Josephine

I take my phone from the night stand and I pick up, seeing it's Denise. I immediately know something happened.

Phone call

"Good morning, Denise. Everything is alright?"

"Good morning, darling. Yes, everything is fine. The doctor told me that Liam has a concussion and it seems like he has short memory loss. He remembered this morning about your wedding. So, he's going to be fine."

"Thank God!" I breath in relief. "Denise? Can you watch Danny for an hour or two? I totally forgot about my OB appointment."

"Of course, I can. At what time?"

"We're coming to the hospital in an hour."

"Good."

"Thank you. We'll bring him there, okay?"

"Okay. See you soon."

I end the call with Denise, then I walk downstairs to my boys. We play for a while until it's 11am, so I take Danny upstairs where I dress him, then I let him go downstairs and I get dressed. When I'm done, we go to the car and Hero drives to the hospital.

We go to Liam's room and we stay with him for a while. I'm glad he's feeling well and he will be fine. For now, it's just me, Liam and Hero because Denise took Danny to have a snack.

Liam: "I hope this wedding will be your last wedding." We all laugh.

Jo: "I promise."

Hero: "And I promise to not let her go."

Liam: "How's the baby?"

Jo: "We're going to see him or her today."

Liam: "You don't know the gender?"

Jo: "No... We're still thinking if we want to know the gender before birth."

Liam: "Cool. How's Danny after the crash?"

Jo: "He's okay. Worried about you."

Liam: "I will be discharged tomorrow. You can let him with me and mom."

Hero: "Oh, be serious. You need to recover. You don't need Danny on you back."

Liam: "I'm fine. Mom will help me with him. You two can have some peace before the wedding."

Jo: "Okay... Thanks."

After half an hour, Danny and Denise are back, so it's time for us to go. I hug Danny and I let him with his father and grandmother. Me and Hero say goodbye, then we leave the hospital. We get inside the car and Hero drives away, to the private practice where my doctor is waiting for us. I don't know what's going on with me, but I have a strange feeling about this appointment.

"Are you alright, love?"

"Mhm." I nod.

"You don't seem to be okay... Talk to me."

"I don't know... I have a bad feeling about this appointment."

"Everything will be fine, don't worry." He says as he pulls in the parking lot. We walk hand in hand in the private practice and we check in at the front desk and we wait for the nurse to call my name.

"Josephine Langford?"

"That's me!" We get up and we walk inside my doctor's office. Doctor Deluca is in her pink scrubs and she has a smile on her face.

Dr. Deluca: "Hello, it's nice to see you again. How are you feeling, Josephine?"

Jo: "I'm good, thank you. We're excited to see the baby."

Dr. Deluca: "Are we going to find out the gender?"

Jo: "I think we want to wait until birth."

Dr. Deluca: "I totally respect your wish. How did you feel since our last appointment?"

Jo: "I'm good. Hero and Danny finally felt the baby."

Dr. Deluca: "That's really good. Any bad moods or symptoms?"

Jo: "Nope. All good."

Dr. Deluca: "Perfect! Now, let's do the ultrasound."

We move to the other side of the room and she starts the ultrasound. And for the first minutes she stays silent. And I'm worried.

Jo: "Doctor, everything is alright?"

Dr. Deluca: "I'm afraid not... You have something called marginal placenta previa, which means that your placenta is touching your cervix, but it's not covering it, which is a good sign. This might disappear until your due date, but for that... I have to put you on bed rest for the next weeks. I don't want to scare you, but you need to be more careful. This might move and have natural birth, or your placenta can move on your cervix and it can induce you in early labor and we don't want that. So... In the next three weeks, I want you to avoid any effort and activities like work, carrying weights, sexual activities. You can do the minimum activities: short walks, showers instead baths. As I said, I don't want to scare you. If we have it under control, nothing bad will happen. But we're going to talk more at your next appointment, okay?" I'm speechless and on the verge of crying.

Hero: "But the baby's going to be fine?"

Dr. Deluca: "Definitely. But it might lead to an early birth around 35 or 36 weeks. But you don't have to worry about it. You are in good hands with me. Now, let's hear the heart and we're going to talk more after this, okay?"

We nod and she continues the ultrasound. The baby's heartbeat is strong and we don't have to worry. But I am worried.

Dr. DeLuca: "Josephine, I can see you are worried and scared. But if you will follow what I said, nothing bad will happen."

Jo: "Okay..."

Hero: "We're getting married this weekend."

Dr. Deluca: "Congratulations! You can make an exception this time, but after that, I want you on bed rest. And even if you will be part of a wedding, I want you to not make too much effort. And if you planned a honeymoon, I suggest you to postpone it until after birth. Okay?"

Hero: "Okay, doctor. We're going to do everything you say."

Dr. DeLuca: "So, bed time rest for the next weeks, okay? And no stress."

Jo: "Okay."

Dr. DeLuca: "Alright. Then, you can continue to take your prenatal vitamins. And I will see you in three weeks. If something is happening in these weeks, don't hesitate to call me."

Jo: "Thank you, doctor."

We leave my doctor's office and we stay in silence in the car.

"Babe... It's not the end of the world. You are good. The baby is healthy. If we follow the doctor's orders, nothing bad will happen. We just have to be more careful."

"I know... But I'm just shocked. We're getting bad news every day."

"Let's forget about it. We're getting married on Sunday."

"After that, I have to be on bed rest. Danny will be so disappointed..."

"He's old enough to understand that you can't play with him."

"And in the next weeks I'll have to stay and just watch him."

"You are having our baby, Josephine. I know you don't like it, but you are going to do it for our baby." He touches my cheek. "I want you to be strong. We need a healthy baby and born after 36 weeks, okay?"

"Okay."