Lieutenant Sarah French leaned over the latrine and lost her lunch for the 3rd day running. In her head, she did the math and realized her last cycle was AWOL.
" Shit so much for my theory of the flu or food poisoning." She swore.
What to do? Sarah tried to recall who she had been with, not that there were many, but she hand kind of gone nuts after Ensign Todd threw her over for a stripper on Beta station. Sure, she's got bigger boobs but compared to Sarah any one did. Sarah thought it was safe to assume Barbie Bosoms didn't have a degree in aeronautical engineering. In fact, Sarah doubted the bitch couldn't even spell it!
Sarah sighed and came to the realization who she might have made a baby with. She had a fling with the driver of a interstellar garbage scow! It was a huge mistake in her mind. The kid was 22 if he was a day, and Sarah was edging closer to the big 3-0! She remembered his name was Coop and in her inebriated state, last names didn't matter.
Coop had been her only sex partner since Todd. In a strange way, she would almost prefer getting knocked up by a complete stranger, over that cheating scum of a boyfriend. He thought he could do better? She would show him!
Sarah called the infirmary and made an appointment for a pregnancy test and an examination. It was time to find out for sure.
Dr. Stevens was a female in her mid-forties and had been the ships chief medic since before Sarah signed on.
“Yes it's as you suspected.” Doctor Stevens declared.
“ what? OK, how far along am I ? ”
“ about 8 weeks.” the doctor stated . “ does that figure with what you thought?”
Sarah did the math again . “ yeah that sounds about right .” she sounded dejected as she felt and sighed.
“ do you know what you're going to do?”
“ haven't thought of it much yet just trying to wrap my head around the idea of being pregnant . ” Sara answered
the doctor looked at her again . “ just so you know, I can terminate the pregnancy but it's gotta be done within the next 5 weeks.”
“or?” Sarah asked
“you can carry it to term . We are docking it station Alpha in 6 months . You can have your baby there and decide whether you want to keep him or her or put the baby up for adoption.”
“why can't I just have the baby on the ship?”
the doctor shook her head and stated “we don't have any neonatal facilities on the ship should something go wrong. It would be safer for you to deliver on the station . People who live there swear by the doctors and the facilities. You'd be in good hands .”
Sarah thought for a minute and then knotted. “oh, OK.”
“so here's a loaded question . Is the baby Todd’s?”
“ if I'm honest I'm not really sure and I hope not . Todd and I broke up! ”
“oh, sorry to hear that!” the doctor emphasised.
“Yeah, he traded my C cups for a pair of fake boobs!”
“what?” the doctor asked, disgusted.
“ I got dumped in favour of a stripper !”
“Ouch that sucks! What an ass hole! You’re better off without him, and so is this baby.”
“Yeah, so even if it is Todd’s, I don’t want him to have anything to do with this baby. I will raise the child alone if I have to person. The person I slept with and who I think might be the father is probably too young to really want to take any responsibility. I don’t even know where the guy is right now.”
“Do you even know his name?” Dr. Stevens inquired
“I only know his first name is Coop and that he drives a garbage scow in this quadrant. I met him on Beta station after Todd told me the big news. I went straight to the bar where he was having a beer with one of his buddies. Let’s just say I was crying in my drink. He came over to see what he could do to make me feel better and one thing led to another and here I am.” Sarah explained. “So yeah I had in a responsible fling with a garbage man. Fuck my life!!!!!”
“It’s not that bad Sarah. You’re not the first person to have a drunken fling after being dumped and you’re probably not the first person to get pregnant while doing so. You have some decisions to make let me know what you want to do and I’ll make the arrangements. If you decide to have the baby I’ll set up an appointment for you for a month from now.
“Thanks Dr. Stevens. I think I’m probably going to have this baby. I don’t believe in abortion unless either mine or the baby’s life would be at stake. Make that appointment I will see you in a month. Now I have to decide what to tell my boss. I hope he doesn’t sideline me.”
“Capt. Decker is pretty fair. I’m sure you won’t have you doing anything dangerous like a spacewalk. That’s duty wouldn’t be so bad in your condition. Suck it up buttercup you’re in it for the long haul.” The doctor smiled.
