Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 107965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 540(@200wpm)___ 432(@250wpm)___ 360(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 540(@200wpm)___ 432(@250wpm)___ 360(@300wpm)
“No. I just wanted to keep you updated.”
“Alright. Well, I guess give me a call tomorrow to let me know how things are going?”
“I will.”
“Thanks. Take care, Nina.”
I pushed the button on the dash to disconnect and felt more overwhelmed than ever. “What if something happens to the baby?”
Elvin looked over. “You can’t think like that. She’s in the right place. She’ll get good care.”
“Did Linda have placenta previa?”
Elvin shook his head.
“Should I go to Boston?”
“If you feel like you should be there, you should go.”
“I still have so much shit to do here to get ready to bring a baby home.”
“You need to do what your gut tells you. But I can promise you that half the shit we buy for babies, they don’t really need. You need diapers, formula, and a couple of outfits. Hell, our grandmother didn’t even buy a bassinet. She would just clean out a dresser drawer and put the baby in there for safe keeping.”
I yanked at my hair. “Fuck. We never stopped to get a bassinet either. But I think I need one. I’m not using a drawer.”
“Take a deep breath, Brock. That vein in your neck is starting to bulge. I’ll grab one for you.”
“What if the bleeding starts again so they do a C-section and I can’t get there? What if there are no flights available?”
Elvin pointed ahead. “Slow down. You’re about to miss our exit.”
My jobsite was only a few blocks off the highway, so my head was still spinning when I pulled in.
“You want to swap trucks for the night?” my brother asked. “So you don’t have to bring the haul to my place? You’ve got enough going on.”
“It’s okay. I’m just going to check what the guys got done here and then I’ll stop at your house on my way home and help you unload.”
He nodded. “Thanks. And I’ll have a cold beer waiting if you want to talk some more. I feel like you might need a few minutes to yourself first anyway.”
My brother wasn’t wrong, though I needed a lot more than a few minutes to get my head on straight. The problem was, I didn’t have time. What I really wanted to do was call February and talk to her about how I should handle Nina being in the hospital. But I wasn’t sure it was fair to dump this stuff on her. I was lucky she was still speaking to me at all.
A few hours later, though, even after a beer with my brother, I still had no damn clue what I should do, so I wound up calling her.
February answered on the first ring, though I could see she was still at the office. “Hey, you. Can you hang on just a minute?”
“Yeah, sure.”
She moved the phone away from her face, but I could still hear her talking. “Thank you for staying so late, Oliver.” She laughed. “And for making sure I didn’t strangle that thread supplier.”
Oliver’s voice was distant. “No problem, boss lady. Antonio made meatloaf, so you did me a favor. Every time he makes it, I feel like he’s one bad decision away from making a nice loaf of bread. Don’t stay too late tonight.”
“I won’t.” February laughed. “Thanks again.”
I listened to the sound of her office door closing and then her beautiful, smiling face returned. “Sorry about that.”
“No problem.”
Her face fell. “What’s the matter?”
And here I thought I was doing a halfway decent job of trying to act normal. “How do you know something’s wrong?”
“It’s written all over your face. Your jaw is tense, and you have little creases on your forehead. What’s going on?”
I sighed. “I’m sorry to call you with my shit. But I wanted to get your opinion on how I should handle some things.”
“Is everything okay with the baby?”
I explained the call I’d received from Nina earlier today and told her some of the stuff I’d read online about placenta previa.
She shook her head. “I’m so sorry to hear that.”
“So many things can go wrong, for the baby and the mother. Fetal distress—the baby can be deprived of oxygen due to disrupted blood flow through the placenta. Placenta accreta spectrum—that’s when the placenta attaches too deeply to the uterine wall and causes hemorrhaging during delivery. Maternal shock, placenta abruption. It’s not good.”
“Okay, well, if you called for my advice, then the first bit I’m going to give is that you need to retire your Google MD. If you have questions and concerns, you should get your information firsthand. Maybe ask Nina if you can speak to the doctor so you can discuss your concerns. Google is only going to scare the crap out of you. Trust me, I once convinced myself that a pimple on the back of my neck was a tumor because I spent too much time researching online. By the time I got in to see the doctor, I’d already weighed the pros and cons of which chemotherapy I needed.”