Page 47 of Letters to Lily

“Yes, thank you,” I said as he handed it to me. Rather than get stuck in phone call hell on the way to the emergency room, I sent out a group text letting everyone know what happened.

Sash (to Kristin, Mom, Brad): Fell down some stairs outside the student union, on way to hospital. Everything’s fine, so no worries, just getting checked out as precaution and maybe some stitches in my head.

Mom: On my way.

Kristin: WHAT? Be there soon. Love you!

Nothing came in from Brad. I was beginning to wonder if something was up with his phone or if he was avoiding me, considering his brother was apparently my ex-boyfriend. I hated not knowing.

“Texting instead of calling, huh? Probably cuts back on the drama,” Ben teased.

“Exactly.” I looked up at Ben then, “I haven’t felt the baby move or kick since I fell.”

“That’s normal. She may have moved around a bit, but because you’ve been so caught up in the excitement and what’s happening around you, maybe you just didn’t notice. Keep an eye on it; we’ll mention it to the doc when we get there. I’m actually going to pull up your shirt and hit that belly up with the Doppler right now, okay?”

“Okay,” I agreed. I would definitely relax more if I was able to hear Lily’s heart beating.

“This isn’t the doctor’s office, the gel is going to be cold,” Ben warned me. I nodded, he squirted, and I flinched. He wasn’t kidding, it was like someone rubbing ice on my belly. “Sorry,” he offered the apology as he placed the wand on my belly and moved it around. “Well, that’s you,” I was used to this game. The slower heartbeat was always mine, but then a faster one started hammering out of the speakers and I almost cried. “There’s the baby,” Ben smiled down at me. “Sounds great. Do you know what you’re having?”

“A girl,” I told him and then the ambulance was no longer moving. Gary had come around the back and popped the doors open, and Ben was helping him roll my stretcher out the back of the ambulance.

“All right, Ms. Garrett, we’re going to drop you off with the doctors and let them have their way with you. Try not to attempt surfing downstairs again, at least until after your little one arrives.” Ben winked at me as he handed me off to a nurse and doctor in the emergency room. Gary was relaying my stats and details of the fall to them as he did so.

“I guess they don’t hand out gold medals to the ones who fall. I will have to do better, afterwards of course. I’ll make sure you get an invite ahead of time when I go for the gold again.”

Ben laughed. “Man, I wish all our patients were this much fun. Seriously, take care of yourself, Sasha, and good luck with the little one.”

“Thanks,” I managed to get out before Ben and Gary were sweeping back out of my shiny new emergency room with their stretcher in tow. The transfer from gurney to bed had been executed quickly while Ben and I had joked around. This time I got to move on my own with just a little assistance from Ben and a nurse. So, at least that was a step up from having to be placed on a gurney earlier at school.

“We’re both family, and she’s definitely coming back with me to see my other daughter,” I heard my mom snapping at someone further down the hall.

“Ma’am, you need to give them a minute. She just arrived via ambulance and is being evaluated.”

“You might want to go tell her I’m in x-ray or something, otherwise, just have them send her back. My mom is not the type to give up before raining down hell on people who get in her way.” I told the nurse who was looking back over her shoulder to see if she could figure out what the ruckus was all about.

She smiled at me then and was walking off before shooting back over her shoulder, “Be right back with company then.”

The doctor was in the middle of asking me what hurt and what didn’t when my mom and Kristin came in, escorted by my cheery nurse. “Baby, what happened?”

“Mom, just sit tight and give us a minute. Doc here is pretty busy, and he wants to finish up with this nonsense and get back to real patients ASAP.” I winked at the doctor who shook his head.

“This one is being rather difficult. The EMTs told me she was being cheeky in the ambulance, but I guess I didn’t believe it was possible until she opened that mouth of hers.” The doctor joked back.

Kristin burst out laughing then. “Yeah, she’s going to be just fine.”

“How’s the baby?” My mom asked.

“So far, everything looks good. We’re going to hook Sasha up to a fetal monitor for a while just to check in and make sure everything is staying stable. We’re getting ready to clean up this laceration to her scalp and I’ll probably toss in a couple staples instead of stitches. You’re going to need to keep it dry for a couple days, and I still need to get a look at your backside before we get the fetal monitor set up. I want to see if you’re bruising, if we need to partake in wheelchair races to x-ray, or what.” He looked over his shoulder at the two women who were anxiously awaiting his final evaluation. “Do you mind if they’re in here?”

“She shows her ass plenty enough that we’ve seen everything.” Kristin laughed as she said it, and my mom, the traitor, joined in.

“Lies and deceit!” I called out while my face grew warm and red with the blush of embarrassment.

“Good to know. Your backside is apparently famous, so I suppose we can proceed.”

I hate going to doctors and hospitals, but nothing beat being seen by a doctor with a good sense of humor and a fabulous bedside manner. The nurse and good doctor helped me stand so that I could pull my pants down to my knees and my shirt up my back. The nurse’s hiss of air let me know it must not have looked pretty.

“Hmm, while I don’t normally like to send pregnant women for radiation photography, I’m thinking it’s necessary this time. There’s a lot of bruising, and you are definitely going to be very sore tomorrow.”

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