Dr. Liston entered with a smile and friendly eyes. He was an older gentleman, making me think of a small country doctor. I thought I might be more comfortable with a woman, but Dr. Liston looked like a man who’d delivered a lot of babies in his lifetime.
"Mrs. Dunsmore, how are you?"
I shook the hand he extended. "I'm good, thank you." Was it bad to lie to your doctor about your mental health?
"Good. Good to hear it. You’re eating healthy and taking prenatal vitamins?" He stepped back toward the laptop on the desk.
"Yes."
"You're not smoking or drinking or using substances?"
"No."
He looked at me from the computer. "How about exercise? You don't want to do anything too strenuous, but you do want to be active."
"To be honest, I haven't really been doing too much of that."
"You can start by walking. Just a half-hour a day will do."
I nodded.
He was quiet for a moment as he reviewed the chart. "This has your time of conception around the middle of December."
"That was when I finished my period. If I were to guess, I got pregnant the week after Christmas." After all, that was when I had sex with James. It was a little sad that the baby wasn't conceived from love, but I suspected there were many children in this world who were created from undenied lust.
Dr. Liston stepped over to me. "Can you lie back on the table and lift your shirt?”
I settled back on the slightly inclined table and pulled my shirt up to under my breasts. I pushed my yoga pants down below my belly. Each time I saw the soft swell of my belly, emotion welled inside me. It was beyond all to think that a life was growing there. A few times, I’d considered showing it to James, but I knew it was only to try and change his mind. Since I didn’t want to experience his rejection again, I’d kept it to myself.
Dr. Liston’s hands gently pressed over my belly. "It looks like you're showing already. Are you sure about the December conception date?"
I looked into his face, wondering if that was a bad thing since it sounded unusual.
Now I was starting to worry. "That was my last period. And I hadn't had sex before that. Well, I had, but that was back just before Thanksgiving. Is something wrong?"
He shook his head and smiled. "I've no reason to think anything's wrong. I just question whether you’re further along than initially estimated. Most women don't show in their first pregnancy until closer to sixteen weeks, sometimes twenty."
"Maybe it's just a big baby?"
He patted my hand. "It's not something to worry about. Everything seems fine. How about we listen to the heartbeat? Regardless of when you conceived, you are far enough along for us to hear that."
My heart did cartwheels in my chest. "I'll be able to hear my baby?"
His smile was sweet as he put gel on my belly and used a wand to smear the gel around. “Okay, let's see what we can hear."
He continued to press the wand and move it around until rhythmic beating emanated from the device.
"Oh, my God. Is that it?" I wanted to put my hands on my belly to touch my baby, but the doctor was continuing to move the wand around.
When he didn't respond, worry grew again.
"That is the heartbeat rate? Is something wrong?"
He pulled the device aside and gave me a measured expression. "Well, I think we found the reason you look like you're four months pregnant when you're closer to three."
Oh, God. “Do I have a tumor or something?"
"Mrs. Dunsmore, you have twins."