Page 76 of Delayed Penalty

Until Gwen’s face drops.

“Avery, your blood pressure is 150/90. How long did you say until your next appointment?”

“Three days.”

“I’m not sure you should wait that long to get checked, I think we should have you go to labor and delivery, just to be safe. I know you don’t want to leave the baby shower, but gestational hypertension is not something we mess around about, you definitely want to get it figured out right away.”

“I’m sure that’s not necessary, can’t I go later? I don’t want to cause a big scene. I’m probably just worked up fromthe excitement,” I say, waving her off, but she doesn’t look convinced.

“I don’t think that’s a great idea,” Gwen says honestly, and I can tell she is being honest because she cares.

“I agree,” Harris’s mom says, her eyes down on her phone while her fingers furiously type. “I just texted Harris to meet us at the hospital, I’ll go get my purse and we can head out.”

She leaves no room for discussion as she nods to Gwen and walks away in search of her purse.

Four hourslater and more blood pressure readings than I care to remember, I’ve officially been diagnosed with gestational hypertension. When Harris got to the hospital, I thought he was going to burst an aneurism he was stressing so badly; apparently, he googled it on his way over and of course, Dr. Google is never kind.

They hooked me up to monitors on my belly, monitoring the baby, and a blood pressure cuff that rechecked my blood pressure every ten minutes. The numbers bounced around, but they end up putting me on blood pressure medication after getting multiple readings between 140/90 to 160/96, when up until now my entire pregnancy was consistently at 120/80. Thankfully, after some struggles, they were able to use medication to bring it down, although, they still decided to keep me for a couple of hours to monitor me and make sure I didn’t have another spike.

Being not even thirty-five weeks pregnant makes this whole situation even more terrifying because I know if I were going to deliver because of it, my baby would be early. I know thirty-five weeks isn’t drastically early, but it’s still scary because younever know if they’ll need NICU time. They gave me a steroid shot, apparently, in some cases they do end up delivering early if they can’t get their blood pressure under control and by giving this shot it helps to develop the babies lungs. I just have to have another one tomorrow and then hopefully everything will be okay.

I didn’t know they figured out how to do this, so it’s encouraging to know they have found ways to help babies not need so much time in the hospital.

None of this has calmed Harris down, who has been treating me like I’m made of glass. It’s adorable, although it sort of makes me feel stabby when he feels like he has to walk me to the bathroom. His mom opted to stay to make sure everything was okay, sending his sisters back home in their car.

At least this way, maybe she can calm her son down. I doubt it, though.

“Did Harris get you all settled in?” his mom asks from the doorway to his room, a soft smile on her face as she stands there, already ready for bed.

“I feel like I should be asking you that.” I laugh. “But yes, he is rather demanding.”

“He is, but it’s only because he cares.”

I smile because I know she’s right. That man loves hard and is always willing to do whatever he can for those he cares about. It’s one of my favorite things about him.

“I know, and I appreciate it, from all of you.”

“We’re here for you, Avery, now get some rest. You’re growing my new favorite person,” she says with a wink before walking away.

With Harris still showering, I lie in the bed we share thinking about how different my life has become, and how one night when I needed a quick escape, I ended up finding the most perfect surprise.

How after a night out, our lives were forever changed in the most perfect way, how together we have created a family? But not only that, I’ve found a home and a love I no longer feel like I need to run from.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Harris

It’s been two days since we were here for Avery to get her second dose of steroids, but at least this time we are walking into the hospital for something exciting.

Trevor called me first thing this morning and told me Ellie was in labor, or at least that they thought she was. Sure enough, two hours later he texted me they were heading to the hospital and already getting ready to deliver the baby. It happened quick, apparently within minutes of them getting to the hospital. After they were able to get settled, they sent out group chat a message that we could come visit if we wanted.

Obviously, Avery and I are excited, so we immediately headed out. We stopped and picked up a cute little gift for the family, the new baby, and, of course for Addy, so now we are finally at the hospital heading up from the parking garage to go see them.

“I’m pretty sure at this point, you might have to carry me out. Either that or the hospital just became my new home,” Avery groans in the elevator.

I can tell she’s getting more and more uncomfortable by the day, attempting to take as much body weight off of her feet, butalso her belly. Her hands are at the bottom of her belly, her head resting on my arm as she leans on me.

She’s miserable, and I hate it.

---