Madferit: The Novel

Chapter 61

            The waiting room was dead empty except for one other person besides us. You could tell she was pregnant – a few months along at least.

I hadn't even started showing yet.

"What the fuck's takin' so long?" Noel grumbled. "We made the appointment for eight. It's well after eight now!"

Noel wasn't a fan of getting up early but made an exception for our Michael. Early morning appointments hopefully meant fewer people. And goodness knows Noel wasn't a fan of crowds either.

No one paid us any attention thank goodness. Didn't even notice us sat there it seemed. Noel made arrangements that if the waiting room did get too crowded, we'd get our own private one. That or we'd find a new doctor.

But I liked the doctor and had since even before I was pregnant. Noel knew that and really didn't want to change things. But he definitely wanted what was best for me and the baby.

"Good morning!" The doctor beamed when he entered the exam room. "Let's wish Baby Gallagher a good morning as well."

"It's Mich-"

"Noel!" I whispered. Now just wasn't a good time for his famous grouchiness.

The sonographer ran the wand over my stomach while the doctor pointed things out on the monitor.

"There's the gestational sac." He informed us pointing at a gray blob.

"We didn't come 'ere to see a blummin' sac!" Noel snapped. "We come here to see our Michael!"

"Noel!" I scolded jerking on his hand a bit.

The doctor laughed. "Already got a name picked out? That's definitely a good place to start with your planning." He looked back at the screen when something caught his eye. "Ah. There he is!"

My eyes were glued to the screen as they prepped their equipment to take measurements. Michael lay curled up in the center in perfect view.

The sonographer found the flutter of his heartbeat.

"Ninety BPM." The doctor commented. "A bit low."

My own heart skipped a beat.

"What?" Noel said gripping my hand a little tighter.

"We'd like to see the heartbeat a little higher at this-"

"His heart was just fine last week! Ya said so yourself! Now there's a problem? How the fu-"

"Noel! Please!" I exclaimed feeling my eyes tear up a little.

The doctor sighed. "I know this isn't something you'd like to hear." He began. "But please don't panic. I've seen this happen numerous times where the baby is low one week and racing the next-"

"Yeah." Noel returned flatly. "And that's gonna be our Michael." He pointed at the screen. "He had his mummy up and down all night then early this mornin'. He's frickin' knackered!"

I snorted lightheartedly.

The doctor smiled. "We'll have you come in next week for another scan to see how things are." He told us. "Try not to worry. I know it might be hard but I think everything's going to be okay."

I felt better after we left the doctor's office but I couldn't say the same thing for Noel. We headed straight for the studio and the car ride to Abbey Road was dead silent.