Kat eyed the tourist signs leading toward the large Mickey Mouse, but they hung a right on I-4 instead of a left. If only they were headed for happy times, not the storm that waited like the summer thunderboomer clouds rolling into shore. One glance at Wes, his hands gripped tight at the ten and two positions, and she knew he raged a war inside himself. The man didn’t want a baby, but he loved her, so he would stay. But where did that leave her and the child?
She couldn’t raise a child with a parent who didn’t want him or her. She’d already lived that herself and wouldn’t wish that upon anyone. No. Would he come around, or would she have to be the one to break things off in the end?
After all those years of avoiding marriage and commitment, determined never to become her parents, she now wanted to walk down the aisle with Wes more than anything. Pregnancy hormones? A mother’s desire to give her baby a father? She didn’t know, but she’d put that aside for another day.
For today, she needed him to help her get through this appointment. All her worry would be for nothing if the baby didn’t make it. The thought sucker-punched her as if her unborn child let her know he or she would put up a good fight. She rubbed her belly to soothe the little dot inside her.
Wes abandoned his assault on the steering wheel and covered her hand. “You okay over there?”
“Yes, I’m fine.” Kat offered a smile in hopes she’d covered the terror clawing its way to the surface. Their exit came into view, causing her pulse to quicken.
Once parked in the dim and dingy garage, he shut off the car and faced her. “I’m here with you. Let me shoulder the burden. Your job is to remain calm and know you’re not alone, okay?”
She nodded, but she saw the worry etched into the distinguished lines around his eyes. “We’ll go and listen to what the doctor has to say, and then we’ll go from there.”
Her words seemed to placate him, but when he opened her car door and took her hand, he didn’t let go until they were seated in the doctor’s office, waiting to speak to the person who would change their lives forever.
A man with dark, thinning hair and tired eyes entered and sat across from them behind a large wooden desk. He opened an old-fashioned folder and scanned over some notes. “Mr. and Mrs. Stein, we need to run a battery of tests to determine the health of your fetus. Due to the high-risk nature of your pregnancy, we’ll need to do an amniocentesis to determine if the child has any chromosomal abnormalities, neural tube defects, or genetic disorders prior to determining whether or not to continue with the pregnancy.”
Wes pulled at the unbuttoned collar around his neck. “Amnio? I’ve read up on that. Isn’t there a risk to mother and baby?”
“There’s a small increased risk of miscarriage with the procedure. We’d wait until after 14 weeks to minimize the risk. The risk factors are cramping, bleeding, leaking of amniotic fluid, infection, and preterm labor.” The doctor rattled off the worst in a clipped, monotone voice.
“I thought I was already high risk for a miscarriage,” Kat said, not wanting to compound the situation but needing to understand. “And I’d have to wait until after fourteen weeks?” She touched her belly and realized the dot would be a growing baby, which he’d called a fetus.
“I assure you that you’ll want to determine if the fetus is viable or not. For now, let’s do a sonogram and blood work to see what we can at this stage.” The doctor closed the folder and walked out of the room, leaving Kat winded, her heart pounding and chest tight.
“It’s okay. I’m here. Let’s do the sonogram like the doctor said and then go from there.” Wes squeezed her hand. “One step at a time.”
The nurse guided her to another room and told Wes to wait in the lobby. He refused, and the woman stood there with mouth open. “But most husbands want to wait outside until we call them in once Mama is prepped and covered and ready for visitors.”
“I’m not her husband, and I’m not leaving.”
Kat flinched at the way he announced their marital status in a cold, distant tone.
Wes stood like a soldier ready to guard the queen of England.
“Mama?” Nurse looked to Kat.
“It’s fine. He can face the wall if you wish, but he can stay.” Kat knew she didn’t have a choice if she didn’t want to make a scene. She both loved and wanted to smack Wes for his overbearing, overprotective ways.
Once she was settled on the table and the woman explained the intervaginal sonogram procedures, she called Wes over and directed him to stand near Kat’s head. “Now, based on your information, you should be just about eight weeks. This means we’ll be able to give you an accurate due date and you can see the baby and hear his or her heartbeat.”
Wes held tight to Kat’s hand. She wasn’t sure if he was willing the baby to be okay or wishing it wasn’t there.
The nurse went to work. “Here is your fetus.”
Kat really wished they’d stop calling the baby a fetus.
The woman clicked and rolled a ball and clicked again and focused on the monitor. “It appears you are just over eight weeks, so you’ll be due on October 7th.”
Kat swallowed a massive lump of realization. There was really a baby inside her. She was growing a human being.
Wes leaned over her to see the monitor. “That little dot’s the baby?”
“Yes.” The nurse continued doing her thing. “Hmm.”
“What’s wrong?” Kat moved to see the monitor better.
“Stay still, please.”
Wes kissed her cheek and whispered in her ear, “Everything’s fine.”
“It might be too early to hear the heartbeat.” She moved a lever. “I’ll turn it up to see if we can hear it a little.”
Kat froze as if time stood still. The silence of the room a punctuation mark on whether her baby was alive. Tears welled in her eyes, but she blinked them away. The nurse moved the wand several times. The third time the nurse sighed and moved the wand, a sound broke the quiet.
Ba Bump.
Ba Bump.
Ba Bump.
The heartbeat echoed loud and strong and rapid.
Kat froze. “Should it be that fast?”
“Yes, that’s normal,” the nurse reassured them, but then she focused on the heart and did more things with the screen.
Kat noticed her smile at the heartbeat curve into a frown.
“What is it?” Kat asked.
“Nothing. Just doing some things the doctor requested.” The nurse continued for another few minutes and then announced, “Okay, you can get dressed and return to speak with the doctor.”
The nurse fled faster than Houdini after mischief. Wes faded away from her to his designated corner, and she felt the world slip from her grasp. Something wasn’t right.
Something was wrong with her baby.