He shrugs. “Don’t say I didn’t offer to get your blood pumping.”
The door opens and my OBGYN enters. She’s a tiny thing who looks like she’s not old enough to have made it through high school let alone med school, but she’s the best in LA. “Hello, hello.”
“Hi, Dr. Ramirez.”
“And who is this? Our baby daddy perhaps?”
“Gabe Laurier.” Gabe stands and offers his hand to shake.
“Well, this kid just won the genetic lottery. Dr. Ramirez, pleasure to meet you.” She slips her hand in his and gives a vigorous shake while turning to me and mouthing, “hot”.
“Should I leave so you two can get better acquainted?” I tease.
“Perhaps if I preferred penis to vagina.” She winks and sits on a stool at the base of the bed, and I feel a sudden urge to squeeze my legs tightly closed. “How are we feeling today, Lo?”
“Excited, and a little nervous.”
“Oh, don’t be. Twenty weeks is the fun ultrasound.” She sets my file on the sterile counter beside her and snaps on a set of fresh gloves. “Alright, let’s see what this little person has in store for us today, shall we? Maybe we’ll even get lucky and see the sex. You want to know right, no surprises?”
“Definitely,” I say.
At the same time Gabe says, “Yeah, we’re all in.”
She performs a basic pelvic exam and then moves to my abdomen. She squeezes a little lubricant on my belly and picks up her transducer, pressing it to the surface of my skin.
“There’s the little one.” She turns the screen toward us and points to the light gray blob in the center. “Right there.”
The baby kicks as if trying to shove the encroaching device away from them. A tiny little leg jumps on the screen, and I laugh.
“Holy shit, did you see that?”
“We’ve got a little kicker on our hands, huh?” She waves the transducer over my belly and taps her keyboard a few times, freezing the frame on the screen. “Measurements are all looking really good, though they are slightly above where they should be for your gestational age, so I think we’re having a long baby, folks.”
I smile up at Gabe. “No surprises there with daddy’s height.”
He grasps my hand. “As long as they get their mama’s looks, I’m happy.”
“Now, it’s not one hundred percent accurate but I think we can safely say that is a penis.” She taps away at her keys, and the screen zeros in on a tiny phallic image with a big arrow right next to it.
“A boy?” I ask, ecstatic as I glance up at Gabe’s proud face.
“Yep, healthy baby boy.” Dr. Ramirez presses the transducer to the outside of my abdomen. “Let’s take a quick look at the placenta, and then you two are good to go.”
“I can’t believe we’re having a boy.” Gabe leans in and kisses my cheek. “God, Freckles. How did we get so lucky?”
Dr. Ramirez pushes a little harder with the wand and I flinch. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine.”
She turns the screen back to face her, and her expression is so serious, and lacking all her usual good humor.
“Is everything okay?”
“There appears to be some placental lucencies that went undetected before.”
“What?” I shake my head. “What does that mean?”
“Diagnosis via ultrasound is not always one hundred percent accurate and it can be very hard to detect in the first trimester, which is perhaps why we missed it before now.”