Harmless Flirting Turns into More

I sighed and shook my head saying, "I'm a little queasy. It comes and it goes. The more active I am, the sicker I feel. I think it's just the flu. I have an appointment with my family doctor on Monday to get checked out. Hopefully he can give me a shot or some antibiotics that will clear it right up."

"But are you going to be okay," he asked with concern evident in his voice. I nodded and replied, "I'll be fine. It's just a little bug and I'll be better in no time. You'll see."

"Well, alright," he said. "But since I'm here and your parents are not, let me take care of you. I will make you some soup and we can watch some movies and just relax," he suggested. "That sounds nice," I replied, and that was exactly what we did.

The following Monday I sat on the examination table in one of the rooms at my doctor's office, waiting for him to come in so I could tell him about my symptoms and see what we could do about it. I was feeling a little better. I had gone all day Sunday without throwing up and the queasiness wasn't coming around as often. The doctor came in then and greeted me cheerfully. I smiled and returned the greeting.

He took a look at my records and asked, "So what brings you in today? The nurse mentioned something about you feeling ill for the last couple of weeks?"

I nodded, "That's right," I said. "About two weeks ago, I was at work and I had been feeling kind of funny all day but didn't think anything of it. I thought maybe I had just eaten something that didn't agree with me. But I started throwing up, would get dizzy and light headed and haven't been able to keep much down. It's not constant. Just every now and again, but it has happened enough times now that I've been sent home from work early quite a few times."

The doctor nodded and made a few notes as I talked. "Go on," he encouraged. "Well, what's really odd to me, is that this has lasted so long. You know me, I rarely get sick and normally when I do, I'm over it in just a few days. This has been going on for two weeks now."

"Yes, that is quite strange for you," he commented as he stood up and picked up one of his instruments. "How do you feel today," he asked. "Any nausea or vomiting? Dizziness or other symptoms?"

"Right now I feel fine. And all day Sunday I went without throwing up. This isn't a normal cold," I said. "It's random and not like anything I've ever experienced before. What could it be," I asked him as he finished a few preliminary tests.

"It could be any number of things really," he said. "Tell me. When was your last period?"

I looked at him, a little confused and thought about it. And as I thought about it, I realized that I had had my last period about four months ago. But that wasn't unusual for me. I had stopped having normal periods when I lost my virginity at age eighteen. So when I missed one or two, I never thought anything of it. I was just happy I didn't have to deal with the mess of tampons and blood. "I don't know," I said. "Maybe about four months ago, middle of the month. But you know that's not unusual. I don't have normal periods and sometimes go a month or two without having one." Back in the corner of my mind, my brain was itching, a thought kept popping up. Could I be pregnant? I didn't think so. It wasn't unusual for me to miss a period and due to our work schedules conflicting, I hadn't seen Ernesto as much as I would have liked and we had even less time to make love. No. I couldn't be pregnant. There was no way.

"That's true," he agreed. Then he closed his chart and said, "I'd like to run a few tests to see if this is something viral, bacterial, or something else all together. The nurse will be in shortly to draw some blood and we'll get this figured out and get you back to work."

I smiled at him and said, "Thanks doc. I appreciate it." He shook my hand and told me to hold tight, then left to send the nurse in to collect a sample of my blood. Since blood tests tended to take a few days to get the results from, I went home and since I was feeling better, went back to work the next day and was feeling just fine.

The Thursday after my appointment, I got a call from the nurse at the doctor's office. She said that the doctor wanted me to come in for a follow up visit. He had a few questions to ask me so he could get to the bottom of the problem. I set up an appointment for the next day, curious as to what more he might ask me and called to tell Ernesto about it. When I told him what the doctor wanted, he insisted on coming with me to my appointment. I told him he didn't have to, but he said he wanted to find out along with me just what exactly was going on. So the next day, he drove to my house and we went to my appointment together.

The doctor came in, my records in his arm and he greeted us with smiles and handshakes. "Doc, this is my boyfriend, Ernesto. He wanted to be here to find out what's going on."

"Nice to meet you Ernesto," he said. Then he got down to business. "When you came in on Monday, I asked you when your last period had been."

"Yeah, I remember. It was four months ago," I said.

"Right. Now tell me, how long have you and Ernesto been sexually active?" Ernesto was quiet as he stood beside me, holding my hand. I had to think a bit about how to answer. Our relationship had been quite the whirlwind and some of it was a blur, though all of it was memorable.

"I believe it was sometime in late December when we first started dating and having sex," I answered. "Why do you ask?" Again that thought popped into my head. Could I be pregnant? I forced the thought aside, not wanting to linger on it as the possibility was a little frightening.

"Have you put on any weight lately," the doctor asked. I again thought about it and said, "I think maybe five pounds, but that's just because I haven't been exercising as much lately."

The doctor nodded and asked me to lie back on the examination table. When I did, he put a pillow beneath my head and Ernesto moved off to the side but didn't let go of my hand. He was surprisingly quiet and I wondered what was going through his head as the doctor began gently pushing on my lower abdomen, feeling around for something. When he was finished he helped me sit up and looked at the two of us. His face was serious and I was worried. What could he possibly say that would make him have such a serious look on his normally jovial face?

Ernesto finally spoke up then and asked, "Is Christine going to be okay? Is there anything I can do to help her get better?"

"Well, for starters, you might want to buy her some prenatal vitamins and make sure she gets plenty of food to eat and a decent amount of rest," the doctor told him. Ernesto looked confused and my eyes got wide with both fear and some other emotion that I couldn't quite pin down.

"Are you...are you telling me she is pregnant," he asked, pure astonishment in his voice.

The doctor nodded. "That is exactly what I am saying. The two of you are going to be parents. Congratulations." I was shocked, speechless too and that nagging little thought that had been itching in my mind for the last week came out screaming in my head, you're pregnant! Seeing the look on mine and Ernesto's face, the doc was sympathetic. He could tell we were confused, surprised and in an utter state of shock. So he began to explain things to us. He explained how the symptoms I had had, that I thought might be the flu, were actually morning sickness. He told us that I was likely about three and a half to four months along, though he couldn't be certain without having an ultrasound done. He went on to tell us what we could expect medical wise as the baby grew inside of me. Ernesto and I listened without interrupting, our hands clasped tightly together as we tried to absorb everything the doctor was telling us.

"This is going to be a big change in your lives," the doctor said. "It's a big step and one not to be taken lightly. I'll let the two of you talk things over for a few minutes. When I come back, we'll set up some appointments for a sonogram and a few other things that we should do early on to make sure your pregnancy is a healthy one." When the doctor left the room, leaving Ernesto and I alone, we turned to look at each other. Neither of us had expected this. We hadn't planned it, but we hadn't thought to prevent it either. We had gotten so caught up in the emotions, the pleasure, and the joy of being a couple, that pregnancy never once crossed either of our minds.

Always having been frank with one another, Ernesto and I began to seriously discuss our options and what we both thought we should do. Ernesto wanted me to keep the baby and he wanted to help me raise it, be there in the baby's life and support both the baby and myself. I knew that abortion was not an option for me. If other women did it, that was their choice, but I knew I could never kill an unborn child. But was I ready to be a mother? I had always dreamed of being a mother and had always felt as if my purpose in life was to marry a nice man and have many, many children with him. It was something I had always wanted. Something I had tried multiple times to plan in the past but had never been successful. Now, without even planning anything, it had happened all on its own and in some ways, it seemed like a dream come true. However, at the same time, I knew I wasn't financially stable enough to support myself and a child. Yes, Ernesto was there to help me, but would our combined incomes be enough to support ourselves and a baby? The two of us talked at length and when the doctor came back in, we knew what we wanted to do.

"So are we ready to set up a sonogram," the doctor asked after he had shut the door. We both nodded, with smiles on our faces. "Let's set it up," I said. And with our decision made, the rest was history, or a story to be told at another time.

The End.