Uncaged

“Ah, good morning, Cage family!”  Melissa’s doctor comes in and starts asking her all the routine questions before measuring her stomach and pushing it all over the place.  I hate this part.  Melissa grabs my hand and just smiles up at me, reminding me that the doctor isn’t hurting her.

“Will we be able to determine the gender today, Dr. Nicholson?”  Melissa asks softly.

I squeeze her hand out of reflex.  We’ve both been looking forward to this since the day she told me she was pregnant, but more importantly, we have a little dude at home anxiously awaiting the news on his new sibling.

“Yes, Melissa dear.  Sixteen weeks on the dot, perfect gestational age to take a look and see.”  He smiles down at her, his weathered face clearly happy to be a part of this.  I swear this man is never in a bad mood.  “Are you ready, son?  This is a big day for you, too.”

“Yes, sir.  We can’t wait.”

He smiles and pats me on the back before getting Melissa ready for her ultrasound.

When he places the wand on her bump and starts spreading the gel around, I look up at his face. I don’t know why I was focusing on him and not the monitor, but I notice immediately when his bushy white brows pull together and his lips purse in thought.  I immediately get worried.  I know that Melissa senses that something is off because she’s looking at his face too.

“Doc?”  I question, not even ashamed of the slight quiver that gives my fear away.

“What?  Oh…yes, everything is okay.  Just wasn’t expecting… that.”  he says softly.  Almost as if he’s questioning himself.

“Doc, I don’t mean any disrespect here, but you’re kind of freaking us out.”  Melissa whimpers softly, and I know that she’s barely holding it in.  I lean down and lightly kiss her before turning my attention back to Dr. Nicholson.

“I’m sorry, Melissa, Greg… I was just making sure...”  He trails off and turns the monitor towards us before placing the wand back on her stomach.  “All right, you see here?  This is the first head, and you see here?  This is the second.  Quite tricky.  You have a little hider!”  He laughs.

Melissa hasn’t said anything.  She’s just looking at the doctor in complete shock.

“What the hell?  My baby has two heads!?”  I practically scream.  Why is everyone so calm?  My baby is going to be born with two heads!

My outburst seems to clear Melissa of her fog.  Before I can get another word out, she reaches up and smacks the side of my head.

“Seriously, Greg?”  She laughs, joining the already laughing doctor.

What the hell is so funny?  Aren’t they at all worried about my two-headed baby?

“Oh dear, I’m very sorry.  I should have been more clear, Greg.  This,” he says, pointing at the monitor again, “is Baby A’s head, and this one is Baby B’s.  Congratulations.  It appears as if you are having twins, and sneaky ones at that.  Hiding this whole time.  And… Oh yes, very clear.  Do you two want to know the genders?”  He looks at Melissa first, who I assume nods her head.  I’m still stuck back at my two-headed baby.

No, not two heads.

Twins.

“Holy shit.  We’re having twins?”  I whisper, looking down at Melissa.  She’s smiling her beautiful, blinding smile at me.  Tears slowly roll down her cheeks.  “Beauty, we’re having twins!”

She laughs as I cover her mouth in a passionate kiss.  After a few seconds, she pushes me back, reminding me where we are.  When I look up at Dr. Nicholson, he’s just smiling at the monitor.

“Please, we would like to know.”

“I figured as much.  Quite a shock, but a happy one.  And now that they have decided to let us know their little secret, they aren’t being shy at all.”  He pulls the wand away and turns to us with a smile.  “Congratulations again.  Your twin daughters look perfectly healthy.”  He continues to talk to Melissa while I stare at the picture in my hand of my babies.

Twins!

I don’t let her hand go once on the way to pick up Cohen.  When we pull up at his daycare, I run in with a big smile on my face.

“Daddy!”  Before I even have the door to his classroom open completely, his small body is barreling towards me.  “Daddy, did you see it?  Was I right?  Is it a girl?  Does it have a wiener?  What is Mommy going to do if it has a wiener?  She can’t look at them.  Did you see it?”

I laugh and pull him up into my arms. “Well, hello to you too, C-Man.”

“Hi, Daddy.  Do I have a sister?  Is she pretty like Mommy?  Do you think she can fight ninjas?”  When I don’t answer, his small hands grab my cheeks and pull my face towards his.  Nose to nose, smile to smile.  God, I love this kid.  “Was I right?”  he asks with all the seriousness a four-year-old can muster.

“Can’t tell you yet.  You know that wouldn’t be fair to Mommy.  She wants to see your handsome face when we tell you the news.”  I kiss his nose and continue out the door, waving to the teachers on the way.

“I know I’m right, Daddy, but I’ll still be happy for Mommy so she thinks she got a secret.”  He snickers a few times before waving at Melissa from across the parking lot.

Cohen continues his questions during the whole fifteen-minute ride home.  I think I’ve heard the word wiener more times than I knew possible to fit into one conversation.  Melissa just continues to smile at him and holds off his questions.

By the time we pull up at the house, he is bouncing in his seat.  The second the car shuts off, he takes off running around the driveway.  I help Melissa out, and we make our way inside, Cohen still asking a million questions behind us.

“Cohen, baby, calm down.”  Melissa laughs, pulling him closer.

“Can’t!” he screams with a big smile.  “I gotta know!  Was I right?  Am I going to have a sister?  I have to know so I can practice.  I gotta protect my sister!”

I sit down next to Melissa and pull him into my lap.  “All right, buddy.  You know how we got to use that special camera today to see inside Mommy’s belly?  Well, we found out something else today.  The doctor said that there isn’t just one, but two babies in there, and you were right.  You are getting a sister, only now you’re getting two sisters.”