Page 112 of Goal Line
I shift in my seat, trying to get more comfortable, andsomething rolls off my lap. I glance down at the silver baby rattle Luke’s mom gave me earlier, which I forgot I’d set there when I got in the car. I pick it up, letting my fingers trace over the engravings along the silver ends. Taking a deep breath, I picture our baby girl holding this rattle, chewing on it with her little pink gums while teething.
We’re twenty minutes closer to Boston when Dr. Lowery’s call comes through over the speakers in Luke’s car. After he explains the situation, she says, “Eva, I don’t want you to panic. Your blood pressure is not in the danger zone, but it’s higher than I’d like. I’m going to ask you a few other questions.”
“Okay,” I squeak out.
“Do you have a bad headache?”
“I had a severe headache earlier, but it’s mostly gone away.”
“Are you feeling dizzy?”
“No. But I was a little dizzy earlier, when I walked out to the car,” I say, thinking about how I was clinging to my dad.
“Are you seeing spots at the edges of your vision?”
“No.”
“Any increased swelling?”
“No, not that I’ve noticed.”
“Then I don’t think you need to rush to the hospital right now,” she says, and my whole body sags with relief. “But when you get home and are more relaxed, I want you to take your blood pressure again. If it’s higher, then go straight to the hospital. But as long as it stays steady or goes down, we can wait and deal with this tomorrow. I want to see you in my office first thing, though. I’ll squeeze you in early. Meet me at my office at eight-thirty.”
Chapter Forty-Four
LUKE
In the elevator on the way up to Dr. Lowery’s office, Eva faces me, resting her cheek against my chest as I wrap both arms around her.
“God, I’m so tired,” she says. I can tell by the slight tremble in her voice that she’s not only tired from tossing and turning all night, but she’s also scared. Andnothingin my life has prepared me for this. Hockey players shooting pucks at me at ninety miles an hour? No problem. But my wife when she’s scared something might be wrong with our baby?Thatguts me in a way I didn’t know was possible. It’s worse than the fear I felt in Game 7, and the only thing that tempers it is knowing that I need to be strong for her. I can’t break down; I have to hold my shit together.
“I know, baby,” I say, running my hands up her back and over her shoulders. “We’re going to get a handle on this, though. Promise.” I bend my head down to press a kiss to thetop of her head, and the elevator dings before the doors open.
Dr. Lowery’s office is quiet when we enter. The waiting room is predictably empty, and no one is at the front desk, but we can hear voices quietly talking in the back. We only stand at the reception area for a minute before a nurse appears and opens the door next to the desk, gesturing us in.
“We’ve got a room ready for you,” she says, smiling at Eva.
“Thanks,” I say when my wife doesn’t respond. She’s tense, and I hate that there’s nothing I can do to ease her worry—especially when I’m carrying the same fears myself. Hopefully, this visit will put our minds at ease.
Dr. Lowery is in the exam room when we arrive, and once Eva’s situated on the exam table, she says, “I’m going to get you hooked up to some monitors just so we can check things out, okay?”
“Sure.” Eva’s voice is small.
“I know you’re worried,” Dr. Lowery says, “but there’s a lot we can do to help control high blood pressure during pregnancy. We just want to avoid preeclampsia, and you’re not there yet, so please, rest easy.”
Eva relaxes back into the exam table and nods. Then Dr. Lowery gets her hooked up to a blood pressure cuff and puts the pulse oximeter on her finger. She then attaches a band around my wife’s belly. “We’re going to continuously monitor the fetal heart rate for a while, too, just to make sure everything with the baby is normal. This band just holds the device in place, but it’s essentially the same thing we’ve done in previous visits, just over a longer period of time.”
“Okay,” Eva says, but she doesn’t truly seem relaxed until Dr. Lowery tells us Eva’s heart rate and blood pressure areokay. The baby’s heart rate also appears to be steady and normal.
“All right, while we capture this data and double check that all is well, let’s talk a bit about what happened last night, and what to watch for in the future. Let’s start with what happened right before your blood pressure spiked.”
Eva explains about the confrontation with her mom, and even though she doesn’t point any blame at me as she tells the story, I recognize my role in escalating that situation. Helene was giving her what was likely a sincere apology, even if it came much later than it should have, and I should’ve let Eva handle things without getting Helene worked up, which in turn got Eva worked up.
I think back to what Charlie said, about not losing my protective instinct while also allowing Eva to manage things herself. That’s a balancing act I’ll need to work on, because the second I see my wife in pain, my inclination is to go into attack mode.
“It sounds like it was a very stressful situation,” Dr. Lowery said. “And I think that, given your elevated blood pressure, we need to avoid those as much as possible. Has anything else triggered a similar reaction? Like, have you noticed any issues with working out, or skating, or sex?”
“No,” Eva says with a shake of her head. “It was just that one time.”
