Page 60 of Doctor Daddy

28

BROOKE

The paper covering the examination table rustled under my legs. At least I no longer needed to wear an examination gown during these appointments. I lay back as Nurse Bea took my vital signs.

“How’s your morning sickness been?” she asked.

“I haven’t had very much of it in the past couple of weeks, which is a good thing because I was really getting sick of being sick,” I laughed.

She chuckled. I’m sure it wasn’t the first time she had heard that.

“I don’t know why they call it morning sickness when it feels sick all the freakin time,” I complained.

“Now that you’re well into your second trimester it usually does ease off.”

“If I’m only in my second trimester, why am I so huge? How big is this thing?”

I didn’t simply have a baby bump; I had a baby Mount Everest. Other pregnant women looked at me as if I was the most pregnant, they had ever seen a woman be, and I wasn’t even six months along.

“Babies are going to grow and take up as much room as they can,” Nurse Bea said.

“You make it sound like a goldfish.”

I hiked my shirt over my belly, and she adjusted the heart rate monitor around my waist. Once she got that steady shoo-shoo-shoo sound of the baby’s heartbeat, she left me for a few minutes while the monitor recorded what it needed to record. I relaxed back and listened to the setting heartbeat of my baby.

When Nurse Bea came back, she was pulling a cart full of equipment.

“The chart says that it is time for your twenty-week ultrasound.”

I pushed up on my elbows and watched as she rolled in the device and began setting it up. The last time I had an ultrasound they had sent me to another department where they got the very first pictures. They assured me the fuzzy gray shows were the beginnings of my child.

“Is this the ultrasound where we find out if I’m having a boy or a girl?” I asked eagerly.

Nurse Bea unclipped the heart monitor. “You’ll need to pull your shirt up a little more, and can we get your pants down a bit. Boy or girl? Only if the baby is cooperating.”

I held my shirt up and pushed the waistband of my pants down low onto my hips.

“This was supposed to be warm, but it might be a little bit cool.” She took what looked like a clear ketchup bottle and squirted a clear gel on my belly. And then she began rubbing the wand over my skin, pushing in uncomfortably every now and then.

I watched the monitor while she clicked and dragged and did all the computer things. But I could clearly see the shape and face of my baby in profile.

“Oh, wow.” I felt a rush of love and excitement. That was my baby. “Can you tell me if it’s a boy or a girl?”

“Let’s see what we can do here.” She began pushing and moving the ultrasound wand across my stomach more.

I watched my baby move on the monitor as I felt it shifting inside.

Nurse Bea stopped moving the wand around. She made a small intake of a gasp followed by a concerning sound.

“Is something the matter?” I asked.

She moved the wand around again and pushed and made more of those concerning ‘Hmm’ sounds.

I took several deep breaths. There was no need to panic. At least that’s what I was telling myself.

“I’ll be right back.” She turned to me and patted my arm. “Nothing is the matter. I’ll be right back.”

She left me on the exam table, belly still covered in goo, staring at the last image on the computer monitor.

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