Sharon Carter is a super spy (exshieldagent) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-06-08 07:44:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, anders, sharon carter |
Who: Sharon Carter and Anders
When: Recently
Where: Ander’s Free Clinic
What: A check-up
Rating/Warnings: Low/Pregnancy stuff (Braxton Hicks Contractions, Third Trimester stuff, Baby and mother are safe and healthy)
Status: Complete
Without Pete to take on walks, Sharon had grown lazy. It hadn’t even been a week yet, but she knew moping around the house was a bad habit to get into. Chris was off at school, and Leon was still at the hospital, so Sharon was on her own. Her work hours were wonky--it was likely that her superiors were giving her less cases and more research because they wanted her off the streets, and she sort of agreed--so she had some free time. She decided to walk waddle around the park.
Only, on her third lap she started to feel some sharp contractions. They weren’t really painful, just incredibly uncomfortable? And, okay, wow, maybe a little painful. She was on the opposite side of the park from her car, so she had to turn around and go back. By the time she reached the end of the park, she was hunched over a little. Breathing in the funny ‘hee hee hoooo’ way they’d taught her in birthing class.
Thankfully, there was a sign. She spotted it, even though her vision had suffered a bit at the unyielding hands of pregnancy body changes. She waddled in that direction. She still had eight weeks left. This baby was not supposed to come yet.
Sometimes, Anders almost wished he liked dogs. He was pretty sure going for a run while walking a dog would be infinitely easier than going for a run while walking his cat. While normally he had time for a morning jog before work, and then an evening stroll with Sir Pounce-A-Lot, he had slept in that morning and hadn’t had a chance. And really, with how much he was thinking about what his dreams had in store for him, he had to admit that he was having trouble coming up with the motivation to do both.
He wasn’t too far away when he saw a woman who looked to be quite pregnant and in… quite a lot of pain. He scooped up Sir Pounce-A-Lot into his arms, and jogged over to her, ignoring the cat’s protests. “Are you okay?” he asked her once he was a little closer.
Sharon was sort of hoping that by the time she got to the clinic, the pain would be forgotten. It was silly, really. She knew she’d been having these Braxton Hicks contractions--and that they were stronger and more serious when she was dehydrated or after some light exercise. She hadn’t been put on bed rest, but her OB had told her to take it easy. Maybe if she had a tall cup of water and a sit down for a few minutes, she’d be okay. She could go pick up Chris from school and head to her house and have some ice cream. No worries.
A man stopped her on the way in, and she felt a bit sheepish. “Yes, I’m just… headed into the clinic,” Sharon said, smiling apologetically at the man… carrying a cat? She raised an eyebrow, her own pain and trouble forgotten. Was he really holding a cat on a leash?
“My clinic?” Anders asked. “I’ll help you there,” he said, and placed Sir Pounce-A-Lot on the ground so he could offer the woman his arm. She looked… awfully familiar. “Hey, you’re Sharon, right? Peggy’s cousin?” How embarrassing that he couldn’t actually remember her name. “Let me introduce you to Sir Pounce-A-Lot.”
Should he take his cat into his clinic with him? Probably not. But he could put him in the back room or something while he checked out Sharon.
Well, what do you know. It was the man who ran the clinic! Well, Sharon felt a little less sheepish about running into him, then. She reached one hand up and wrapped it around his elbow, giving him a pained smile, then followed him in. “Yes, Sharon Carter.” She paused for a moment, considering him.
“You’re Anders.” She said, remembering how her cousin had spent a week in his body. “Jeez, I didn’t recognize you when you’re not… y’know… Peggy.” Her smile went more genuine for a moment, then she winced as another one of those contractions made her lower abdomen go rock hard. “...I’m having contractions, and I think it’s Braxton Hicks, but I want to be safe…”
“It is pretty interesting how much someone can appear different when they have different mannerisms,” Anders said, leading her toward the clinic. He opened up the door for her. “I’m no obstetrician, but I can try taking a look.” He waved to the receptionist, and let her know that he’d be using one of the unoccupied rooms, before leading Sharon that way. “Do you get Braxton Hicks contractions often?”
“I’ve only had a few, but I ended up in Labor and Delivery once for them. I was with my friend’s kid brother, it was a mess.” Thankfully, Chris wasn’t with Sharon right now. She followed Anders in and smiled to the receptionist, then back to one of the empty examination rooms. “Really, I think I overdid it. I was walking around the park and I… I think I just pushed myself too hard.”
“A lot of women need to slow down once they get to this stage of their pregnancy,” Anders agreed. “Make yourself as comfortable as you can, I’m just going to go drop off Sir Pounce and get cleaned up so I can see to you better.”
“Okay.” Sharon moved to sit on the examination table while the doctor went off to put the cat away. (Seriously, a cat on a leash? It was bizarre and amazing.) Then she leaned back against the table and closed her eyes. The contractions slowed a bit as Sharon breathed deeply, trying to calm herself down.
Anders left Sir Pounce-A-Lot in the care of one of the volunteer nurses who had actually squealed when he had walked into the back with him while he went into the bathroom to change into one of the spare sets of scrubs he kept, just in case someone had to change in the middle of the day. Given that they worked in a place that often had people being sick or bleeding, it had seemed like a practical business decision at the time, and he wasn’t regretting it now. It didn’t take him long to return to Sharon with a glass of water in his hands.
“Are you feeling any better now that you’re sitting?” Anders asked, offering her the glass of water.
Sharon opened her eyes at the sound of the voice and nodded. “I think they’ve stopped.” She said softly, but then sat up and accepted the water. She sipped. Some down time and some water were pretty much what she needed. But he must have an ultrasound machine at the clinic, right? They could check on the babe and make sure she was still happy in there.
“That’s good to hear,” Anders said. “Probably not true labour then.” He watched her take a couple of sips. “If you’d like, we can probably check up on the little one.”
Sharon nodded. She wouldn’t mind that in the slightest. A small smile spread across her lips. “I do like to see her. Whenever I can.” Hopefully the baby would be active and healthy, with a strong heartbeat and lots of amniotic fluid. Sharon took another sip of water and leaned back on the examination table so he could get to her tummy with the machine.
Anders pulled the machine closer to the examination table, and instructed Sharon to lift her shirt for him. Then, he slathered the transducer with the ultrasound gel. “I’m sure you know the drill by now, but this will be pretty cold,” he said, ready to place it on her stomach.
“I know,” Sharon grinned. It was old hat by now. She only had a few weeks of this left, too. Then baby. That thought made her heart skip a beat. But she moved her shirt and let him find the baby with the ultrasound. She wasn’t hard to find. Kicking her legs like a soccer player, thumb shoved into her mouth.
Anders moved the transducer around along her stomach, and allowed himself a smile at the grainy image of the baby. “Like I said, I’m not an obstetrician,” he said. “But she looks happy and healthy to me,” he said, flashing Sharon a bit of a smile.
“Oh, thank goodness,” Sharon breathed a deep sigh of relief. “I’ve got an appointment with my OB at the end of the week, I just… want to make sure she’s good now. I was nervous about those contractions.” She explained. “Thank you.”
“It’s no problem,” Anders said. “I’m always happy to help someone in need. I do recommend taking it a little easier until your OB appointment though. Make sure to keep hydrated.”
“I definitely will.” Maybe this was the wake-up call that she desperately needed. She had to take it a little easier than she’d been doing lately. “Thank you so much, Doctor.”