Friday 17th April 2015
"Have you had any problems?" The sonogropher, Louise, asked as Sam got on the bed and Tom sat on the chair besides it.
"Um, I had a migraine a few days ago but I haven't had them since I was a teenager so I just wanted to ask if you think it's going to be a frequent occurrence, or if it was a one off." Sam explained.
"Well, it could just be a coincidence that you've had one whilst your pregnant, however the most likely cause is your fluctuating hormones in which case, you could experience more migraines throughout your pregnancy. However, you can do things to prevent them like keeping a healthy blood sugar, so no binge eating on sugary things, try not to get stressed because that can trigger a migraine, and it could be certain foods that cause it too."
"Okay. And I just wanted to point out that I haven't actually felt any kicks yet-"
"But, I've told her that there's nothing to worry about." Tom interrupted.
"Your husband is right Mrs Kent, you're 20 weeks, you might not feel anything until you're 22 weeks but that doesn't mean that anything is wrong." Louise stated. "Right, I think we're ready to begin. So welcome, to your anomaly scan." She smiled as she put the lubricant onto the transducer whilst Sam rolled her top up to show her perfectly rounded bump which unfortunately had the beginnings of stretch marks on the sides of her hips. "You know the drill, this might be a bit cold." She warned before she put it on Sam's bump and moved it around to spread the gel out. "Would you like to know the gender if possible?"
"Yes please." Sam and Tom said simultaneously.
"Okay, well we've got to make sure that baby is in the right position to tell because I won't tell you the gender unless I'm 99% sure of it." Louise said as she peered at the screen. "Right, baby is facing towards Dad slightly, so if we move over here." She said as she moved the transducer towards Tom's side of the bed. "There..." She paused leaving Sam and Tom to wait anxiously before she spoke up once more. "You are almost certainly expecting a baby boy." She smiled.
"Yes!" Tom punched the air which raised an eyebrow from Sam. "What? Now you've just gotta pop ten more out and I've got the next Manchester United. If they've got even a tiny percentage of my football skills, they'll be international football players by the time they finish puberty." Tom joked.
"Tom, if they had your football skills, they'd be a danger to themselves and others." Sam stated.
"Okay, can you two just keep quiet now while I check baby over, this can take around 20 minutes whilst I take measurements just to check that all of his organs are developing correctly."
"Sure." Sam nodded as she smiled to herself about having a baby boy. She was almost a little relieved at the fact that she wouldn't have to have mother-daughter talks and that she wouldn't have to deal with periods, mood swings and boyfriend troubles. But instead she would hopefully have an active son whom she could maybe run with as he got older.
Sam had been day dreaming about her son growing up when she was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of the ultrasound machine printing out pictures of the scan.
"All done." Louise smiled. "And this is my favourite part of the job, because I get to tell you that your baby is developing normally, the placenta is healthy and in the correct position, and that there is nothing to worry about at this stage." She smiled.
"Thank you." Sam smiled as she wiped her stomach clean and then slid off of the bed with Tom's help.
"You're more than welcome. And you'll need to go to reception now, and book another appointment at 25 weeks, so in 5 weeks time. It's only because it's your first baby, and the midwife will just check your blood pressure, check for protein in the urine, and check the size of your uterus - it'll be a just a quick appointment to check how mum and baby are doing." She explained.
"Okay, thank you." Tom nodded.
"Bye."
"Goodbye."
Despite it being really early, Sam wanted to be prepared for the arrival of Baby Kent, so she had written a list for her birth bag essentials and as they had the whole day off from work, they had gone to Holby high street to get the whole list so that she could feel prepared. Tom got out of the car and then went around Sam's side and helped her out before he locked the car.
"Right, you're in charge so where do you want to go first?" He asked.
"Boots." Sam yawned - she was still tired after she had gotten very little sleep during her 36 hour migraine but she decided that she'd much rather feel tired than have the banging headache and nausea again.
"Ah ah ah, you're supposed to cross at the crossing and wait for the green man." Tom said sternly as he linked arms with her and walked up to the traffic lights.
"And of course, you always wait for the green man." Sam said sarcastically.
"Yeah well I don't always have a childbearing woman with me." Tom remarked. "At least now we can go shopping for baby things because we know we've got to go with the theme blue." Tom said proudly. "Or red for Man U." He added sheepishly.
"We are not raising our son to be a football supporter, he can support whoever he likes when he actually understands the concept of football and he knows that there is more than one team which I doubt he will be taught by you." Sam said sternly as they crossed the road whilst all of he cars had stopped. Tom grabbed a basket as the pair entered boots whilst Sam got the list out of her pocket.
"Right, I'm just following you here, so get whatever you want."
"That's what I was planning on doing." Sam stated bluntly. She picked up a pack of 12 maternity pads and put them in the basket, before she picked up another two packs, and put them in the basket. She then grabbed two packs of heavy absorbency pads, two packs of normal pads and two boxes of panty liners.
"You've already filled up the basket and you can only tick one thing off of the list!" Tom laughed.
"Well you'd better get another basket then hadn't you?" Sam retorted.
Oddly, Sam was in a rather productive mood after packing her birth bag with a bit of Tom's assistance, so they had both gone shopping once again, but for food so that they could cook some nice meals and freeze them for when they had little time once the baby had been born. They had loads of plastic boxes from the Chinese takeaway, and they were all one portion sized so they were cooking things like macaroni cheese, spaghetti bolognease, chicken tikka masala and cottage pie. Sam had been chopping up vegetables when she suddenly put the knife down, and leant on the counter.
"You alright?" Tom queried as he saw the bewildered look on her face.
"He's um... He's..." Sam trailed off and so Tom slid his arm around the bottom of Sam's bump, and then he smoothed his hand upwards.
"I can't feel anything." Tom said confusedly.
"No he's not kicking it's just... Like can feel that he's moving inside of me." Sam admitted. Tom was a little disappointed that his child was not yet making strong enough movements so that he could feel them, but he was relieved at the same time because Sam had been worrying about not feeling anything and now she was perfectly content.
"I told you he's fine." Tom said softly as he stood behind Sam and wrapped his arms around her swollen abdomen.
"And I've told you just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean you can touch me all the time." Sam snapped as she turned around and Tom immediately let go of her and stepped back. For Sam, the loving moment that she felt her her baby move had instantly gone to a tense atmosphere and she felt bad for snapping at Tom so she quickly walked out of the room, into the bedroom and shut the door behind her to stop Tom from coming in after her.
Tom sighed as he heard the door slam - he wanted to comfort his hormonal wife who appeared to be struggling to cope, but she clearly didn't want him to follow her. He decided that the best thing to do,we would be to finish off the meals that they here making, and then clean the kitchen up to save Sam from having to do it.
He had finally finished making the kitchen spotless when he heard the bedroom door creak open. He smiled as he assumed that she must've calmed down, however, he soon heard the sound of the bathroom door close so she hadn't come out by choice - she had to empty her bladder because of the pressure on it whilst she had a baby growing inside of her. He quickly got a postit note, wrote 'I'm Sorry x' and then put it on the bedroom door before he went back and leant on the counter in the kitchen.
It was an anxious few minutes until he heard Sam come out of the toilet, and he waited to hear if she shut the door again, however he saw her lean in the kitchen doorway and she put the note on the side.
"You've got nothing to be sorry for, I'm just being a stroppy cow." Sam muttered.
"No you're not-"
"Yes I am and I'm sorry, he's as much your son as he is mine and you were only giving me a hug and I shouldn't have snapped. I've just got a really sore chest and the ligaments in my sides are hurting so I didn't appreciate your touch as much as I would normally." Sam admitted quietly as she traced her fingers up and down the sides of her abdomen where her ligaments were being stretched and taunted causing the poor soon-to-be mother pain.
"Why didn't you tell me you were in pain?" Tom sighed as he took one of her hands in his as he had decided that it would be best not to hug her at that moment unless she made the first move.
"Because if I told you that my breasts hurt, you would've just smirked at me." She sulked.
"Come with me." Tom ordered softly as he took her hand and guided her into their bedroom. "Lie down." He ordered and Sam did so on the bed slowly, grimacing as he sides tugged. "Right, what do you think is gonna make it better? A cold flannel, or a hot water bottle?" Tom asked as he knelt down besides her. "Or do you want me to run you a bath? It could be hot or cold." He offered.
"Why are you being so nice to me?" Sam mumbled.
"What do you mean?" Tom chuckled. "I love you, and a tiny little hormonal outburst isn't going to change that." Tom said softly as he tucked a bit of her hair behind her ear causing Sam to smile. She tried to hide it but she couldn't help as it tugged on the edges of her lips. "Why don't you wear a sports bra? It'll give you more support won't it?"
"I haven't got any sports bras that fit anymore and if they're too tight then they're gonna cause more pain." Sam admitted.
"Well we'll get some for you tomorrow after work yeah? Or we could get you some maternity bras that are made specifically for nights."
"Okay, thanks." Sam nodded. "And in answer to your earlier question, if you're offering, I think a cold flannel might work. But one won't be big enough, I'll need two-"
"I'll just get you a tea towel." Tom stated as he stood up. "I can use that pink one and then we'll know not to use that one in the kitchen." Tom remarked. "What do you want to do once I've got it? Would you like to watch a movie? Or TV?"
"Can I see if the cold tea towel helps at all for ten minutes or so, and then we could Shadow up to the park." Sam suggested.
"Yeah, if you're up to that." Tom nodded. "I'll go and get the tea towel." He stated. He soon returned with the pink, thin tea towel that had been soaked in cold water, to the bedroom. "Right, do you want to take your shirt and bra off? I would but I don't want to hurt you." Tom admitted.
"Yeah but um... I'm warning you that things have changed a bit." Sam said quietly as she pulled her shirt over her head and then she laid it down over her bump to cover it up.
"What do you mean 'changed'?" Tom queried.
"You'll see." Sam replied quietly as she slipped her head behind her and unclipped her plain black bra. She slowly pulled it off of her chest revealing a bust that was much larger than usual, and her nipples had darkened and enlarged because her body was preparing to breastfeed their baby. Tom smiled as he gently laid the damp tea towel over her chest. And then he just knelt down besides the bed whilst he stroked Sam's arm to give her a sense of comfort that he was there for her. Tom looked to the side when he heard little taps on the floor until he felt Shadow sit down besides him and rested her chin on his thigh. They all remained silent as they relaxed whilst Sam closed her eyes, however Shadow had been intrigued by Sam's ever changing body so she got up, jumped up on the bed, laid down next to Sam and nosed her bump. "Oi, that's private property." Sam huffed it the dog continued until she began licking Sam's bump lovingly.
"She definitely knows that something is in there." Tom smiled. "Is the cold tea towel working?" He asked curiously.
"Yeah, it is actually."
"Don't sound so surprised. I do come up with good ideas sometimes."
"Such as?" Sam questioned.
"Such as getting that dog for your birthday." Tom stated bluntly.
"Yeah, I suppose she was a good idea too." Sam admitted as she stroked Shadow on the head. "I take it back, I haven't got the energy to take her out for a walk, can we just watch a movie?"
"Yeah sure. I'll take Shadow out for a quick walk so that she's been out and then I'll bring the laptop in here and we can settle down." Tom replied. "Shadow you wanna go walkies?" Tom teased as he stood up. Immediately, the dog sat up, pricked her ears up and began wagging her tail. "I'll take that as a yes." Tom concluded.
Tom had his head propped up on his elbow as he laid behind Sam on the bed watching a movie on the laptop. However, after a joke made in the film occurred and Sam didn't make a sound, Tom leant forward to see if she was okay, when in fact she was fast asleep. Still with only a damp tea towel over her chest and the duvet up to her bump because she didn't want to go back to the throbbing pain that she was in when she was only lying in bed and she didn't need to be clothed. But after being on her skin for over an hour, the towel had become warm so he gently peeled the towel off of Sam's chest and put it on the side, before he pulled the duvet over her properly. He put the laptop away and flicked the light off, before he settled down for the night with both his wife and his unborn son lying safely in his arms.
Coming up: Sam and Tom spend a summer evening together after a scorching hot day.
Thanks for reading, please review :)