night and not whenever they want." Sam warned.
"It won't take that long if they've got the intelligence of their mother." Tom smiled.
"We've got to stop saying 'they' because you keep on making me think that there's more than one in there." Sam smirked. Suddenly, Shadow barked as she felt left out but the noise make Sam groan.
"Come here you stupid mutt." Tom let Shadow sit in front of him so that he could pet the dog to keep her quiet.
"Ooh." Sam forced a smile as she pulled out a gold box of 34 chocolates and a milk chocolate tablet bar from the bag from Godiva. "Are you trying to make me fat?" She joked.
"That's not possible." He whispered before he pecked her on the cheek. "And I got you these as well." He added as he took a rectangular box out of the bag. It was white except for two transparent foot shaped shapes with 5 little round toes each, that showed the contents of the box: lots of pale blue and pale pink M&Ms. "Turn it over." Tom ordered and Sam did so to find a message printed on the back.
'To my beautiful wife, Sam,
I am in awe each day as I look at you and marvel at the precious life you have growing inside you. I've loved you since the moment our lips first touched, but my love has grown so much deeper since we have conceived our first child. When I look at you I see a beautiful rose that is coming into bloom each day as your body grows. My life centers around you and our child and I can't express how much joy that brings me everyday. If there is ever anything I can do to make you as happy as you've made me don't hesitate to ask and your wish will be my command.
Your loving husband, Tom x'
"I might have visited M&M world when we went to London too." Tom admitted sheepishly.
"Tom it's... It's amazing, thank you." She whispered as she buried her head in his neck and wrapped her arms around his torso.
"Oi, remember our deal: you're not allowed to cry for this entire pregnancy." Tom laughed softly as he pulled away and Sam grimaced at the movement. "Is it getting worse?" He asked gently, and Sam gave a small nod. "Here, you get some rest. And just think about getting yourself better for your 20 week scan on Friday." Tom smiled as he gently laid Sam down on the bed and then put the gift bag on her bedside table. "And I meant what I said on the M&Ms box, if you want anything, just let me know okay?"
"Mmhmm." Sam mumbled as she snuggled her cheek into the mattress. Tom gently pecked her on the other cheek before he left the room and took Shadow with him to let the mother of his unborn child some rest.
Midnight
Tom was fast asleep on the blow up air bed at the end of their double bed so that Sam had plenty of room and she wasn't moved by his movements in the night. However, Sam was far from fast asleep as her head was still pounding. She also felt nauseous, however she did not want to have to go to the bathroom because firstly she didn't have the energy as she hadn't had any sleep, and secondly, moving would only aggravate her head and make her feel worse.
But the nausea was only getting worse so she grabbed the sick bowl from her bedside table that she was so glad Tom had left there, flicked the dim lamp on and she sat up slightly, waiting for the inevitable to happen. A few minutes of intense nausea passed where Sam was just wishing that it would sooner rather than later, when she finally vomited into the sick bowl, and then she groaned quietly in pain from leaning forward.
"Sam?" Tom croaked as he slowly woke up and saw her holding the bowl. "You feel sick?" He asked as he quickly got up, only when he did, he saw that he bowl had been used.
"Not anymore." Sam joked halfheartedly.
"I'll get you some more water." He stated as he noticed her empty bottle, so he took the sick bowl off of her and then disposed of it in the waste bin outside of the apartment so that it didn't smell, before he grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and a straw. "Like that's gonna happen." Tom remarked as he walked into the bedroom to see Shadow curled up on his air bed, with her head on Tom's pillow.
"She likes warm spots." Sam stated.
"Well she's gonna have a warm spot where I kick her up the arse in a minute." Tom muttered as he knelt down in front of her and held the straw for her whilst Sam took a few sips of the cool, soothing liquid.
"Thanks."
"You're welcome. Do you want anything else?"
"Did you say you got some burn gel packs?"
"Yeah, why you feeling hot?" He asked worriedly as he leant forward to feel her forehead but she batted him away.
"No I just thought that it might help with the pain." Sam admitted.
"Okay, yeah sure." Tom opened a carrier bag and took out a box of two gel pads that react with their air and become cold. He opened the foil packaging, and waved it about a bit to get it working. "Where do you want them?"
"Forehead and back of my neck please."
"No, don't bother getting up, it's alright." Tom didn't want her causing herself any more pain so he put one of the pads over her forehead, and then he cleverly slid the other one under her neck and pressed it onto her skin.
"I don't want to sound clingy but..."
"But?" Tom prompted. "C'mon, I love it when you're clingy, you go all soft and mushy." Tom smirked.
"If I'm not any better in the morning, can you stay at home with me because I don't want to be by myself when I'm like this in case something happens." Sam admitted.
"Of course I can, I was gonna stay at home with you whether you wanted me here or not." Tom laughed quietly. "Get some rest." He whispered. "And by the way, you look ridiculously stupid with that on your forehead." He remarked before he budged Shadow off of his air bed and he got comfortable himself.
Tuesday 14th April 2015, 7:30am
"Zoe, I'm not coming in to work today." Tom said down the phone as he had decided that Zoe would need time to get a locum to cover for both Tom and Sam's absence.
"Has Sam still got a migraine?"
"Yeah, she's er, she's not doing great; she's been sick a few times in the night." Tom admitted.
"Poor Sam. Is there anything I can do?"
"No, but thanks for offering. I suppose we've just got to wait until it passes." Tom shrugged. "But even then, some people can be exhausted for 7 days after a migraine, on top of the fact that she's pregnant... I'm just a bit worried about her going back to work." Tom hinted.
"Well... Seeing as Sam's got Friday off for her scan and you're already having Monday and today off, I'll give her Wednesday and Thursday off as paid sick leave, I'll write her a doctor's note for the file. But I'll need you to be in tomorrow if the worst of it is over." Zoe explained and Tom let out a sigh of relief.
"Thank you so much."
"Well I can't have Sam working if she's knackered can I? Anyway, I'd better get ready or Connie will be snitching to Guy that I'm late."
"Yep, I'll probably see you tomorrow."
"Bye."
Tom put his phone in his pocket before he got the chopping board out and began preparing a fruit salad for Sam for when she woke up. He slowly chopped up a bowl of apple, banana and orange segments, put a bit of natural yogurt over the top and grabbed a spoon before he made his way into the bedroom where he found it empty.
"Sam?"
"Yeah." She replied quietly and Tom knew that the slight echo from her voice was caused by their tiled bathroom.
"Don't worry." Tom said before he sat down on the edge of the bed on his side. Shadow came and sat on the end of the bed whilst he waited for Sam, when she finally reappeared. "You alright? Have you been sick again?" He asked concernedly as she very slowly walked into the room and then lowered herself onto the bed.
"No, I was just having a wash." Sam replied quietly.
"Okay. I made you breakfast." He smiled as he balanced the bowl in his lap, wrapped one arm around her shoulder and then got some of the fruit on the spoon. "Choo choo, here comes the train." He teased and Sam reluctantly opened her mouth.
"Oi!" Sam protested quietly as Tom then had some out of her bowl too.
"You're not gonna miss one bit of apple." Tom stated bluntly, to which Sam rolled her eyes.
"So what did Zoe say?"
"She's giving you sick leave for tomorrow and Thursday so you've got the whole week off. But I've got to go in tomorrow and Thursday." He explained. "You lucky cow; first you you get spoon fed and waited on hand, foot and finger, and then you get extra holiday." He joked.
"And I've got a banging headache, a bladder that seems to be the size of a peanut, and a baby who is refusing to kick so far." Sam moaned.
"You're not worried about that are you?"
"Some people feel their baby moving at 14 weeks, and I've barely felt anything more than indigestion."
"He or she will kick soon, you're only 19 weeks and it's your first pregnancy so it's perfectly normal not to have felt much at 19 weeks." Tom said reassuringly. "Honestly, it's nothing to worry about. And you're mind will be put at ease when we see our baby again on Friday, and then we can finally call our baby 'him' or 'her' rather than they." Tom stated.
"I know it's not fair to other women who aren't doctors, but... I might have been using this and my head is pounding at the moment so I thought you might want to have a listen." Sam admitted as she took her stethoscope from her bedside draw.
"What happened to your yellow one you use at work?" He asked curiously.
"This one is more expensive, and it's more sensitive so it's better at picking up the baby's heartbeat rather than the pulse of the blood flow to the placenta." Sam explained. "Go on, try it. It might take a while to find the heart though." Sam warned as Tom put the earpieces in, and then he put the chest piece under Sam's pyjama top. He pulled a face as he slowly moved around Sam's bump before he finally rested it underneath her navel and he smiled.
"It's quite faint but it's really fast." Tom stated happily.
"I know." Sam nodded eagerly. "Y'know, I read online that if you're expecting a girl then their heartbeat would be over 140 beats per minute, and a little boy would have less than 140 beats per minute. And guess what our baby's heart rate is? 140 beats per minute, on the dot." Sam huffed and Tom chuckled.
"You don't actually believe in the superstition stuff do you?"
"Well no but it's quite interesting how they work things out." Sam shrugged before she yawned. "Right, I'm gonna try and get some rest." She stated as she slowly laid back down on the bed.
"Okay. Are you gonna be alright if I take Shadow out for a quick walk?"
"Yeah sure, just keep the noise down when you come in in case I'm asleep."
"I will. Night night." He whispered as he pecked her on the forehead and then went and put Shadow on her lead, before he left the house.
Coming up: Sam and Tom find out the gender of their baby at her 20 week scan. But pregnancy is beginning to take it's toll on Sam's body, causing both physical discomforts and emotional problems.
Thanks for reading, please review if you wouldn't mind :)