Southern Belles, a Novel About Love, Purpose & Second Chances (9781310340970) (17 page)

“Honey, I am glad you got a job—children are
expensive! And school is a great idea. But we can talk more about
that tomorrow. You really do need to get some sleep; it’s been a
really long day for all of us.” She said as she steered me towards
the stairs.

Chapter 11: If the Apron Fits

The
next few days passed by quietly. I started my first day of training
at the Rox. It went mostly well until Victoria Sweetly came in for
lunch being her typical snobby self—making comments to her friends
while looking and pointing at me. I knew she didn’t know about the
baby because only my family and CeCe knew besides Father John, who
was somewhat bound to secrecy and Tru, wouldn’t tell a soul. I
shadowed Trudy the whole day, learning the ins and the outs of the
small but coveted diner. The food at Trixie Rox is some of the best
diner food around. Most of the customers are faithful locals,
residents and passer-byes. My uniform consisted of only a small
black apron with the Rox logo. I could wear jeans, pants or just
about anything other than sweatpants. I was going to need to buy
some bigger pants soon. It was pretty laid back except for the
lunch hour rush—which was always busy. As part of my benefits at
the diner I was allowed to eat one meal a day during my break. Now
that I had an appetite, I looked forward to my favorite—cheese
fries. The Reuben was pretty good too, though. I was tired after my
first day at the Rox and went home and napped.

Since Christmas Eve, my father avoided eye
contact with me and seemed to ignore my existence when I was in the
same room. I knew he was angry but it was still hurtful being
unnoticed. Today was my doctor’s appointment and my mother, Richie,
and CeCe were all going with me. My dad hadn’t said anything to me
since that night—not even on Christmas. I wondered if he would ask
about the appointment or how the baby was doing. I was starting to
question whether or not I would ever have the relationship I had
with my dad, again. I was like a stranger to him. My mom told me to
give him time and that eventually he would come around. It seemed
as if all the men in my life were ignoring me. Even Richie had been
busy the last couple days. Richie, at least, ad an excuse—he said
he was busy memorizing his lines for Fiddler on the Roof.

The OBGYN office ended up being about a half
hour drive. My mother drove us. Today, I was meeting with the new
obstetrician and getting an ultrasound. I had heard that you can
usually tell the sex by now and I was getting anxious to see who
was in there. Would it be a boy? If so, would he look like Skylar?
Or maybe, it was a girl. Would she look like me? I wondered and
waited in anticipation. I hoped we could find out today what I was
having. We sat in the waiting room for about fifteen minutes of
which ten minutes were used to complete new patient paperwork.
Richie and CeCe looked through magazines while my mother and I went
through the papers. I was getting excited. I hadn’t seen the baby
since my first visit to the doctor’s office on campus. Then, the
baby was the size of a pinto bean, little and not yet defined. From
the illustrated medical drawings on the wall the baby had little
legs, toes, fingers and arms that we’d be able to see on the
ultrasound.

“Charlotte?” A lady in pink scrubs called
out into the lobby.

“That’s us.” I said looking at my mom,
Richie, and CeCe.

“Oh, are all of you coming back?” She
asked.

“Yes, is that okay?” I questioned.

“Sure, we will just need to pull in a few
extra chairs. I am going to walk you all to the room and then I
will need you to give us a urine sample before you come back,” she
said, handing me a sample cup. “Just make sure to write your name
on it before putting it in the little window in the bathroom.”

“Okay, thank you.” I said, reaching out to
grab the sample cup.

I carefully peed in the cup and wrote my
name on it. I quietly opened the small bathroom window to sneak it
in before someone on the other side opened up their window peeking
into mine, to grab my urine sample for testing. I went back to the
room where I found my mother laughing with Richie and CeCe. I sat
down and waited, again. I hadn’t seen any pictures of the
obstetrician and wondered what she looked like. Just then the door
opened and the woman with the pink scrubs came back in.

“Before the doctor comes in I need to take
your vitals. Do you have any questions or concerns since your last
visit? I see, in your chart here, that this is your first
appointment here. You were seeing an OBGYN in Athens?”

“Yes, this is my first visit here. I was
seeing Dr. McKenan in Athens and am finally feeling better, no more
nausea. I was really sick in the first trimester and some at the
beginning of this trimester. I am, though, having some pretty bad
burning in my throat and chest—especially at night. Other than
that, I’m feeling good.”

“It sounds like you might be having some
heartburn—which is normal. You can take some Tums for that. They
are over-the-counter and pretty inexpensive. Are you feeling any
movements or kicking yet?” The nurse in the pink scrubs whose name
badge I could now make out said Brenda.

“Thanks, no I haven’t felt any kicks
yet.”

“You’re welcome. You should start feeling
them soon. It usually takes longer to start feeling the kicks with
your first pregnancy. It will feel like gas bubbles or butterflies
at first until the kicks become stronger as the baby grows
bigger.”

“Char, just to clarify—she didn’t give you
permission to pass gas—she said gas bubble-like feeling.” Richie
laughed.

“Ouch!” He yipped after our mother pinched
his arm.

“Thank you Brenda. Please excuse my brother;
he forgot his maturity at home.”

“Oh—I thought that was the father of the
baby.” She said earnestly.

We all broke out in laughter. “No, that’s my
brother.” I said, shaking my head.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay; it gave us a good laugh.”

“Is the father of the baby out of town
today?” She asked kindly as she wrapped the blood pressure cuff
around my arm.

I paused a moment, “yes, he is.”

“Okay, maybe we’ll meet him another day.
You’re going to want to start thinking about childbirth classes
soon. I can give you the fact sheet with the dates and locations of
the classes to take home with you.” She said nicely.

I looked over at my mom who smiled at me
slightly. Richie and CeCe were somber looking now.

“Thank you; that would be helpful.”

“The doctor will be in shortly. I’ll leave
the fact sheet at the front desk for you to pick up when you check
out.”

“Sounds good, thank you again. Have a good
day.”

“You too,” She said as she closed the door
on her way out.

We sat quietly for a moment, waiting for the
doctor.

“I can help with the classes if you want?”
CeCe offered.

“That would be nice; maybe you and my mom
could take turns—would that be okay with you, mom?”

“I’m sure I can do that as long as the
classes are in the evenings, when I’m not in school.”

“That would be great, CeCe, if you’re here.
You may be at school when they start up.”

“I can”—she started to say when the door
swung open.

“Hello Charlotte, I’m Dr. Lewis. You were
supposed to see Dr. Jacobson but she got called out to the hospital
for a delivery. You would have to see me at some point anyway; we
have four doctors and two midwives in our practice. We strongly
recommended that you see each of us before delivery. We all take
turns with being on-call for who covers obstetric care at the
hospital so you won’t know who will be delivering until you get to
the hospital.” He said in a professional manner while reaching out
to shake my hand.

“It’s nice to meet you.” I said.

“I’ve reviewed the records from your
previous doctor’s office in Athens. Everything looks good. Your due
date is June seventh according to the information I received. How
are you feeling—any concerns?” He asked as he opened a drawer and
pulled out a clear squirt bottle with blue jelly-like substance
inside.

“Not really. The nurse told me that the
burning in my throat and chest is most likely heartburn. She said I
could take some Tums to help with the burning.”

“That’s true.” He said as he pulled open a
drawer and pulled out a small Doppler to listen to the baby’s
heartbeat.

He squirted the cold blue jelly on my belly
and then placed the Doppler on top and began to lightly press and
move the Doppler around. A few seconds later I heard the fast
swishing sounds of a little heartbeat. I smiled as I loved hearing
the heartbeat. In the midst of all the stress this was causing, I
was happy to hear a strong little heartbeat. The previous doctor
told me that usually the faster heartbeats are girls but nothings
definitive until you have visual proof. Sometimes, they’re so busy
moving around in there that their heart beats more quickly.

“Sounds good, about 156 beats per minute,”
he said pulling the Doppler away, before wiping off the jelly with
some tissue. “So, you’ll want to make your next appointment with
another one of the doctors until you meet all of us and then you
can choose anyone of us to see for the rest of the appointments.
Everything sounds good. You have an ultrasound down the hall next;
any questions?”

“No, not yet,” I said, smiling.

“We’ll see you back in a month. You’ll want
to start thinking about childbirth classes soon.”

“I’m picking up the information before I
leave today.”

“Okay, take care, Charlotte. It was nice to
meet you today.” The doctor said holding out his hand to shake
mine, again.

“It was very nice to meet you too doctor.
Thank you.”

“He seems nice.” My mother said.

“He’s a little stiff,” CeCe added.

“A little stiff is okay as long as they are
knowledgeable and good at what they do,” my mother replied.

“That’s true.” CeCe nodded.

Richie was silent as he sat traumatized by
the large picture on the wall of a baby being delivered, vaginally.
He had a look of disgust on his face. “Ouch, they don’t knock you
out for that?” He asked, looking at the expression of pain on the
woman’s face in the picture.

“No, they don’t knock you out.” My mother
said, laughing. “The mother has to push the baby out; they don’t
just crawl out.”

“Ugh! Poor Char! That’s going to hurt.” He
said squeamishly.

“Yes it hurts; but you forget the pain when
you see your baby.” She said, smiling.

“There is no way you could forget that kind
of pain!” Richie shook his head.

“I totally agree; you are going to need some
drugs for that.” CeCe nodded.

“I read you could get an epidural but then
they have to stick a really big, long needle in your spine. Mom,
did you have an epidural when we were born?” I asked.

“They didn’t have them back then—when you
were all born.”

“I don’t know what’s worse—a needle in your
back or a watermelon-size thing coming out of…there!” CeCe said
with her hands on her hips.

“I don’t know but I don’t want to think
about it yet.” I said, trying to get the image of a watermelon
coming out of that small space, out of my head.

“Richie, are you okay?” My mother asked,
laughing as she noticed him looking paler than usual.

“Yeah, I’m going to stay in the waiting room
when you’re pushing that thing out. I’ll say prayers for you out
there.” He said, breaking a small sweat.

We all laughed and headed out the door
towards the ultrasound room. We were greeted in the hallway by
Brenda, the nurse in pink scrubs.

“We are in here.” She pointed to the door
where the ultrasound machine was set up.

We filed into the small room. CeCe sat on
Richie’s lap since we were a chair short. The room was so cold and
there were pictures of Anne Geddes’ babies, dressed as sweet
flowers and animals, all over the walls. I was introduced to a
tall, slender woman, with a Russian accent, named Margaret, who was
the sonographer. She was very nice and helped me up on the extended
medical chair. She had me tuck my pants into my underwear and pull
up my shirt to just below my bra. Next, she pulled out another
squirt bottle full of blue jelly and squirted it all over my belly.
I was surprised that the jelly was actually warm this time—which
helped since the room was so cold. Immediately, a large black and
white picture of the baby appeared on the monitor. I could see the
spine and the arms and legs and the head. We had the perfect
profile shot of the baby.

“First, I am going to take measurements of
the baby.” She said before continuing, “Do you want to know the sex
of the baby?”

“Absolutely, I’ve been waiting to find out
the last few months.” I said excited to finally find out who was in
there.

“Okay, we’ll check for the sex in a few
minutes. Now, we need measurements to see how well the baby is
growing and to verify the due date. You’re due date is June seventh
currently?” She asked as she placed the cursor over the baby’s
femur to measure it.

“Yes, that’s what they told me at my first
appointment when they did the ultrasound.” I answered trying to see
if I could see anything that identified boy or girl.

“Okay.” She said keeping her eyes on the
monitor as she moved the scanner around my belly.

As she pressed down more firmly I saw the
baby move quickly for the first time. His little arm moved up
towards his head and he changed positions.

“Oh—he didn’t like that.” She said, smiling
as she tried to measure the circumference of the head.

“It’s a he?” I asked as I looked at my mom,
CeCe and Richie, whom were all very focused on the monitor.

“I don’t know yet. I haven’t checked—but now
that he’s moved—maybe we can see something.” She said moving the
scanner around some more to get the baby to move.