Overdue

Posted on Wed Jun 24th, 2020 @ 3:33am by Lieutenant Alexandra Alves MD & Emilie Temple
Edited on on Fri Jul 10th, 2020 @ 5:55pm

Mission: The Evils Within
Location: Sickbay

Emilie Temple was not in a good mood. She was finding getting to sleep increasingly hard, her body was drained of energy, and the need to constantly go to the bathroom had long passed tiresome some time ago. Her baby’s due date had come and gone like a shuttle passing by, disappearing into the distance without so much of a trace. And yet, the baby remained where it was, clearly enjoying late check-out in mummy’s hotel, barely a hint of a desire to leave. Her back was aching, her feet had swollen, and her temper was becoming short.

Nyx had - very carefully, very delicately, and only after distracting her with a plate of chocolates first - suggested a c-section birth. He had only dared to tread once down that particular discussion topic, and with as much nimble grace that he could muster. Still, the answer was the same - shot back in quick rejection between mouthfuls of the offered chocolates. “No!” Emilie had declared, “The baby will come!”

That conversation had occurred a week ago and despite convincing herself she was right, the baby had not budged. And so now, she was trudging down to Sickbay to see Doctor Alves for some advice.

It was a long and uneventful day in sickbay. Alexandra spent most of it by writing and sorting out reports. She also had time to read an essay written by Veronica for cultural studies class. She got the best possible mark for it, so she was proud and eager to show it to her mom.

The doctor saw the entrance door sliding open, and Ms. Temple walking in. She quickly put aside the reports, stood up and walked towards her. "Emilie! Hello!" she greeted the woman with a pleasant smile. "How are you feeling today?" she asked both as a doctor and a friend. "I was just reading Veronica's latest school work."

"Oh, that's nice." Emilie smiled as much as she could as she lowered herself into a chair. "To be honest, Doctor, I haven't much time to think about anything else but this." She sighed heavily as she pointed to her stomach.

"Ah, sorry. Sorry." the doctor quickly picked up a tricorder and walked to Emilie to examine her. She was quite overdue, but apparently her little one wasn't showing any signs of wanting to see the light of day (or the artificial light of the statship, to be more precise) yet. "Don't worry." Alex said with an assuring smile. "You're perfectly fine. It's just... well... it seems, your little one seems quite comfortable inside there. Not really keen on leaving yet."

"Don't I know it." Emilie sighed, "Anything you can recommend, Doctor? I want to do this naturally still, not a caesarian, but is there anything I do to hurry the little one along?"

"I can ease the pain." Alex explained, trying to calm down Emilie. "But don't worry. Really, there's nothing to worry about." she said. "Forty weeks is like... an estimate." she calmly explained. "Sometimes the estimate is right, sometimes it's not. Babies sometimes just... like to stay inside longer." she smiled. "Veronica arrived on the forty-second week. I was feeling like hell, believe me. I know what you're going through."

"Forty second!" Emilie groaned, her tone sparking with slight panic. "You mean I may have to do this for another week?"

"Not necessarily." the doctor tried to ease the mood. "But... we can't rule out that possibility."

Emilie sighed heavily, trying not to sound too rude but she wasn't a very patient patient at the moment. "I'm sorry, Doctor, I'm just a little tired right now. My first came early, so I guess I was hoping this one would too. Must have just been a fluke." She shrugged, "Any exercises or food I could use to help?"

"I perfectly know how you feel." Alex said, as she quickly walked to a closet, and picked up a cartridge of analgesic drug and filled it into a hypospray. "I give you metorapran, it'll ease your pain. Two injections a day and you'll feel like new." she smiled, still trying to calm her not-so-patient patient. "There are some exercises you can try in the meantime." she replied to Emilie's question. "A good walk can actually urge your little one to come out sooner. But you can also try deep squats or gently rolling on a yoga ball."

Emilie nodded, giving a faint smile, "I will try those now." She didn't know if it was the conversation or the fatigue talking, but she started to feel her back tense up. The baby must have been awakened too, as they started to give a sharp kick. "Oof. Definitely going to need that injection before I go."

"Right away." the doctor smiled, and quickly injected Emilie with the serum. "Relax now. Take a deep breath. You'll feel better in a minute."

Easing back into the bio-bed, a tranquil smile came across Emilie as she felt the medicine do its job. She looked to the Doctor with a sanguine grin, "Thank you, Dr. Alves. You're wonderful."

"Just trying to do my best." she smiled gently. "If you feel anything wrong, just call me."

Emilie nodded in gratitude. After she started to feel better, Emilie said thank you to the Doctor once more and made her way out of Sickbay.
OFF