Circles Collide

Chapter 15: Ziggy

This was a very dangerous time for the young zygote. More than half of all human pregnancies ended right here in this phase when something went wrong. Usually, the woman who lost them had not even been aware she had been pregnant, did not even miss her next period. But nothing went wrong in this case. The cells continued to divide over the next forty-eight hours, getting bigger, and secreting more and more progesterone and follicle stimulating hormone, which flowed down into the uterus and signaled that a little passenger was on the way. The uterine lining continued to grow instead of shedding away like it normally did at the end of a cycle.

After three days, the zygote broke out of the zona pellucida layer and became a blastocyte. It then began to move toward the uterus, slowly pulled along by millions of little cilia on the fallopian tube walls. It continued to rapidly replicate its cells on the journey, until at last, eleven days after Jake had sent out the sperm, it reached the uterus and implanted itself on the posterior wall. Once there, it continued to grow at an exponential rate.

April 11 was Laura’s thirty-second birthday. They were still in Oregon, still staying in KVA’s clifftop house there and working on the V-tach CD, which was now in the mixing stage. Unlike with Brainwash, who always had to return to Providence and their jobs after the tracks and overdubs, the primary musicians were staying to help with the process, thus teaching them the basics of the skill and hopefully making the final product better.

Jake and Laura had plans to celebrate the conclusion of her latest trip around the sun. They were going to take the day off from the studio—it was Friday, after all, and they would not be missed much—and fly to Portland. Once there, they would have breakfast in the little café by the river they had dined in on their first trip there, visit the music store that had been their business that day (Jake would likely buy a new guitar since it was rude to just drop into a music store and not buy something, right?) and then have some dinner and stay in a suite in one of the downtown hotels where she could be as loud as she wanted when they fucked. Laura had gone to bed the night before quite looking forward to the trip.

But now, as she opened her eyes at 8:35 AM, she knew that something was not right. She was naked in the bed, smelled of sex, and had a little bit of a headache from the wine she had drank the night before. Jake was equally naked, equally smelly, and still sound asleep next to her. All of that was normal. What was not normal was that she was nauseous. And not just lightly nauseous, but extremely nauseous. And the smell of them—a smell she usually found associatively pleasant—was making the nausea worse by the moment. In fact, it felt like she was about to...

A second later she was scrambling out of the bed, fighting desperately with the covers which seemed to be doing their best to confine her. She finally managed to free herself and made a mad rush for the bathroom, barely able to take up position in front of the toilet before she started retching violently into it. A good portion of last night’s dinner came up, as did a good amount of bile that smelled of chardonnay.

All of the commotion had awakened Jake. He was now standing in the doorway behind her, looking at her with concern. “Are you okay?” he asked gently during a pause between retches.

“I don’t know,” she breathed. “I just woke up and was sick to my stomach. It came out of nowhere.”

“Hmm,” he said. “You didn’t drink that much wine last night. No more than you usually do.”

“I know,” she said, breathing heavily, feeling sweat forming on her skin. “It’s weird. Maybe it’s food poisoning or something.”

“You ate the same thing everyone else ate,” Jake said. “I don’t feel the least bit sick.”

She had another round of retching. This one was mostly dry heaves. And then, just like that, she began to feel better. Not all the way better, but a definite improvement. She slowly stood up and flushed the toilet. She then went to the sink and turned on the tap. She really needed to pee, but she wanted to brush her teeth first and get the taste of vomit out of her mouth.

“I’ll leave you alone,” Jake said. “Call me if you need anything.”

“Okay,” she said.

She rinsed her mouth out and then picked up her toothbrush and squirted a dollop of toothpaste on it. She started to brush listlessly, still feeling quite sour in the stomach. What a bummer to get sick on my birthday, she thought. What exactly did I come down with? One of those stomach flu bugs that goes around? But don’t you normally have diarrhea with that too? It seemed like that was part of the deal, but maybe this was some new strain of it.

Her bladder cried out insistently to her and she picked up the pace. She really needed to pee in a bad way. Just as she finished rinsing her mouth out, Jake reappeared, a strange expression on his face.

“What?” she asked, sitting her naked butt down on the toilet.

“Don’t do that yet,” he told her.

“What? Why not?”

“Something just occurred to me,” he said. “You just got sick out of nowhere.”

“Yeah,” she said sourly. “I’m aware of that.”

“You got sick in the morning,” he said. “As in morning sickness.”

She looked up at him and then shook her head. “I don’t think so,” she said. “It’s too early. I’m not even due for my period for another week or so.”

“But you’re past the fertile period for this cycle, right?”

“Well ... yeah ... that’s true, but...”

“Just pee on one of the sticks,” he told her, referring to the box of home pregnancy tests they had brought with them from home, assuming that she would need to test herself multiple times.

She wanted to argue the point but figured the path of least resistance was just to do what he asked. “All right,” she said. “Give me one. But hurry! I really need to go.”

He quickly got into the drawer in the vanity where they were stored. He took one out of the boxes, tore open the packaging, and took the little cylindrical device out. He walked it over and handed it to her. She shuffled around a bit, opening her legs wider so she had a clear shot. Jake watched her as she started to pee. She held the little round hole at the end of the cylinder in the stream for a second, getting urine all over her hands but accomplishing the task of collecting the sample. She then set the thing down on the counter while she finished her business. Jake stopped looking at her vagina and looked at the little cylinder instead. There was a viewing window in the middle of it that was about a half centimeter square. A negative sign meant no (or at least there was not enough human chorionic gonadotropin, or hCG, in her pee to be detected) and a positive sign meant yes.

“How long does it take?” Jake asked her. She had already done this several times before, but this was his first witness of the procedure.

“Two minutes,” she said, wiping with a wad of toilet paper. “Watch out. I need to wash my hands.”

She went to the sink and washed up. Jake continued to stare at the little window. The minus sign had come up pretty quickly, but the vertical portion remained blank. And then ... slowly, faintly, it began to fill in. It was not dramatic. It was not very prominent. But it was there. There was no mistaking it for a false reading.

“Well now,” Laura said. She was staring at it now as well.

“Yep,” Jake said. He turned and gave her a big kiss on the mouth.

They kept the news to themselves for now, mostly because they were not entirely sure the test was accurate. But it was only a matter of forty-eight hours before everyone noticed that Laura was no longer drinking wine, no longer smoking her pot, and seemed to be kind of sickly at times, particularly in the morning. Celia was the first to guess, since she already knew they were trying.

“Did he knock you up?” she whispered as they worked on the dinner dishes two nights later.

“Yeah,” she whispered back with a smile. “It looks like it.”

“Oh my God!” Celia cried. “That’s so exciting, Teach!”

“Jesus, Celia,” Laura said grumpily. “Why don’t you yell it a little louder? I don’t think the neighbors in the house down the street were quite able to hear you.”

“I’m sorry,” Celia said. “I’m just so happy for you.”

“Thanks,” Laura said. “But we’re pretty early in the process. The test might be a false positive. And even if it’s not, the first six weeks are ... you know ... the most likely for something to go wrong. I really don’t want to start getting attached to the little zygote until we know for sure that there really is one and that it’s going to be hanging around.”

“Understood,” Celia said solemnly. “Mum is the word for now.”

But, of course, it was just too out of character for Laura not to have her wine or her evening tokes on the pipe, so it wasn’t long until other people began to suspect what was going on as well. Sharon was the next one to draw the conclusion.

“Are you pregnant?” she asked bluntly as she, Nerdly and Laura manned the soundboard one morning while they cued up one of the tracks for primary mixing.

Laura looked at her intently. “Why do you ask that?” she demanded.

“Well ... you stopped drinking and smoking your pot,” she said. “That, coupled with the fact that you always seem to look ill in the mornings suggests that you might be.”

She sighed. “Elementary, Watson,” she grunted.

“Is it true?” Nerdly asked. “She suggested this to me last night, but I was more inclined to believe that you might be suffering from irritable bowel syndrome or perhaps an inflammatory bowel disorder such as Crohn’s disease.”

Laura raised her eyebrows. “You thought it more likely that I had a disease instead of being pregnant?” she asked.

“Naturally,” he said. “I am certain that Jake would have told me if he had conceived a child ... unless, of course, the child is not his and you have not informed him of its existence because of this. If that is the case, forget we asked.”

She shook her head. “The child is Jake’s,” she said. “We haven’t told anyone yet because we just found out ourselves.”

“I see,” Nerdly said. “And how did you diagnose the condition?”

“We’ve been trying to get me pregnant for a few months now,” she explained. “I haven’t taken my birth control pills since December. The other morning, I woke up and started vomiting so I peed on a stick and it came back positive. It was a faint positive but a positive nonetheless. There is a possibility that it is a false positive since I would be awfully early in the process at this point. I’m not even due for my period for another four days.”

“I beg to differ,” Nerdly said. “False negatives are quite common with home pregnancy tests, but false positives are almost unheard of. True, you are early in the process, but if you used the first morning urination for the test there likely would have been enough hCG in the sample for detection. Did you use the first morning urination for the sample?”

“Uh ... yeah,” she said, blushing. “I did.”

“Then it is likely that you really are pregnant. Congratulations.”

“Thanks, Bill,” she said. “And, just so you know, we’re keeping this close for now.”

“Understood,” Bill said.

But everyone else in the house picked up on it in the next forty-eight hours. And Pauline and Obie, who were staying at Obie’s house in Coos Bay for now, picked up on it when the four of them went out for dinner one night. Again, the illuminating factor was the fact that Laura was not drinking any wine with her steak.

“That’s badass,” Pauline declared when they confirmed the facts for her. “Tabby will have a little cousin! I just know they’ll grow up close to each other.”

“Probably,” Laura agreed, feeling a little overwhelmed by this point.

“You’ve got to tell Mom and Dad soon,” Pauline said. “They’ll be so happy to hear about this.”

“We’re going to wait until we get home and have confirmation that all is well before we start telling people,” Jake said. “You know? Just in case?”

“Oh ... right,” Pauline said. “I guess that makes sense.”

Over the next few weeks, Laura got more and more evidence that she was, in fact, knocked up. Every time she peed on a stick—and she did so with each morning urination for five days straight—it showed positive, the vertical bar showing a little more prominently with each successive test. And then her period did not come when she was expecting it. And then her breasts became tender and sore. And she continued to regularly barf in the mornings, though she usually felt better by the time breakfast was served, at which point her appetite would swell significantly and she would be watched with astonishment at the amount of food she was consuming.

“It looks like you got a little zygote in there all right,” Jake commented, though at this point in the game, it was no longer a zygote at all.

“Yep,” Laura agreed, growing happier with her condition by the day. “My little Ziggy.”

And that was what their name for it became. Pauline and Obie had called the fetal Tabitha ‘The Clump’ after their doctor told them she was a clump of rapidly replicating cells, and Jake and Laura called her little clump Ziggy. They would, naturally, come up with a more suitable name later.

Meanwhile, life went on. Laura kept in touch with her brother Joey in Pocatello, calling him at least once a week to catch up on things. As it turned out, he and his family had not been able to come to California for spring break because she and Jake were still up in Oregon working on the V-tach project and Jake did not feel they could take a week off over spring break because the project was behind schedule and they only had studio time until May 1. They made plans instead for the Best family to visit in the summer, when things would be far less hectic and they could stay for two weeks instead of only one. She did not tell her brother about her little passenger and, since he was not here to observe her non-wine habit, he was unable to deduce it on his own.

On April 18^th, the first new cut from the Brainwash II CD began to hit the airways. It was called What’s In a Name? and it was one of Jim’s songs, a moderately toned alternative rock piece with some fairly profound lyrics. It was not the best cut on the CD, but it was the best of Jim’s and Jake had directed it to be promoted first so it could be followed up with one of Marcie’s tunes and then one of Steph’s. The listeners seemed to like the tune well enough. It got a lot of requests and was soon being played regularly from coast to coast throughout each day on alternative rock and pop stations, though the hard rocks tended to ignore it. Jake liked the song well enough, but every time he heard it he could not help but think what it might have been had he just been there to help shape it in the early stages of the recording progress.

Oh well, he thought at such times. I made my choice to concentrate on the TSF and now I have to live with the consequences.

On April 27^th, the mixing and the mastering of the V-tach CD (simply titled V-tach) was finally complete to everyone but the Nerdlys’ satisfaction (they felt that if they could just have a few more days to tweak a few more levels, they could nail it down to perfection). Copies were made and distributed to the band members and those involved in the studio portion. A box of copies were given to Jake for distribution to the Aristocrat suits primarily, but to other record companies if Aristocrat used their option to pass on the project if they did not feel it would sell. Jake was pretty certain they would not pass on the option. The boys had put out some good solid tunes and they had mixed and mastered them quite well.

Celia got back in her car for the two-day drive home (she planned to overnight in the Heritage area and then continue on the next morning). The members of V-tach were flown home on a chartered Gulfstream that KVA Records paid for. The Nerdlys, Jake, Laura, and little Ziggy all climbed into Jake’s plane and left Coos Bay behind until the next time.

No one was sure exactly when that might be.

On May the 5^th, Cinco de Mayo, Laura and Jake arrived at the office of her gynecologist, Dr. Vargo, in Granada Hills just before 10:00 AM. She had had blood work drawn the previous day and they were here to go over it and receive their official confirmation that Laura was pregnant, although at this point there was no longer any doubt in their minds. She still had not had her period, her breasts were now getting larger as well as sorer, and she had begun to have strange food cravings—watermelon and other melons chief among them, fruits that she had never really cared for much before.

“He’s not going to stick his hand up in there, is he?” Jake asked as they entered the modern office building.

“No,” she said. “He is not going to stick his hand up in there.”

They did not have to wait long after they were put in one of the exam rooms. Whether this was because they were a celebrity couple or it was just how the doc did business, Jake did not know.

“Congratulations,” he told them once the door was closed. “You are indeed pregnant.”

Even though they were already quite positive, it was a happy moment to hear that it was official.

“And everything is okay?” Laura asked.

“As far as I can tell at this point,” Vargo said. “The hCG quant test we ran—that’s the test that tells us just how much hCG you have and allows us to extrapolate how many weeks pregnant you are—indicates that you are approximately ten weeks along at this point. That matches up pretty much exactly with your last reported menstrual period of February 18^th. All of your other tests look good as well. CBC is normal, electrolytes and urine function normal, no glucose or ketones in your urine, blood glucose level normal. And you are blood type A positive, which means you won’t have to worry about getting the Rhogam shot after you deliver and during every subsequent pregnancy.”

“I’m O negative, doc,” Jake said. “The different Rh factors won’t hurt anything?”

“Not when the mother is Rh positive,” he said. “Her body is already used to seeing the antigens on her blood so her immune system will not attack the fetus.” He looked at Jake sharply. “However, if she were to ever get you pregnant, you would need to get the Rhogam shot.”

Jake chuckled. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he said.

“Now let’s talk about some fun numbers,” Vargo said next. “How about your EDC—the estimated date the baby is due?”

“Let’s hear it,” Laura said.

“Based on your LMP, your last menstrual period, we’re looking at on or about November 25^th. A Thanksgiving baby is definitely a possibility. Of course, when you have your ultrasound at sixteen weeks we’ll be able to narrow that down a bit more.”

“Does your little chart there tell you when the baby was conceived?” Jake asked.

“It does,” Vargo said, “although there is a margin of error here. I point that out because I’ve had couples proclaim that they did not have sex on the day I name for them, and this has even led to accusations of infidelity at times.”

“We understand,” Jake said.

“With an LMP of February 18^th, we’re looking at a date of conception on or about March 4^th.”

They both nodded. Jake was smiling. “Did we have sex on that day, hon?” he asked her.

She giggled and blushed simultaneously. “I’m pretty sure that we did,” she said.

Neither of them remembered the actual encounter at this point, but both knew that hardly a day went by when they did not do it.

“Ah yes,” Vargo said. “Laura here told me about how the two of you have a proclivity for practicing the art of reproduction. Now, the next step is to get you referred to an obstetrician to care for you through the pregnancy and the delivery. Did you have anyone in mind?”

“Not yet,” Laura said.

“I can recommend some practitioners that are a part of our medical group,” he said.

“Can you recommend some practitioners who have privileges at Baptist Hospital in San Luis Obispo?” Laura asked. “That’s where we’re going to be having the baby at.”

“Unfortunately, I cannot do that,” he said. “I have no knowledge or literature on practitioners in San Luis Obispo county. You’ll probably have to contact your insurance company for a list of referrals on that.”

“Fair enough,” Jake said.

The appointment lasted a few more minutes. Vargo went over the diet Laura should be following, the importance of continuing to take her prenatal vitamins, and the importance of abstaining from alcohol and drug use, particularly in the first trimester.

“I haven’t had a drop of wine or a single toke on the pipe since I got the first positive test,” Laura assured him.

“Excellent,” Vargo said. “Keep that up. Are there any further questions?”

There were not. They thanked the doctor for his time and made their way to the exit.

“All right,” Laura said. “We’re now more than two months into this thing. How about we start telling people about it?”

“If you’re ready for that, I am too,” Jake said. “Celia, the Nerdlys, Paulie and Obie already know. We should call my parents next.”

“Yes,” she said. “And then I want to call Joey and let him know.”

“Sounds good,” Jake said. “What about the rest of your family? Are you going to tell them before the entertainment media does?”

She frowned a little. “I probably should,” she said. “I think I’ll send them a letter just to let them know. I don’t expect they’ll respond to it, but who knows? Grandkids can change people’s opinions.”

“Maybe,” Jake said carefully. He hoped she was wrong about that. Her parents and her other siblings besides Joey were certainly not people that he cared to meet. But then that was what he had thought about Joey as well.

“And what about the entertainment media?” Laura asked. “How should we let them know about it? Should we just let them find out on their own, or should we send out a press release of some sort?”

“I think we should send out a press release,” Jake said. “We can have Paulie do it. Make it short, simple, and sweet. Laura Kingsley is pregnant with the couple’s first child, the due date, and nothing more than that. It will give them something to report, and they won’t be pissed off and prone to speculation when they finally figure it out on their own.”

She nodded. “Sounds good.”

He put his hand on her leg and gave it an affectionate squeeze. “I love you, hon,” he told her.

She smiled at him. “I love you too,” she returned. “I’m really excited about Ziggy, but I’m really scared about it as well.”

“I know,” he said. “You’ll do fine.”

“It’s such a big step in life.”

“Yes, it is,” he said. “But we’re ready for it.”

They drove on toward their Granada Hills home. Jake had a meeting with some of the suits at Aristocrat later that day and now it seemed they needed to start putting together a press release.

And inside of Laura’s uterus, little Ziggy just kept on replicating cells, growing bigger and bigger by the hour.