“You tricked me!”
“No. You don’t have to stick with what you said tonight. It’s OK to sleep on it, process it, mull it over. And up to a point, you can change your mind any time. You are empowered.”
“I like empowered. You do that to me all the time. Brian never did it.” Even though the change-of-subject face appeared, she surprised him again. “It had to be the night I moved in.”
He tried to think. “That’s right. We’re only here together once every three nights, and we were busy at work and at home that first week or two you were here. I think you’re right. So, that gives us a due date.”
“Uh-huh,” she said, rising to retrieve a gestation wheel. “Using that conception date makes September 22.”
“Wow, September 22.”
“September 22.” She turned and hugged him tightly, wiggling a little, and finally squealing a little. “September 22.”
“Is this what your mom meant by ‘giggly wiggly?’”
“Josh!”
“Well, that’s what she said.”
“We’re going to have a baby!”
“You made that decision fast. Are you sure?”
“Yes,” she said, sitting down beside him, legs under her. “I was trying to figure out how to talk you out of an abortion, which I was sure you would insist on. I was afraid this might break us up, to tell the truth. Then how would I deal with seeing you at work every day?”
“Because you would have insisted on not having an abortion?”
“Yes.” She was facing him now. “I’m sorry to have cast that upon you, but I did. Not only did you agree to have a baby, but you also agreed not to have one. The thing I love you most for is that you empower me, and now you’re doing it again. It’s something I’m not used to. You will have to put up with me until I quit thinking Brian’s way.”
“I’ll put up with you for a long time if you let me. Can Brian please not live here? I just want you to stop thinking Brian’s way.”
She said, “I’ll work on that. Really hard.”
“You’ll need some prenatal vitamins. I’ll take care of the Negra Modelo for you. I think I’ll have some now.” He rose and strutted to the kitchen, returning with a large glass mug of the smooth liquid. “Would you like some water, honey?”
She punched him in the arm, spilling a little beer on his shirt. “No thank you, dear.”
Chapter 23
“Hi, Ann,” Faith said as Ann entered the exam room.
“Hello, Faith — and Josh.”
Josh recognized the confusion on Ann’s face. “Faith lives with me, and this is our baby.”
“OK,” she nodded. “I did not know that. In fact, I only recently heard, from you-will-never-guess-who, that you were married to Brian Yankton. Gad.”
“Yes,” Faith said.
“So, is this pregnancy a surprise?” Ann asked.
“Yes, because I had to move in with Josh suddenly and we didn’t talk about contraception.”
Ann said, “Great! Two Ob-Gyn residents didn’t think about birth control?”
“Kind of screwed up, huh?” Josh mumbled.
“You could say that.”
“Anyway,” Faith said, “Thanks for calling me.”
“No problem. We had a cancellation in an afternoon that was already light, and I figured you didn’t want to wait.”
“True. Not that there’s a critical problem.”
Ann collected historical information and clicked away on the computer. “You have psoriatic arthritis? How do you function off medicines?”
“Poorly. Sometimes I can’t even hold a pencil. I’ve been on Humira five, almost six, years.”
“There’s getting to be observational data on biologics, and they are currently pregnancy category B by the FDA, or, as safe as you can get for medications. I wouldn’t worry about Humira. But your baby may need to have its first vaccinations delayed. We know it crosses the placenta.” Ann completed a physical examination. “I don’t feel the uterus above the pubic bone yet,” she said, poking around on Faith’s belly. “We’ll see here in a moment.”
With the exam finished, Ann wrapped Faith in her gown and sheet, and Faith scampered down the hall to the ultrasound room, Josh right behind.
“No tech?” Faith asked. “Don’t we usually have an ultrasound technician perform the scan and store the images?”
“Yes, but the less eyes we have, the less mouths we have,” Ann said.
“Thanks,” Faith said. “I didn’t think of that.”
The vaginal probe went in. Ann adeptly identified a live fetus, agreed with eleven weeks, and came up with the same due date, September 22.
“We haven’t told anyone,” Faith said. “We haven’t even told our parents, yet.”
“I think it’s important for this office to keep its mouth shut. What you say and to whom you say it is your business. I just don’t want the source to be us, here.” Ann was stern. “In an Ob-Gyn office, it’s hard to keep a lid on sensitive information, but it can be accomplished.”
Then Ann summarized. “OK, let’s see. Singleton pregnancy, three vessel cord, can’t see the gender, placenta in a good place, heart has four chambers. All that seems normal. We need to do your routine blood work and another ultrasound in a couple weeks for genetic screening. Start taking prenatal vitamins.”
“Do you think boy or girl?” Josh asked, winking at Ann.
“Girl.”
Faith gasped.
Ann then confessed. “I’m not completely sure of that. Don’t buy any dresses.”
“So, you didn’t see a penis, Ann?” Josh asked.
“No. I said everything was normal. A penis would be a birth defect.” Ann smirked.
“Yes, because that would make it a man,” Faith added.
“OK, you guys! Is that Faith making jokes?” Josh said. “We don’t need to know for sure, and I don’t care. But having a hint is fun.”
“I don’t care either. I just want healthy. I’m already in love, whoever it is.”
Josh said, “Hezekiah Menkowicz.”
The women started laughing.
“Thanks, Ann.”
Faith got dressed and left the room, a beaming Josh right behind. Josh needed to get back to work so he could get home, and Faith had blood tests and other things to do before leaving the office. Josh sported through his work, headed for home to fix dinner, and had it on the table when she came in.
She was giddy when she entered the apartment, threw a jacket and bag on the couch, and plunked onto a chair in front of her plate. “Could you believe our baby today?”
“Yes! Singleton, live fetus with normal appearing anatomy.”
“Did you see the report already?” she said. “You aren’t supposed to look at my chart!”
“No, I made that up. I didn’t look in your chart. I don’t believe there are secrets. I trust Ann.”
“Me too.”
He was inhaling his dinner.
“We’re going to have a baby.” She became serious again. “We’re going to have a baby.”
“I’m so happy about that. I was thinking about what she would look like, what she would become, how you would dress her up.” He was grinning so hard it was impossible to swallow.
“Now that I’ve seen her, I can’t wait to meet her,” she said. “It’s fun to think of a girl.”
“It’s a boy,” he said, just to torment her. “He just needs to grow some balls.”
She giggled. “No, a girl. You have a daughter, daddy.”
He almost choked on his mouthful. “I didn’t think about that. I have a daughter? I’m her father? Wow.”
“Is that bad?”
“Not at all. I just hadn’t thought about being a father and having a daughter. I’m so excited. I can’t wait.” The meal went on. “We could call her Marla.”
“Or Natalie.”
He thought for a minute, “Brunhilda, Ludmilla—”