Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic The Long Road Home Part 40 - Comments

Thoughts?

Rac

Wow! They've traded places with Clark now being the one who keeps having to work hard at being supportive and making sure Lois knows he's there for her. It's good that Lois has been through this and has learned so much from her sessions with Dr. Friskin, Clark, too; so even though she is having trouble responding to Clark the way she knows she should, she is aware and struggling not to shut him out. And it's wonderful to see Clark overcoming his own fears to support Lois and show her his unconditional love; he's come a long way. He's got to keep it up:

Actually, Evelyn, the risk from an amniocentesis is often dramatically overstated. If you compare the percentage of women who suffer a miscarriage after an amnio with a demographically similar group of pregnant women, the results are not statistically significant. A widely reported 2006 study found evidence that the real added miscarriage risk of amniocentesis might only be 0.06% -- which equates to 1 in 1,600. This is much lower than the usually reported 0.5 - 1.0% increased chance of a miscarriage - this higher number does not take into consideration the fact that the population of women who undergo amniocentesis are not representative of the average pregnant woman. Instead, they tend to be (1) older, (2) suffering from some condition that makes miscarriage more likely or (3) had other tests that suggested some fetal deformity that would increase the likelihood of miscarriage. These groups of women were more likely than the average pregnant woman to miscarry, regardless of whether they had an amnio.

If your pregnancy shows no elevated signs of distress or likelihood of complications, I don't think amnios are advisable. However, if your pregnancy is at risk of some sort of condition that could be ameliorated by earlier, interventionist medicine (such as spina bifida, the effects of which can be minimized by in utero surgery), an amnio might be the best choice for you.

I love your story!!!

This requires a longer response than I feel able to give, at least right now. But I need to say that it was heartening to feel Clark's love for Lois so strongly in this part. Clark realizes that it is his duty as a husband to support his wife, and his own father told him that, but it is more than that. I could feel that even deep down, Clark loves Lois. His deepest emotions knows that he loves Lois, no matter how afraid he is for the child she is carrying. I definitely felt that your Clark really and truly loves Lois more than he blames her, and this is a very deep-seated truth for him.

Lois, on the other hand, seems so much more lost than Clark. She blames herself for endangering her child, and what makes it worse is that she realizes that she would have done the same thing - she would have run straight into the kryptonite radiation again - even if she had known that she was pregnant. Yes, it is true that she didn't know that she was carrying an innocent life within her, but it is also true that she would have endangered this tiny life all over again if she thought it necessary to save her husband. And because she knows she would have done it all over again, she feels doubly guilty. I think she feels like a horrible woman and a horrible mother. I can't help wondering if Lois is going to feel that her baby is angry at her when the child is born. Also, of course, she thinks that Clark blames her, and I believe she thinks that he might even be right to blame her.

Her parents are not going to help. You just mentioned in another forum that you hate writing Sam Lane. I guess Sam Lane will enter into this story soon, and not to make things better. Ellen Lane willl probably not be a lot more help.

Right now, I think that Clark feels "anchored" by his own confidence in his love for Lois. She, however, is adrift right now, not anchored by anything.

Clark is going to have to be the anchor that she needs. He is going to have to realize that Lois needs him just as much as he needed her when he came back from Krypton. He didn't want to talk to her about the things that bothered him, and Lois may not want to talk to Clark about her deepest fears. Even so, she needs him desperately.

Ann

I was quite positively surprised that they talked so soon.

After all, noble men have visited their concubines for centuries while their wives where pregnant. So, I guess you should be all set.
*SCNR with all the NK stuff floating around*

And still so much angst...

/more or less patiently waits for lots of rewards at the end of this ride/

Michael

Ok, so Lois has finally opened up (a little) to Clark, but when will she stop blaming herself?

Looking forward to part 41!

Thanks for your comments, everyone.

Evelyn, I'm really glad you're enjoying the story.

Ann, I agree that Clark has found a way to focus himself on what is most important to him and Lois hasn't. You're right that she feels guilty and she doesn't recognize the guilt as irrational. It doesn't matter that she didn't know, because she's already told herself that it wouldn't have changed her decision. I know I went tap dancing in an ethical minefield when I decided to open this can of worms, but the Muse was pretty adamant about it. (I wonder how Terry's Muses would have handled it. )

Michael, you're definitely picking up the tiny shreds of levity I've been trying to inject into this plot line. And I'm glad you're glad they didn't decide to forget how to talk to each other for about a hundred pages of angst or so. Thanks for waiting patiently. More is on its way.

DW, when will Lois stop blaming herself? Good question. Let's hope she's not trying to give Clark a run for his money in that department. More's coming up.

Thanks!

Rac