Work Text:
Caleb watched helplessly as his beautiful wife hunched over the toilet for the fifth time that morning. After only having been awake for a few short hours, this development unnerved him. He knew morning sickness was common, but to what extent?
“What do you need? Water? Soup?” He asked, kneeling beside her to rub soothing patterns on her lower back.
She only shook her head and slumped to the side as she closed the lid and flushed the toilet.
“Let’s get you to bed then. You’re definitely not going to work today.”
She let out an exhausted, shaky sigh before nodding and bracing herself to stand. It physically hurt him to see her so pale and uneasy, cradling her barely swollen belly like she was trying to convince herself it was worth it.
After rinsing her mouth out, she let him carry her back to their bed and she immediately moved to lay on her left side, hoping to alleviate the nausea no doubt, and quickly fell asleep, succumbing to the lack of sleep and exhaustion.
Caleb immediately went to his laptop, researching for any and all morning sickness tips. He ended up buying ginger candy, preggie pop drops, even a morning sickness band that provided tiny jolts of electricity that he wasn’t sure would work.
As the days dragged on, he watched helplessly as she continued to get worse. Nothing helped it seemed, except for the rare, sparse hours that she slept. He was miserable, tormented by the fact that he put her in this state, that he couldn’t do anything about it. It was only when he managed to get her on a scale, showing she had lost twenty pounds in two weeks that he hit his breaking point.
“Come on. We’re going to your doctor.” He didn’t care if they didn’t have an appointment.
He drove through Skyhaven slowly, making sure to avoid holes in the road and avoid breaking too hard.
“Caleb,” she whimpered. His head snapped in her direction, eyes wide with worry at her tone. “I need you to break the elastic in my waistband right now.”
“Okay,” he answered immediately. He pulled to the side of the road and leaned over the console, gently rubbing his fingers over the skin of her belly before pulling the offending fabric away from it. The elastic inside broke easily in his hands, and he watched her head fall back in relief.
“Thank you. It was pressing too hard,” she explained. That made him wince. He knew her sweatpants were already loose because of her weightloss, so how sensitive was her stomach?
They got an appointment easily, Caleb watching her sit miserably in the waiting room, like being upright was torture.
Eventually, her OBGYN stated that in most cases, morning sickness is common, but this was severe. Something called hyperemesis gravidarum. Blood tests and sleeping medication were ordered, and Caleb had to fight the urge to cry out of sheer frustration. Nothing could help at this point except to sleep through the worst of it.
As she sat lightly on the observation room bed, the nurse began to draw blood and MC swayed dangerously.
“Caleb…” she gasped and then she collapsed in his arms.
“Pipsqueak!? Wake up! Please wake up! What happened!?” He snapped the last question at the nurse, who seemed almost as frantic.
“Lay her down and elevate her feet!” The doctor ordered as they came back in.
“Why did you take so much blood if she had already lost so much weight? She hasn’t had anything to eat in days! She can barely keep water down!”
“I’m so sorry, sir. Unfortunately, this does happen sometimes. I’m going to recommend a PICC line since she can’t take anything orally.”
Caleb listened as the doctor explained what his duties would be, how his wife might react, and how it would most likely be just for a couple months.
Soon, MC came back to consciousness, her first move to rub her belly.
“Caleb? What happened?” She asked, finally meeting his eyes.
“Hey, Pip. You passed out a little.” He explained calmly, brushing hair off her forehead.
“Sorry, that probably wasn’t fun for you,” she mumbled, leaning her face into his palm.
“Now’s not the time for jokes, honey,” he said. “We need to go downstairs to the emergency room. They’re giving you a PICC line to help with medication and fluids and stuff.”
“Can’t wait,” she half-heartedly joked.
The procedure itself was painful to watch. MC was still barely conscious as they sanitized the area. He held her other hand at the nurses instruction and watched with wide eyes as a cleaning solution was injected and then the actual tube. Her eyes snapped open and she gasped in pain, gripping his hand tightly as tears welled up along her eyelashes.
“Almost done,” the nurse announced. MC gripped harder and Caleb kissed her fingers, murmuring how well she was doing in her ear.
“Finished!” The married couple both looked down at her arm where three separate lumens were dangling.
“What are these for?” She asked the nurse.
“Well, you’ll be getting your anti nausea and sleep medication through this, as well as daily saline to help keep you hydrated. And whatever medications you may need in the future. Your husband will help administer these and a nurse will come every now and then to change the dressing and make sure everything is working well, take your blood pressure, et cetera…” the nurse trailed off as they left the room, dimming the lights.
MC nodded and closed her eyes, but Caleb didn’t miss how she hesitated to move her arm now, even as the sticky dressing held the tube in her arm in place.
She fell asleep again and Caleb stroked her hair, kissed her forehead, rubbed her arm, whatever he could do without disturbing her.
A few hours passed and a different doctor came in to visit them. Caleb caressed her cheek, coaxing her awake even though it pained him, knowing it would bring a wave of nausea to her.
“Hello! I’m going to be doing a short ultrasound, just to make sure baby is doing okay,” the doctor informed them happily, though she sent MC a sympathetic smile.
MC nodded and lifted her shirt up, a slight wince on her face as the wand pressed into her sensitive belly.
“Looks like your little gummy bear is growing perfectly! Measuring great and right on schedule! I’m sorry Mrs. Xia, it seems you got HG very early in your pregnancy. Not many people have your luck.”
“Or lack thereof,” MC stated with a short laugh.
Caleb couldn’t decide where to look, his wonderful wife who was cracking jokes while absolutely miserable, or the screen, where the tiny life was growing inside her. This wasn’t the first time he’d seen an ultrasound, but it was the first live one.
“Look honey,” he said, voice cracking. “Our baby…”
They both grinned at the black and white image, seeing the barely there dot at different angles as the doctor moved the wand around.
“I’ll get through this, Caleb,” she said, her raspy voice breaking his trance. “And it’ll be so worth it.”
~6 months later~
MC slept in the bed, still hooked up to various machines and looking exhausted after a near twenty hour labor, but Caleb was over the moon.
“Hey, baby girl…” he trailed off, gently rocking the infant in his arms. She was still so red and wrapped in a blanket he had chosen himself.
“You’re finally here, huh? Took you long enough,” he joked. “You really had to torture your mom didn’t you? You’re going to be a handful when you’re older.”
He leaned down and kissed her tiny forehead, grinning when she wiggled in her swaddle before settling.
“You’re the best Mother’s Day present ever.”