Secret SisterHood - Excerpt
Chapter 1 - Shelby Tomlinson
(cont'd)
Before she left the comforts of her office, Shelby checked her appearance in the full-length mirror behind the door. She finger-combed her shoulder length hair, putting out of place hairs back into place. She checked her clothing to make sure her make-up still looked fresh. Once she was presentable enough to face the world, she plastered on a smile and stepped from the office, ready to see the patients.
She checked off the next appointment. The patient was new, a young girl only 15 years old. At 5' 9” she weighed 125 pounds, which meant the girl had been underweight prior to the pregnancy.
It wasn't a big surprise anymore for Shelby to see someone so young, pregnant. The youngest girl she had seen had been 12, which wasn't so common. It was common for most of the teens to come in the office late in their pregnancies, usually after the girls couldn't conceal their swelling stomachs from their parents anymore.
She shook her head wondering again why this 15-year-old was pregnant instead of her. Inwardly Shelby scolded herself. It was negative thoughts like that which caused her to have the anxiety attack. She took a deep breath, remembering the smile on her husband’s face in the photograph, counted to ten in her head, and pushed the negative thoughts out of her mind.
She opened the door to the waiting area. Just as it had been earlier that morning, the lobby was packed with patients. All types of women sat waiting to be seen by the doctors. A woman of Asian decent sat with her hands folded staring out of the window at the parking lot. Another woman who looked of African American decent read a novel while twirling one of her dreadlocks between her fingers. A Caucasian woman who looked to be about sixty-five years old, sat reading the Silvermont Times.
Shelby knew some of the women were there for Obstetric appointments. Others for Gynecological needs and still others were there for their infertility appointments. Except for the women with obvious swollen bellies, you really couldn’t tell who was there for what just by looking at the women’s faces.
In the corner of the room she saw a young Caucasian girl with her head down. Shelby figured it was probably her patient from the height and weight recorded on the chart.
Shelby called the name, “Allison Smith.”
When the girl stood, Shelby took a double take. Allison’s face was caked with makeup, which made her look to be at least 25 years old. The face paint consisted of heavy eye shadow, burgundy rouge, matching eyeliner, thick mascara, and burgundy lipstick. Her nails looked like claws; at least an inch long in an array of neon colors. She wore navy overalls with a blue tank top. The top was too small and showed the sides of her engorged stomach.
The perfume the girl wore didn't mask the cigarette smoke, which reeked from her hair and clothing. The stench was so strong, it made Shelby want to sneeze. If Shelby had driven by her on the street, she’d have thought Allison was a prostitute.
Shelby smiled as warmly as possible, hoping the smile made it to her eyes. As the young girl followed her back to the exam area, she smacked on a piece of gum. Her eyes widened as she looked around the un-familiar setting.
“Right this way,” Shelby said as the teen trailed slowly behind into the examination room. “Allison, Dr. Evans will exam you in here. You'll need to put on this smock and cover your legs with this sheet.” Shelby pointed to the items already laid out on the exam table. “Do you have any questions before I leave?”
Allison continued to smack on the gum. “Yeah, can the doctor tell me when the baby is gonna come?” The voice was indeed that of a 15-year-old- hesitant, whiny, and insecure.
“Yes, Dr. Evans will be able to give you a due date based on your LMP and the ultrasound.”
The girl stopped smacking, her face contorted into a frown. “LPM? Ultra what? What's that?”
Shelby had momentarily forgotten she was speaking with a 15-year-old. The girl’s choice of words and facial expressions brought her back to reality.
Shelby spoke precisely, pacing each word. “The L-M-P is the first day of your last period. The ultrasound is going to take a picture of your uterus to see how big the fetus, your baby, is at this time. With these pieces of information the doctor will give you a due date; when the baby will be born.”
The girl's face lit up. “You mean the doctor can take a picture of my baby right now, and I can see what it will look like?”
Shelby had to bite the insides of her mouth to keep from looking amused. “No, it's not that kind of picture. It won't even look like a baby to you when the doctor shows you the ultrasound, but Dr. Evans can explain more to you when she comes in.”
The girl’s frown turned to fear. “Will it hurt?”
“No, the ultrasound won't hurt. We will have to do some blood work before you leave, so it will hurt a little for a few seconds.”
The girl started rubbing her hands together nervously, her eyes darting around the room as if she wanted to escape. She shrank back from Shelby. “I don't wanna have that done. Y’all can do that ultra thing, but I don't want y’all putting any needles in me. My mama says I have a low tolerance for pain. Y’all ain’t gonna put no needles in me.”
“I understand your concerns. I assure you the doctor will only do what is necessary to make sure you and the baby are doing well. Dr. Evans will explain more to you when she comes in.” Shelby walked towards the door. “I am going to go ahead and step out so you can get undressed. Do you have anymore questions before I leave?”
The only reply Shelby got was the humming of the overhead florescent light. With reluctance, the girl started undressing. Shelby took this as her cue to leave and headed out the door.
Young girls like Allison gave Shelby so many mixed feelings. On one hand, she felt sorry for the girl being so young and about to undertake grown-up responsibilities of becoming a parent. On the other hand, she often felt angry. She couldn't understand why God allowed girls so young to become pregnant when obviously they didn't need to be. This particular girl burned her up, because she was more concerned with the pain of a needle than the health of her baby.
Shelby sighed thinking how the girl would react when she found out how much pain she’d be in for labor. Shelby shook her head.
“Why are you shaking your head?” Rachel said startling her.
“Oh nothing.” Shelby said and shrugged it off.
“I've got something for you. This will really make you shake your head,” Rachel said with a sheepish grin sprawled across her face.
With hesitance Shelby asked, “What?” and braced herself. She knew Rachel pretty well . After four years of working closely together, they didn’t have much of a choice. Even though Rachel’s Northern Irish upbringing was totally different from Shelby’s southern, African-American one, it had only taken them a couple of months to become friends.
“Your favorite patient is here?” Rachel said.
“My favorite patient?,” Shelby’s eyebrows furrowed as she thought. “I have plenty of patients I like.”
“Not that kind of favorite.” Rachel’s grin grew wider.
Shelby's thoughts shifted from positive to dread. If Rachel hadn't meant her favorite for real, then she was being sarcastic. There were a couple of patients who quickly came to mind, patients who had rubbed her the wrong way more than once. Their number was minimal, especially since a couple of the patients had transferred to other doctor's offices. She'd known the women’s reasons for leaving weren’t totally her fault. They were just women who were not going to be satisfied even if Jesus himself had been the actual doctor.
Shelby glanced over Rachel's shoulder at the mountain of charts waiting in the basket. “Help me out here,” she pleaded.
“I'll give you three guesses.”
Shelby proceeded to guess in order to minimize the delay. With her own sarcasm she said, “One, it's a woman, two she is pregnant, and three she doesn't want me for her nurse.”
“Two out of three ain't bad.” Rachel walked away from Shelby towards her own office.
Shelby's mouth dropped open. “So you're just going to leave me hanging?”
“No, just check the ‘In’ basket. She's the next chart. And knowing how much you care for all of our patients, I told everyone else to leave her for you.”
Proceeding to the basket she pulled out the worn thick chart. Her eyes widened, and her head immediately started to hurt. She rubbed her temples wondering if the day could get any worse.
She flipped the chart open hoping that it was a different Melva Lewis. But there was no such luck. Ms. Lewis was her most dreaded patient who only came in for two things: her yearly annual exam and whenever she was pregnant. Shelby she knew she wasn’t due for an annual exam because she had just had it a couple of months prior.
Maybe, just maybe, she was in for something else, Shelby hoped. With a deep breath she walked to the waiting area to call Melva back.
“Ms. Lewis,” Shelby said with a forced smile. “You can come back now.”
The woman’s face lit up as soon as she saw Shelby. “Oh, Shelby. What’s up girl? I was hoping I would see you.” She walked right past Shelby as she spoke. Melva had started calling Shelby ‘girl’ during her third pregnancy. She acted as if she and Shelby were long time friends from then on.
“Well, you got lucky,” Shelby said, thinking it was really she who had the luck; bad luck.
“Ms. Lewis, what can we do for you today?” Shelby asked.
“Shelby,” she said, slowly looking down at her feet, “it’s happened again. I’m late. I think I’m pregnant.”
Shelby clearly recalled the last time Melva Lewis had been in the office for her postpartum appointment. Shelby had tried to stress the importance of birth control, especially so soon after having a baby. Melva told Shelby she didn’t like taking “none of that stuff”. Then Shelby mentioned abstinence, and Melva looked at Shelby as if she had lost her mind.
Melva’s acting surprised about being pregnant wasn’t anything new. In four years, Shelby had already seen Melva for three pregnancies, although this would actually be her sixth child.
“Shelby, I got a good man whose gonna stick by me. I already told him about the possible pregnancy, and he didn’t even tell me to get rid of it like that last no good jerk!”
“So you have a new friend?” Shelby asked with slight curiosity. Melva’s life was like an on-going soap opera when it came to her baby’s daddies.
“I sure do, and Freddy is the best man a woman could have. He so kind to all my kids. He even buys them books and toys. And you know he ain’t all that bad looking either. Looks real nice when he puts on a dress shirt,” Melva rambled on. “Yeah, he a good man. I know he’ll take care of his baby. He says he takes care of all his other kids.”
“Well, good for you,” Shelby said, wondering what could have happened in the woman’s life to cause her to have such low standards.
The woman was only two years older than Shelby. The first time Shelby saw her she thought Melva was one of the prettiest women she had ever seen. Today Melva’s jet-black hair was fixed in a bun with glossy finger waves. Except for a brown lip-gloss, she wore no other make up. She didn’t need any. Her skin was flawless. Melva always lost all of her pregnancy weight within a month after each delivery - so nobody would ever guess she had five children already.
“I just want to make sure before I tell Freddy, I don't want to get his hopes up if I'm not,” Melva continued to ramble on.
Shelby didn’t think this “Freddy” would be the ‘One,’ Melva’s knight in shining armor, just as none of the others had been. Shelby was sure Melva wouldn’t realize this until too late.
The pregnancy test confirmed Melva was pregnant. Shelby took her vital signs and drew blood for further tests. Afterwards, she showed Melva to the exam room.
“Shelby you don’t have to tell me what to do. I know what to do from here,” Melva said, hopping up on the exam table. “Girl, when you gonna get started on having some children?”
It was the question Shelby was hoping Melva would skip this trip. Every time Melva came in, she asked the very same question and each time Shelby gave her the same answer.
“Oh when the time is right, we’ll add to our family. I’ll be sure to let you know.” Shelby looked at her watch. “Melva, I'd really love to talk to you a little longer, but you saw that waiting area. We're swamped.”
Without waiting for the woman to come up with another question or comment, Shelby grabbed the doorknob and quickly left the exam room.
The rest of the afternoon was just as hectic as the morning. Patient after patient, Shelby became more depressed about all the prenatal women she had to see.
God smiled on her at the very end of the day. Her last patient turned out to be a breath of fresh air. It was April Henderson, a member of Shelby’s Secret Sisterhood.
She had known patient for over a year and a half; ever since Mrs. Henderson had started coming to see Dr. Evans for infertility treatments. Shelby remembered April Henderson’s first visit; she had been an excited newlywed. From day one, she and her husband had wanted a child so badly, but after a year of trying on their own, they sought professional help. Dr. Evans started seeing April as an infertility patient at that time. Since then, both April and her husband had undergone a battery of tests to find out what the problem might be.
Dr. Evans had found the problem to be a simple one in terms of infertility and costs. Mrs. Henderson’s monthly cycles lasted on the average of about 38 days, which caused her to ovulate on day 19 of her cycle instead of the normal 28 day cycle with ovulation beginning on day 14. During their year of trying, April and her husband had done some of their own research on getting pregnant and tried month after month to conceive on day 14 of her cycle only to find out that they had been focusing on the wrong day.
Shelby saw a dazed look on April’s face as soon as she saw her in the lobby. After calling her in from the waiting area, Shelby said with concern, “Mrs. Henderson, I didn’t know you had an appointment today. What’s going on?”
“Shelby,” she said in a whisper, “I think I am pregnant. I am so nervous. I am late, and I can’t believe it might be true.” She quivered as she spoke.
Shelby began to smile, now understanding the look on April’s face. “Mrs. Henderson, sit down for a second. You are shaking like a leaf.”
“I really have to go to the bathroom. I didn’t want to use it until I got here for the test.”
“Okay, what are we waiting for? Let’s find out.” Shelby led her towards the bathroom, giving her a cup to collect a urine sample. A few minutes later, Shelby saw the positive result and could hardly contain her excitement. She gave April the good news and a hug. She then happily set the date for the first prenatal appointment.
After April left, Shelby walked back to her office and closed the door. She had renewed hope that there was still a chance for her. She made up her mind that she would attempt to bring up the subject of getting pregnant to her husband again. It was eating her up inside, and she had to confront him about it. Somehow she’d have to make him talk.