My Summer Bump
by
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The following extract is a shorter version to the original: 'My Summer Bump Extract'
It was the day before I was due to travel home, sat alongside my family I blocked out everyone’s conversations around me. I couldn’t stop thinking about Mark. My life. His life. Summer’s life. I could feel the emotion building up in the pit of my stomach, like a volcano that was about to erupt. As I sat, like a ticking time bomb, the world carried on around me not realising what was happening to the sister, the daughter, and now the aunt, sat on the sofa opposite. I walked out of the room without saying a word, leaving the new baby celebration to continue. I stood in the bathroom staring at the tiles. Then ran to the toilet, I was sick. I returned to the sofa like nothing had happened. “I can’t give up,” I said in a soft voice not daring to look at anyone. “I can’t give up,” I repeated, this time lifting my bowled head. “Laura you have to give up now, you have done all you can,” my mum and sister told me. “This is not good for you or the baby, I know it’s hard but you have to try and move on,” I was told. But I couldn’t give up... I rang Mark but he didn’t answer, I texted him but he ignored me. I knew it was his day off and that he’d be at home so I decided to go around. Throughout the time I was there he constantly looked at the clock and reminded me of my remaining minutes. He spoke to me in an unpleasant tone and said some of the cruellest things I’ve ever heard come out of his mouth. “I look at you and feel nothing,” was one, “just leave me alone, I want to forget you and move on,” was another. Not to mention, “Every day that we’ve been apart you have become more of a distant memory to me.” He even accused me of being bulimic! Saying a few people had asked him if I was bulimic because my teeth were slightly stained. And if I was to drag the ‘situation’ through courts then he would bring it up. Now just to set the record straight, I have never put my fingers down my throat. And funnily enough he couldn’t name these people who’d said that, so whether it was true or not, I guess I will never know. It really bothered me though because once again I felt like people were talking about me. If he hadn’t yet shocked me enough with his cruel words, then the next sentence was to top off everything he had ever said to me, “if you go through the CSA, I will fight for custody rights and bring her up here a few days a week.” Was he blackmailing me? Would he actually stoop that low just to spite me? I looked him in the eye in the hope that I could connect with the old Mark, but he was gone. “Can you go now - I don’t want you here anymore.” How could he be so spiteful? I sat there and started to cry... then sob, and before I knew it I was crying so hard I couldn’t breathe. I had to get out. I jumped out of the seat and towards the door as quickly as I could. As I unlocked the door he screamed, “I told you not to come Laura.” I ran straight into the lift unbuttoning my cardigan as I travelled to the ground. I was instantly covered in sweat. As I reached the outside cold air I had a panic attack. I couldn’t live like this anymore.
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About the Book
My Summer Bump
When I discovered I was pregnant I quickly found myself single, homeless and jobless.
This book is my diary. An honest and personal account of everything I went through from the moment I discovered I was pregnant, to being dumped and having to move half way across the country.
It shows what it’s like to go through a pregnancy alone. The pain that you suddenly feel when something pregnancy-related speaks of the fairytale couple, that your not part of, is like a different kind of pain to any other. You feel as though you did something wrong.
To go to the appointments, scans, antenatal classes, buy and make equipment, set up a new home and life for just you and your baby; to have to think of names, birthing partners, and make all the decisions yourself, to have no one to go out at 1am to get you ice cream, because that is what you happen to be craving.
You will see an intimate look at the relationship with the father, how he reacted, why he reacted, and how that one person’s actions can manipulate power over you and turn you into a different person.
This book will want to make you scream, laugh, and cry at the page.
In a diary account, will the father come back? Or more importantly, as I grow and come to terms with being a single mother, will I let him?
If you are going through a pregnancy alone, if you are pregnant but in a relationship, if you are not pregnant but want to follow a story of a girl who finds herself pregnant, dumped, then homeless, to have to then pick herself up and start again; you will want to read this book. It has something for everyone.
About the Author
This book is distinctive in that, everything that happens in the book happened to the author. There is no fictional characters or plot, but a truly remarkable story that could be read as a fictional novel. It is unique as it gives you information on a pregnancy that you would get from a traditional pregnancy book. It tells you everything that happens on a weekly basis, talks through cravings, morning sickness, attending scans, antenatal classes, and alike, so you get an insight into all the vital information without knowing it - but from a singletons point of view. The author reels a deeply personal and honest account of what she went through throughout, and after the pregnancy. With a heartfelt and sincere approach, this book is a page turner for many reasons. Like a fictional novel you will want to know what happens next. With every text message sent between her and the father dictated into the book, you feel as though you are her friend, tucked up with a cup of coffee listening to her pour her heart out. If you are going through a pregnancy alone you will want to read this book, if you are pregnant but in a relationship you will want to read this book. If you are not pregnant but want to follow a story of a girl who finds herself pregnant, dumped, then homeless, to have to then pick herself up and start again; you will want to read this book. It has something for everyone. This book will want to make you scream, laugh, and cry at the page.