Nickel
“They put some goop on your stomach and then we’ll see the baby, right?”
Karmen shook her head and adjusted the gown she was wearing. Her ass was hanging out, and she was doing everything she could to wrap the damn thing completely around her. “They do a vaginal ultrasound. The baby is too small to see with the one you are talking about.”
I sat forward on my hard-ass chair and braced my elbows on my knees. “Hold the hell up. You mean to tell me they’re going to shove something up your pussy, and then we see the baby?”
Karmen laughed. “In very basic terms, yes.”
Holy hell. What in the hell had I signed up for? I knew I was going to see a baby pushed out of her vagina eventually, but I wasn’t prepared for the good ol’ doc to get so up close and personal today. “Is this normal?”
“I’m not an OB nurse, but from what I know, yes, this is normal. Every time I come to the doctor from now on, they’ll do a vaginal exam to make sure everything is okay.”
The door to our exam room opened, and a chick wearing fancy clothes and a white doctor coat walked into the room. “Hi. I’m Dr. Krane.” She held her hand out first to Karmen and then to me. “So, we’re pregnant,” she sang out while she pulled out Karmen’s file and sat down on the rolling chair next to the bed.
“The test results came back positive?” Karmen asked.
“Yup, you definitely have a baby on board. Congratulations!”
Have you ever felt like the floor was falling out from under you, but you floated away, not feeling anything? That was where I was. Floating around because I was going to be a dad. Karmen would forever be tied to me with the little baby she was growing in her belly.
I buried my face in my hands and tried to get a grip. It had been four days since Karmen told me she was pregnant. I thought that I had a grip on this shit, but the doctor had blown all of that away by cementing in the fact that I was going to be a dad.
“Um, is everything okay?” I heard the doctor ask.
“Oh yeah,” Karmen laughed. “He’s still getting over the shock of having a baby.”
“Well, he’ll have at least eight months to get used to it from what you said about missing your period for a few weeks. Plenty of time to get all of those nerves and jitters out.”
I didn’t have nerves and jitters.
I was happy as hell and kept wondering how in the hell I got so lucky.
“So, I’m going to do a little exam, make sure everything looks good, and then we can get down to the fun of seeing the little guy and hopefully hearing his heartbeat.”
My headshot up. “We get to hear him?” Karmen hadn’t mentioned anything about hearing him.
The doctor smiled, and she stood. “Yes, as long as he works with us and doesn’t try to hide, you’ll be able to hear his strong heartbeat.” She told Karmen to lay back on the exam table and started checking her over.
The next thing I knew, she was yanking out these stirrup things on the table, telling Karmen to put her heels in them and to lay down. As soon as she laid down, the doc pulled over a small cart, whipped out a wand thingy, and then she was shoving the damn thing up Karmen’s hoo-ha. I shifted uncomfortably in my chair, not really down with watching this.
“You can go up by her head if you want. That way, I can turn the screen so you both can see it.”
I jumped up from my chair and stood at the head of the exam table. Thank God. Karmen grabbed my hand and groaned a little bit.
“You all right?”
She bit her bottom lip and grimaced. “Yeah, just weird.”
“Just a little bit more pressure, and then we’ll be there.”
I didn’t know we were on a journey through Karmen’s vagina. “It’s okay, baby girl.” I brushed her hair off her forehead and pressed a kiss to her temple.
She looked up at me with a weak smile. “Bet you didn’t expect this, did you?”
I chuckled and shook my head. “Not at all.”
“Sorry,” she whispered.
“I take it this is a first for you two?” We both nodded. “All right. Why don’t you two have a look at your baby then.” She turned the cart toward us, and we both eagerly looked at the small screen.
My head tilted to the left and then the right, trying to figure out where exactly the kid was. Thankfully, the doctor took pity on me and pointed out a blurb that was apparently the baby. I had to take her word for it because honestly, I didn’t know what I was looking out.
“Now for the heartbeat.” She flipped a couple of switches, and then there was a steady beat coming from the screen.
Karmen clapped her hand over her mouth and burst into tears. “That’s him?” she gasped.
“Or her,” the doctor beamed. “You won’t be able to find out a for a bit if it’s a boy or girl, but from everything I’ve seen today, I can say the baby is healthy and doing good. We’ll have you go up to the third floor for some imaging so we can figure out exactly when your due date is.”
I held my breath, memorizing the sound of the baby’s heartbeat.
Karmen asked questions, but all I could do was stare at the screen and listen to the little life that Karmen and I had made.
The doc slowly took the wand out then packed up the cart. “I’ll have you make an appointment to come back in next month just for a check-up and to go over any questions you have.” She nodded to both of us, congratulated us again, and then she was gone.
Karmen slowly sat up and pushed down the paper gown. “Are you okay?”
I blinked slowly and delved my fingers into her hair. “You’re having my baby,” I said stupidly.
A huge smile spread across her lips. “I sure am.”
**********
Karmen
I held the tiny picture in my hand and couldn’t stop looking at it.
After we finished up with the doctor, we went to make an appointment for an ultrasound and found out if we hurried to the third floor, they could fit us in right away.
So, after slipping into my second paper gown of the day and laying on a hard-ass exam table, I got to see our baby again.
“So how accurate is that due date?” Nickel asked as he pulled out of the hospital parking lot.
“I think it’s pretty spot-on. The second week of January, you and I will be parents as long as this little bean doesn’t decide to take up residence any longer.”
Nickel laughed. “And if he does, are you going to serve him with eviction papers?”
I rubbed my belly and rested my head against the headrest. “He’s good in there for now. Ask me again in seven months when I look like an elephant and am probably uncomfortable as hell.”
“You make it sound so fun, baby girl.”
I laughed and turned to look at him. “I really have no idea how this is going to go. Is it strange that I’m excited to get as big as a house?”
Nickel glanced over. “Probably not exactly what most women look forward to, but whatever makes ya happy.”
And I was happy.
So damn happy that I was terrified something bad was coming.
**********