Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 71348 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71348 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
It’s been a little over two weeks since the procedure.
A week since Rachel told me she loved me.
Life is good and will continue to be so, regardless of what’s in that folder. Rachel and I have spent a lot of time discussing “what ifs” this past week, and we’re both of the mind that what will be will be.
Last night, Rachel said, “We can handle anything as long as we’re together.”
I pretty much attacked her after she said that. She does that a lot lately. Says things that catch me off guard and are very “un-Rachel-like”. They make me fucking horny as hell. My busted elbow has done nothing to slow me down in that respect. I’ve just had to get creative, that’s all.
“Rachel, Bodie,” Dr. Anchors says lightly as he smiles at us. “I’m not going to beat around the bush. All testing from the amnio is fine. The baby doesn’t have any detectable chromosomal abnormalities.”
I let out a huge sigh of relief, and Rachel giggles nervously. Our hands reach out and clasp without even looking at each other.
“Let’s get that ultrasound done, shall we?” Dr. Anchors says.
“Let’s,” Rachel agrees. She lays back on the examination table, dragging her t-shirt up to expose her belly. She doesn’t even wait for Dr. Anchors, but also pushes down the waistband of the yoga pants to clear the path for the gel and wand.
Dr. Anchors chuckles as he adjusts the machine and pulls out the bottle of gel. I step in closer to the table, my hand taking Rachel’s again.
I suck air into my lungs and hold it there. Impossibly hold it forever as Dr. Anchors squirts the cool liquid on Rachel’s stomach, which is starting to round beautifully at seventeen weeks. She hisses slightly from the coldness, and then her hand squeezes mine as the wand starts gliding over her stomach.
An image appears on the screen… it looks like blobs to me at first, but—is that the head? I think it is. As the wand slowly moves, it becomes so clear what we’re looking at. The wonder of it all overwhelms me. The 3D technology gives so much detail it’s absolutely magical.
“There we go,” Dr. Anchors murmurs as he moves the wand slowly and taps a few keys on the keyboards to take measurements. Then my heart practically explodes when he points to the screen. “Right there. You were right, Rachel… it’s a boy.”
“A boy,” I whisper in awe as I look at Rachel.
“A boy,” she says in an “I told you so” tone punctuated with a nod of her head.
Dr. Anchors marks two spots on the screen with the mouse. “Those are the little boy parts in between those two dots I just marked.”
“Holy cow,” I wheeze. “Is it me or is he already well endowed? A chip off the old block.”
Rachel’s hand slips from mine before popping me in the chest. I give an exaggerated oomph while Dr. Anchors laughs.
For the next ten minutes, Dr. Anchors records the images and takes measurements. We ask him to focus time and time again on the face, which has amazing clarity given how little our kid is.
“He has your nose,” I tell Rachel.
“Your smile,” she says. I mean… you can even see the baby smile.
“I’d normally print a few of these off for you to take along with a DVD I’ll give you, but this stupid printer isn’t printing.” As if to punctuate his frustration, he taps extra hard on a button on the small printer below the ultrasound machine. “I’m sorry. I’m going to get someone to come in and look at this. Why don’t you get dressed and wait out in the lobby, and we’ll get it figured out?”
“It’s not a big deal,” Rachel says lightly. “We can come back later.”
“Of course it’s a big deal,” I scoff. I turn to Dr. Anchors. “Thanks. We’ll just wait out in the lobby.”
Dr. Anchors leaves to get a technician, and Rachel gets dressed. She chatters up a storm about the nursery and picking a name. We’ve already developed individual lists of names we like. I, of course, did a list for boys and girls. Rachel only did boys, convinced she was correct about the gender.
We sit out in the lobby, heads bent toward each other and whispering about baby shit. It’s filled almost to capacity with pregnant women, some with their partners. I wonder if any of them are having as good a day as I am. Rachel practically jumps in her seat she’s so excited, and it almost threatens to unman me.
Seeing her like this.
She’s come so far in such a brief time. My biggest joy was when she realized she wanted to be a mom, but her telling me she loves me was a close second. If all goes well, today’s going to be fucking amazing, too.