chapter 1 (cont.)
Clair�s pregnancy was wrought with despondence, nausea, and agonizing pain.
Every time her baby kicked, Clair screamed. She said it felt like her organs
were being ripped away from their walls. When she tried to eat, nothing stayed
down. Even with nothing on her stomach, she gagged�long, hard, dry-gut gags like
she was trying to bring up her whole stomach once and for all. Throughout the
night, every night, she awakened to hearty heaves from a throat thick with
nausea.
She consulted with Dr. Rudison who gave her injections to control the sickness
and pain, but it didn�t help. Even he found the frequency and agony of her bouts
unusual. He had never seen a pregnancy with such extreme symptoms before.
Clair suffered through her second month losing weight instead of gaining. Her
body rejected food too fast for digestion, let alone nourishment. Even the smell
and sight of food made her nauseous. She became so weak that she had to be
hospitalized and administered nutrition through an I.V.
After thirty days of living on the I.V., Clair became progressively weaker. Dr.
Rudison assembled and consulted a medical team of specialists and then urged the
couple to terminate the unhealthy pregnancy. Harold knew that his wife would
never forgive herself if she couldn�t get pregnant again, so he supported her
decision to refuse the doctors� advice.
Another thirty days of pleading with them to reconsider left Dr. Rudison and his
medical team no choice but to issue the couple an ultimatum. Clair would have to
abort the pregnancy to regain her health and strength or both she and the baby
would most likely die before reaching full term.
�I�ll take my chances,� Clair said without pausing to think.
Harold had watched his wife suffer long enough and gave significant
consideration to aborting the pregnancy. He wanted a baby just as much as Clair
did but not at the expense of losing her. It would defeat their whole purpose
for becoming a family�loving and raising a new life common between them.
(free preview cont.) |