Chapter 33

"You said that you've been to another doctor before?" Dr. Sewell asked me as we were getting ready to do an ultrasound.

After visiting a new doctor and outlining all my complaints to him, he had suggested that we do an ultrasound. He couldn't tell what was wrong with me just by my symptoms so he said it was better to run some tests. One of those tests were once again, a pregnancy test which was also negative like the others.

"Yeah." I responded.

"And he or she never suggested an ultrasound?"

"No, but he did suggest running some blood tests." I told him.

"Well that's good. Did you get them done?" Doc asked me.

"Uhm... no."

"Why not?" He asked me.

"I wanted another doctor's opinion. It's a bit complicated."

There was no way I was going to tell him that my doctor was also my husband and that we sort of been having some issues. I just wanted to get this out of the way and hopefully we could find out what was wrong with me. I was instructed to change into one of those hospital gown things then return to the room and lay on the bed. Doctor Sewell run me through all that he was going to do and informed me that the procedure will be completely painless and the only discomfort I might feel will be the coldness of the gel that he would place on my stomach. The purpose of the ultrasound was to see if he could find out what what was wrong with me, especially since I've told him about some minor pains I've started feeling in my stomach.

"So how long have you been experiencing this pain?" Dr. Sewell asked as he rubbed the little microphone looking thing- the transducer- over my stomach.

"It's actually quite recent. About a week or so now." I told him.

"And the other symptoms you've complained about? Can you remember exactly how long you've been experiencing them?"

"I think it's approximately two months now." I responded.

"You really should have visited a doctor sooner." Dr. Sewell told me.

"I really should have done that but the feelings didn't stayed. The feelings come and go, so that is why I haven't visited a doctor then."

"Well at least you're here now so we can try to figure out what is..... Oh..." Dr. Sewell trailed off as he stared intently at the monitor.

"Oh? What is it? Is something wrong doctor?" I asked him.

"I think we have figured out what is causing your issues." He responded. "I know what is wrong with you."

"Really? What is it doctor?"

"You see that on the monitor there?" He said as he pointed on the monitor.

"Yeah."

"That right there, is the inside of your uterus. And that little bean shape thing, is a fetus. Judging by its size, it is approximately ten weeks old." Doctor Sewell told me. "I think it is safe to say that your symptoms are as a result of you being pregnant."

"Pregnant?" I asked in shock.

"Yes Mrs. Mercier." He responded. "I believe that is why you've been having those complaints. You're over two months pregnant."

"I don't understand. I... I've been on the pill all along. I've been having my period right on the expected times and I've done more than two pregnancy tests and all of them said negative."

"How about you get clean up and changed and we'll discuss this further?" Dr. Sewell suggested.

I was in shock with what Dr. Sewell told me. I was pregnant? Like how was this possible with all that have happened. I know that contraceptives are not always 100% safe, but the fact that I was still having my menstrual cycle was bizarre. I was confused about all of this.

"So Mrs. Mercier, you know that birth control pills are not 100% effective. At times pregnancies might still occur even while on the pill." Doctor said to me.

"I know all of that doctor but what I don't understand is, if I'm pregnant, how come I've been having my period just the same for two months? It didn't show when I took those pregnancy tests so I'm really confused. Wait, I was still taking those pills up until a few weeks ago, is there a possibility that that could harm the baby or maybe cause some birth defects?"

"I'll answer all of your questions Mrs. Mercier." Doctor Sewell responded. "First to set your mind at ease, it isn't proven that birth control cause harm to the fetus as long as you stopped taking them as soon as you realize you're pregnant. In case you have more concerns, I'll prescribe some medication to help with that. Mostly they'll be prenatal vitamins.

"Second of all, pregnancy tests are also not very accurate some of the time especially in situation like this. As far as it is concerned about having menstruation, I'll need to ask you a few questions."

"Yeah, okay." I nodded.

"When you've had this bleeding, is it heavy as usual? Does it last more than two days?"

"No." I responded. "Now that I think about it, it was lighter than usual and it really never lasted more than two days. It was more like spotting. Wait, that's not normal right?"

"Well Mrs. Mercier, some women do have bleeding during pregnancy. Some even have intermittent bleeding that seems like a regular period to them- probably what you've experienced. But this bleeding is not the same thing as menstruation."

"Well doctor, what does it mean? Do you know what causes it?"

"Bleeding occurs during pregnancy for various reasons, some serious and some not. Some women may have some light bleeding or spotting in the week before their period is due and they may mistake that for a period. It is generally a lot lighter than a typical period and lasts just a day or two- similar to what you've told me about. This spotting is called implantation bleeding and implantation bleeding is a very early sign of pregnancy.

"The spotting is called implantation bleeding because of the idea that it might be caused by the fertilized egg burrowing into the blood-rich lining of the uterus. But in reality, no one knows what really causes it- some things are really still a mystery even with science. " Doctor Sewell told me.

"So you don't think it is serious then with my case?" I asked him.

"Based on what I've seen so far, everything looks alright to me. The slight pain you complained about may be from stress as well as indigestion or gastric issues which I can help fix with a little medication." Dr. Sewell told me. "As for the spotting, you may have spotting flr various reason. This is because there's more blood going to your cervix during the pregnancy. It should stop eventually, I am going to prescribe something for that as well. However, I am going to be needing to do a full examination and evaluation to rule out any possible infection, placental problems or a possible miscarriage- I doubt the latter though as the baby seems fine."

"Alright then." I said to him. "But I'm curious when it comes on to the medication part, will they be safe for the baby?"

"Don't worry Mrs Mercier. Everything I prescribe will be completely safe for you and the baby." He responded. "All I'm advising right now is for you to get as much rest as you can, try not to stress."

"I think I can do that.". I told him.

"And just one more thing. I would advice you to abstain from sexual intercourse until your next visit."

"I thought sex doesn't hurt the baby." I said to him.

"It don't but for your complain with the bleeding, we need to take a couple precautions first for the examination and then it should be perfectly safe." Dr. Sewell responded. "It's just until you come back for another checkup."

"Oh. Well that's good then I guess. That shouldn't be a problem. Thank you doctor."

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I was exhausted by the time I reached home. I just wanted to take a shower and head straight to bed. I spent the day with Kim. I needed to tell someone what I had found out from Dr. Sewell two days ago. I was still in shock of discovering that I was pregnant. To keep a secret that big was difficult, it was eating me alive. I had to share it with someone and since I doubt it was a good idea to mention it to Sean just yet, I had to share it with my best friend.

Kim thought it was great news and congratulated me. She was generally excited for me. I wanted to be excited and happy about it too- it should be great news- but I was worried about how Sean was going to react to it. To think that it hasn't even been a week yet since Sean and I practically fought over the issue of having kids. I still didn't know how to break the news to him, so I decided that I would wait. I also wanted to tell mom about it and asked for her advice.

"Hey." Sean greeted me when I walked into the bedroom.

"Oh, hey. I didn't know you were home already." I said to him.

"I came home earlier today." Sean said to me. "I tried to call you."

"Really?" I said as I pulled out my phone and looked at it seeing it was off. "Sorry, my battery must've died."

"It's okay. I was a bit worried though when I couldn't get to you." Sean said to me.

"I was with Kim the entire day. If I had known you were going to be home early, I would've borrowed her phone and called."

"It's alright. I called Kim some minutes ago when I couldn't get to you and she told me you just left." Sean responded.

"Oh. Like I said before, sorry about that." I said to him.

"I bought your favourite Ice cream sandwich." Sean said to me.

"Okay, thanks." I nodded. "I'm going to take a shower."

"Morgan wait." Sean stopped me.

"What is it?" I asked him.

"We need to talk."

"About what?"

"About everything that happened in the past couple of days." Sean responded. "Us not being on the best terms, the argument we had the other day. Our disagreements."

"Sean, I'm really tired. Can't we talk about this after I've shower and come back?"

"This is exactly the type of things we need to talk about." Sean said to me. "If we put this off now, we'll probably never get back around to it. Why don't you come have a seat for a few minutes? I promise you I won't be long."

"Sean, I really don't want to fight anymore, especially tonight." I said to him.

"Neither do I, that is why I want us to have this conversation now." Sean said to me. "Come sit beside me for a few minutes please."

"Alright." I sighed warily as I went to sit beside him.

"First of all, I want to apologize to you for snapping at you the other day. I know that I was wrong, selfish and being completely inconsiderate." Sean said to me. "We haven't been married for a whole month yet but we're already fighting and that's not healthy. That's the last thing I want and I'm sorry about contributing to our arguments. I know that we never really discussed the whole having children thing before, and I should have...."

"Sean could we please not have this conversation right now?"

"I really think it's best we just get it out of the way." Sean said to me. "We didn't get to discuss it further and maybe that is why you're probably thinking that I was inconsiderate when I said that I didn't want to have more kids."

"Sean, please. I don't want to have this discussion right now. I'm too exhausted for that."

"I am sorry, I just want you to know my reason for saying that. " Sean said to me. "And I believe if you hear what I have to say, you'll understand. I also want to make it up to you."

"Sean, I have something to say to you too." I said nervously. "Before you tell me your reason for saying that you do not want anymore kids, are you ever willing to change your mind about that?"

"I don't know Morgan. It's a hard decision, it's not because I am selfish or inconsiderate about your feelings why I made that comment. It's more of an experience that I had why...."

"Sean you still haven't answered the question."

"I honestly don't know as yet Morgan. It's a really hard choice to make. For years now, I've came to the decision that I don't want anymore kids, it's going to be hard to change that decision now but..."

"Sean, I don't know what you have to say or what your issues are but maybe it is time you reconsider or try to get over them." I said to him. "It's not something that I can change and it doesn't make any sense I try to hide it much longer because you're going to find out anyway."

"Morgan, what are you talking about?" Sean asked confused.

"Sean, I know that you didn't want anymore kids and I didn't planned this but I recently found out that I am pregnant."