“What about mummy?” Lance asked as he wiped tears from his eyes.
“Stop crying, Lance. You’re a man. Mummy is fine. I’ll take her home soon,” Reiner replied sternly.
Lance is a boy. He’s a young boy. I corrected Reiner in my head.
Reiner led the hesitant boys out of the room before returning to my side. He had a worried look on his face and I wondered what was wrong.
“I’ll call for the doctor,” Reiner mumbled before turning away.
I blinked in confusion at how strangely he was behaving. Did something happen while I was out?
“The doctor will be here soon,” Reiner told me after getting off the call.
“Is something wrong…with me?” I asked more in confusion than worry.
Reiner hesitated before he told me to wait for the doctor to arrive. A short while after, the doctor arrived and after knocking on the room’s door, she walked in.
“Hello. How are you feeling?” the doctor asked with a kind smile.
Another nurse followed her in and began checking on the IV drip that was attached to my arm. Reiner stood close to the hospital bed.
“I feel fine. Maybe I was just a little tired. It was humid and sunny…maybe that’s why I fainted…” I explained from my point of view.
“That’s probably the trigger of it but it’s not the root cause for your condition this time around,” the doctor replied before smiling sweetly at me.
“Excuse me?” I said in confusion.
“Congratulations. You are around 8 weeks pregnant now,” the woman told me before flashing me another bright smile.
I’m…what?
“What?” I asked in shock.
“I already told your husband that you need to make sure that you rest more. Get enough sleep. It’s very important for the body to rest up so that it can adjust to the new baby,” the doctor advised with a smile.
“I’m pregnant?” I asked again in disbelief.
But there were no signs or anything before this. Now that I think about it, maybe I was too busy dealing with the boys that I haven’t been keeping track of my period properly.
“Yes, you are pregnant. Thankfully, there is nothing wrong with your body. You just need to rest more during this sensitive time,” the doctor confirmed with a pleasant smile.
I’m pregnant…
I didn’t know what else to say. The doctor gave Reiner some additional instructions on how to take care of me before taking her leave. The door closed behind her, and Reiner and I were the only ones left in the room.
“I’m pregnant…” I muttered to myself.
It was a strange feeling. I didn’t quite know how to feel about this third pregnancy. My feelings were mixed but I was undoubtedly happy yet very worried. We already had two sons and that kept us very busy already. Raising another child isn’t going to be very easy for us.
“Congratulations, Natalia. I didn’t know that you’re pregnant. I shouldn’t have pushed you to go to the event,” Reiner said regretfully.
“Oh no. Not at all. Don’t blame yourself, even I didn’t know that I am pregnant,” I replied with a small laugh.
“Are you happy? You look…uncertain…” Reiner commented before he leaned down and kissed my forehead.
“I am…it’s just…we’re going to have three kids, you know…” I confessed my worry to him.
“Is that what you’re worried about? We can get a lot more hired help, you know? We don’t have to do everything by ourselves,” Reiner told me calmly.
“I guess so…” I mumbled in agreement.
“Plus, this baby might be a girl this time around. You’ve always wanted a girl, right?” Reiner said brightly.
His smile lit up my world like it always did. The way his blue eyes smiled at me made me believe that everything would turn out fine as long as I had him by my side. Reiner seemed excited about this new life growing inside of me and that made me a little excited as well.
“I hope so…” I murmured.
Unlike the time with Ryder, I didn’t feel like I had a clue about the gender of this baby. The doctor didn’t mention anything about the baby’s gender either, so it was probably too early for us to tell.
“You should rest here for a night, I think. I’ll stay with you. We can go home tomorrow,” Reiner suggested.
He took my hand in his and kissed the back of it gently. His lips felt soft and warm against my cold hand, and I found his gesture comforting.
“I’m fine. There’s no need for me to stay the night. Let’s go home so the boys don’t feel worried,” I replied with a smile.
Reiner seemed conflicted for a moment but ended up agreeing with me on the condition that the doctor had to give her approval for me to return back home.
…
A few days later, I felt completely fine again. This pregnancy made me feel funny because unlike my previous ones, I didn’t feel sick at all. Morning sickness didn’t hit me and apart from feeling slightly tired at the end of the day, I didn’t develop any other adverse effects. It was a very smooth and strange experience for me compared to my other pregnancies when I had my boys. Sometimes, it made me forget that I was in fact in the early stages of my pregnancy.
Reiner had been a big help in volunteering to take over so many of my responsibilities that it felt like I had nothing left to do. I lay in our bed while I waited for him to return from putting the boys to bed. The door to our bedroom opened and Reiner walked in with a smile on his face.
“How are the boys?” I asked.
“Sleeping like little angels,” Reiner replied before getting in bed with me.
“You mean like little mischievous devils…” I corrected.
Reiner laughed along with me. We both knew that our boys were more than a handful of trouble.
“How are you feeling?” Reiner asked as he turned on his side to face me.
–To be continued…