Chapter 13 - What Happened To Chloe?

Baby Chloe was so much pampered by the grannies. They always carried her up and rocked her to sleep to which Allie objected. Doing so would make her hooked up to it and she would not sleep by herself. But to their amazement, Chloe had such a good temper as a child. She was never a cry baby. She would only cry if her feeding would be too delayed everytime Allie would take longer in going home. She would just suck her fingers and make loud coos every time she must had felt the early pangs of hunger.

A light tickle in her soles would make her giggle easily, cheering the adults extremely. And contrary to what Allie feared, she could sleep easily even when just placed in a still crib.

Everytime the grannies saw it, they got so worried that they would hurriedly lift her up and allowed her to sleep in their arms. They would reason out that, anyway, infancy happen only once in a lifetime.

At three months old, Chloe's attention span was surprisingly long. She would stare attentively into a video of nursery rhymes or phonetics until the whole album was played. She could hold long eye contact when somebody would talk to her. And she would make coos or murmuring sounds when her nursery rhymes were played.

"Sam, I can tell that our granddaughter is a gifted child." Mary told her husband, one time, as she saw her rolling and lifting her head up while lying down on her stomach.

"She is. Her father would have been so happy to see her like that."

Mary choked. She was now having guilt in denying her daughter the marriage since until this time, she could still see her crying hard secretly. And everytime she saw her wipe her tears away, her heart would break.

Hearing her father see this, Allie looked away. She could have been happier to have the man she loved by her side in raising up a child.

Unexpectedly, Chloe blurted out innocently.

"Pa -pa - pa... " She was calling her papa?

They looked at each other, and instead of being happy for that another advanced milestone of the child, they felt a sense of guilt. Allie saw that in their eyes, causing her sense of pain and bitterness return. She sprinted towards her room and bawled her eyes out!

Her room was the sole witness of her pain and tears.

An hour later, Chloe reached out her arms to her grannies and they instantly understood her message. She wanted to be carried out!

Mary happily reached out to pick her up but in the next second, she and her husband saw that her lips turned pale! She then drew her short legs upward and curled up her toes. She seemed to be in pain but she only grimaced and did not cry. Few minutes after, she vomited the milk she had just sucked!

"Maybe, she's just overfed" Sam assured her when he saw that his wife was too frightened.

"Perhaps... " She stuttered, feeling a sense of relief. She saw it her clearly. Chloe was in pain!

"My love, does your tummy hurt?"

She spoke in a childish way, thinking Chloe would understand.

"Tell lola, please," she said while rocking her up in an upright position.

"Lola" is the Filipino term of addresing a grandmother or any elderly while "Lolo" was for grandfathers and elderlies.

Then again, her paleness  and the curling up of her lower extremeties returned. In the next second, she vomited again! This same  episode happened, not just twice but five times already!

Mary panicked that she ran towards Allie's room and knocked frantically while crying!

"Allyza, come out! Hurry up!" She was already yelling out of fear.

Allie came out with a startled expression upon seeing her mom's scared look. She saw also her blouse which was soaked up with milk.

"What's happening!" she asked in a confused look.

" It's Chloe. Her stomach must be upset. She vomited five times already! " Mary answered nervously but before she could finish, Chloe vomited again.

They noticed that her vomiting was in a projectile manner and her vomitus was so foul- smelling!

Mary sprinted back towards Allie's room and when she was back, she was already bringing a bottle of chamomile oil.

An oil of chamomile was often used as an anti -flatulence to help relieve stomach pain and nauseousness.

She then placed few drops in her palms then rubbed it. Then, she gently rub it at Chloe's abdomen.

She seemed to be relieved by it since she stopped vomiting for a while and the pink color of her lips returned.

They were happy and Chloe smiled again. But their happiness did not last. Chloe vomited again and this time, the color of her vomitus was dark yellow!

Allie put her down in the bed to clean her up and change her diaper. But Chloe held her hands and cried. She did not want to be put down. And this was not her usual attitude!

So while the grannies held her up, she cleaned her up. When she opened her diaper, she saw a bright red blood clot in her scanty, loose stool which had an unusual characteriatics.

"I'll have her stool checked in the laboratory. I've heard that a bloody stool is one of the characteristics of an amoebiasis. "

If only she understood, it was not just a simple bloody stool but a blood clot in the stool! It was not a good sign.

Later, she felt that Chloe's abdomen protruded slightly and it was hard. She percussed it using her fingertips and heard that it was tympanitic or with drum-like sounds.

Something was really wrong! She also noticed that her vomitus smelled and looked like fecal materials! She knew that she needed to bring her right away to the hospital or else she would suffer severe dehydration and electrolyte imbalance which could be fatal!

However, her problem was that her money was not even enough for a taxi fare! Where would she get the amount needed for the admission downpayment?