When Constellations Form (Light in the Dark 4)

I push his shoulder. “Ew, stop.”

He chuckles as the door swings open.

“Hi, how are you?” The ultrasound technician asks. It’s a different one than I had last time. She has pretty red hair, freckles, and kind eyes.

“I’m good, how are you?”

“Just fine.” She smiles. “How have you been feeling? How’s the morning sickness—it’s noted on your chart from last time that it’s been really bad.”

I wave my hand back in forth. “It’s better, but I still have moments where a smell or something becomes too much. I’ve had a couple days where I’ve felt nauseous all day, but thankfully that seems to have passed.”

“All right, well lie back and we’ll get a look at your baby, and if you have any questions after then we’ll go over them.”

At my last appointment, I was ten weeks, and the baby still looked like a blob with vague arm and leg-like features.

She squirts the goo on my belly and I jump, expecting it to be cold like last week but it’s surprisingly warm.

She laughs. “I’m nice and warm it up for you.”

She turns the computer screen to us and grabs the wand, pressing it to my stomach.

She moves it around and then the baby comes onto the screen.

“Oh, my God,” I breathe, tears filling my eyes. “That’s really a baby.”

This week there’s no mistaking the tiny human growing inside me. This is the first time I’ve really and truly been completely overcome by the sight.

She presses a button and the sound of the heartbeat fills the air around us. It sounds strong, and fast, and entirely precious.

I look over at Xander, and he has a hand pressed to his mouth, his eyes filling with tears.

“That’s our baby,” I whisper, not even cringing at the word baby.

His eyes drift to mine. “It’s perfect.”

“Look, Mom and Dad,” the technician speaks. “Baby is waving at you.”

I gasp when I look back at the screen, because she’s right, it does look exactly like the baby is waving.

“Let me get a picture of that for you.” She presses a few buttons on her computer. “Got it.”

“That’s amazing,” Xander murmurs, looking from me to our baby.

She finishes up her measurements and the screen goes blank as she removes the wand, the sound of the heartbeat leaving with it.

She wipes the goo off my stomach and smiles kindly. “Do you have any questions for me?”

“Will we find out the gender at my next appointment?”

She nods. “You’ll be eighteen weeks, so it’s possible.”

Excitement fills my belly. I can’t wait to know if it’s a boy or girl.

“Any other questions?” I shake my head and look at Xander, in case he has any. He shakes his head too. “Okay, then. You can get cleaned up and just head to the desk to make your next appointment.”

My next appointment where I’ll find out if I’m having a son or daughter.

Whoa.