The fog of tiredness has finally lifted and I feel full of life. So full of life that I hardly flinch when Mildred announces at our weekly meeting that I will be making the presentation pitch along with her to win a new account with a large pharmaceutical. Somehow nothing fazes me and nothing seems insurmountable. Usually I would be a nervous wreck just thinking about presenting but I just can’t get excited about such trivial matters these days.
The part I am dreading the most is driving the two-hour trip with Mildred to the pharmaceutical. Although I have worked with Mildew for the best part of five years, I have never spent this amount of time alone with her before.
I needn’t have worried. Mildew drives like a maniac. She hardly has time to draw breath with her anxiety about winning this new account. I am ordered to pay particular attention to a Mr. Derek Bryson who is the ‘key stakeholder’. I am to keep the ‘pink and fluffy’ internal marketing team on side but to make sure that Bryson is convinced. I have never seen Mildred so wound up. She must have a hefty bonus tied up in this. I glance out the window and am momentarily distracted by a trendy mum pushing a really cute buggy. It looks just the job. I strain my neck to try and catch sight of the make. Mildred realizes that I am not paying attention and she nearly crashes the car with despair. ‘Oh for goodness sake Daisy! Will you at least try and feign interest in this account?’
We are ushered into the walnut boardroom with a very intimidating long table. The clients are already seated. They observe us setting up the LCD projector and laptop. I wish they would chat to each other or take a break. But no, they simply stare icily at us. Mildred is nervous. Her neck is red and blotchy. I cannot believe how cool I am. Its like I’m having an out of body experience and am taking perverse pleasure at seeing the driven, achievement oriented Mildred’s nerves taking over.
I cruise through the power point presentation with ease. Derek Bryson gives nothing away facially. He is mildly interested but you get the impression he has to sit through hundreds of these. Still he smiles briefly when I crack a lame joke about their competitor’s brand. Mildred is watching his reaction to everything. I have about another six slides to go when I start to feel a bit odd. Something is wrong. I bolt out the door hollering ‘Perhaps Mildred you’d go through the figures. Excuse me folks for a moment’. Mildred looks horrified and I can hear her choking as I run for the ladies.
I examine my underwear. I am bleeding. This is not good. My pregnancy manuals are at home but I know I need to get help. First I need to clean up a bit. Damn! There’s no toilet roll in the cubicle. Sighing, I shuffle out of one cubicle and into another, praying no one comes in to observe my kickers around my ankles. I just about manage to close the door when Mildred arrives in. ‘Daisy, what the hell has got into you? Are you ok?’ she barks with her nose to the door. ‘I’ll be out in a minute.’ I respond automatically. ‘Ok then I’ll get back to the others. I’ve called a coffee break, so you can finish up your talk when we resume’. I try to stay calm but I know that bleeding is not good, not good at all.
‘Are you alright?’ asks a kind voice as I join the others. It’s Mr. Bryson. ‘I’m not sure. I’m pregnant and I’ve just had a bleed. I think I’ll need to get medical help soon’ I confide. ‘You poor girl. I’ll phone the site nurse. Don’t worry dear I’m sure everything will work out fine’. Mildred nearly has heart failure as she listens to this exchange. Within minutes a nurse interviews me in the ‘med room’. ‘Hmm, its probably nothing but you will need to see the local GP.We have an arrangement with him, so we’ll whisk you over by taxi. There’s a good chance you will need to go to hospital for a scan and possibly stay overnight for observation. We will get the driver to wait for you and if necessary to take you home. Don’t worry; it’s all just to make sure that your little one is ok. There are lots of reasons for bleeds and lots of women have them and go onto have perfectly normal babies.’
The GP lets me listen to the heartbeat. He reckons that everything is fine but wants me to have a scan to be sure. I’m whisked by taxi to the hospital and wait for the scan. While I’m waiting they take blood and urine samples. I phone Special Bloke to update him. ‘I don’t want to worry you hon, but I’m in waaa waaa hospital waaa waa’ I blubber uncontrollably down the phone. ‘Oh Jesus Daisy, which hospital? What’s happened? Is the baby ok?’ I can hear the panic in his voice. I try to reassure him that it’s no big deal. That actually I’m quite looking forward to the scan..another opportunity to say hello to Peanut. But all that comes out are great big gushing tears. Eventually I calm down to explain the situation and promise to call him back when I’ve had the scan. I pray Mildred doesn’t call!
The doctor examines the scan and announces that I have a low-lying placenta, which may have caused the bleed. He wants me to stay overnight for observation and the consultant will check me over in the morning. I text Mildred with the news. She texts back ‘V unfortnt. Clients happy. Had to return 2 base. C u soon’. I can relax. I really couldn’t have coped with her perched on the end of my bed doing a postmortem on the presentation. I spend the evening chatting to another pregnant in-mate who has high blood pressure and has been confined to her hospital bed for the past fortnight.
Special Bloke arrives armed with fruit, magazines, chocolates and a massive teddy bear. He is relieved to see me chatting away and heads off a few hours later with a bit more colour in his cheeks. ‘I’m staying in a B & B across the road, so just call me if you need anything or you just want to chat. It’ll be ok Daisy. You’re doing great!’. I could get used to this!
‘That is NOT a low-lying placenta you idiot!’ scolds the consultant’. That is a perfectly normal place for the placenta to be at this stage of the pregnancy. Even if it were a low-lying pregnancy, it would not be a problem until the third trimester. There was no reason to keep this healthy woman in a sought after bed for the night at the taxpayers expense. What do they teach you in medical school these days? He muttered walking out of the ward with the young doctor following in his wake. I am rather disappointed to cut short my stay after so much special attention from Special Bloke.
I call him with the good news and he whisks me off for a luxury breakfast. He calls Mildred and tells her that I have been released from hospital but that I have to take it easy and I won’t be in until the day after tomorrow. I sincerely hope she couldn’t hear me muffling my giggles in the background.
The part I am dreading the most is driving the two-hour trip with Mildred to the pharmaceutical. Although I have worked with Mildew for the best part of five years, I have never spent this amount of time alone with her before.
I needn’t have worried. Mildew drives like a maniac. She hardly has time to draw breath with her anxiety about winning this new account. I am ordered to pay particular attention to a Mr. Derek Bryson who is the ‘key stakeholder’. I am to keep the ‘pink and fluffy’ internal marketing team on side but to make sure that Bryson is convinced. I have never seen Mildred so wound up. She must have a hefty bonus tied up in this. I glance out the window and am momentarily distracted by a trendy mum pushing a really cute buggy. It looks just the job. I strain my neck to try and catch sight of the make. Mildred realizes that I am not paying attention and she nearly crashes the car with despair. ‘Oh for goodness sake Daisy! Will you at least try and feign interest in this account?’
We are ushered into the walnut boardroom with a very intimidating long table. The clients are already seated. They observe us setting up the LCD projector and laptop. I wish they would chat to each other or take a break. But no, they simply stare icily at us. Mildred is nervous. Her neck is red and blotchy. I cannot believe how cool I am. Its like I’m having an out of body experience and am taking perverse pleasure at seeing the driven, achievement oriented Mildred’s nerves taking over.
I cruise through the power point presentation with ease. Derek Bryson gives nothing away facially. He is mildly interested but you get the impression he has to sit through hundreds of these. Still he smiles briefly when I crack a lame joke about their competitor’s brand. Mildred is watching his reaction to everything. I have about another six slides to go when I start to feel a bit odd. Something is wrong. I bolt out the door hollering ‘Perhaps Mildred you’d go through the figures. Excuse me folks for a moment’. Mildred looks horrified and I can hear her choking as I run for the ladies.
I examine my underwear. I am bleeding. This is not good. My pregnancy manuals are at home but I know I need to get help. First I need to clean up a bit. Damn! There’s no toilet roll in the cubicle. Sighing, I shuffle out of one cubicle and into another, praying no one comes in to observe my kickers around my ankles. I just about manage to close the door when Mildred arrives in. ‘Daisy, what the hell has got into you? Are you ok?’ she barks with her nose to the door. ‘I’ll be out in a minute.’ I respond automatically. ‘Ok then I’ll get back to the others. I’ve called a coffee break, so you can finish up your talk when we resume’. I try to stay calm but I know that bleeding is not good, not good at all.
‘Are you alright?’ asks a kind voice as I join the others. It’s Mr. Bryson. ‘I’m not sure. I’m pregnant and I’ve just had a bleed. I think I’ll need to get medical help soon’ I confide. ‘You poor girl. I’ll phone the site nurse. Don’t worry dear I’m sure everything will work out fine’. Mildred nearly has heart failure as she listens to this exchange. Within minutes a nurse interviews me in the ‘med room’. ‘Hmm, its probably nothing but you will need to see the local GP.We have an arrangement with him, so we’ll whisk you over by taxi. There’s a good chance you will need to go to hospital for a scan and possibly stay overnight for observation. We will get the driver to wait for you and if necessary to take you home. Don’t worry; it’s all just to make sure that your little one is ok. There are lots of reasons for bleeds and lots of women have them and go onto have perfectly normal babies.’
The GP lets me listen to the heartbeat. He reckons that everything is fine but wants me to have a scan to be sure. I’m whisked by taxi to the hospital and wait for the scan. While I’m waiting they take blood and urine samples. I phone Special Bloke to update him. ‘I don’t want to worry you hon, but I’m in waaa waaa hospital waaa waa’ I blubber uncontrollably down the phone. ‘Oh Jesus Daisy, which hospital? What’s happened? Is the baby ok?’ I can hear the panic in his voice. I try to reassure him that it’s no big deal. That actually I’m quite looking forward to the scan..another opportunity to say hello to Peanut. But all that comes out are great big gushing tears. Eventually I calm down to explain the situation and promise to call him back when I’ve had the scan. I pray Mildred doesn’t call!
The doctor examines the scan and announces that I have a low-lying placenta, which may have caused the bleed. He wants me to stay overnight for observation and the consultant will check me over in the morning. I text Mildred with the news. She texts back ‘V unfortnt. Clients happy. Had to return 2 base. C u soon’. I can relax. I really couldn’t have coped with her perched on the end of my bed doing a postmortem on the presentation. I spend the evening chatting to another pregnant in-mate who has high blood pressure and has been confined to her hospital bed for the past fortnight.
Special Bloke arrives armed with fruit, magazines, chocolates and a massive teddy bear. He is relieved to see me chatting away and heads off a few hours later with a bit more colour in his cheeks. ‘I’m staying in a B & B across the road, so just call me if you need anything or you just want to chat. It’ll be ok Daisy. You’re doing great!’. I could get used to this!
‘That is NOT a low-lying placenta you idiot!’ scolds the consultant’. That is a perfectly normal place for the placenta to be at this stage of the pregnancy. Even if it were a low-lying pregnancy, it would not be a problem until the third trimester. There was no reason to keep this healthy woman in a sought after bed for the night at the taxpayers expense. What do they teach you in medical school these days? He muttered walking out of the ward with the young doctor following in his wake. I am rather disappointed to cut short my stay after so much special attention from Special Bloke.
I call him with the good news and he whisks me off for a luxury breakfast. He calls Mildred and tells her that I have been released from hospital but that I have to take it easy and I won’t be in until the day after tomorrow. I sincerely hope she couldn’t hear me muffling my giggles in the background.
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