Foxxay

6

I have been waiting in the emergency room lobby for almost two hours with Misty. My head still sort of hurt from knocking into the wall of the shower earlier. I have been nauseous all week and we thought it was just a stomach bug, but the dizzy spells I had yesterday and today have got us both worried.

"Cordelia Foxx?" the nurse called out.

I cringed. That name change can't come soon enough. Misty gently squeezed my hand.

"You got this."

I got up and went with the nurse to take my vitals and pee in a cup. When all that was done she left me to put the paper gown on and wait for the doctor. It felt like another two hours had passed when she knocked and entered.

"Hello! I'm Doctor White and I'll be taking care of you today. How are you?" she asked as she put her clipboard down and started washing her hands.

"Not great. I thought I had food poisoning earlier this week, but now I know it's a nasty stomach bug. I can barely keep anything I eat down. I had three dizzy spells yesterday and today I fell in the shower. I have been making sure to stay well hydrated, but I still feel awful. I run a boarding school and I really need to know what's wrong so I can plan accordingly."

"Ok! Let me take a look at you and hopefully we'll get to the bottom of this."

We made small talk as she ran all my vitals again. She was almost done when there was a knock at the door.

"Excuse me for one second."

She stepped into the hallway. I was starting to feel a bit queasy so I laid back on the chair. She opened the door and the nurse was behind her with a portable ultrasound machine. Absolutely not. She shut the door behind her.

"Good news! The pregnancy test on your urine sample came back positive and what you've been dealing with are pregnancy symptoms. I had an idea that it might've been that earlier but I needed to check if you were dehydrated first and I wanted the results before I said anything. We're going to do an ultrasound to see if everything is going alright with the little bun in the oven."

I was frozen. No. This cannot be happening. It felt like flames were engulfing my brain. Everything they were saying to me sounded warped, like I was underwater. I lifted my paper gown so they could put the gel on my stomach.

"I'm not looking at it," I blurted out before she put the wand to my stomach.

They both had puzzled expressions.

"If I am pregnant, I don't want to know anything about the baby. I just want to know if I'm healthy and what my options are," I explained.

The mood in the room shifted once they understood what I was saying and she nodded. The rest of the appointment went awkwardly. She took some pictures and sent me back to the waiting room. I got to where Misty was sitting and she looked up from her book.

"I'm going to go take care of my fees then we're getting the hell out of here."

Her brows furrowed with concern and I turned to the desk before she started asking questions. The receptionist handed me an envelope at the end of the transaction.

"What's this?"

"Your ultrasound pictures! Congratulations," she said.

My heart dropped. Is this all some sort of sick joke? I didn't know what to do so I just shoved it into my pocket. I turned back and Misty was waiting by the sliding doors trying to get her tote bag to stay on her shoulder. We went out to the car and as soon as she turned the key in the ignition the tears started pouring and I started sobbing.