300 Words: Anticipation

Shae Simmons, Multimedia Editor • Feb 19, 2019

The 300 word series is inspired by Brady Dennis’s St. Petersburg Times column.

July 2, 2018.

A scream sounded from underneath the bathroom door, echoing out in a silent presence.

She shook with happiness. With disbelief. Joy.

But Mrs. Kristina Chase didn’t know how excited she could truly be about her pregnancy. Only her best friend and husband knew that first day. It would stay quiet.

Chase for years dealt with her two sisters’ struggles of losing baby girls in utero.

One from heart defects.

One from Down syndrome.

So many feelings.

She still gets nerves.

“I don’t know that I had accepted it yet.”

Four weeks later would mark Chase’s first doctors appointment.

The first heartbeat.

But tests still needed to be done.

Four weeks later. The phone call.

Chase was sitting in the school conference room, anxious to discover the gender and health of her baby.

Boys did not happen in her family.

News came that the chromosome test came back normal.

She started crying.

Only three months left. But it’s not an easy road.

Three months of nausea. Of sickness. Anxiety.

Not feeling like herself.

On top of it all, her new house won’t be finished being built until the week before her due date. Different walls, floors, a different bathroom door than what’s currently her family’s home. It’s transition mode. She can’t even prepare the baby’s room.

But she knows everything will be okay.

Chase’s 11-year-old daughter waits patiently, thrilled to be a big sister.

This will be her husband’s first child and Chase cannot wait to see him as a father.

Sometimes it’s hard for her to accept that it will all be okay after helping her sisters through so many times it was not.

March 7, 2019.

A day to be anxious.

A day to be happy.

A day the first baby boy of this family, healthy or not, will be just as loved.

Mrs. Kristina Chase’s son, Michael, was born Wednesday, February 19 – unexpectedly early…and healthy at 8 lbs, 5 oz and 21 inches.

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About the Contributor

Shae Simmons, Multimedia Editor

Shae Simmons is a senior at Normal Community High School and a fourth-year member of the varsity Iron Dance team. This is her second year working with the Inkspot, and she is the Multimedia editor. On the weekends I like to watch movies and hang out with friends. A slogan to live by is live for the moments you can't put into words. My all-time dream is to travel around the world.