MAJOR DRAMA 14: To be or not to be
Oh my God I'm bleeding. Am I about to lose my baby? Was this karma coming for me after what happened with Natalia? So many things were swirling around in my head. My mom and I drove to the hospital. I text Greg to let him know that I had started bleeding and was headed to the hospital. I had so many emotions I cried silently in the car. Every now and then my mother would look at me and tell me that everything was going to be ok. My mom began to pray as we drove to the hospital. When we arrived we checked in and sat in silence. After about an hour I was called back into a room where I had my blood and urine taken. I was no longer cramping or bleeding but it didn't stop me from worrying. This is not how I planned to bring a baby into the world but from the time I saw those two lines I was a mom and I wanted nothing more than to hold my baby one day.
I still hadn't heard from Greg. Even though he was upset I didn't take him for the type to just not show up. I couldn't worry about that now. All of my focus needed to be on my baby. The doctor came in a short time later and told me that my pregnancy hormones appeared stable but he wanted to get an ultrasound to make sure that my baby was doing ok. A short while later a transporter took me to radiology where waited to have an ultrasound. The ultrasound tech was very nice. I think she could tell that I was scared. My mom had to wait in the room and I was all alone. She applied to cold gel to my belly and ran the probe across searching for my little one. I was scared to death until I heard the sweetest sound. Ba bum,ba bum,ba bum, ba bum at 160 bpm. I breathed a sigh of relief at hearing my baby's heartbeat. I was wheeled back to my room and relieved that my baby was alive.
The doctor came back after the ultrasound results returned and told me that my baby was healthy and I had what they called a subchorionic bleed. He explained that blood had leaked into the space between my uterine wall and the baby and that it was a common cause of bleeding in the first semester. He reassured me that most people who have this go on to have healthy pregnancies but that I should follow up with my obstetrician to make sure that everything was still ok in a couple of days. I finally could breathe knowing that my baby was ok. That wouldn't stop my mom from treating me like I was helpless. She made me ride in a wheelchair back to the car and insisted that I go straight to bed when we got to her house. I was exhausted from the day and drifted off to sleep.
The next day Greg still had not responded to my message. After everything that happened and all of his accusations I contemplated even sending him another message. If he didn't believe this was his child and wasn't concerned enough to even check on me then why was I messaging him? It was never my style even before I got pregnant to chase any man. I decided not to message him again. I was already prepared to be a single mother and had my mom for support. I had my follow up appointment with my gynecologist and was released to go back to work as long as I promised to not do any heavy lifting. I don't know how I was expected to get away with not lifting anything in the ICU with patient who are sedated and on vents but I didn't want to risk my baby's life on it either. I guess now was the time to tell my manager that I was pregnant and see if they could reassign me to light duty somewhere else.
I called my manager and had the conversation I dreaded having. She told me that she understood my situation but she simply could not place me on light duty because it didn't exist. I had to either come back to work or try to apply for family medical leave until I was able to come back and perform all the duties of my job. It was one thing after another. I could go back to work and risk losing my child or I could take a medical leave for months without pay and not be able to pay for rent and food. I told my mom and she promised that we would get through it but I didn't want my mom to bear that burden. She had already worked so hard to take care of me growing up. I had some money saved and decided that I would take leave and cut back on some expenses until things got better.
I thought about Natalia. Here she was offering me thousands of dollars to kill my baby and here I was losing thousands to make sure my baby lived. My mom suggested that I ask Greg to help with some of my expenses since I was carrying his child and he didn't seem to be struggling for money. I hadn't told her about the text messages that he'd sent right before my scare. I knew that if I told her she would never forgive him. I knew that eventually I would have to talk to him and straighten things out about what happened with Natalia but I was still angry. I had already told him and me and Emmanuel had never slept together. The fact that he was doubting my integrity when he was the one who had been dishonest on multiple occasions was so hypocritical. Nevertheless, I wanted my child to have a good life and a father. I put away my pride and text him.
"Greg, I have not responded the allegations that you have made because I was both hurt and offended. However, if it will put your mind at ease I am more than willing to have a paternity test done to prove that you are in fact the father of my unborn child. I am very disappointed that would think so negatively of me and think that I would mislead you in any way. There were many times in our relationship that you misled me yet I continued to give you grace. I have never asked you for anything including your participation in my pregnancy. I was very hurt that you didn't bother to check on me to even see if our child was dead or alive when I text you about my bleeding. Not that you have asked, but we are both ok and doing well. I have moved in with my mother for the time being and will be staying with her for the duration of my pregnancy. I have also had to leave my job because I could no longer perform my duties according to my obstetrician and nurse manager. Please let me know when you would like to have the testing done so we can make arrangements and settle this matter once and for all. -Jas"
After about 30 minutes he responded and said that he was available tomorrow. I googled a testing center and made an online appointment that I later screenshot and sent to him. I didn't know how to feel about it all. We went from being so happy and feeling like a family to almost losing my child and losing a guy I thought I loved in a few hours. At least tomorrow we would have the test done and I could explain to him what happened in the mall with Natalia. Maybe after he heard everything that happened he would understand why I told her about the baby.
The next day we met at the testing facility. We spoke but didn't say much. I went first and gave my blood and then he gave his after. It would take a few days before the results would come back but I was confident that things would be better once he knew the truth. As we were leaving out the testing facility I asked him if I could talk to him about what happened between me and Natalia. We sat outside and I rehashed the whole thing. I told him about how Natalia said she was going on a date with him later that evening, had asked me for my number and then suggested I leave him and offered me money to have an abortion. He seemed genuinely shocked but after I told my side of the story he understood why I had been so upset. I wasn't trying to out him when I told her about the baby but I needed her to know that I wasn't going to be bullied by anyone and I wasn't going to leave unless I wanted to. He apologized for being such a jerk and not checking on me. I still wasn't ready to run back into his arm but at least it was a step in the right direction. He promised to text me later and we got in our cars and left.
Back in the lab ....
"Hello?"
"Natalia? Hey, It's Lauren!" Lauren grew up with Natalia and they would often see each other at social events.
"Hey girl what's up?"
"That's what I want to know. Are you still dating Greg Adkins because I just saw him with another woman."
"No, we recently ended things." "Oh no I'm so sorry to hear that. You two were together for a long time I hate that things didn't work out."
"Yeah me too. Where did you see him at?"
"At the lab. I work at Ontime diagnostics they came in and had some blood work done."
"Really....just out of curiosity what blood work did they have done."
"hmmmm....let's see. It's looks like they had a paternity test"
Natalia smiled on the other side of the phone.
"Lauren, I need you to do me a favor."