Sunday 5th July 2015
Sam, who was 31 weeks pregnant, had just been taking a quick afternoon nap in the bedroom so Tom had taken the opportunity to make their lunch for the next day to eat at work. He was making egg mayonnaise sandwiches and he was just mixing everything together when Sam came in, feeling refreshed after her snooze.
"Ugh, what is that smell?" Sam grimaced as the horrid smell of hard boiled eggs being mashed up immediately made her feel nauseous.
"I'm making sandwiches for-" Tom stopped as Sam quickly took two steps until she reached the sink and she vomited before she turned on her feet and ran through the hallway and out of the front door. "Sam? Sam?" He called after her as he chased after her and found her leaning on her car with the back of her hand over her mouth and her other hand over her bump with Shadow sitting by her feet - the dog was very obedient and even if the door was left open, she wouldn't go far. "Sorry, was it the smell?" He asked worried and she nodded in return. "I'm sorry, I thought you were going to stay in bed and read or something I didn't think that you'd come in." Tom admitted. "Plus I didn't think that it'd make you throw up in the first place." He added. "You feel alright now?"
"Um yeah." She replied eventually. "But I'm gonna go take shadow walk down by the river and get some air." Sam replied simply.
"Wait. I'll chuck the stuff out and then I'll come with you yeah?"
"Yeah but leave the kitchen window open. And you need to run the tap in the sink for a while." She added awkwardly. She didn't want him to throw away his lunch just because she couldn't stand the smell, but she didn't want that vile creation in her fridge, let alone in the staffroom where she would probably be sick at work. Again.
"Don't worry about it, I'll be two minutes." Tom stated before he ran back into the house. He soon came out with his keys and Shadow's lead which he attached to the collar, then locked up and then began taking a gentle stroll in the warm Summer's evening.
"Sorry I didn't mean to make you ill." Tom apologised again.
"It's okay, you didn't know. Just don't do it again." Sam replied as she slipped the lead out of Tom's hand so that she could walk her dog herself. They walked in a comfortable silence for a little longer until the reached the river and the continued walking along the path besides the flowing water. "It's getting scary now... He's almost here and I don't feel prepared enough." Sam admitted.
"We're as prepared as anyone can be for a new baby." Tom said reassuringly. "We've got the bedroom sorted, your birth bag is packed and you're up to date with all your appointments so it's just you being worried, all new mums go through it."
"I booked him a place by the way at the hospital crèche by the way. I went on Friday during my lunch break to speak to the head carer and I know we said we'd talk about how long my maternity leave would be but there was only one space that is going to become available and that is in January so after my due date, I'll have about three months off of work before I go back. And if I hadn't have booked that place then we might not have gotten a space for months after that." Sam explained.
"Well that was lucky then wasn't it?" Tom smiled. "And if he's in the hospital crèche then rather than asking Zoe for frequent breaks to express milk, you can actually go and breast feed him can't you? And we can take him for walks in the peace garden during our lunch breaks." Tom explained but he realised that Sam wasn't paying attention, she was staring at an ice cream can where the children from the play area had ran over to. "Shall we go and get an ice cream?" Tom suggested after patting his pockets and ensuring that he still had some change left in them.
"What? No, I don't want one, I was just thinking that that's gonna be our son in a few years." Sam said quietly as she nodded over to a young boy who was jumping up and down as he begged his father for money for a sweet treat.
"Of course it's not." Tom smirked which caused Sam confusion. "If our son is anything like you, he'll be begging for fruit or he'd prefer to go for a run around in the park than go for an ice cream." Tom explained which was when he noticed that Sam was slightly out of breath. "Come on, let's go home. There's an armchair with your name on it."
Sam was sat in her snow leopard maternity onesie in the armchair with her feet on the pouffe. Shadow was sat in the small gap besides her with her front paws and head rested on Sam's thighs. Tom had just changed into his pyjama shorts when Sam felt a kick.
"Tom." She called in a tone that he knew what she meant. He came in smiling and went to put his hand on Sam's bump but suddenly Shadow lifted her head and began growling at Tom as she stared at his hovering hand.
"Get out the way you stupid dog." Tom ordered but as he moved his hand slightly closer again, Shadow growled and opened her mouth to show Tom her full set of sharp teeth. "Oi! That's my baby too!" Tom laughed. But Shadow just ignored him before she placed her head on Sam's bump whilst she kept a watchful eye on the man.
"Nevermind, he's stopped kicking." Sam shrugged and Tom shook his head as he sat down on the longer sofa that was adjacent to Sam's armchair.
"I think she thinks that she owns you." Tom grumbled.
"No one owns me."
"I own you." Tom argued.
"I'll own a lovely pair of testicles in my hands in a minute if you don't stop saying you own me." Sam threatened. "I've been looking dog pregnancy up by the way." Sam admitted.
"Sam, she hasn't started her heats, she can't be pregnant." Tom stated.
"But what if that was her first heat? When a dog is in heat her hormones attract other male dogs and when I took her for the walk to the park on that day, quite a few dogs came up to her and two of them were aggressive to each other and I just pulled Shadow away from them. And she's being clingy now. What if she's protecting our baby because she knows she's pregnant and she's feeling maternal?" Sam asked and Tom had to pause and think about it.
"Well why don't we take her to a vets and find out if she is pregnant?" Tom suggested.
"Because the earliest way to find out is a blood test to test for relaxin, and that is only detected around three weeks into the pregnancy and right now, if she is pregnant, she'd only be three days gone." Sam replied. "Did you know that a dogs pregnancy lasts around 9 weeks? That means if she is pregnant, she'll have a similar due date to our baby." Sam stated.
"Well then, we shall take her to the vets in three weeks. And we can find out then." Tom stated. "I suppose it wouldn't be a bad thing if she was pregnant. Because then she'd sleep in her own bed with her puppies, and then there wouldn't be a big lump taking up more than her fair share of the bed."
"Is that a polite way of hinting to me that you want more room in the bed?" Sam queried.
"No no, I'm saying I end up kicking her off in the night but I suppose I'd better be careful now, just in case she is pregnant. And you don't take up loads of the bed anyway."
"Tom I sleep in the middle of our double bed." Sam retorted.
"Ah yes, but one: we've got a king sized bed so there's plenty of room and two: you sleeping in the middle gives me no option but to snuggle up to you at night." Tom smiled. "Just think, in as little as 6 weeks, you could be giving birth."
"Mm, and you could be sitting there with a broken hand from all the crushing." Sam couldn't help but give an evil smile at the thought whilst she gently stroked the fur on the top of Shadow's head and then tickled her behind the ear.
"Listen, what do you want me to do for you during the birth to make it as pleasant as possible for you?" Tom asked. "Do you want me to talk to you, tell you how well you're doing? Or do you just want it to be quiet? Or I could give you massages, or take you for shorts walks if you're allowed."
"I... I honestly can't answer these questions now; I don't know what it's going to be like until I'm in the thick of it." Sam replied. "But I'll try my best to remember to let you know what I want you to do when the time comes." She added. "Right up you get Shadow, or I'm gonna wet myself." Sam stated bluntly and reluctantly the dog got off of the armchair and then Sam padded into the bathroom. "Tom she's following me." Sam moaned.
"Well shut her outside the bathroom door." Tom replied and Sam did so. Only within moments, they could both hear Shadow whining and scratching at the door. "Let her in before she damages the paintwork." Tom joked.
"I can't, I'm sitting on the toilet!" Sam replied and so Tom got up from the sofa and opened the bathroom door open about a foot so that Shadow could barge through but not enough so that he could see his wife. "Wonderful, now she's sitting on my feet." Sam exclaimed sarcastically.
"Sam you couldn't see your feet anyway."
"Not funny."
A few minutes later, Sam came out to find Tom sitting in her armchair so she just went and sat on his lap.
"Jesus, get off you big lump!" Tom smirked.
"Ooh, look who's coming to join us." Sam sighed as Shadow jumped onto her lap causing Tom to groan further. "You love it really. It's the whole Kent Family together." Sam smiled smugly as she put Shadow's front paws on her chest and so the dog was lying over Sam's bump whilst Tom put his hands on Sam's thighs.
"Yeah it's wonderful. Can you two get off now before I lose the blood circulation to my balls?" Tom ordered. Sam giggled before she put Shadow on the pouffe and she got up to her feet but she groaned and then stretched out her back. "Come here." Tom said softly as he pulled Sam down onto the armchair and sat her between his legs. "How much is your back hurting?" He asked as he put his hands on her hips and used his thumbs to massage her lower back.
"Not much. It's only when I get up or sit down." Sam replied.
"So I just caused you pain twice." Tom concluded regretfully.
"You didn't know, it's alright."
"Just like I didn't know at that the smell would make you sick earlier. I seem to be doing all the wrong things for you today." Tom sighed.
"No you're not; this back massage is actually quite nice." Sam admitted sheepishly. "And I know that there probably won't be a lot of room, but how about we go and a shower together?" Sam suggested.
"Thank you for trying to make me feel better but we both know that that's not what you want to do." Tom stated as he rested his chin on her shoulder.
"What do you mean? Why would I need to make you feel better? Has someone got the baby blues?" Sam teased but when she got no response, she actually had to think about her husband's state of mind. "I think I know how you're feeling." Sam spoke up after a short silence.
"Really? Because I don't even know how I'm feeling." Tom retorted.
"You're a bloke so you just think that you've gotta suck it up and take it like a man. And because you believe in that and you think I've got enough to deal with, you're keeping everything that you're worried about to yourself. Now, what you're keeping to yourself, I'm not sure. Maybe you're worried about becoming a dad... Maybe you're anxious about the birth or worried about having no freedom once he's born." Sam explained. "I feel exactly the same Tom; I'm not exactly a girly girl - I was in the army - so I have to pretend that I'm fine too."
"I'm not scared it's just..." Tom said defensively.
"I know." Sam nodded in agreement that they were both scared, they just didn't want to say it. "This is why we need to talk to each other more."
"You're one to talk about communication." Tom laughed.
"Well I promise from now on, I'll tell you everything- well, mostly everything."
"Me too." Tom nodded. "And for a start, about what you just said... I'm not worried about freedom once he's born, I'm just... I'm worried that I won't have a clue what to do once he is born. I mean I know about changing nappies and you're in charge of feeding but there's the whole thing of actually being a dad to him." Tom explained as he wrapped his arms around Sam and linked his fingers together over her bump.
"It'll come naturally to you. There are thousands of men out there that are far more immature and far less intelligent than you, and they've turned out to be great dads. And you, more than anyone, know what it's like not to have a dad so I know you'll do the best you possibly can. And that's all you can do." Sam said reassuringly.
"Thanks." Tom smiled. "What about you? There's got to be something that you're worried about."
"Honestly? I'm really worried about crapping myself when I give birth." Sam admitted and Tom burst out laughing. "It's not funny!' She protested.
"Sam, accidentally releasing the contents of your bowels during birth is perfectly fine, in fact it's pretty common I think." Tom stated. "It doesn't matter if you do or don't, you'll just get cleaned up and then we'll carry on."
"But it'll be mortifying!" Sam argued.
"Sam, - no pun intended - but if push comes to shove, it happens. Okay, and hopefully you'll be able to go to the toilet in early labour before you start pushing, and you can empty your bowels then."
"Whatever." Sam shrugged. "Right, I'm going to bed because I'm knackered." Sam announced and Tom gave her a little assistance in getting to her feet.
"Yep, I'll come with you; we've got work tomorrow." Tom stated as he got up, and of course, Shadow followed Sam into the bedroom. Tom went around, closed the windows, locked the front and back door and then by the time he got to the bedroom, Sam was already lying in the middle of the bed in here snow leopard onesie and Shadow was curled up by Sam's feet. He was already in his is pyjama shorts so he got onto the mattress - with no duvet as usual because it was warm enough to sleep without one, and then he switched the light off. "Night night." He whispered.
"Night." Sam mumbled sleepily, before she drifted off into a deep slumber.
Coming up: What has Sam gotten Tom for his birthday? And when Sam takes Shadow to the vets for a pregnancy test, will she get the results she's been waiting for?
Thanks for reading, please review :)