The room smelled of fragrant alcohol, the fluorescent lighting a glare that disturbed the butterflies in Katelynn’s stomach.
Not that the hospital gown they had dressed her in helped – her hands clutching at the back of it to keep it closed.
She had been in there many times before, always for routine check ups to ensure that the baby was healthy and moving along – as well as to properly monitor the mother, to watch her diet and make sure she was a proper oven for the baby.
For her part, because she had wished for her baby to be as healthy as possible, had allowed her cravings to get the better of her, feeding on various foods and stuffing herself silly. It had been the most she had eaten in her entire life. Through it all she had still carried the worry – was it enough nutrition? Should she opt out of fruit and have more vegetables?
Would she have the proper reassurance that her baby would become like the visitor and be as strong and healthy?
Large, brown eyes gazed toward the door, waiting for the doctor or her husband, the latter a much more reassuring thought.
This wasn’t the first time Jack had been in the doctor’s office with his wife. With all the mishaps the two of them seemed to attract, it was almost comfortably familiar. It wasn’t even the first time he’d come along during Katelynn’s pregnancy; he’d been with her when the doctor did a physical exam, and when she’d listened for a fetal heartbeat.
But today was going to be something special. Today the doctor would be doing an ultrasound, and they would find out their baby’s gender.
The blue man stepped into the room, carrying the water Katelynn had asked for. “How are you doing, love?” he asked with a warm smile. “Nervous?”
Jack Maple 