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a beached whale with swollenankles!”
“Don’t be silly,” she scolded. “Josh is right, you are going to look beautiful.” I shook my head at her and before I could respond, I heard my name being called. I looked up to see the nurse from my previous appointment standing in the hallway, waiting for me. I felt bad that I couldn’t remember her name, but my last visit had been a bit of a blur. Josh took my hand and we made our way over toher.
“Hello again Savannah, how are you?” the nurse said with a smile before turning and leading us down thehallway.
“Hi, I’m good, thank you,” I replied as she led us into one of the consultingrooms.
“Dr. Johnson will be with you shortly. You can change into the gown that’s on the bed, and I’ll be back in a few minutes to take some blood and do some other checks,” she said, glancing at Josh, who was still holding my hand. She smiled at me before leaving theroom.
I quickly changed into the gown and sat on the bed. A moment later, a knock sounded on the door and the nurse came back in. “Right, let’s start with your blood pressure.” She reached for a machine and strapped a cuff around my upper arm then pressed some buttons on the machine. While she wasn’t looking, I sneaked a look at her nametag, and as soon as I saw her name—Aubrey—it came flooding back. The machine beeped and the cuff on my arm tightened and then relaxed. “That all looks fine,” Aubrey said, noting down the numbers. “Now for the blood test.” She prepared the needle and quickly took some blood. “Have you had any problems since your last appointment?” I quickly filled her in on my visit to the ER and my low blood pressure, and she made a note of it in my chart for Dr. Johnson. “Okay, just relax and I’ll be back in a minute with the doctor.” I nodded as she left, and Josh came to myside.
“You okay?” he asked, leaning down to kiss me. I nodded, watching his face as he looked around the room, his eyes widening as he found the poster of the different stages of labor. He looked a little pale as he looked back at me, and I chuckled. There was a knock on the door again, and Aubrey and Dr. Johnson entered theroom.
“Hello again Savannah,” Dr. Johnson said cheerily, giving me a warm smile as she made her way to where I was sitting on the bed. “How arethings?”
“Reallygood.”
“That’s great. Has the nausea eased up?” she asked, glancing at mychart.
“It’s there occasionally, but not like itwas.”
She nodded, her eyes finding Josh, who was holding my hand. “And are you Dad?” she asked him. He glanced at me and Ismiled.
“This is Josh,” I told her, answering for him. “And this is mymom.”
“Well it’s nice to meet you Josh, and you too Mom.” She looked over at where my mom was sitting. “Right, let’s have a little feel of your tummy and then we’ll do the scan.” She pulled a sheet over my lower half and pulled the gown up, exposing my skin. She felt around, pressing gently on my stomach. “Everything feels fine Savannah. Let’s have a look at baby, all right?” I nodded as she set the ultrasound machine up. Taking the probe, she squirted cold gel on my stomach, swirling it around and gently pushing down on my stomach. “So, you’re just over 21 weeks now, a couple of weeks further along than normal for this sonogram, but some of the checks we usually do at this appointment were done at the last scan.” She paused and glanced at her screen. “Like last time, if you look at the screen, baby should be appearing right about now.” She pushed some buttons on the machine and the screen lit up, the clear outline of a babyvisible.
I felt Josh grip my hand tighter and I glanced at him; his eyes were fixed on the screen, a smile on his lips. My mom’s eyes were also transfixed on the screen, and I was sure I could see a tear rolling down her cheek. Dr. Johnson pushed another button and the room was filled with a loud whooshing sound. “Heartbeat is nice and strong.” I watched as the baby moved all over the place. I couldn’t believe I couldn’t feel anything with the amount of wriggling that washappening.
“When will I be able to feel movements?” I asked Dr.Johnson.
“Any time now. It will feel like little flutters at first. Did you decide if you wanted to find out the sex?” she asked, looking at me and thenJosh.
I looked at him and smiled. “No, we’re going to wait,” I told her, my eyes fixed onhim.
“Are you sure Savannah?” Josh asked. “I thought you wanted toknow?”
“I thought I did too, then someone told me it was probably the best surprise I’ll ever have, and I think they’reright.”
He stood up and kissed me on the head. “Thank you,” he whispered. Dr. Johnson was quiet while she took various measurements and the longer she stayed quiet, the more worried I got. I kept staring at the screen and glancing back at Josh and then over to my mom; both of them smiledreassuringly.
“Is everything okay Dr. Johnson?” I asked nervously when I couldn’t wait anylonger.
“Everything is perfect.” I breathed a sigh of relief, my whole body relaxing at her words. “I’m sorry I went quiet, I just needed to take a few measurements and check baby’s heart, but everything looks great. You are still measuring at 21 weeks and one day, so your due date is still March 7th. Do you have anyquestions?”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t thinkso.”
“How about you Josh, is there anything you want to know or are worried about?” Dr. Johnson askedhim.
“Nothing I’m worried about, but can we get some pictures?” he asked, grinning atme.
Dr. Johnson laughed and reached her hand to the machine. “Of course, I printed some as we went along.” She passed a handful of images to Josh and I watched as he looked through them. Dr. Johnson passed me some tissue and I wiped the gel off my stomach. “I’ll leave you in Aubrey’s capable hands, and we’ll see you for your next appointment in a few weeks. Any problems, give the office acall.”
“Thank you, Dr. Johnson,” I told her as she smiled and left theroom.
“If you want to get dressed, I’ll go set up your next appointment,” Aubrey said with asmile.
“I know this wasn’t planned sweetheart, but I can’t wait for him or her to be here. This baby is going to be so loved,” my mom said, her voice choked with emotion as she kissed me on the cheek. “I’ll wait in reception and give you two aminute.”
