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 Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 2:41 pm
Angela sat at the desk, looking over what the information she had in front of her. She still thought it would have been best for Abriatya to have been here for this, but the other instructor was so busy, and so it fell to Angela to do her best by the girl, Damaris.
She gave a shake of her head over the mistaken DNA. What a way to drastically alter someone's life, for better or for worse. She hoped it was for the better.
In any case, she looked around the room, making sure everything was in its place. The ultrasound was set up and ready to go, as were gloves, the gel, and so on and so forth... everything looked ready.
This wasn't something she did often; actually, since coming here and getting her training, she hadn't had to do this at all. It was exciting and made her a little nervous, but nothing that threatened to make her look unprofessional. She didn't want to make the girl or her parent worry, after all.
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Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 4:32 pm
Damaris was nervous about the check-up. This time her dad was with her which made things a little better. He was still upset for not being around when she found the news out, but Damaris had told him it was probably just a virus or something so he went into work as usual.
AJ parked the car and proceeded to help the now obviously pregnant girl out of the car. He tried to be with her as much as he could since they found out she was pregnant. But for the duration of an entire pregnancy it was impossible to be with her every waking moment. The man noticed the strange looks Damaris got, as well as the whispers he heard behind her back. It made him swell with rage he couldn't imagine what it must be doing to his girl mentally. Not even a teenager and she was pregnant, AJ was still dead set on finding out which tech had made that mistake so he could ring his neck.
Damaris was led into the building, she was sort of wishing Red had come with her but AJ said it would be better if he stayed at home. She knew her dragon cared about her and her condition even though verbally he wouldn't say so. The dragon had a lot of pride and he was still just a wyrmling, Damaris understood though and still wanted him around.
AJ led the girl into the building and to the room they had been told to go to over the phone. He knocked on the door before opening it, "Hello? Damaris is here for her check-up." He said vague nervousness in his voice. He was trying to be strong for his daughters sake but it was still hard on the man.
Damaris' gaze was low. She wasn't sure what this teacher would think about her condition. She had given up trying to wear loose baggy clothes by now. She was undeniably pregnant like it or not. She had been called some nasty things by other people, after all how common was it for a girl to get pregnant so young without being loose?
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Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 5:07 pm
Angela stood up as she heard the knock, nodding to the man who entered first, and then to Damaris.
"Ah, yes, I've been expecting you. Hello, Damaris, dear. And hello to you as well, sir. My name is Mrs. Medina-Rivera... you may call me Angela, if you prefer," she said, and took hold of both their hands, one in each of hers.
She could tell from the nervousness in the father's voice, and the downcast look from Damaris that things hadn't been pleasant for them in the last few months. How to aleiviate that? Angela wasn't sure, but decided that the best course would be kindness for now.
"How are you doing? This must have been a trying time for you. If you have anything you'd like to talk about... I'm not one of your friends, I know, but I've been told I'm a good listener," she offered, looking between them and giving their hands a gentle squeeze.
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Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 5:24 pm
"You can call me AJ." The man said shaking Angela's hand. He liked being on first name basis's anyhow, he rarely gave up his first name.
Damaris nodded a bit, she was pretty uneasy but that was to be expected. She didn't seem to like to talk much, or at least not right now. She was still nervous and frightened.
"I'm doing...good, thank you" He said with a pause first thinking just how hectic things have been, "Damaris when some one greets you, you greet them back." He said looking to his daughter. Even under these conditions he didn't want her manners to slip.
"...Hello, nice to meet you." She said still not looking up. Different days produced different moods with her, unfortunately today was a rather dreary one.
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Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 5:55 pm
"It's nice to meet both of you, as well. Hm... keep my offer in mind, for the future. Did you have any questions about what will happen today?" Angela asked, not sure what else she could offer by way of comfort right now. Sometimes these things just took time to work themselves out.
She gestured to a trio of chairs she'd set up near, but not right next to, the gently humming machine. It wasn't showing anything at the moment, but it would be later.
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Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 6:35 pm
Damaris shook her head, "No...not really." She had been to a few other check ups before so she knew about the ultrasound and all of that. D-corp was being pretty thorough since she was their first project that had gotten pregnant. She walked with AJ over to the chairs taking a seat.
"Sorry Angela, she is just not having a good day." AJ said to the teacher earning him a glare from Damaris. He realized from time to time what an overbearing father he could be lately, but he figured he had every right to in this situation.
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Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 7:31 pm
"That's alright, I understand completely. It's not a problem at all," she replied.
"There's a bit more to this check up than the last couple. Nothing too major, just a couple of blood tests. One will check to see if your blood sugars are still normal, and one will check for antibodies that could cause problems," she explained.
"The ultrasound should be something interesting as well... perhaps. The baby will be much more developed than he or she was last time," Angela said, and paused to get a reaction before going any further. She wasn't sure if talking about this would upset either of them.
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Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 8:00 pm
AJ nodded as the woman spoke. He seemed to be more interested in this whole thing than Damaris. Or maybe she just wasn't paying too close of attention. Whatever it was AJ tried to be as polite as he could for the both of them. This whole thing was a big experience for him as well. Mentally, he had matured a lot.
Damaris nodded a bit still seemingly fairly uninterested. Blood tests, ultrasounds, doctors all of this was getting old for her. Therapy, more doctors, different suits it was all the same. She was just waiting for the whole thing to be over. She had been counseled time and time again until she was convinced that giving up the baby was the best thing for it. It was true, she was still young, she wouldn't be able to give it the proper care it needed. So she tried to ignore the fact that she was pregnant lately. Something that only made things worse.
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Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 9:24 pm
To Angela, it seemed sad how depressed Damaris was, but she really couldn't blame her. To have something so unexpected happen, suffering the social stigma that went along with it, and then be told she had to give up the baby...
Angela would have fought hard to keep the child, but she was biased, since she and her husband hadn't yet been able to have a child.
She shook her head gently, banishing that thought, but still wishing there was something she could do to cheer Damaris up. But, she had a task to focus on now: making sure both mother and child were healthy.
"Well, that's all there is to it, this time. Are you ready to begin? We'll get the blood samples first, and then we'll do the ultrasound," she said, and gestured over to the table, which had the vials and other tools ready on it.
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Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 10:05 pm
"Yeah," Damaris said with a nod as she got ready for the blood work. She was getting used to needles at least, so that was something to take away from this. She looked at the instruments, most kids her age would be nervous about all the weird exams and tests. She however had gotten used to it, she looked at them indifferently.
AJ stayed in his seat watching Damaris. He too wished that he could make her feel better. She would have random bouts of joy that lasted for a couple of days, something he could not explain but was grateful for none the less. Little did he know that the source of that happiness was a boy, he would have gone into defensive father mode had he found that out.
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Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 11:02 pm
After prepping Damaris' arm and inserting the needle, Angela made short work of filling the various labeled vials. All the vaccinations she'd been taking care of lately had made her a deft hand with a needle.
Soon enough, she had removed the needle again, and said, "Raise your arm and apply pressure to that, sweetie. I'll be right back."
She walked the vials through a door to another part of the lab, and was back within a minute. She'd given the blood to someone else to start the bloodwork, then returned to the little private room.
"That won't be done today. Despite the facilities, bloodwork still takes a day or two. Someone will inform you with the results," she said, with a nod.
"Let's check your arm, Damaris. Ah, good. We'll just put a bandage on that..." she said, and suited actions to words, applying first a regular band-aid and then a brightly colored pressure bandage.
"Take that off after one hour, the band-aid can come off after two," she said, pointing down at the girl's arm.
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Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 11:12 pm
"Alright." Damaris said with a nod, she had heard that many times before, she also wasn't too worried about the blood results, she wasn't expecting anything to be out of the ordinary.
On the other hand AJ would be on pins and needles, this whole thing had him worried sick about her and her health, "Will, the ultrasound be able to tell us the gender of the baby? Since its so far along now?" AJ asked interested.
Damaris rolled her eyes, she just wanted to get this over with, and her dad was asking things that would only take them longer.
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Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 11:23 pm
Angela nodded, smiling at them both.
"It can, if you want to find out. Some people like to know, others want it to be a surprise, or don't want to know for... other reasons," she finished, a bit lamely, glancing at Damaris.
"Could you change into this gown for me, Damaris? You've done this before... we don't want to get the gel on your shirt," she said, changing the subject a bit, and holding out the folded blue paper gown.
The gel was harmless, and would wash out, but it would leave a bit of mess. It was best to get it on something that wouldn't matter.
"There's a bathroom through that door," Angela said, and pointed at the door next to the one she'd used to go to the next room.
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Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 11:31 pm
Damaris took the gown and walked into the bathroom changing quickly. It was all routine crap for her now. She came back in with the gown on, sitting on the table not even needing to be told, she had done this enough to know what happened.
AJ nodded at Angela, "Alright, I'll let Damaris decide if she wants to know." He said looking over at the girl.
Obviously AJ wasn't told exactly how her animal half worked, she however did enough research, "Bet you I can guess without even looking at the screen, bet you it's a girl." She said rolling her eyes again.
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Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 10:43 pm
Having read the file, and done some research beforehand, Angela thought that Damaris was probably right. However, maybe her human side would mitigate the animal side?
"Probably, dear, but you do have a human side, not just the animal side. Are you sure you wouldn't like to check?" she asked. Angela herself would find out during the ultrasound, that was a given as she checked on the baby's development.
As she spoke, she readied the gel that was to be smoothed on Damaris' tummy, and made a gesture for the girl to bare the swell of her abdomen.
"You know what to do, don't you, Damaris?" she asked, though it was uneccessary. The girl's attitude said it all.
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