by Toby
22 weeks
Everyone who was on at the shift change ambled into the lounge for the brief staff meeting. This way, Kerry could catch both the outgoing and incoming shifts. She covered routine items first: more careful supply ordering, the new security system, the prior month�s stats on consults. Then she took a breath. This was hard for her.
�There is one more thing.� She exhaled. �I need to make an announcement about something personal.� This last statement got the fullest attention from the group of anything she had said so far. Weaver never said anything personal. This was interesting.
�I�m pregnant.� The collective breath of the room was sucked into a void and eyes widened while she continued. �I�ll be showing very soon so I might as well tell you now. I�m at 22 weeks.� Some muttered, mingled congratulations spewed around, particularly from Susan and Abby. Weaver just nodded and continued. I�m going to pass on traumas involving certain pathogens, avoid x-rays, of course. In my last trimester..� she cleared her throat, hating how hard this had to be �� I probably won�t stand in traumas. I�ll take suturing, triage, whatever.� Now she wrapped up �This shouldn�t cause any hardship for the rest of you, our coverage is strong. That�s it. Thanks.�
Abby and Susan, in fact, came right up to her after the meeting to repeat their gushing acknowledgement. Kerry was drained by this declaration of weakness and vulnerability. She left to go home. It was the end of her shift.
+++
24 weeks
They were the only lesbians in their Lamaze class but no one seemed phased. Sandy had always wanted to be a coach. Of course, she had always imagined it would be out on some ball field somewhere but she was getting into it.
26 weeks
Kerry tied off the last suture and handed the discharge directions to the patient. Peeling off her latex gloves, she stood, recovered her crutch and walked towards the staff bathroom. She hated having to pee all the time. It certainly was a nuisance. Part way down the hall she stopped briefly and reaching out her left hand towards a gurney in the hall, took the weight off of her left leg. Just then Abby came out of the drug lock-up and stopped short in front of Kerry.
�Dr. Weaver, you OK?�
�Did you get the labs back on curtain 2 yet?� Kerry asked, removing her hand from the gurney and straightening up.
�Not yet. Dr. Weaver� repeated Abby �Are you in pain?�
Kerry glared at her. �People live in pain, Abby. They suck it up and move on.� She left Abby standing there blinking as she continued down the hall.
+++++
When Kerry got home Sandy was behind closed doors in the room that Kerry used as an office. She was painting it, fixing it up to double as the baby�s room.
�Stay out. You gotta stay away from the paint fumes.� Yelled Sandy when she heard Kerry come into the apartment.
�OK, OK. You were in there when I left this morning. How long are you taking on that?� Sandy opened the door a crack to be sure that Kerry was smiling.
�I�m nesting, OK? Just trying to do a careful job so that Esp�ranza has a nice place to lie in her crib.�
�And if it�s a boy�..� Kerry was grinning. Quick as anything Sandy opened the door a tad wider and tossed Mr. Whiskers, one of the many stuffed animals waiting for the child, right into Kerry�s face.
After a deft one handed catch Kerry chided �I hope you don�t treat the baby like that!�
�Hey, don�t you have dinner to cook?� mocked Sandy as she slammed the door shut again.
Kerry walked into the kitchen, sat Mr. Whiskers down on the counter, rolled back her sleeves, sat on a barstool and began chopping vegetables for a stir-fry.
++++
36 weeks
Sandy was watching football on TV. Kerry was sitting next to her on the couch with a stack of JAMAs on her other side, trying to catch up on a backlog of reading. Sandy rested one palm on Kerry�s belly which was well elevated from her lap.
Kerry gently fingered one contact back into position. �I don�t know which football you are paying more attention to� she smiled at Sandy and gestured towards the TV �that one or this one� and she lay her own hand lightly on the back of Sandy�s.
Somewhere after half-time, Sandy felt it just as it was beginning. Kerry�s belly shuddered as she groaned with her first contraction. Sandy, the professional paramedic even now as motherhood was bearing down upon her, got Kerry over to Mercy at just the right time in the proceedings.
Enriqu� weighed in at 6.5 pounds, small like mami but coincidentally, with huge hands like his mom.
