Authors: Mercedes Keyes
Shawn shifted a bit, softened a bit, and just a bit, then glanced over at Sylvia, who had her hand on her hip, her head leaning to the side, giving him that one lifted brow, pursed lipped,
'You happy now? Embarrassed us enough yet?'
look.
He sighed, then reluctantly held his hand out to the doctor and introduced himself. "Well... I'm Shawn Everett McPherson, father of that baby... and... in a few days, husband to that woman. I'll be here for every - single - visit. Every - single one of them! Especially now. But in my opinion, women should be treating women when it comes to this sort of thing. Why can't she have a mid-wife or someone like that?" He asked.
"We'll see, it depends on how this pregnancy goes. Because she's growing closer to the 40 year time line, there are things I have to make sure of, for one that she is not high risk. There are test she must pass, once those all come back normal... we just may pass her on to a mid-wife." The doctor informed him.
Shawn looked from him to Sylvia, who was not about to bite her tongue, "Are you satisfied yet? Can we get on with it?" She asked him and then turned to the doctor, "By the way, my name is Sylvia - I'm the pregnant one - the one you came to see, its okay - you can talk to me too."
Dr. Edmond smiled and then chuckled, he could see it already, this was going to be one interesting couple to follow through to delivery. He pushed his stool over to her and held out his hand. "Of course, nice to meet you Sylvia. My apology if I offended you, wasn't my intention, I just thought I could put his mind at ease."
"Well it's not at ease yet, nice story you told, but as I said... I'll be here at every appointment." Shawn reminded him.
"I'm happy to hear that Mr. McPherson, you're more than welcome. Should there come a time when you can't be here, just to let you know, I don't ever examine a patient without a nurse present. Even with you here, there will still be a nurse present."
"Good enough then, let's get on with it."
Sylvia rolled her eyes to the ceiling, shaking her head. Dr. Edmond smiled and opened her medical file and history, asking her all the relevant questions to do with her family medical history to build a medical profile of her, continuing with saying, "Your blood pressure is normal. You're at a nice healthy weight. Nothing serious in your family history we need be concerned about, just to make you aware, because of your age, your blood will be tested for early detection of - Downs syndrome - even with the odds of 1 in 120, we have to check." He informed them
Sylvia nodded, looking towards Shawn, he was very attentive to what the doctor was saying.
"How accurate is the test?" He asked.
The Doctor went on to explain the three separate tests that would be taken and when the results would be back. "If you don't get a phone call in the next two days, everything came back normal. If you do get a call, it will be because we need to test further because one or more of the test came back with decreased levels."
They both took a very deep breath.
"Any morning sickness?" He asked Sylvia.
"Yes... every morning."
"How long does it last? How bad is it?"
"It starts to subside sometime after lunch."
"Are you keeping your food down?"
"Yes... so far."
"Good. Any dizziness, fainting, white lights before your eyes, anything unusual?"
"Nooo... I feel pretty much as I did before when I was pregnant."
"Good. Well, if the morning sickness worsens and continues, I could prescribe you something for it."
"No thank you. I don't take any man made manufactured chemicals when I'm pregnant, only natural remedies, so I'll pass."
Dr. Edmond smiled and nodded, "Very well, okay, well as soon as the nurse comes in, we can do a pap smear and vaginal exam."
Sylvia looked at Shawn then. "Would you like to go outside and wait until they're done?" She asked.
"No... I'm fine right where I am." He announced in no uncertain terms.
"Are you comfortable with that? With him present?" The doctor asked her.
Sylvia nodded, "Yes... he can stay." She wasn't about to get into a fight with him over this, knowing how much this whole process meant to him.
Shawn eyed the doctor not too sure if he appreciated that question, but remained quiet. The nurse entered five minutes later, Shawn stood at Sylvia's shoulder holding her hand as she went through the examination. She hadn't expected to feel so reassured and glad that he was there. Although it was an embarrassing position for him to witness her in, it was all a part of it, and for once, it was nice to have a man that wanted to share it all, to be completely involved. The last thing the doctor did was to measure the size of her uterus, the most uncomfortable part of the examination for Sylvia, she winced, squeezing Shawn's hand as the doctor pressed down on her lower abdomen and pushed up from within below. Shawn was on the verge of saying something just as he was done.
"Yes... I'm thinking you're most certainly about 8 weeks." He concluded backing away after pulling the sheet down, removing his gloves and tossing them into the trash dispenser and marking her files. He stood then, "You can get dressed now, and I'll be back in a moment."
He and the nurse left. Sylvia sat up, "I'm so glad that's over."
"You okay? What the hell was that last part about?" Shawn asked as she stood from the examination table and walked to the chair grabbing her pile of clothes she went behind the screen to dress. "He was measuring the size of my womb, it hurts when they do that. Oh well, its over now. Didn't you go with Deidre when she carried Angela?"
"Not really, she didn't want me to go, so I didn't. Anyway, I thought that's what the ultrasound was for! You know, and another thing, with modern technology, why do we have to wait for the blood test results, they should be able to tell us now." Shawn complained, sitting back down to let Sylvia dress.
"I know, I'll be a nervous wreck until that comes back."
"Hey... you think we ought to ask him about sex?" Shawn wondered.
"What?" Sylvia asked.
"Well... I wonder should I hold off for a while. You're not entirely comfortable with me, and I don't want to injure you or the baby, I'm going to ask him."
"Shawn!"
"Hey... he's a doctor... he should know."
"Well did you with Deidre?"
"Not that often... she was too sick the first few months, and then later on, I just left her alone."
Sylvia came out dressed looking at him as he sat with his arms crossed over his rib cage, slouching in the chair.
"The whole nine months?" She asked.
"No... not the entire nine months, every now and then when she wanted me or I wanted her we did. But it wasn't often, I wasn't too sure if it was safe. That's why now, I'm going to ask."
The doctor knocked as if on cue. He peeked in and they were both sitting down waiting, Shawn turned toward Sylvia with his arm possessively over her shoulders leaning toward her with his left leg crossed over. The doctor sat on his stood and gave them his estimation of a due date, "According to the ultrasound and my exam, I can safely say you have a due date of early November, accepting your inaccuracy of last period, many women do it, they get busy in life and one month goes by, and then two - that's when they sense that something is missing. So, lets say, November 11th."
"November 11th." They said at the same time.
"Yep, anything you'd like to ask me?" He invited.
Sylvia groaned, Shawn leaned forward looking past her at the doctor, "Yes I do. Its personal, but necessary." Shawn started.
"Fire away." The doctor invited.
"Sex. Is it safe? If so, for how long?"
The doctor turned and looked at Sylvia. "Are you comfortable with it? Feeling any discomfort?"
"Well... ummm, yeah... at times." She stated nervously, but honestly.
"Be specific... what do you mean, at times?"
She bit into her thumbnail, suddenly embarrassed by the topic.
"I'm lengthy, somewhat over average." Shawn offered.
The doctor looked at him. "How much length are we talking about? The average woman's length from entrance to the womb is 5 inches. How far beyond that are you?"
"I'm a nine or more."
"Hmmm, I see. Okay... you need to go pick yourself up a donut, a ring. It will fit at the base of your penis and lessen the length entering during intercourse, while at the same time stimulating your partner. Depending on which one you purchase it can take up to two and a half inches off, that should help. For now, let's keep penetration at a minimum, if you two are active daily, lets cut it back to about a couple of times a week. With that, and using tender care... all should be fine, ohhh, up to the seventh, tapering off close to the eighth month." He commented scribbling notes in her file and then looked up to see Sylvia with both hands covering her face embarrassed, he chuckled looking forward to the next seven months with the two of them.
"Okay - I can live with that, so now... where do I get this ring? Uhh - donut - thing ...where?"
Sylvia groaned.
Deidre followed through the next morning. She and Terra left after getting a power of attorney notarized with a copy put into Terra's bank safety deposit box, and a copy that she took home with her. Deidre didn't go into work that day, her focus was on getting all of her things out of storage and into her new home. Terra spent the day with her helping to sort through all of her boxes as the movers brought them and her furniture in. It took four of them, two of them black, and the other two Spanish. So preoccupied, Deidre never noticed the way one of the black movers looked her over. Terra noticed and when she made eye contact with him, she was stunned to see hazel green eyes gazing back at her from his cafe au lait toned skin. He stood 5'10, with an incredible physique, and French braids that went back from his face, his hair had hints of sandy blonde mixed in with his reddish/brown locks. He lifted an arrogant brow, and then looked from her back to Deidre. Her first thought was to make sure she installed reliable security locks and alarms.
After the movers left, the two women opened boxes and talked about the past, steering clear of topics related to Shawn, her mother or her daughter. Terra was getting ready to open up her first restaurant. One that she would be running entirely.
"That's what you need Deidre, something fresh and new - that you can involve all of your thinking to - exhausting any other thought. You'd do great running a health or herbal clinic." Terra suggested.
"You know you're right, I'm thinking about it. Although I've been working in Finance since I left school, its nothing I'm passionate about. I do it because its in the family and I hold a major interest now that my grandfather has died. Do you know that my father knew and didn't tell us. He just up and said the other day, by the way... I've taken care of the funeral arrangements to bury the old man."
"WHAT?! You didn't know?"
"No... he died when my mom and I were in Wisconsin. And my father obviously didn't feel that it was something he needed to share with us."
"What did your mother do?"
"She stared at him a moment, turned away, dressed in black and we all went to the quiet service. It was kept pretty much hush hush, there was a spot in the paper and it was on the news... that's it."
"I'm sorry, but they must be the coldest people on the face of the earth. Now what?"
"Well, that was the reason he asked me would I sign over my interest to him, that he would settle me with a large sum, of course stating I would always remain in the lifestyle I'd grown accustomed to."
"You know what Deidre, we've always been wealthy, my family. Not as wealthy as the Wherrington's - but enough for us to be content and happy, leaving within some trace of human qualities. Too much money, as in your family's case, corrupts - it kills something within men to have that much money and power. You might consider just signing it over and being done with it, and them."
"Oh... I agree. But I'm not going to make it that easy for either of them."
"What do you mean?" Terra asked, breaking down one of her box's after emptying it, putting the paper in a garbage bag.
"I have plans of my own. I've been doing a lot of thinking, about both of them. Good ol'mother and father. I just haven't decided how I'm going to do it yet, but they have a lesson to learn... and this time around, I'm going to be the teacher."
"Well come on! Tell me what you have planned!"
"When I have it worked out, and all the ends tied, you'll know. But they're going to pay for what they've done to my life. What they did to my marriage, its time for me - to show another side to myself."
"And you're going to bring Angela back into the midst of this? Your plan." Terra asked stopping to stare at Deidre.
Deidre went quiet for a while, emptying a box - then grabbing another.
"Well... what have you planned for her?"
She looked up at Terra, who could see the torture in her eyes.
"I'm going to - leave her with her father."
"Oh my... when did you decide?"