Staying Put & a Trip to the ER

He and she had gone back to her home town to celebrate the news of their nuptials with her family. They were shocked though happy at their decision to tie the knot. He was still fretting about what kind of jobs he would find in her home town once they moved there in May after the baby was born, and she equally feared for their financial standing. Rent was more expensive, as was daycare, gas, and everything else, on top of the fact that she would only have around $3000 saved by the time their son was born in April.

The Monday following their visit, she and her mother had a long talk about doing what was best for he, she, and their baby, which ultimately led to the decision to stay where they were. Without realizing, she had been carrying the heavy weight that moving back home would be a financially threatening situation. Once the decision was made to stay, it felt as though the weight disappeared. She would ask to start full-time in a communication & marketing role at the school where she worked, and he would begin readying himself for his graduate degree at the college where they met. They began organizing the apartment and cleaning it up, knowing they would be there for more than just a couple months.

Everything after that seemed to be routine. The holidays were over, she was back at work, he was back at school, and the time until the birth of their son seemed to dwindle away by the day. At 28 weeks, she was showing heavily as they sat at his work together one night. Everything seemed normal until she felt as though her vision was getting spotty. She thought, at first, that it may just be from looking at the computer screen, but after a few moments, she realized something else was happening. The blurred flashing vision would not let up and quickly worsened as she looked up the number of her hospital. He sat patiently next to her, concerned for his wife and son’s well being. “The nurse said that I should get it looked at in the emergency room, since I am pregnant it could be something that needs to be treated.” He nodded, knowing he would need to leave work and take her.

“I will call my boss and let her know I am leaving.” He said, quickly packing his things. She was on the verge of crying out of fear. Her left eye was almost completely useless at this point, and the unknown made her tremble all the way to the hospital. Luckily, there weren’t many people there. She was called in after only a ten minute wait. The nurse and doctor were in and out doing blood pressure tests and other optical tests. She explained her symptoms as the doctor asked some questions. He and she were left to wait for a while until the doctor returned with a prognosis.

“Based on your symptoms, and a talk with the neurologist, it could only be an optic migraine.” This was relatively good news. At least it wasn’t anything serious that could hurt the baby or be a permanent issue. He and she left the hospital and returned to his work for the remainder of his shift. In the car, he grabbed her hand to let her know everything was going to be okay.