It was like a dream, a pleasant dream where she was spinning round and round and round, never stopping, never knowing whether it was reality or not. But the dream broke.

Shadee’s eyelids flickered slightly and she opened her eyes to find herself, predictably, in a hospital bed. She had recognised the symptoms of a blackout, but she had no idea for how long she had been out. As there was no one else in the room, she quickly spotted the nurse button and pressed it once. A few minutes later a pleasant woman opened the door to her ward.



‘You’re up Mrs. Bronfield? Good, good.’ She approached her bed and did a short routine check on the young woman ‘Is there anything you need?’

‘Mm… I am a little hungry actually… but I’d also like to know what happened and how long I’ve been…um…sleeping?’



The nurse hesitated slightly, but in the end answered Shadee’s questions. ‘Your friend, Holly Rendell called an ambulance from your house. You had apparently collapsed.’ She stopped and bit her bottom lip. Shadee had a vague idea why as well: she did remember having completely undressed herself before calling Holly; plenty of questions must have arisen as to why she was lying there, stark naked. ‘You were rushed into the hospital, Dr Holms decided to administrate you some sedatives and then ran some tests. You’ve been out for almost thirteen hours now.’



‘But that’s not the correct procedure!’ Shadee was revolted; in what hospital had she landed? ‘He wasn’t supposed to put me to sleep! He should have helped me wake up, then run the tests and everything. I know this, my husband’s a…’ her voice trailed off; she wasn’t really sure whether she still had a husband anymore.

‘Oh, I know Mr. Bronfield! You’re at Glenwood Hospital!’ the nurse nodded eagerly ‘And you shouldn’t worry, Dr Holms is one of the best we have, he wouldn’t have done anything to put you at risk.’



Shadee didn’t put up a fight anymore, even though she still wasn’t satisfied with the way she had been treated. But she felt tired and exhausted of the strength to continue arguing on the point, despite the fact that she had slept for almost thirteen hours.



‘Is Holly here?’ she asked after a small pause.

‘No, she left approximately one hour ago. She asked me to tell you her husband had called because one of her sons had fever. There wasn’t anything for her to do here anyway.’ The nurse winked at her friendly, then headed for the door ‘I’ll bring you breakfast, then Dr Holms is going to come to talk to you and I think you’ll be free to go home afterwards.’

‘Mmhm…hospital food ain’t that bad…’ Shadee thought a few minutes later, while munching on a piece of buttered toast from the tray the nurse had brought her.

The ward she was in seemed really nice as well. Lucky thing, she had Bronfield as a last name…



A soft knock on the door interrupted her train of thought and a friendly young man entered the ward.



‘ Good morning, Mrs Bronfield! I hope I’m not getting in the way of your breakfast!’ the doctor smiled and walked closer to her bed, putting his clipboard on a table.

‘Ah, no, I was just about to finish.’ Shadee pushed the tray away and sat up straighter in the bed. All she wanted was to get out of that hospital and return home to cry and wail a bit more.



‘Good, good.’ The young man pulled a chair next to her bed and stretched his hand ‘I’m Dr Kevin Holms and I was the one who ran all the tests on you. Should we get down to business?’

‘Sure.’

‘Well, your blood tests showed me that your iron levels are quite low, which means you are susceptible for anemia, so I’ll prescribe you some iron tablets and such. Also your glucose levels are close to the lowest threshold, but no worries here, you are just eligible for an excuse to eat more chocolate!’ he laughed shortly, then continued to read his clipboard ‘I have tested your hormone levels as well and I must say, your progesterone is sky-high. This may give us a clue as to why you collapsed.’



‘But what does all this mean, doctor?’

‘Well, it means I should be congratulating you, Mrs. Bronfield. You’re pregnant!’




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