I bought a robe. Since there’d be three of us soon, I figured my days of walking around half naked in the morning were over. It’s strange that this piece of clothing, not my wife’s growing belly, made me feel like a dad. I wasn’t the most stylish dresser to begin with, but I’d never owned anything so…mature looking. Not that maturity was a sign of fatherhood. Maybe it just reminded me of my own dad. Sophia entered the second trimester late last night, so we decided to go to the doctor and make sure everything was okay. We also opted to discover the gender, if possible.
We ate slowly, gushing and speculating about what our child would be and what we should call it. Like me, Sophia wasn’t concerned about the baby’s gender and just wanted a smooth pregnancy and a successful birth. Part of me wanted a boy just to add more male energy in my life, but I would be totally happy with a girl. Mama gave Less and I our grandparents’ names, and while that was an honorable thing to do, I wasn’t sure I wanted to repeat that. Not saying my parents didn’t deserve to have anyone named after them, but I didn’t want my child to be haunted by relatives it hardly knew. My sister was named after Gammy, but she had no memory of her and never showed an interest in learning about her. My grandfathers, Luca and Winston, passed on way before my parents even met. I barely knew anything about those guys. Hopefully, my parents would be around long enough to develop lasting relationships with my children, but they’re running short on days and won’t be around forever. I think it’s best to just give our kids their own names, but we’ll see. It’s not completely off the table.
At the hospital, we arrived at our appointment early, but just like always, we sat in the room and waited an eternity for the doctor to arrive. The room was cold and had colorful medical posters plastered over the bland beige walls. Some of them made me laugh because they were so corny, but I suppose corny art was better than boring, authoritative posters. Finally, the doctor hurried in and introduced herself. Dr. Kira McKnight was her name, and she was gorgeous with long, thick hair, just like Sophia’s and smooth looking cocoa skin. I could be wrong, but she looked to be maybe just a few years older than us.
Before she turned on the machine and showed us the magic, she and Sophia chatted about the pregnancy. Sophia said she’d been feeling great and hadn’t been sick at all. Dr. McKnight was surprised and said she was a blessed woman. From the sounds of it, Alessia would agree. Overall, the doctor seemed very satisfied with Sophia’s answers to her questions, and that relieved me. I didn’t expect that anything would be wrong, but we couldn’t take anymore bad news.
She fired up the machine, put the cold jelly on Sophia’s womb, and invited me to come watch the show. The wand glided back and forth across Sophia’s belly, searching for our little celebrity. Finally, Dr. McKnight said, “there you are!” She pointed at a certain part of the screen, saying that was our baby. It didn’t look like much, honestly–just a big ball of goo. But it was my ball of goo, and I loved it. Luckily, she zoomed in so we could see the details, and I saw a head, fingers, and toes! It was my baby!! After taking some measurements, she said the baby was a good size, probably about the size of a sweet potato.
“Awwww,” Sophia cooed. “Our little sweet potato, Luca!”
I could tell from her puppy dog eyes and the way she said it, sweet potato was definitely going to be a thing. It was a cute nickname; I guess.
“Can you tell what it is yet?” I asked.
Dr. McKnight wielded that wand, fishing around for something. Probably the thing.
“I’m looking. It hasn’t shown me yet.” She kept moving the wand back and forth until she found what she was looking for. “Ah ha! I just needed her to move that leg.”
“Her?!” Sophia and I both shouted.
“Yep! It’s a little girl.”
A little girl. Finally, we could stop calling her “it!” I’m a girl dad!! That news filled me with so much joy. A smile spread across my face, and happy tears glistened my eyes and rolled down my cheek. The anxiety I had felt earlier disappeared, leaving only immense love for my daughter. Love and excitement and relief, that is. Every cell in my body seemed to jump for joy as a warmth came over me. If Dub’s baby is also a girl, maybe our kids would also be best friends.
“I would tell you the worst is over now, but you’ve been on easy street already,” the doctor said. “You still may experience fatigue, but it won’t be so bad. The baby has all her organs and systems now, so she’s gonna start growing, getting longer and heavier, so your back might bother you from time to time. She’ll start moving around soon.”
“That sounds so magical,” Sophia said.
“Oh, and you also may start feeling contractions.”
Even though I knew that was part of the process, something inside me just panicked.
“Contractions?!”
She giggled.
“Don’t worry. It’s completely normal. They’ll be mild and won’t last long, but it’s important to know it’s normal. The baby isn’t trying to come early. No need to panic, okay?”
“I understand,” Sophia said.
“Now, I don’t like this next part, but I have to tell you,” the doctor continued. “I see you just had a birthday yesterday?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. You’re still young age-wise, but your body is not. Adult pregnancies can be hard. You seem to be doing great so far, but if you start experiencing other symptoms, just know it comes with the territory. There’s nothing wrong with you. It just is what it is. Relax as much as you can and keep stress as low as possible.”
She asked if we had questions, then left us to await the nurses to run additional tests. Now that Sophia was pregnant, our lives could go back to being more joyful and carefree, so I wasn’t concerned about the stress part. But of course, I would do everything within my power to make sure Sophia’s life was as easy as possible. The only problems she would have during this pregnancy would be within her own body on my watch.
