“Goodnight.”
Today is our twenty-four-week appointment. That’s something I’ve learned. Pregnancy is referred to in weeks. We heard the heartbeat at the hospital and again at our first appointment at the OB/GYN office and we told our parents at twelve weeks, we found out we’re having a baby girl at twenty weeks. Winnie has this book about the stages of the baby’s growth. It says that currently our daughter is the size of an ear of corn, and should weigh a pound. It’s so hard for me to believe that my wife is growing a tiny human that we created.
Today’s appointment is early, and a long one. Something about glucose testing. So I’m driving us and will head to the gym later today. Chase is there to keep Gina in line. Not sure what happened with them a few weeks ago. He said he drove her home, without going in, but that’s not like Chase or Gina from what I can tell. They were all over each other on the boat, so it’s hard for me to believe he just dropped her off. Chase swears that’s all that happened, and I’ve known him for years; he’s never been one to lie.
“Winnie!” I yell up the stairs. “You about ready?”
“Yes,” she says, appearing at the top of the steps. She has on a pair of maternity jeans, that still make her look incredible, and a white tank top.
“Babe, it’s a little chilly out. You might want to grab a sweater.”
She holds up a pale pink sweater and grins. “I’m on it, Daddy.”
Daddy. We’ve gotten in the habit already of referring to each other as Mommy or Daddy. Every damn time she says it, my heart trips over in my chest. Sixteen more weeks and we can meet our little girl. Weeks and I’ll be responsible for a tiny human. Thankfully, I have Winnie. She’s great at everything, and I have no doubt motherhood will be the same.
“You’re beautiful,” I say when she reaches the last step. My hands go to her belly. I can’t pass up the opportunity to touch her, and our daughter. In the last four weeks, she’s really started to show. She looks like she’s swallowed a basketball. From the back, you can’t even tell she’s pregnant though.
She’s glowing.
“You sleep beside me at night, I’m a given. You don’t have to butter me up,” she teases.
“Don’t go talking like that and get me all excited. We have an appointment to get to.”
“Yeah,” she agrees.
“You okay?”
“Definitely. Just tired.”
“Baby girl is taking all your energy. The last couple of weeks, you seemed to be tired all the time. Maybe we should mention it to the doctor today.”
“I’m an incubator for a baby. Of course I’m going to be tired.” She rubs her protruding belly affectionately. “Now, let me pee, and we can go.”
“Get moving,” I say, tapping her lightly on the ass as she clears the bottom step and heads in the direction of the half bath off the kitchen.
“So, where are we going?” she asks as I pull into the lot of the department store.
“Shopping.”
“Shopping? What are we shopping for?”
“Baby girl.”
“Harrison, we’re going to have a baby shower. Our moms and Gabby are already all over it. She’s going to be spoiled rotten as it is. Not to mention I have a doctor’s appointment.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that. Besides, Mommy and Daddy get to spoil her too. And we’re early. Come on, let’s just take a look.”
“I guess it won’t hurt to look,” she concedes. I can hear it in her voice. She’s excited, as I knew she would be. Hell, I’m excited too. All of this is new to both of us.
Five minutes later, we’re in the big chain baby store with a cart and a mental list of everything we’re going to need. “What do you want to look at first?”
“Everything.” She laughs. “There is so much stuff, and I know we’ve registered, but I just want to look at it all.” She walks along beside me as I push the cart. “We need to pick out her furniture.”
“We do. I assumed paint would be picked out first and then we could go with furniture. Are you still thinking white? I agree that seems like a good fit for a little girl.”
“Yeah,” she agrees. “White is good. Are we going to have a theme? You know like princesses or Winnie the Pooh?”
“Are we supposed to?”
“There is no supposed to. Some people have a theme for the nursery.”
“What do you want?”
“I kind of just want to make it girly. Nothing cartoonish, just… feminine for our sweet little girl.”
“I have no preference. You tell me what you want, and I’ll make it happen.” That’s the least that I can do since she’s doing all the work here. I’m just kind of along for the ride.
“What if I changed my mind?” she asks, picking up a small blanket. “This is the cutest thing ever.” She holds it up so I can see it. It’s a small blanket with pink and gray elephants on it. “I’m thinking light gray walls, white furniture, and pink, gray, and white decorations. I wonder if they have this bedding?” She walks further down the aisle. “Look.” She points to a large bag of bedding. “It’s the entire kit for the crib.”
“You like it?”
“I love it. It’s so cute.”
Walking to stand next to her, I pick up the bag and place it inside the cart. “Now what?”
“Harrison, we shouldn’t. We’re having a shower.”
“We didn’t register for this, so we should be good to buy it. Besides, we need blankets and clothes, and bottles and toys, and all that other stuff that I can’t remember. I think we’re safe. You love it, so it’s happening.” I kiss the tip of her nose and go back down the aisle and grab the blanket she was just holding. “Winnie,” I call out to her. “They have crib sheets and a mobile.” I hold up the package that tells me the coordinating items to look for. “Do we need that?”
She grins. “Yes.” She joins me and adds a few matching items to the cart. “Okay, I think we’re good. We should wait to buy anything else.”
“This is only the first aisle,” I tell her. “We’ve got more to see.”
“How much time do we have?” she asks, biting down on her bottom lip. I know my wife and she could get lost in here shopping for our baby girl. Hell, I could too. I’m man enough to admit it. This is an important time for us, and I want to share all of it with her.
“We have about thirty minutes before your appointment.”
“I guess we can look at a few more aisle’s, she says grinning.”
“That’s my girl. I figured we could browse a little, go to your appointment, which I knew was going to be a longer one, and then grab something to eat.”
“Come on, Momma. Let’s go see what else we can find.”
She grins and turns on her heel, heading down the next aisle.
I toss in a rug, and a lamp that matches the bedding. I don’t know if we need it, but it matches, and she needs decorations in her room, right? I really have no damn idea what we need, but it’s putting a smile on my wife’s face so regardless, it’s worth it.
“We should go,” she says, eyeing the cart that is now overflowing. “We just came in here to look.” She eyes the cart. “It’s been what five minutes and you have this thing overflowing.”
“You might have just come to look. Why do you think I got this cart?” She gives me a beautiful smile, and her green eyes light up. Something I’ve not seen much of these past few weeks. She’s been exhausted. “However, I agree we should get moving so we’re not late getting to your appointment.”
Checkout is quick, maybe because it’s early morning, I’m not sure. The back seat of my truck is loaded down with lots of pink, and it brings a smile to my face. This weekend, we’re going to go pick out the paint so I can get started. I just need to feel like I’m doing something. Like I’m contributing to our family. Sure, I work, but as far as the baby goes, it’s all on Winnie. I need to do whatever I can to be involved and take the stress off her.
“So, I was thinking after your appointment
we can go check out some paint colors for the nursery. I’d like to get started,” I say once we are in the truck and headed to her appointment.