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Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

Baby bumps and butterflies

Babies are adorable. The pregnancy test? Not so much.

Sophomore Virginia Ferguson’s seven-month baby bump stretches beneath her tight, Pepto pink shirt. Ferguson, 28, says baby Melodie Faith is due April 27, the Saturday before final exams. She has two finals scheduled for Monday, but the baby could come any time in April.

“I am hoping she comes a week late,” Ferguson says.

Last summer, Ferguson began to feel nauseous. She had a lot of cravings. She knew she was pregnant before the test. But she didn’t want to believe it. She went to Target to buy a pregnancy test alone.

“I was just hoping I didn’t run into anyone I knew,” she says.

The test came back positive. She still didn’t want to believe it. So she went to the doctor just to make sure.

Scared. Nervous. Ferguson didn’t want to face other people’s reactions, including the baby’s father — her fiance at the time. His initial reaction was that he hoped it was a boy.

The first month was the hardest. She says she didn’t get too emotional until the end of last semester. There was a lot of fear about what she was going to do with the baby while still in school.

“The hardest thing is that it has been an emotional roller coaster,” Ferguson says. “I am not used to dealing with emotions, but I go from peaceful to angry in a second. I’m not used to getting angry.”

Ferguson plans to stay home with her baby this summer and return to IU as a part-time student in the fall.

“I will be more nervous in April, but school keeps me too busy to think about it,” she says.

For now, she is struggling to stay ahead in all of her classes. Despite everything, though, she can’t wait for Melodie’s arrival.

“I want her in my arms now,” Ferguson says.

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