She stands up, moving her body right next to mine. “Possibly. Do you have any suggestions?”
“I can think of one or two.”
“I’d prefer not thinking.”
“Let’s see if we can make that happen.” For a very long, enjoyable time.
A Day In The City
Greer
“We’ll have the results of your genetic testing in about a week. Are there any other questions you might have for me?” The doctor steps back, pulling her gloves off.
“The baby looks okay?”
“Yes. Do you have a specific concern?”
“What if someone went on a diet while pregnant? Could it hurt the baby in a way that you couldn’t see?”
“Are you considering going on a diet? I wouldn’t recommend that. Depending on how severely you limit calories—”
“I’m not, but what if I unknowingly wasn’t eating enough?”
Her gaze narrows at me. “The first thing that would happen is your body would steal nutrients from itself. After a long period of time, it could affect your bones and your teeth. You’d experience fatigue.”
“But what about the baby? Would it hurt my baby?”
“That’s unlikely. Do you think you were under-eating? I noticed you gained two pounds since your last visit. Is that what is concerning you?”
“Yes, but I’m making a concerted effort to eat more.” And not to lose weight regardless of what my mother wants.
“Weight fluctuations in early pregnancy aren’t an issue. There are many women who lose weight due to morning sickness—”
“I haven’t had much of that lately. I’m just concerned that I didn’t get enough calories early on and somehow harmed my child.” My mother harmed the child…what would I do if I found out her issues with appearance damaged my baby?
“Your baby is progressing normally, but due to your concerns, we can do another scan in two weeks just to make sure he continues growing as expected.”
He’s growing normally.
He’s just fine. I need to keep repeating that to myself until I believe it.
And give my mother a piece of my mind
***
“Greer, what could you possibly need to talk about? I had a charity luncheon today.”
Are there any days you don’t have one planned?
The coward in me booked us a table at a very public restaurant. There are at least a dozen eyes on us at any moment, not to mention the two editors of some gossip magazines having lunch a few tables away from us.
Mother is going to be very careful about what she says and how loud her voice gets.
“I just wanted to inform you that the doctors don’t believe there has been any damage done to my son because of that diet you put me on without my knowledge, but they are going to keep checking to make sure.”
“Are you still worried about that silliness? A little weight loss doesn’t affect the baby. It’s not like you want to give birth to this giant baby.” She still doesn’t see that she did anything wrong.
“Darrel came to visit me.”
