living within her

When Dina had first found out that she was pregnant, she had felt extremely uncomfortable. I mean, she had a human person living within her body (sure, it was only a bunch of cells at this point, but it would become a human person). And not only that, this human person was the child of Glenn Sturgis. That thought alone made her feel uneasy.

She thought about this as she sat in the break room, silently sipping a cup of water in an attempt to push down her rising nausea.

‘Dina! I asked you if you think that we should put Carol and Sandra in grocery for their shifts today?’ Amy snapped her fingers in the hopes of also snapping Dina out of her trance.

‘Yeah, that’s cool. Just do whatever, I don’t really mind.’ Dina responded, remaining emotionless.

‘Erm, okay then.’ Amy began to leave the break room to get on with the rest of her shift assignments for today, when she looked back and saw Dina just staring into space.

She didn’t know what was wrong with her friend, and why she seemed to be so down today, so she decided that, although there was still lots of employees that still needed her for shift assignments, Dina probably needed her the most right now.

‘Actually, Carol, Sandra, cover mine and Dina’s shifts for today. We’re going out.’ Amy grabbed Dina’s hand and pulled her up to her feet.

‘We are? Where are we going? I have work to do!’ Dina, however uneasy and nauseated, protested in confusion at Amy’s sudden decision.

‘Not anymore, you don’t.’ Amy responded as she led Dina out of the store and into her car.

~

‘I don’t get how going to your house is going to help me focus on my work, which is at the store, that you just drove away from.’ Dina complained as she was led through Amy’s front door and sat down at Amy’s kitchen table.

‘It’s not going to help you with that. I just wanted us to go somewhere more private than my car,’ Amy declared as she sat across from Dina at the table.’ Now. Dina. What’s wrong?’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. Nothing is wrong with me.’ But just as Dina said that she had an overwhelming surge of nausea rise up into her throat and she barely made it to Amy’s bathroom in time.

‘Uh huh. I can tell.’ Amy looked down at Dina as she passed the woman a glass of water from the side of her sink. ‘Morning sickness hitting you hard huh?’

‘I didn’t know that it would be as bad as it is’ Dina replied as she unconsciously lied one hand across her slightly swollen stomach.

Amy thought for a moment. Her friend looked exhausted, the nausea seemed to be wearing her down more than Dina had expected. ‘Wait here.’ Amy got up off of her cold bathroom floor and made her way into the kitchen.

‘Wha?’ Dina exhaled, confused at Amy’s sudden departure, however she wasn’t given long to ponder about it when she was hit with another wave of sickness.

~

25 minutes later, after three rounds of Dina repeatedly vomiting, Amy returned with a plate of avocado on toast.

‘Here you are.’ Amy passed the plate to Dina and sat down beside where she was laying next to the toilet bowl.

‘What is this?’ Dina sat up and took the plate from her friend, the smell of the meal quickly making bile rise in her throat.

‘Avocado toast. One of the best morning sickness remedies. I only ate avocado toast throughout my whole pregnancy with Emma. Have some, trust me, you will thank me for it later.’

Dina grimaced at the mere thought of eating anything, especially something that would sit so heavily in her stomach. But with one glance at Amy, she took a bite. At first, she thought that she might vomit right there and then, but after she had finished the plateful, she realised that, although she still felt tired, her nausea had almost completely subsided.

‘What kind of magic did you put in that thing?’ Dina exclaimed as she passed the plate back over to Amy and leaned back against the bathroom wall, her hands resting on her stomach.

‘Nothing at all. I don’t know how, but it just seems to really help to absorb the nausea.’ Amy responded as she leaned up against the wall next to Dina.

‘Absorb the nausea? Is that like a medical term or something?’ Dina questioned jokingly.

‘Of course it is! Do your doctors not use that term during your visits?’ Amy laughed as Dina doubled over.

‘Not usually, no.’ She smiled happily. Dina may be absolutely petrified to have a baby, but at least she knew that she would always have Amy by her side.