Carly was on her way home that late afternoon, she was on her own because Joshua was having overtime at the office. Carly was slightly struggling to get off of the public transportation which had a sort of short steps that Carly needed to walk down on. She finally got off somehow and sighed sharply as she was on the street. Carly needed to walk a little into a smaller street to get to her house, and she always enjoyed that peaceful moment. She was getting close to her house, she could see one side of the wall of the building. She saw the fence of her house, looked up at the clear sky and breathed in the nice cool air. Getting a bunch of keys from her bag, she stepped and slipped falling onto the side of her body. She shouted as she hit the ground. A lady was walking by and screamed in surprise and hurriedly jogged towards Carly.
"Oh no! Lady, are you okay?" The lady looked worried realizing Carly was a pregnant woman.
Carly kept on whimpering and couldn't say anything and just stayed on the ground.
"Ohh... Ohh, what should I do?" The lady looked panicked and helped Carly to get on her feet, "let me help you, Mam, I think we should go inside."
Carly nodded, very slowly got up and with limp steps followed her into the terrace after giving her the keys. She helped Carly to sit down on a small bench and she got onto her knees before Carly, saying, "Ma'am, I think we better call someone, your family or your husband."
Carly could merely sniffle in pain holding the right side of her hip and waist and nodded more without saying anything. She reached inside her pocket to get her phone and unlock it for the kind lady who easily found Joshua's name as her husband.
"Yes, honey?" Joshua answered.
"Sir, I, I'm with your wife here, Sir, we are here, Sir, in front of your house. Please come quickly, your wife, your pregnant wife fell off the ground earlier!" She rambled fast and stuttered in panic, spreading the panic to Joshua across the phone line.
"Wh-what? Fell off? How?? And who is this?" Joshua stood up in his seat.
"Oh, I, I don't know, Sir, I, I was passing by and, and j-just saw her fall off and I helped her to get into the terrace. Please can, can you come home quickly, S-Sir? I think she hit on her, umm her hip or waist, j-just near her that, umm stomach."
"I'm coming home now, Lady, thank you so much for helping her!" Joshua quickly stormed out of his office after telling a coworker the situation.
The Lady kept on having Carly accompanied because she didn't know what to do. She caressed Carly's belly, feeling the little bump kicking off against her palm. She tried to cheer her up by saying, "Oh, look at that, Ma'am, your baby is fine, such a strong baby!"
Carly smiled bitterly in pain and nodded weakly.
"Is it a boy or a girl, Ma'am?" She tried to get Carly briefly distracted from her pain and anxiety.
"It's a girl," Carly tried to smile, holding the pain on her waist and feeling a light cramp in her stomach, "probably just a shock," Carly encouraged herself.
The stranger was so nice, Carly was so grateful that she reached out to her.
"Do you want to get inside, Ma'am? Maybe you'll feel more comfortable," she offered and added, "your husband is on his way home."
"Yes, I think I better be inside. Thank you so much for helping me, really, I don't know what would've happened if you weren't there, Miss," said Carly in gratitude.
The lady opened the door and came back to help Carly walk inside, asking more in a calmer light voice and a heartwarming smile,, "have you prepared her name?"
Carly tilted her head to look at her and smiled in mixed expressions between pain and joy, "Yes, it's Jade."
The lady sat Carly down, "such a beautiful name! Anyway, do you want me to…"
Joshua stormed in and shouted, "Carly!!"
Both of the ladies gasped in surprise at the loud voice. Joshua nodded politely at the lady who had helped Carly, "thank you very much, Miss," he spoke hurriedly.
"Oh, you're here faster than I thought, Sir, thank God," she immediately shifted her gaze at Carly, and sighed in relief, "I will leave now then, Ma'am."
Both the couple kept on nodding and bowing in gratitude at the young lady as she walked out.
"Honey, I think we need to get you to a doctor now, is it so painful?" Joshua was so worried.
"Yes, I think I hit my waist."
***
Carly and Joshua spent the night at the hospital because the Doctor recommended a thorough examination and she said it would take some time. The doctor gave Carly the ultrasound scan and asked her to wait for a few more hours for detailed results as well for her to feel further reaction because Carly told her that she's been having light cramps which the doctor said were minor contractions.
"Mam, you need some rest now, we have sent the ultrasound result to the doctor earlier, but it was already past her work time and she has already gone home, so she will examine it tomorrow in the early morning. Nurses will be coming over from time to time to check you up, but if you feel something slightly different or vital before the checking up time, please call us anytime, it's very important, Ma'am," the kind nurse explained things well before leaving the room.
"Okay, thank you so much for your help, nurse," Joshua smiled as the nurse went out and immediately returned to Carly who was lying weakly on the hospital bed after walking the nurse out and closing the door. He sat down next to Carly and held her hand in encouragement.
"Don't worry, we are surrounded by doctors and nurses, there is nothing to worry too much about. Okay? You need to sleep now, it's quite late."
Carly nodded weakly, her pale lips curled into a bitter smile.