For a couple of days now, I couldn’t really sit down and concentrate on working. It was all because I was thinking too much about my pregnant girlfriend who was at home alone. I tried to concentrate on my work, but I couldn’t. The next appointment with the doctor was today and it could be the last one before the birth of the baby.

This morning, I woke up earlier than I usually do. I came downstairs to do the housework. I did the washing and ironing first and then I went out to buy some food for Tai. After I got back, I checked that there wasn’t anything else to be done and then I went up to the bedroom to change my clothes and wake her up. I told her that I was going to go to work and the food was downstairs. She nodded and gave me a kiss before she went back to sleep. I then left home with a very worried feeling about her.

Really, I didn’t want to go to work today because I wanted to be with her. I knew that she wasn’t strong compared to other pregnant women. I think it is because I looked after her too much and didn’t let her do anything around the house. It was a mistake because that made her lazy. I should have listened when my mum and my grandmum said to me, “Tell Tai to keep doing things, the more she moves around, the easier it will be for her to give birth”.

At lunchtime I called Tai’s PCT but she didn’t pick up. I was scared that something had happened. I tried to calm myself down. But it wasn’t easy to do that. Then, a short while later Tai called! I quickly answered the phone and asked, “Where are you? Are you OK? Why didn’t you answer the phone?” She said, “I turned the sound off as soon as you left home. I am just arriving at Paknam market.” I told her to meet me at the hospital. I felt so much better and all of the bad feelings were gone.

Luckily the hospital is just across the road. I ran outside and I was there as she arrived in the taxi. We went inside and almost straight away we went in to see the doctor. The nurse took Tai to the other side of the curtain and asked her to lie down. A few minutes later, Tai came out and told me that the nurse was just checking her uterus. It was a little wider than last week and nearly wide enough. We then went to sit down and talk to the doctor. He asked Tai about how she felt.

She replied, “I am feeling good and really happy that I am going to be a mother very soon. I want to see the baby’s face!” Then she added, “I don’t know why but the baby didn’t really move much these last few days”. After the doctor heard that he said, “That is serious. I think we need to check the health of the baby inside the womb. It will take a few hours for that, would you like to do it?” Tai didn’t say anything. I quickly said yes to the doctor. Tai’s face had no smile and she looked very sad.

We went up to the second floor in the lift. We both held hands very tightly until we got to the front of the lab. I then touched her head and rubbed softly a few times before I smiled at her and said “Don’t worry, our baby is very strong. Can you remember how hard she always kicked you? The baby is fine, I know. But, it doesn’t hurt to check does it?” She nodded and walked in while I stood outside and waited alone. I was wishing and hoping that our baby was going to be fine and have good health.

This story was originally published in the Bangkok Post.