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"Sure, let's go."
The office was small and all white, smelling like a hospital. There were several women inside and two men next to pregnant women. Or at least I guessed they were pregnant; only one was showing. Bonnie spoke with the woman behind the reception desk and filled out what seemed like a million forms. Afterward, she and I sat down side by side.
"How come you could take off in the middle of the day?" I asked her.
"Oh, I had an overnight shift."
"I didn't know you had those."
"I signed up for them, at least until the baby's here."
"Is that safe for you?" I asked.
She laughed. "Yes, Travis. Working is safe."
"Working, yes, but that sounds like overworking."
She looked at me, shaking her head. A smile played on her lips. "It's okay. Really."
I put it on the list of things I planned to circle back to later.
"Bonnie?" a female voice said.
Bonnie rose to her feet. I did the same, putting a hand on the small of her back.
"Dr. Taylor. Hi," Bonnie said. “This is Travis, the baby’s father.”
"Come on in, both of you," she said as we stepped inside, and she closed the door.
I looked around.What the hell is this?It looked like a torture space. There was a table, and a chair like the ones at the dentist, only worse. It had some sort of support for the feet, I supposed. The tools laid out on the tray next to it were something out of a horror movie.
Bonnie took off her coat. "Should I change?”
"No, you don't have to. You’re far enough along for a regular ultrasound. You don’t need a transvaginal one."
Transvaginal? Jesus Christ.
“Let me take your blood-pressure first,” the doctor said, wrapping an inflatable cuff around Bonnie’s arm. A few minutes later, she took it off, making notes in the chart.
“Now, push up your shirt for the ultrasound,” Dr. Taylor added as Bonnie lay down on the table.
Bonnie did just that, and the doctor squirted a gel on her belly and rubbed it around. Then she grabbed the stick and told me, "You'll see best if you stand right next to me or between me and the bed."
I took my position, looking at the screen. It was still black. The second the stick connected to Bonnie's lower abdomen, gray shapes appeared on the screen and a blob. It was pulsing. Instantly, a pumping sound filled the air.
"And there's the heartbeat," Dr. Taylor said.
This was my child's heartbeat. This was the absolute best moment of my life.
"Everything okay?" Bonnie asked, skimming her hand up and down the side of the bed.
I took her hand in mine. She squeezed it very tightly.
"Everything looks normal. The stats are exactly where they should be at this point in time." She looked at us. "Congratulations to both of you. Do you want printed copies of the sonogram?”
“Yes,” Bonnie and I said at the same time.
Dr. Taylor nodded. “Bonnie, I want to monitor your blood pressure. It's the only thing on your chart that worries me."
