Page 16 of A Seed Of Peril

Happy tears made their way to my eyes.A boy. I was having a boy. I was giving Dominic a son.I couldn’t have been happier. Dominic leaned closer and kissed me, thanking me. I kissed him again, a tear slipping from the corner of my eye.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too,Bellissima.” He sat back in the chair, my hand still in his. He didn’t want to let me go yet.

“Your son is thriving to the fullest,” Julie said, drawing my attention back to her. “I don’t see any issues or abnormalities on the scan or in your bloodwork. You’re doing a great job, Lilith.”

Before she could turn the screen back toward her, I caught our boy sucking his thumb. Laughing, I said, “Oh, my goodness.” Dominic and Julie laughed.

“I’ll get a picture of that too for you.”

“We appreciate it,” Dominic said.

Julie turned off the ultrasound machine and put the probe back into its holder. She then began wiping the gel off my stomach.

“I’ll have some paperwork for you before you leave, along with your pictures. It’s just copies of your labs and everything I checked for at today’s scan, as well as some handy information about this stage of your pregnancy.” Both Dominic and Julie helped me sit up, my feet dangling over the side of the exam table. With her hand on my shoulder, she said, “Let me go and get that stuff for you, and then we can go over any questions or concerns you might have before you leave.”

I nodded as she left the room, turning my attention to my best friend. He cradled my exposed belly in his hands, bending down to kiss it before resting his ear against it, listening. I threaded my fingers through his hair. “I wish we could hold him right now,” I said.

Dominic felt around the side of my belly, giving it another kiss. Our son kicked in response, garnering a laugh from his daddy.

My heart and soul were warm and tingly. Since our last appointment, when Julie asked about finding out the gender, Dominic had mentioned that while a healthy baby was the goal, he wished for a son. So did I, and I had secretly felt that we were having a boy for these past few weeks. I couldn’t explain it. Call it mother’s intuition. We both had gotten our wish, and all I wanted to do was shout my happiness from the rooftop.

“I love you so much,” Dominic told me as he leaned close, his arms at my sides. He kissed me between my eyes, resting his forehead to mine.

“I love you, too, Dominic.”

Julie walked back inside, interrupting our moment. Dominic started to back up, but I grabbed his shirt, holding him close, whispering, “No.”

Dominic took the paperwork from Julie and the photographs in their protective envelope. She did that each visit to make sure the photographs didn’t risk getting bent or damaged. Julie brought the chair Dominic had sat in over to where she was and had a seat. We both looked at her, taking in every word. I kept a hold of Dominic’s shirt, anxious. I was always anxious when hearing anything about our baby. I knew nothing was wrong, but I couldn’t help it. I learned the hard way over time that life could change in the blink of an eye.

“Before we talk about any questions you might have, I just wanted to let you know you’re still measuring slightly ahead, and with the labs normal and your son healthy, there's nothing to worry about. It seems he’ll just be a bigger baby.”

My stomach sank as I put my hands on my belly. I was glad he was healthy, but I was scared to face the reality of pushing out a large child.Would I tear? Would his size cause problems during labor? Would he get stuck? Would I wimp out in the middle of pushing and give up?God, I hoped not. I wished I didn’t have to go through childbirth, that I could wave a magic wand and he would just be here.

I pulled Dominic closer and rested the side of my face against his chest, just wanting to feel him right now. Smell him. He held me, rubbing my back.

“Are you okay, Lilith?” Julie asked.

“She’s nervous,” Dominic answered for me, which I was thankful for. He cupped the back of my head in his hand, kissing the top of it. “Scared,” he went on, telling Julie.

“I understand,” Julie said. “Try not to stress yourself though, Lilith. I know that’s much easier said than done, however.”

“How big will he be?” I asked her.

“I can’t say with any certainty. Ultrasounds are notorious for being off in predicting weight. Your belly is measuring at twenty-one weeks, so a week ahead, which isn’t excessive. The scan tells me he weighs eleven ounces and is measuring seven inches long. You could say he's the size of a banana or a sweet potato.”

I moved away from Dominic’s chest, looking up at him. He cupped my cheeks in his palms, getting near nose to nose.

“Don’t be scared. You have the finest medical care money can buy. Everything will be fine.”

“He’s right,” Julie agreed. “Everything will be just fine. If any concerns do arise in the next few weeks, then we’ll discuss it, but for right now, I’m not worried.”

Nodding, I wiped the bit of tears that lined my eyes as I distanced myself from Dominic. I used my arms for support, taking a deep breath.

“Did you have anything you wanted to talk about further? Anything you want more details on or any concerns?”

I nodded. “My back and hips have really been hurting me lately. It even goes down into my groin.”

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