Page 76 of See You Soon
“I swear Meredith. If you don’t shut up!” Emilia exclaims, glaring at her.
“What? If she’s pregnant, I will be so happy, I will spoil the baby! I'll babysit all the time."
Emilia and I stop breathing and look at her, dumbfounded. "You're not babysitting." We say synchronized.
If I’m pregnant, I'll stay positive no matter what. I truly believe that everything will be okay. I don’t know how Danny feels but I’m sure he would be okay… right? If I’m not pregnant, then I can relax and go back to my normal daily life and get my ass on birth control as soon as possible. I didn’t expect to become sexually active in Iraq so I didn’t think I needed to be on it.
It’s about that time to see the results so I flip it over, backing myself up on a wall so Meredith and Emilia couldn’t see. My hands are shaking, my body sweating and the nausea hits me like a tsunami.
My eyes lock onto the results and I drop the test.
Chapter33
ari
Iwalk into the doctor's office, numb. Photos of pregnant women and newborn babies hang on the neutral-colored, yellow walls. A mother of three who looks well into her third trimester sits, flipping through a magazine. I check in with the receptionist which led to new patient paperwork.
After filling out a mountain of papers, it wasn't long before I was called in by a medical assistant.
After finding out I was pregnant, I shut everyone out of my life. My friends and my mother. This was such a big moment and I wanted to digest it on my own. My life had been changed forever in such a short amount of time and I was doing my best to stay the "positive, sweet Ari" I've always been.
There was still no word from Danny. I didn't know anything. I didn't know how he was doing, when he was coming back, or if his team had saved Damon. It was driving me crazy. Now that I know I'm having his baby, I worry even more than before. I want him to be okay.I need him to be okay. I don't want uniformed men to show up at my door, ever again. I'm pregnant and I couldn't even tell the father. This military world was frustrating. I couldn't call him and he couldn't call me. I didn't want to tell Danny over a text or phone call either way. I'm going to wait until he returns. Depending on the length of his deployment.
I had a good idea of how far along I was. I was just about to turn four months pregnant. I still couldn't believe it had been four months since I first had sex with Danny.
Emilia's wedding is just a few days away and I've been pushing them all away. I took care of the bridesmaid dress fitting before I completely ghosted everyone. I promised her I would show up for her wedding.
I was still hiding the pregnancy from my mother. I didn't want to face her with this. The less stress I put on my body, the better. Stress affects the baby. Anything I feel, the baby feels. I don't think a screaming match with my mother would do any good to anybody.
I wasn't showing. If anything, after I ate was when I showed the most. Everything was moving so fast. I had no idea where my life was going but I knew I had to focus on this pregnancy and my transition to motherhood.
Situations like this happen all the time. One-night stands turning into pregnancies but Danny wasn't a one-night stand. We're together but I can only imagine that this isn't what he had planned. It definitely wasn't what I planned.
My sickness had died down quite a bit as the days go by. My nausea has gotten better and the vomiting has stopped. This was my first doctor's appointment and it was already going unlike I had imagined.I was alone and scared.The father has no clue and neither does my mother.
I can't believe this entire time I didn't know I was pregnant. I had no symptoms besides the nausea. My periods were always irregular. My app completely failed to track my fertile windows.
My doctor goes over paperwork with me before she conducts the ultrasound. I'm nervous, biting my lip, and sweating. The cold jelly around my naked stomach makes me flinch at first and my eyes are glued onto the monitor.
"Would you look at that? The little one looks healthy." Doctor Moore cheerfully says.
I'm looking at the monitor and I see a fully formed fetus with a strong heartbeat. My heart grows warm, my worries go away and I'm mesmerized by this little blip on the screen moving around.
"It looks like it's dancing in there." I laugh, breathing hard, trying to hold back the storm of tears that threatens my throat. My eyes narrow, fully encapsulated, and my smile grows stronger. My life was about to change and it was because of a little baby dancing inside of me.
"Yes, baby looks healthy and happy. Is your husband wanting a boy or girl?" Doctor says pulling away from and turning off the ultrasound machine. I grimace at her words and she quickly catches on.
"Sorry, we don't have to talk about that." She clears her throat, standing. I clean off the jelly that's left over on my stomach with napkins and my small window of happiness disappears at the mention of the father. I pull down my shirt and sit up on the table.
I had never felt so happy like that before. It was a different kind of experience seeing your baby for the first time on a monitor. This baby was my number one priority and I wouldn't let anyone take the joy out of it with their opinions. Things don't always go as planned but I was going to roll with it.
"You're far along enough to do the genetic testing. It checks for abnormalities the baby could have or does not have. Are you interested in the test? Your insurance covers it." Doctor Moore says taking off her gloves.
"Of course," I say standing up, gathering my things.
"And it checks for the gender. Would you like for us to check that?" She asks, raising a brow.
I hadn't given much thought to finding out the baby's gender. I wanted to wait for Danny. I'm just assuming he would want to be here for that.
