Roslyn looked at the clock on the wall, anxiety flowing rapidly through her body. It was only eleven o’clock in the morning and time wasn’t going fast enough for her. She reached for the cordless phone that was setting on the coffee table in front of her and picked it up gingerly. She stared at it for about a minute before quickly punching the numbers and then putting the phone up to her ear.
“Hello?”
“Hey Rebecca, it’s Roslyn, are you doing anything before the appointment?” Rebecca’s laughter on the other end of the phone caught her off guard.
“A little nervous huh?” Rebecca responded with understanding in her tone.
“I’m a basket case,” Roslyn admitted, a chuckle escaping her mouth too.
“Don’t worry, everything will be fine,” Rebecca reassured her as she smoothed her shirt down over her obtruding belly. “Why don’t we meet for lunch at Gardens and calm you down a little.”
“I don’t know how you do it, Bec. You’re the one having the baby and I’m the one teetering on the edge of insanity!”
“This is my job Roslyn, I’m a professional,” Rebecca joked back. “So what do you say? Meet there in twenty?”
After the two women had solidified their lunch plans and said goodbye, Roslyn rushed upstairs to change her clothes. Ten minutes later she was out the door and on her way to The Four Seasons Hotel, the building that housed the restaurant Gardens. As she drove down the road she pressed the call button on the built in car-phone and said “Nick” out loud, then waited for it to ring. His phone went straight to voicemail, leading her to believe he must still be in the studio.
“Hey baby. I’m meeting Bec at Gardens in ten minutes for an early lunch before the appointment; if you can make it give me a call. I love you.”
She ended the call, hoping he would get her voicemail in time but doubting he would. He had made special arrangements to leave the studio early today as it was so he could make it to the appointment later this afternoon and the chance of him being able to leave to meet them for lunch was a slim one.
As long as he’s there for the appointment is all I care about, Roslyn reminded herself as she pulled into the parking lot of the hotel. This appointment was the big one; the one that would let them know their baby was ready to make its grand entrance into the world.
Roslyn reflected on that as she walked through the lobby towards the restaurant. This time tomorrow I could be holding my child in my arms! If the ultrasound today shows that the baby is big enough, the C-section will be scheduled for tomorrow morning! I can’t believe it!
After she walked into the restaurant and spoke to the hostess, she took a seat on the bench to wait for Rebecca. Over the past eight and a half months, she and Rebecca had formed quite a connection to each other. The surrogacy experience, something that had been so unknown and unsure for both Roslyn and Nick going into it had turned out so wonderfully thanks to Rebecca. She held their hands through every step, which seemed odd to them, seeing as how Rebecca was the pregnant one and they should have been taking care of her.
The invetro procedure had worked perfectly on the first try, something neither Nick nor Roslyn had expected. They really didn’t think it would be that easy, but it was, and they were very grateful for that. Although Rebecca had suffered through some pretty heavy morning sickness, which didn’t seem to contain itself to just morning hours so there was a running joke about it being morning, noon, and night sickness, the first trimester went according to schedule as well.
Around 20 weeks, however, Rebecca had undergone the routine test for gestational diabetes and it came back abnormal, leading to another test to confirm the condition. After she was diagnosed, Rebecca was put on a low carb diet to control the disease, along with a prenatal exercise program and meeting with a registered nurse once a week to check her progress. The diabetes was kept under control and the rest of the pregnancy went smoothly.
Now, at 36 weeks into the pregnancy, Rebecca’s blood sugar levels were getting more and more difficult to control, which was causing the baby to gain weight at a faster rate than most babies do at this stage of the pregnancy. That was the reason for the ultrasound today. Rebecca’s doctor had estimated that the baby weighed around eight pounds, and if she carried the baby to term, for another four weeks, the baby could potentially grow to over ten pounds. For Rebecca’s sake and the baby’s health, the doctor decided, if the baby weighed what he thought it did, they would schedule a c-section early.
“A penny for your thoughts,” Rebecca said quietly as she walked up behind Roslyn, startling her a little. Roslyn stood up and the two women embraced, with some difficulty seeing as how Rebecca’s stomach protruded quite a bit from the rest of her medium sized frame.
After they released, they followed the hostess to their table, which was set in the corner of the outdoor patio, allowing them some privacy from the rest of the diners. As the two women ate, they chatted, trying hard to talk about things other than the pregnancy and the baby. Roslyn felt a friendship forming with Rebecca that she wanted to continue after the baby was born, and if all they had in common was the baby, that would make it very difficult.
When they had finished their meal and taken the last sips of the decaffeinated coffee drinks they had settled on for dessert, the two women paid the bill and left the restaurant.
“Where’s your car?” Roslyn asked Rebecca as they walked towards the parking lot.
“I took a cab; I don’t fit behind the wheel anymore,” Rebecca said with a laugh.
Rebecca flopped into the front seat of Roslyn’s car and the two women headed towards the clinic. Lunch had taken more time than they had thought, and now they only had twenty minutes to get across town. They made it though, with little time to spare, and as they entered the reception area they were met by Nick.
“Sorry I couldn’t make it to lunch,” he said, kissing Roslyn on the cheek and squeezing Rebecca’s arm gently.
“It’s okay, it was more fun without you anyway,” Roslyn joked, flashing him a coy smile. A nurse called Rebecca in right away, so Nick and Roslyn took their seats in the waiting room and did just that, waited until they were called back. Once the technician got all the measurements she needed, Nick and Ros could go back and see the baby on the screen, something they were very excited about. They had not seen the baby since the first ultrasound at nineteen weeks.
“I can’t believe we may have a baby girl or boy tomorrow,” Nick said quietly, his eyes twinkling with excitement.
“Me either….thank you.”
“For what?”
“For giving me everything I’ve ever dreamed of; love, happiness, children. You’ve made it all happen for me Nickolas, and I don’t think I say it enough.” She laid her head against his arm and he leaned down and kissed the top of her head.
“Thank you too,” he said softly.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“Well, Mr. and Mrs. Carter, I think it’s safe to say that you better have names picked out because you’re having a baby tomorrow,” Dr. Madsen announced in a hearty voice. They were all in the small ultrasound room, staring at the black and white image on their child moving around on the screen. It looked quite different from the ultrasound seventeen weeks ago; even Nick could pick out the body parts correctly now.
“Are you sure you don’t want to know the sex?” Dr. Madsen continued, moving the instrument across Rebecca’s stomach.
“We’re going to find out tomorrow; I think we can wait one more day,” responded Roslyn with tears in her eyes.
“Okay,” chuckled Dr. Madsen as wiped the gel off Rebecca’s stomach and helped her to a sitting position. “We’ll leave and let you get dressed,” he told Rebecca “and then we’ll all meet in my office and go over everything for tomorrow.” Nick, Roslyn, Dr. Madsen and the technician left the room while Rebecca got dressed, and five minutes later they were all seated, minus the technician of course, in the doctor’s office, listening intently to what he was telling them.
“You’ll need to be here by six tomorrow morning and Rebecca, make sure you don’t eat anything past midnight tonight. All it will do is make your stomach more upset when we administer the meds. We’ll prep you and you should be in surgery by seven-thirty and the proud parents should have baby by eight, sound like a plan?” Everyone nodded their heads, feeling very at ease with Dr. Madsen and the procedure set for tomorrow.
After going over a few more things, Roslyn, Nick and Rebecca left the clinic. Nick had to go back to the studio for a few hours to wrap up some loose ends before his paternity leave, so he and Roslyn kissed goodbye and hopped in separate vehicles.
“You don’t have to take me home Ros, I can get a cab,” argued Rebecca as she climbed into Roslyn’s car with a little difficulty. Moving around was not as easy anymore with a large pregnant belly, but it would all be over with tomorrow and that comforted Rebecca. She loved being pregnant and helping couples bring children into the world, but it also weight heavily on her and her body, as pregnancy does with any woman.
“It’s not a problem Bec, just get in,” responded Ros with a smile as she watched her friend flop down onto the passenger seat. As she looked at Rebecca struggling to get the seatbelt around her enlarged form, she couldn’t help the tears that formed in her eyes. “Thank you Rebecca,” she said with a smile as she rested her hand on Rebecca’s arm. “Thank you so much.”
Rebecca smiled at Roslyn, knowing exactly how thankful she was for this baby. “You’re welcome,” was all she said before leaning her head against the seat and closing her eyes. It would be a good forty minute drive to her apartment with traffic and she knew this would be as good a chance as any to catch a quick nap.
Roslyn steered the car carefully along the highway, making pretty good time despite the congestion that was starting to invade the road. It was approaching four o’clock and quitting time and that was quite evident the closer Roslyn got to the center of the city. Deciding it would be faster to take the surface streets for the next ten blocks instead of dealing with a potential traffic jam on the interstate, she exited the highway.
Twenty-five minutes later she pulled along the curb in front of Rebecca’s apartment complex.
“Bec, you’re home,” Roslyn whispered, nudging her gently. Rebecca opened her eyes groggily and smiled as her eyes fell on the front of her building.
“Thanks for the ride Roslyn. I’ll see you in the morning.” Rebecca exited the vehicle and waddled up the front steps of her complex, turning around to wave at Roslyn before disappearing into the building.
Roslyn pulled away from the curb and made her way home, all the way thinking about tomorrow and how it would not come fast enough. What she didn’t know, however, was that the tomorrow she was looking for would never come.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Okay guys, here's the next chapter....I made it a little longer than normal since I made you wait so long for it...and I hope you enjoy it!
