A Walk in the Park

Chapter 13 - The Scare

Isabella's POV

After Prince left me to make lunch, I grabbed some clothes and went to use the bathroom.

The toilet paper told a story that neither of us would be prepared to hear, was this a tale of two loves never going to come?

My brow felt really hot as I managed to stare at the crimson paper.

"Oh no oh no oh no no no...this can't be happening. This can't..."

Swinging open the bathroom closet, I grabbed a pad, dressed and carefully made my way downstairs...like that would make a difference.

Happily humming while getting our lunch together, I rounded the corner nearing what I swear was my passing out point.

Prince's smile turned quickly sour when his eyes met mine and all I could say was, "I'm bleeding."

The jingle of Prince's car keys sounded as he grabbed me and we were fast on our way to the hospital.

The whole drove he kept assuring me with words and a rub of my leg, but all his care sounded muffled, at a distance but undoubtedly he was calm. Simultaneously he called Dr. Barring on our way, he agreed to meet us there. His next call was to Sarah, asking that she meet the boys after school and that we'd explain later.

We pulled up into the emergency entrance and Prince helped me out of the car and into the care of an awaiting nurse. While he parked, I was wheeled into a private room where Dr. Barring was already there with his calming eyes.

"Let's see what's happening Isabella." Dr. Barring serenely assured. A nurse named Susan quickly drew my blood and rushed it to the lab. I was calm until Dr. Barring was ready with the ultrasound, that's when I lost it.

Frantically crying, "I need you to wait until Prince is here...I need Prince to be here before you look at the babies. I won't hear this news alone."

Prince's heels tapped down the hall and even before he rounded the corner I heard him exclaim, "Isabella...I'm here baby...I'm here." Our eyes met and spoke what words could not say. He was out of breath, a bit teary, holding my hand and kissing my forehead.

Once the ultrasound was placed, it was a waiting game. The ultrasound screen was turned away from us so we couldn't tell what was happening but one thing we did know is no heartbeats weren't heard.

Susan raced in, "Dr. Barring here's the lab report." As he scanned the results, he looked at the ultrasound gathering every piece of information he could.

After much patience running thin, Prince lost it. "Dr. Barring please tell us what's happening."

"Susan I need for you to give Isabella a 100 mg of progesterone in oil injection. Isabella I need for you to stand so that we can give you an injection of progesterone and then I will tell you everything that's going on," said Dr. Barring.

Prince helped me sit up on the table and to keep the drape over myself so that I could maintain some modesty.

"Ok Isabella, I'm going to ask that you place all of your weight on your left foot, bend your right knee, lean into the table and relax. It's going to take a bit to inject as the oil is a thick solution and it might burn a bit. You're doing great Isabella. I'm now placing a bandaid over the injection site and massaging the area to stimulate the progesterone delivery. All finished, nice job Isabella...you can get back up on the table."

"Thanks Susan."

Prince pecked me on the lips and helped me back up onto the table as Dr. Barring explained. "Isabella...because you are of advanced maternal age, your body isn't producing enough progesterone to support your pregnancy. The way we solve this is to give you progesterone in oil injections for the duration of your first trimester. Once the first trimester is over, the placenta takes over the production of progesterone and supports the remainder of the pregnancy. These are injections that you cannot give yourself, since they must be administered to your backside, so someone else who is with you on a daily basis needs to provide these to you."