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I’m going to be a father.
EPILOGUE
FOUR MONTHS LATER
Alana
“Are you ready?” Finlay asks.
I glance up at him. I’ve been watching my stomach, admiring the slow rise of it, finally something I can physically feel under my hand – even if it isn’t totally obvious to others yet.
“Ready?” I say. “I’ve been ready for four months!”
Finlay chuckles and kisses the back of my hand.
“Alright, lovely,” the nurse says. “Can you lift up your shirt for me? I’m going to pop this paper into your waistband so your clothes don’t get gel on them, is that alright?”
I nod, pushing my shirt over my stomach and wriggling a little in anticipation.
This isn’t my first scan, so I know what comes next. The gel is cold, but I don’t mind.
“There we are,” the nurse says, squirting gel onto my stomach and then plopping the ultrasound wand down onto it. “Ah! And there’s your little one. They are ready for us today!”
I chuckle, watching the screen with rapt attention just as Finlay is. I can’t tear my eyes away. “So much bigger than last time,” I breathe.
The nurse chuckles back. “Yes, they do grow fast. I’m going to do a quick check of everything first, make sure all systems are a go, and then we’ll be able to find out the sex of your baby at the end if you’d like.”
“Yes, please!” I blurt out so fast that the nurse can barely even finish speaking. Finlay laughs and squeezes my hand. Neither of us looks away from our baby's image on the screen.
It’s only a black and white image, and most of the details are lacking. Instead of the baby’s no doubt adorable face, there is just a white outline. The whole body is the same.
It’s also possible to see through their little body, the organs, bones, and even the tiny pulsing of their heart.
It’s magical.
Wonderful.
My breath catches with every new discovery, hands, and feet positioned in a sleepy pose. Functioning kidneys. The curve of their spine, and with a little push of the wand against my skin, tiny ribs are revealed.
“Alright,” the nurse says, finally. “We’ve got all parts present and correct, it seems. Now for the sex, yes?”
“Yes!” I exclaim, so eager to get on with it, so impatient.
I just want to know.
The nurse brings the wand down on my belly and pushes down a little, and says, “There we are. I don’t see any evidence of a penis, so it looks like you’re having a bouncing baby girl.”
I clap my hand over my mouth in a delighted sob, my eyes filling with tears. I blink them away rapidly, not wanting to lose sight of the image while the ultrasound is still going. Beside me, Finlay is laughing in joy, wiping at his own eyes.
“A girl,” he says, and all I can do is nod in response, confirming and acknowledging the wonderful news.
The wand comes away from my stomach and the image on the screen disappears, along with the soothing pulse of our baby’s heartbeat.
The nurse quickly wipes my stomach clean of the goop, and I sit up, dressing again.
My arms and legs are shaking. I feel like I’m about to step out onto a cloud of air, not the floor.
“Thank you so much,” Finlay tells the nurse with fervor in his voice. He holds my hand to guide me down and doesn’t let go as if he knows full well I’m so giddy I might have trouble keeping myself upright.
