To be or not to be?

Posted on Wed Oct 9th, 2019 @ 5:09am by Lieutenant Commander Carolyn Corrigan MD

1,493 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 100 - A Hatred of Atonement
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: MD01 1530 hrs

With the fighting over and Freya had waited for Sickbay to calm down before visiting Carolyn as she'd suggested. Walking into Sickbay she looked around before being greeted by a nurse. "I'm looking for Doctor Corrigan, she said to stop by and see her."

"If you'll wait here Counsellor I'll find Doctor Corrigan for you." The nurse smiled warmly and disappeared for a few moments.

Freya paced nervously, the words of Doctor Hades were still ringing in her ears from last time she'd spoken to him about wanting a baby. He'd said given Kaden's medical condition that it might be hard for her to conceive, she was hoping this wasn't just a phantom pregnancy because she wanted it so much. She also worried about the what if's, Kaden's fear that a baby of theirs would inherit his condition. She stopped pacing and sat down, just the possibilities were making her head spin, plus she was also feeling nauseous.

“... part of that sound like a suggestion?” Doctor Corrigan was saying as she rounded the corner, Dr Mendez in tow. After another step she turned to face him, pointing towards the doctor’s lounge. “Go. Apologise to him like you actually mean it and like your career depends on it. Because Hades will not be happy if another cadet washes out because of you. Now move.”

Watching him go she took a deep breath, a picture of calm when she reached Freya. “So, ready to find out?”

Freya nodded her head. "Put it this way....if I'm not pregnant then I must be ailing for something else as I feel really nauseous!!" She offered a brief smile. "I'm around six weeks overdue. I just haven't had the nerve to do a scan myself."

“I can understand that,” Carolyn smiled. “Come on, we can go to an exam room and find you some privacy. Do you want Kaden here?”

Freya shook her head. “No, not right now.” She frowned. She wouldn’t normally keep secrets from Kaden, she never had and she never would again but right now she needed to do this alone. “I hope he’ll forgive me!” She looked at Carolyn as they walked. “When I spoke to Doctor Hades a while ago he said that given Kaden’s medical condition, the chances were I’d proably find it hard to conceive and if I did that the baby might....have the condition too!” She hung her head. “I’m not sure if Kaden could accept that, although I know chances are it wouldn’t show up later pregnancy or after birth anyway...” She stopped herself. “Sorry I’m just so nervous!!”

“Most people think the same way,” Carolyn assured her, gesturing for the marine to head inside one of the nearby rooms as she was called back to sign off on a patient file. Entering the room she flashed an apologetic smile as she closed the door to give them privacy. “Make yourself comfortable and we can find out for sure, sound good?”

Freya nodded and smiled. “Let’s get this over with. I need to know.”

“Okay,” Carolyn grinned, gesturing to the biobed. “Last chance to -“

She stopped as her comm badge came to life, the distinctive computer voice declaring a medical emergency. “Stay,” she told Freya, hurrying from the room. Within five minutes she was back, activating a medical tricorder as she pulled a stool up beside the biobed. “Sorry about that. Should have picked next door, at least that has pictures on the wall. Okay, definitely sure you want to know?”

“Yes I want to know!” Freya looked pleadingly at Carolyn.

“In that case, I’m very happy to say congratulations Freya,” Carolyn announcement with a bright smile. “If you’d like we can do a more detailed scan or, since everything seems good, it may be something you’d like to arrange for later and have Kaden here for.”

Freya’s grin and tears in her eyes said it all. “Thank you Carolyn!!” She wanted to give Carolyn a big hug and run straight home to tell Kaden, but at the same time she needed to know more. “Can we do the detailed scan please? I want to know what there is to know so far.” She was understandably nervous.

“No problem at all. Let me set this up and we can do your first scan,” Carolyn grinned, moving towards the terminal to begin setting everything up. “As Kaden isn’t Betazoid, your due date will be hard to pin down at this point. As your pregnancy progresses we can pin it down better and give you a more exact date.”

Once she was ready she touched a panel so an arch formed from two panels on each side of the bed, directly over Freya’s abdomen. “This doesn’t hurt you or the baby, it can sometimes make your skin feel tingly but that is normal.”

Freya nodded. “I haven’t dealt with many pregnancies so at this point you know a lot more than me!” Freya smiled.

“Baby looks perfect so far,” Carolyn assured her. “There is not much to see but I’ll put a scan image on a padd for you to show Kaden after you pick him up off the floor. I know he’s worried but right now, we can just state you are both healthy. Morning sickness can be a nightmare I know, we can give you something for that. If it becomes severe- come see us.”

“I’ll do that” Freya nodded. “Does the scan give any idea what sex the baby is or is it too soon to tell yet? I’m guessing I’m about five or six weeks going from the date of my last period?”

“I’m guessing five,” Carolyn told her, frowning, “but then that was human patients in the journal so I may be off. At this point, I couldn’t say with absolute certainty, he or she, is still developing and it is usually towards the end of the first trimester for male or female organs to become clear in a visual scan. At this stage I would say give it a few weeks.”

She turned to the image, taking basic measurements to document in Baby Ross’s newly created medical file. “Other than morning sickness, anything else?”

“A little more tired than usual but I have been having a few nightmares of late. Apart from that nothing else.” She offered a smile. “Thank you Carolyn, this is the best news ever!!”

“Glad to hear it,” Carolyn grinned. “Give me a few minutes and I will link your medical records up, and you will get notification for a proper scan with Dr Kelly and her team. Just whenever suits you. We are obviously here for anything else, so if you feel unwell or overly concerned- just speak to us, okay? I will put some extra detail in the pack, just some information on pregnancy and details of some of the pre-natal classes our midwives run. A lot both you and Kaden can go to together and some are ones he may want to avoid.”

She stopped, pausing before she said, “basically, go, enjoy this moment with your husband and take some time to read through it. Take from it as little or as much as you need.”

Freya grinned like a Cheshire cat. "I can't wait to tell him now!! I just have to figure out how's best to do that. I'll work it out."

“I don’t doubt it,” Carolyn grinned as she tapped a button to retract the arch, collecting a PADD and starting to download the information along with the scan images. “Make sure you are keeping up a healthy and balanced diet, any replicator will now dispense supplements for you. Take one a day, no more than that. Details are in the pack. Other than that, you are free to go plan the big reveal.”

Freya grinned as she sat up. "Thank you Carolyn!" She hopped down with enthusiasm. She still felt a little nauseous but now it didn't seem so bad thanks to her good mood. "I can't wait to tell him!! Oh and I'll sit and read all this too."

“Good. Do you have any questions before you go?” The doctor offered.

Freya paused. “I’ll probably come up with a thousand once I leave here but right now, no questions.” She grinned. “Oh! there is one...it is okay to make love isn’t it? Stupid question but it’s the only one I have.”

“Unless you are adopting some rather unorthodox positions then it is absolutely one hundred percent safe,” Carolyn assured her. “Okay, I shall let you go break the news. Congratulations again, Freya.”

“Thank you Carolyn” Freya grinned as she picked up the PADDs with her scan information and everything else she needed to know before heading out to surprise Kaden.

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