True to his word, Istvan had arranged the Royal Physician to attend the palace the following afternoon. He’d cleared his schedule to be there for the appointment with his wife. He sat in the lounge thumbing through the newspaper while she was off getting ready, Istvan couldn’t understand why his wife was so worked up about this appointment, but he was trying his best to be sympathetic. He figured that the pregnancy hormones must be really beating her up; she seemed so irrational and ‘un-Viktoria-like’ right now that he was genuinely worried about her. He didn’t think he’d ever seen he cry so much, especially when she thought no one was watching. Was this all a normal part of pregnancy he wondered, of course he had no real frame of reference, and couldn’t call Leo without giving away their secret… Maybe he could ask the doctor when he was here…
—
Viktoria sat on the edge of the bath trying to practice some deep breathing, her pulse was racing and she felt sick, the doctor would be here in ten minutes. She looked at her reflection in the mirror: pale and tired, muttering to herself ruefully, ‘Is pregnancy not supposed to make you glow? I can’t even get that right…’ She stood up, turning to the side, looking at her stomach, she definitely did not look pregnant, more like she’d ate too much over Christmas. She pushed her stomach out, trying to give the impression of a big bump, tracing her fingers gingerly over the waistband of her jeans, standing like that for a few moments before shaking her head and sighing as she pulled her top over her head, ‘Just wait for the scan, once you’ve had the scan, everything will get better. It can only be a few weeks away.’ Viktoria finished braiding her hair, brushed her teeth and dusted some bronzer on before heading out to join her husband as they waited from Mr Kolettis to arrive.
Istvan smiled widely at her as she perched on the arm of the chair waiting for the kettle to boil,
“My love are you ok? Do you need anything before the doctor gets here?”
As Viktoria looked across at his kind face she chewed her lip and felt her eyes well up involuntarily,
“Uh, could I just have a hug please Ist?”
The King’s brow furrowed as he regarded her, she looked so vulnerable it physically pained him,
“You don’t even need to ask, come here.”
He stretched over, gently pulling his dainty wife onto his lap, enveloping her in a warm embrace, nuzzling her exposed neck,
“I love you Vik. You do know that, don’t you? I not going anywhere.”
His hand ran up and down her back in smooth, gentle, soothing strokes as he felt her nod against him. He murmured,
“You know you can talk to me, if something’s worrying you, my love? You can tell me anything.”
Istvan played with the end of Viktoria’s braid, twirling it between his thick fingers as his wife said in a small voice,
“Do… Do you think that the baby knows things?”
Istvan pulled back to look into his Queen’s pale eyes, cupping her cheek as he spoke,
“Knows things? Well they say that they recognise voices and music after they’re born that they’ve been around whilst in the womb…”
Viktoria shook her head,
“That’s not what I meant. Like, if I was scared, do you think the baby would know, do you think it can feel it?”
Istvan leaned his forehead against Viktoria’s as he spoke,
“I think the baby must sense your emotions my love, you’re carrying it after all…”
A shaky breath left Viktoria as she nodded her head. Istvan opened his mouth to ask her why was she asking that, when the door knocked, disturbing their moment.
—
Mr Kolettis was a tall thin man, maybe the upper end of fifty-something. He had wispy grey hair that made him look a bit like a mad scientist Viktoria thought as Istvan welcomed him into their home, shaking his hand vigorously. Mr Kolettis had treated the Royal family since Istvan was a boy and he spoke very highly of him. As Viktoria stood to greet the Doctor, he smiled warmly at her and bowed,
“Please sit down Your Highness, there’s no need to get up.”
Viktoria nodded nervously. He had smiling eyes and a warm demeanour. He sat down on the sofa opposite Viktoria,
“There’s nothing to be nervous about, King Istvan told me that you were a little apprehensive about coming to the Infirmary. That’s ok, you don’t have to decide about anything right now, I’m more than happy to visit you here today, and you’ve got plenty of time to make arrangements for the delivery and so forth. So for today, Your Highness, please relax. I’m just going to take some details from you if that’s ok? I’ll do a quick pregnancy test to confirm the positive from your home test was accurate, then I’ll take a couple of blood samples, we’ll make sure you’re in tip-top condition, and then if you or King Istvan have any questions, I’ll be happy to answer them. How does that sound?”
Viktoria squirmed in her seat a little,
“You don’t want to ‘examine’ me?”
Mr Kolettis grinned at her,
“No my dear, you’re off the hook for that one today. The urine test is quite sensitive enough.”
Viktoria breathed a visible sigh of relief at not having to be poked and prodded by a strange man as Istvan sat down beside her, taking her small hand into his.
Mr Kolettis worked quickly, in the space of ten minutes he’d confirmed Viktoria’s last cycle, taken a blood test, weighed her, checked her blood pressure and sent her off to the bathroom. While she was gone, he smiled at Istvan,
“It’s wonderful news Your Majesty, I must say, the delight is written all over your face!”
Istvan nodded enthusiastically,
“I’m very, very happy Doctor. But I’m just a little worried about my wife: she seems very uptight, she’s crying a lot, she’s quiet… Is this hormones or…? Should that be expected?“
The older man reached across and touched Istvan’s shoulder,
“Every woman is different King Istvan. And even then, every pregnancy is unique. Your wife probably has some very legitimate worries as well as some pretty irrational ones. Being a first baby, everything’s new and that can feel a bit daunting for probably most women! Tiredness is really a huge thing to overcome in the early stages, and that combined with changing hormones can play havoc with emotions, tearfulness and mood-swings would be almost expected. Just be there to support her King Istvan, do something nice for her to try to help her relax: a hot bath, one of these new-fangled mother-to-be massages. I’m certain there’s be nothing to worry about, but in another few weeks when you are due to have the first scan, if you’re still concerned, we can chat more about it then, how does that sound?”
Istvan nodded, thanking Mr Kolettis as Viktoria reappeared with the dipstick test in her hand, Mr Kolettis snapped on a latex glove before taking and peering at the test,
“Well, congratulations are indeed in order! Your Highness, I would like you booked in for a prenatal appointment with my team including an ultrasound scan-”
Viktoria cut him off, somewhat abruptly, surprising herself as well as the two gentlemen,
“Yes! …eh, sorry Mr Kolettis, I meant, yes I want to have an Ultrasound when I can.”
A smile spread across Istvan’s face as he looked at his wife, that was the most enthusiastic she’d been about any of this so far, maybe he was worrying about nothing. Mr Kolettis nodded his head at the Queen,
“Of course, the scan can make it all seem so much more real, a lot of people opt to have it sooner but I recommend waiting til we think you’d be around the 12 week mark, there’s more to see on the monitor and there’s a pretty good chance that you’ll be able to hear the baby’s heartbeat at that stage too. And we can also give you your ‘Due Date’.”
Istvan felt his eyes fill up as his heart swelled, imaging the chance to be able to see his very own child, to have a little picture to look at, to hear it’s tiny heart beating… Viktoria was looking at Mr Kolettis very intently, nodding her head,
“Yes, much more real…”
Before he left, Mr Kolettis explained that the bloods would be checked for haemoglobin determination and rhesus factor, indications of diabetes and other medical conditions that could affect mother or child. He ran through a list of foods that were off limits and seemed impressed that Viktoria had already decimated her caffeine consumption. Istvan was keen to find out how the bloods would be treated, given that for security and privacy reasons, the couple didn’t want news of the pregnancy being leaked. Mr Kolettis assured him that the tests would be run and filed under an alias name in the meantime, then transferred to Viktoria’s medical records whenever the couple approved it.
After Mr Kolettis had been shown out, Istvan made his way back to sofa, slinging an arm around Viktoria’s shoulders as he sat,
“You did really well today, my love. I know you were nervous.”
Viktoria swallowed,
“I was. I thought it would be a lot worse than that.”
Istvan pulled her down into his muscular arms on the plush sofa as he kissed her cheek,
“Well, that’s the first step done Vik.”
Viktoria gave a thin smile, she’d gotten through the first step, relatively unscathed – expect for a small bruise where the Doc had drawn her blood – she just needed to focus on the scan now… Istvan sighed happily with his feet up on the sofa, playing with Vik’s braid in one hand, the other resting contentedly on the very tiny bump.
—
TBC – VP 💖