The Guard To My Sanctuary - Chapter 23: Chapter 23
You are reading The Guard To My Sanctuary, Chapter 23: Chapter 23. Read more chapters of The Guard To My Sanctuary.
Marco
I raced down the interstate going just over the speed limit to get to the hospital and not get pulled over which would only slow me down. I ignored the honking horns of other drivers as I served in and out of lanes not really caring about the offensive gestures that they were directing at me as I zipped past them. I was in full on protector mode and my only goal was to get to Elm's side as promptly as possible. It seemed like the traffic was purposefully being slow all the way to the infirmary. Then it seemed like my feet wouldn't move half as fast as I required them to go, which was the speed of light. When I made it to his hospital room his Dad was standing outside looking panicked and tired at the same time.
"John, what's going on," I urged looking at him for any sign that something negative was going down.
"The doctor hasn't come by yet but they said he was remarkably dehydrated and showing signs of malnutrition," he said and I looked behind himself to see Elm with his eyes closed asleep. He was tucked into the white bedding and had wires all around and attached to him. Something about seeing him so weak made me break down. I fell into John who caught me and let me cry onto his shoulder.
"I did this to him if I would have been more careful he wouldn't be hooked up to a monitor knocked out. I'm so sorry I did this to him, "He pulled me off of him and made me look at him.
"Calm down, he is going to be okay you have to pull yourself together. Could this have been avoided, who knows? Well, probably, but the time for regrets isn't right now. Elm will be okay I promise you that when Dr.Nisbalm gets here all of this will make sense to us but for right now you need to be at his side comforting him and making sure he feels that you are here. He's going to wake up and when he does he's going to want you to be the first person that he sees, now get in there and provide that support to my boy," John said then patted my back with more gusto than I thought that he needed. I wiped my face off and then nodded at him. I took in a deep breath and focused on my one true love laying in a bed.
I walked into the cool room that was filled with the repetitive beeps of the monitor. I walked over to him and placed a soft kiss on his forehead before taking the seat next to him. I grabbed his hand softly and felt the cool skin on his hand warm-up against mine. I just looked at him as he slept just noticing the small dark brown dots on his skin that was almost like freckles. An IV dripped what I read to be glucose into his veins. It seemed to be hours of me sitting there content to just watch him sleep and monitor his heart rate. John came into the room with a Styrofoam cup filled with coffee for me that I sipped on as I waited. I heard John talking to Elm's brothers telling them not to come and crowd Elm which was what I would say. I also heard him tell Kunaal that he would keep him updated as to what was going on. I was starting to lose my cool till Elm's voice appeared sounding dry and groggy hours later. I looked around and saw a pitcher of water and grabbed for it. I poured a cup of water and lifted his head up to put the cup to his lips and spill the water down his throat. He drank all of it like a fish and coughed in what I assumed an attempt to clear his throat.
"What happened," was the first thing he asked his voice a little coarse.
"You passed out the people who treated you have you on an IV and said you were dehydrated and malnourished," I said and he looked at me weird.
"I swear to you I've been eating and drinking almost at every time of the day and taking the vitamins and drinking the Pedialyte and," I shut him up by kissing him.
"I believe you, Honey, I swear I do. Don't stress yourself out your Doctor is supposed to be here at any moment. I don't know where his bitch ass is it's been three hours. What is he doing, do you know how hard it was to get you on my insurance since you're pregnant. Then all the paperwork it took to get him as our physician. I had to give proof that you were actually pregnant and all that," I noticed Elm's lips were tucked in and his eyebrows were raised in an attempt to get me to shut the fuck up.
"He's right behind me isn't he," I asked and Elm nodded. I turned to see him smiling at me.
"Sorry I was in Fresno," he said with a smile and walked over to grab Elm's chart.
"I'm sorry I'm just a little tense," I apologized feeling dumb.
"It's fine I'm used to it don't worry you grow a thick skin in this job," he said with a genuine smile.
"It looks like your test results came back positive for gestational diabetes," the Doctor said to us just jumping into the issues which is what I liked.
"What's that," John asked.
"It's when a pregnant person who's never had a history of diabetes previous to the pregnancy have high blood glucose or sugar levels during pregnancy. We don't know exactly what causes it yet but what's odd about your situation is this usually is more common in later terms but as we know nothing about this pregnancy is normal we are essentially helping write the book on this whole process so there will be trial and error. Treatments that we can have in place for this condition are testing your blood sugar levels daily, a healthy diet, exercises, and monitoring the baby more closely. If this doesn't work after a week we will move to medications. Therefore what I'm going to do is perform an ultrasound to see inside the womb and check on the development. I didn't do it already because the other cases didn't find any signs of an embryo this early and it will take a lot of maneuvering to get imaging of the uterus but we'll do what we have to. So get ready today is the day you see your embryo," he said walking out.
"I have diabetes," Elm said like he didn't believe it.
"It's fine Darling well manage it, it's not the end of the world," John said lovingly while sitting in a seat looking tired. The doctor came back to the room with the ultrasound machine and smiled.
"Alright let's remove these covers and lift up your shirt for me," Dr.Nisbalm said. Elm pulled down his covers and pulled up his shirt exposing his stomach. The doctor placed on his gloves then grabbed a tube of jelly.
"This is going to be cold and a little uncomfortable at first," he said then squeezed the liquid onto Elm who shivered. I got nervous that he would pull the IV out of his arm accidentally but it didn't happen. The doctor cut the machine on and then placed the transducer onto Elm's body and began searching around for what he was looking for. We were waiting so long John got up to look to see what the issue was.
"Is there something wrong," Elm said on the verge of tears.
"One second let me try this, remember I have a lot of things to try and bypass. I'm trying to get the angle just right" the doctor," said trailing the instrument to Elms side and sighed.
"Here we go just like I expected," the doctor said looking into the screen.
"See this," he said pointing to the screen which I wasn't trained enough to know what I was supposed to be looking at.
"What's that Doc," John asked seriously. He looked just as confused as I was.
"One embryo, two, and three. Congratulations you're having triplets. I had a feeling you might have multiples since one of the other fruitful's had twins. I think it has to do with the extra testosterone in your body causing multiples to be born. Plus the rates for multiples increase you're of African American descent. I looked at the screen stunned. I may end up welcoming three babies into the world instead of one.
"I'm way too fertile."
"Oh my god," John said taking a seat. He looked like the wind was knocked out of him so I knew I had to look even more shocked.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me, three damn kids. Oh my fucking Christian God and Hindu God's. Who the fuck has the time for triplets? Three damn kids, this is some sort of sick ass joke isn't it, " Elm exclaimed. I had never heard him cuss that much in one sitting. John started laughing at him as he failed to hold it in. Elm cut his eyes over to him then up at me.
"That's the usual response, believe it or not, not too many women are happy to know that they have to divide everything four ways. I suspect this is why you're going through GD this early in your pregnancy," the Doctor said.
"What is the risk, there have to be risks right I mean one baby was dangerous but adding in an extra two," I said looking down to Elm worried.
"I'm not going to have a panic attack, I'm annoyed/pissed not scared," he said.
The doctor chuckled before speaking," Well there are risks which include going into labor earlier than the norm, abnormalities and defects in one or more of the babies is a real concern for you two now. One of the babies may be absorbed by the others. If your diet isn't nutritious enough your symptoms will be more intense. You're already a high-risk pregnancy but you're now a higher risk," the Doctor said with a half frown.
"So what do I do now," Elm asked. The doctor went into a lot of information that John wrote down on his phone while I listened and made sure Elm was alright. After the doctor got done answering our questions he printed off a few pictures of the ultrasound and I grabbed one of them to marvel out. I quickly took a picture and sent it to Corey who immediately texts back congratulating the hell out of me. I looked up to Elm who was looking at the little dots. John got up and walked out saying he was going to tell everyone the news.
"Honey I know you're annoyed right now that my magic dick put three kids in you but I'm excited as hell," I admitted allowing a smile to spread across my face.
"I was annoyed, I'm... I don't know yet but I'll get over it. Baby three kids is a lot how are we going to-," he started to ramble.
"I'm leaving the Air Force and I am going to see what offers are still on the table," I said immediately. A few months ago I wouldn't have said it that easily but now that I have four people to care for the choice was easy as hell to make.
"We'll figure this out together, right now though you need to worry about getting better, okay?"
"Okay," he said still looking at the picture. I kissed his lips and pulled away laying my head in the bed near his shoulder.
"I need to man the fuck up or none of this is going to work out."
I raced down the interstate going just over the speed limit to get to the hospital and not get pulled over which would only slow me down. I ignored the honking horns of other drivers as I served in and out of lanes not really caring about the offensive gestures that they were directing at me as I zipped past them. I was in full on protector mode and my only goal was to get to Elm's side as promptly as possible. It seemed like the traffic was purposefully being slow all the way to the infirmary. Then it seemed like my feet wouldn't move half as fast as I required them to go, which was the speed of light. When I made it to his hospital room his Dad was standing outside looking panicked and tired at the same time.
"John, what's going on," I urged looking at him for any sign that something negative was going down.
"The doctor hasn't come by yet but they said he was remarkably dehydrated and showing signs of malnutrition," he said and I looked behind himself to see Elm with his eyes closed asleep. He was tucked into the white bedding and had wires all around and attached to him. Something about seeing him so weak made me break down. I fell into John who caught me and let me cry onto his shoulder.
"I did this to him if I would have been more careful he wouldn't be hooked up to a monitor knocked out. I'm so sorry I did this to him, "He pulled me off of him and made me look at him.
"Calm down, he is going to be okay you have to pull yourself together. Could this have been avoided, who knows? Well, probably, but the time for regrets isn't right now. Elm will be okay I promise you that when Dr.Nisbalm gets here all of this will make sense to us but for right now you need to be at his side comforting him and making sure he feels that you are here. He's going to wake up and when he does he's going to want you to be the first person that he sees, now get in there and provide that support to my boy," John said then patted my back with more gusto than I thought that he needed. I wiped my face off and then nodded at him. I took in a deep breath and focused on my one true love laying in a bed.
I walked into the cool room that was filled with the repetitive beeps of the monitor. I walked over to him and placed a soft kiss on his forehead before taking the seat next to him. I grabbed his hand softly and felt the cool skin on his hand warm-up against mine. I just looked at him as he slept just noticing the small dark brown dots on his skin that was almost like freckles. An IV dripped what I read to be glucose into his veins. It seemed to be hours of me sitting there content to just watch him sleep and monitor his heart rate. John came into the room with a Styrofoam cup filled with coffee for me that I sipped on as I waited. I heard John talking to Elm's brothers telling them not to come and crowd Elm which was what I would say. I also heard him tell Kunaal that he would keep him updated as to what was going on. I was starting to lose my cool till Elm's voice appeared sounding dry and groggy hours later. I looked around and saw a pitcher of water and grabbed for it. I poured a cup of water and lifted his head up to put the cup to his lips and spill the water down his throat. He drank all of it like a fish and coughed in what I assumed an attempt to clear his throat.
"What happened," was the first thing he asked his voice a little coarse.
"You passed out the people who treated you have you on an IV and said you were dehydrated and malnourished," I said and he looked at me weird.
"I swear to you I've been eating and drinking almost at every time of the day and taking the vitamins and drinking the Pedialyte and," I shut him up by kissing him.
"I believe you, Honey, I swear I do. Don't stress yourself out your Doctor is supposed to be here at any moment. I don't know where his bitch ass is it's been three hours. What is he doing, do you know how hard it was to get you on my insurance since you're pregnant. Then all the paperwork it took to get him as our physician. I had to give proof that you were actually pregnant and all that," I noticed Elm's lips were tucked in and his eyebrows were raised in an attempt to get me to shut the fuck up.
"He's right behind me isn't he," I asked and Elm nodded. I turned to see him smiling at me.
"Sorry I was in Fresno," he said with a smile and walked over to grab Elm's chart.
"I'm sorry I'm just a little tense," I apologized feeling dumb.
"It's fine I'm used to it don't worry you grow a thick skin in this job," he said with a genuine smile.
"It looks like your test results came back positive for gestational diabetes," the Doctor said to us just jumping into the issues which is what I liked.
"What's that," John asked.
"It's when a pregnant person who's never had a history of diabetes previous to the pregnancy have high blood glucose or sugar levels during pregnancy. We don't know exactly what causes it yet but what's odd about your situation is this usually is more common in later terms but as we know nothing about this pregnancy is normal we are essentially helping write the book on this whole process so there will be trial and error. Treatments that we can have in place for this condition are testing your blood sugar levels daily, a healthy diet, exercises, and monitoring the baby more closely. If this doesn't work after a week we will move to medications. Therefore what I'm going to do is perform an ultrasound to see inside the womb and check on the development. I didn't do it already because the other cases didn't find any signs of an embryo this early and it will take a lot of maneuvering to get imaging of the uterus but we'll do what we have to. So get ready today is the day you see your embryo," he said walking out.
"I have diabetes," Elm said like he didn't believe it.
"It's fine Darling well manage it, it's not the end of the world," John said lovingly while sitting in a seat looking tired. The doctor came back to the room with the ultrasound machine and smiled.
"Alright let's remove these covers and lift up your shirt for me," Dr.Nisbalm said. Elm pulled down his covers and pulled up his shirt exposing his stomach. The doctor placed on his gloves then grabbed a tube of jelly.
"This is going to be cold and a little uncomfortable at first," he said then squeezed the liquid onto Elm who shivered. I got nervous that he would pull the IV out of his arm accidentally but it didn't happen. The doctor cut the machine on and then placed the transducer onto Elm's body and began searching around for what he was looking for. We were waiting so long John got up to look to see what the issue was.
"Is there something wrong," Elm said on the verge of tears.
"One second let me try this, remember I have a lot of things to try and bypass. I'm trying to get the angle just right" the doctor," said trailing the instrument to Elms side and sighed.
"Here we go just like I expected," the doctor said looking into the screen.
"See this," he said pointing to the screen which I wasn't trained enough to know what I was supposed to be looking at.
"What's that Doc," John asked seriously. He looked just as confused as I was.
"One embryo, two, and three. Congratulations you're having triplets. I had a feeling you might have multiples since one of the other fruitful's had twins. I think it has to do with the extra testosterone in your body causing multiples to be born. Plus the rates for multiples increase you're of African American descent. I looked at the screen stunned. I may end up welcoming three babies into the world instead of one.
"I'm way too fertile."
"Oh my god," John said taking a seat. He looked like the wind was knocked out of him so I knew I had to look even more shocked.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me, three damn kids. Oh my fucking Christian God and Hindu God's. Who the fuck has the time for triplets? Three damn kids, this is some sort of sick ass joke isn't it, " Elm exclaimed. I had never heard him cuss that much in one sitting. John started laughing at him as he failed to hold it in. Elm cut his eyes over to him then up at me.
"That's the usual response, believe it or not, not too many women are happy to know that they have to divide everything four ways. I suspect this is why you're going through GD this early in your pregnancy," the Doctor said.
"What is the risk, there have to be risks right I mean one baby was dangerous but adding in an extra two," I said looking down to Elm worried.
"I'm not going to have a panic attack, I'm annoyed/pissed not scared," he said.
The doctor chuckled before speaking," Well there are risks which include going into labor earlier than the norm, abnormalities and defects in one or more of the babies is a real concern for you two now. One of the babies may be absorbed by the others. If your diet isn't nutritious enough your symptoms will be more intense. You're already a high-risk pregnancy but you're now a higher risk," the Doctor said with a half frown.
"So what do I do now," Elm asked. The doctor went into a lot of information that John wrote down on his phone while I listened and made sure Elm was alright. After the doctor got done answering our questions he printed off a few pictures of the ultrasound and I grabbed one of them to marvel out. I quickly took a picture and sent it to Corey who immediately texts back congratulating the hell out of me. I looked up to Elm who was looking at the little dots. John got up and walked out saying he was going to tell everyone the news.
"Honey I know you're annoyed right now that my magic dick put three kids in you but I'm excited as hell," I admitted allowing a smile to spread across my face.
"I was annoyed, I'm... I don't know yet but I'll get over it. Baby three kids is a lot how are we going to-," he started to ramble.
"I'm leaving the Air Force and I am going to see what offers are still on the table," I said immediately. A few months ago I wouldn't have said it that easily but now that I have four people to care for the choice was easy as hell to make.
"We'll figure this out together, right now though you need to worry about getting better, okay?"
"Okay," he said still looking at the picture. I kissed his lips and pulled away laying my head in the bed near his shoulder.
"I need to man the fuck up or none of this is going to work out."
End of The Guard To My Sanctuary Chapter 23. Continue reading Chapter 24 or return to The Guard To My Sanctuary book page.