A Good Reason to Be Sick

Writers: Avery, Heather
Date Posted: 16th November 2017

Characters: Jadirah, Saibra
Description: Saibra goes to see Jadirah to confirm her pregnancy.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 1, day 25 of Turn 9
Notes: Mentioned: R'enh

Saibra

Jadirah bustled around the exam room, room changing the linens for a new patient, setting up the tools she thought she might need so they'd be close at hand, and cleansing her hands in redwort. When that was done, she moved to patient charts.

The Master Healer raised her eyebrows as she looked at the next name on her appointment list. The Weyrwoman herself. Interesting. She hoped that the goldrider was well, and this was something like an annual physical and not indicative of a problem.

At the appointed time, she stepped out to escort the woman back into the exam room in person.

"Jadirah, isn't it?" Saibra asked as she saw the new healer. She hadn't had the opportunity to meet the woman yet but she'd heard excellent things about her from some of the women in her Wing.

"Yes, Weyrwoman. My duty to you and your Chioneth, I hope she's well," Jadirah said as she held the door to escort the goldrider.

"Are you coming in for any specific ailment?" she asked when they reached the exam room.

Saibra knew the drill, she used the step stool to get up onto the table in a sitting position. "Yes, I think I may be pregnant, I would just like to confirm that... that I'm not losing my mind." She shot the healer a little smile.

"Oh, pregnant? That's going to change some things," Jadirah said with a smile as Saibra sat down. "Let me do some external checks first. Your file says you have other children?"

"Yes, two, the oldest is nineteen and the youngest ten. I've never had the easiest time conceiving, as you can tell by the distance between them." Saibra sat as the healer listened to her heartbeat and took her pulse.

"Does being a goldrider allow you more ease in keeping a pregnancy than a greenrider? I've seen many of them lose children they wanted," Jadirah said. "I have two myself, also fairly spaced. Sometimes I wish I'd taken time for a third."

The Weyrwoman raised her shoulders, "I think it's about the same honestly. Yes, my Wing is the lowest in altitude, that doesn't keep me from having to go /between/ to avoid Thread, or to help injured dragons. Greenriders also get the same consideration as goldriders when they discover they're pregnant and move into the Queen's Wing." She wished that a pregnant woman wouldn't have to fly Thread at all, but they didn't have the numbers to simply have every pregnant woman spend her first trimester on the ground. Only when they got further along were they allowed to miss Thread. "I thought I was finished after I had Kaibren, but then a man came along, of course."

"As it happens. And you've got time to try for more, you're not reaching the old side like I am," Jadirah said self-deprecatingly. "Mind if I ask who the lucky gentleman is?"

"The old side?" Saibra scoffed as she looked over Jadirah. "The man is Dolphin Cove's Weyrsecond, his name is R'enh."

"Hmm, he's at Dolphin Cove? The timezone difference'll make it a bit difficult for him to be here for your appointments, if you want him to be."

Saibra let out a dry chuckle, "The timezone difference will make a lot of things difficult, but we're as prepared for that as we can be. I'm not a teenager with child for the first time. I can handle coming to appointments by myself if necessary." Not that she didn't want R'enh there, she would love it if he would decide to move to Dragonsfall, but it wasn't something she would ever pressure him to do, she knew he liked working at Dolphin Cove and was close to his Wingleader.

"Still, I couldn't imagine doing it without support right there," Jadirah said. "All right, please lean back and let me take a quick internal check to confirm."

The Weyrwoman adjusted her skirt and laid back on the examination table as requested. There was a flutter of nervousness in her stomach. What if she wasn't pregnant? After her last miscarriage, being pregnant was almost too much to hope for. She released a slow steady breath to calm her nerves. **If you're not, then you're not.** She told herself sternly.

Jadirah was experienced at the inspection, and she was very gentle in her examination. When she was finished, she beamed up at Saibra before turning to wash her hands. "Congratulations, Weyrwoman."

Saibra released a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. "Thank you," she returned Jadirah's smile with a brilliant one of her own. "For a couple of sevendays now I've been waiting and trying not to get my hopes up."

The Healer thought that the smile made the Weyrwoman look luminous. "I'd be honored to be your Healer through your pregnancy, if you like."

"I would like that," Saibra smiled, she was sure she would be smiling the rest of the day, especially once R'enh arrived.

"In that case, I'll make sure to schedule the right upcoming appointments for you. If you need any of the usual treatments for nausea or sleeping, just let me know."

A new life. She would be extremely careful this time, and she would savor every moment of this pregnancy. "I will. I've been handling the nausea with salty crackers for now, hopefully it won't get worse than that." She remembered with Kaibren she'd been unable to keep anything down and had been forced to go to the healers for help with the nausea.

"Good luck with that," Jadirah said sympathetically.

Saibra climbed off the table and adjusted her skirt again, "Thanks, don't laugh if I'm already down here by tomorrow needing something."

"I won't laugh at all," Jadirah said, and tried to ignore the sudden pang of wanting a baby that this inspired in her.

Last updated on the November 27th 2017

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A Good Reason to Be Sick