Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 95295 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 476(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95295 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 476(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
“Not me.” He points at himself. “I’m the guy she met after,” he declares proudly.
“Okay, so let’s see how far along you are first and then we can answer any questions or concerns,” she explains, turning off the lights and then coming back. “Lean back and we will start.”
I do what she says and feel Gabriel slide his hand in mine. I look over at him while he puts his hand on the top of my head and bends down to kiss me. “You’re doing great, Sweetheart.”
“Isn’t that sweet?” the doctor says, grabbing a white bottle. “This might be cold.” She moves the sheet off me and squeezes the gel onto my stomach. “If you aren’t that far along, we might have to do this internally.” I’m so nervous I don’t even know what to ask. I suddenly want my mother here to just tell me it’s going to be okay or maybe explain to me what the fuck is going on.
She presses down on my stomach with the wand, moving the gel around with it. “Okay,” she shares and presses something, and the sound of swooshing fills the room, “I didn’t think we would be able to hear the heartbeat, but there it is.”
“Oh my God.” I look up at Gabriel, who is looking at the monitor with the doctor, as if he knows what the fuck he’s looking at.
“Oh, this is—” The doctor starts and moves the wand from left to right and back and forth. “Um”—she looks at us—“I…” She smiles and I don’t know what she’s going to say, but nothing, and I mean nothing, could prepare me for the next words. “You’re having twins.”
30
GABRIEL
I watch the screen, holding on to Zara’s hand as I listen to the sound of my baby’s heartbeat. My chest feels like it’s about to explode from love. I lean down to kiss Zara’s head when I hear the doctor say, “Oh, this is—” And my eyes fly to hers as my heart that was so full before now feels like it’s going to come out of my throat. My eyes go to her, then to the wand in her hand that is moving right and left on Zara’s stomach, then back to the screen. Zara squeezes my hand and I squeeze it back, telling her whatever happens, everything will be okay. What I’m not expecting are the words that come out of the doctor’s mouth. “You’re having twins.”
I blink my eyes a couple of times, and I think I can actually feel my heart coming out of my chest. The ringing starts in my ears, and I have to shake my head. “Sorry, what?” I ask her to make sure I heard what she was saying.
“Two heartbeats,” she explains. “You might not hear it because they are beating at the same time.” My eyes feel like they are going to come out of their sockets. “But there are two separate placentas.”
“Is that”—I stand—“normal?” I don’t even know what questions to ask.
“Wait, are you sure?” Zara asks, almost sitting up. “Like, how sure are you?”
“Let me show you,” the doctor starts, “this little one here.” She clicks and points at the screen. “This is baby A.” Then she clicks and points. “This is baby B.”
“Oh my God,” Zara shrieks, “of course this would happen to me.”
“From my calculations, you are about eleven weeks, which means almost out of your first trimester,” the doctor says. “It’s still too early to tell what you are having, but there is a blood test you can do. The results are in within twenty-four hours. Do you want to do that?”
“Yes,” Zara says right away, “and, like, you’re one hundred percent sure it’s two babies and not that your screen is glitching.”
The doctor laughs at her as she clicks a button on the machine. “I’m one hundred percent sure that you are having twins.” She takes the wand off Zara’s stomach before grabbing a white towel and cleaning her off before the wand. “Now, you’ll have to come in every other week with multiple babies, but that’s just to make sure we monitor everything.”
“Is this considered high risk?” I ask the doctor as she wheels herself back to her desk.
“Not for right now,” she answers me as she punches in a couple of things on her computer.
“Is it safe for—” I start to get nervous to ask the question.
“For sex?” The doctor doesn’t even look at me. I know it’s a dumb question since having sex got us here. “All is normal. There is no bleeding, no cramping, so we treat this like any normal pregnancy.”
Zara looks at me, her mouth hanging open. “I’ll have the nurse come in to draw the blood,” she adds, going back to the machine and tearing off something. “Here are the first pictures of your babies.” She smiles at us. “Congratulations.”