Patricia opened her eyes and stretched large. With one eye she spied the time, 1000 hours. Normally she didn’t sleep quite so late but the house was quiet. Chance had a morning shift and Kieren had stayed over with Marcus to do whatever boys do. She didn’t know and wasn’t sure she wanted to. She slowly sat up and something felt different but she couldn’t put her finger on it. She traversed to the bathroom, got freshened up and took care of impending business and exited back into the bedroom to choose some comfy clothes for the day when it hit her.
She couldn’t feel the baby.
Her hands immediately went to her right side where she’d become so accustomed to feeling the pressure. Panic set in. She didn’t waste time, slipping into some slide-in shoes and heading out the door in her pajamas. A few minutes later she entered Sickbay and spotted Nurse Hawthorne. “Where’s my husband?”
The nurse never looked up from her daily scheduling. “He’s not here, he’s up with your fat…the Captain for a meeting about the upcoming refit. I can give him a message.” When Patricia didn’t answer the nurse raised her eyes and saw the panic. “What’s wrong sweetie?”
“I don’t feel the baby.”
“Okay, let’s take a look and I’m sure it’ll be okay.” She led Patricia to room three and helped her sit before immediately scanning across her stomach.
Tears brimmed but she tried to control her breathing, white knuckling the arm rest of the chair. Hawthorne’s commanding presence helped a lot too. Other than Chance there was nobody else she wanted right now checking her, not even the EMH.
“Well, hello little one.”
Patricia let that breath out. “It’s okay?”
“Sure is. Might have been sleeping so there was no kicking.”
“But I always feel pressure on my side and it’s not there.” Hawthorne showed her a live image of the baby.
“I think she turned herself a few inches while you were sleeping. You were so scared about not feeling the usual pressure you didn’t notice where the new pressure is.”
Patricia sighed with thanks. “I feel like such a dumbass.”
“Hey, better safe than sorry and besides, consider this just a quick checkup.”
“Thanks for th….did you say she?”
“Yea, she.”
Patricia smiled. “I was right.”
“Make sure he knows you were.” The nurse said with a smile.