Protected By Vampires

Chapter 12

When I woke up on New Year’s Day I felt well rested and ready to take on the world. The night before was a bit fuzzy, but I knew I had fun. I guess I had just been really tired. I spent my day off, and my rare burst of energy cleaning my apartment. Some of my clothes were starting to get a little tight so I boxed up what I couldn’t wear and put it in the top of my closet. 

I looked at what was left of my wardrobe and was happy that Ruth had made me promise to go shopping with her next weekend. I hopped my waist didn’t get too much thicker before then or I’d have to go sooner. 

I spent the rest of the afternoon watching TV and cooking. I got bored and sent several people text messages, but no one replied. They probably all had hangovers. If I was being honest, I was a little jealous of that. 

The month of January seemed to crawl by, but that was probably because I was looking forward to the first week of February. That’s when my appointment for the big ultrasound was scheduled. I was excited to find out if my baby was going to be a boy or girl, I had decided not to wait. I hadn’t picked out any names yet because I wanted to wait and narrow it down to one gender.

Bill and Ruth made a big deal about it, they wanted to have a gender reveal party for me. I finally talked them out of it by promising to allow them to go overboard on my baby shower. They both decided to go to the appointment with me, scheduling everything around it so they could close the office for a few hours. 

I invited Sam to go, but he had been so busy with work that I hadn’t seen him much the whole month. He said he couldn’t make it, but promised to go to Vegas with me for my birthday, which was on Valentine’s day. I almost wanted to ask Bill to ask Trav if he wanted to come, but I knew that he hadn’t talked to Trav since before Christmas. The last time they talked it ended in a fight and neither had reached out to the other to reconcile. 

The day of the appointment finally came. I was a good patient and drank the required amount of water beforehand. While the three of us walked to the appointment, I prayed that I didn’t wet my pants. I could already tell that this was going to be a problem. The baby loves to dance on my bladder when it is full.

We made the quick walk to the doctor’s office mostly in silence. The snow on the ground made it take a little longer, and we were all frozen by the time we got there. We all sighed in relief when a warm blast of air surrounded us after opening the door.

Sitting in the waiting room was torture. I got up and started pacing several times. The walking helped distract me from needing to use the bathroom. Finally they called me back to take my vitals then led all three of us into a darkened room with an ultrasound machine.

I sat on the bed with the paper cover and got as comfortable as I possibly could. We were told the ultrasound tech would be right in, then we waited. Ruth and Bill got comfortable in some empty chairs by the door. 

It was Ruth who finally broke the silence. “So what do you guys think it is? I think it’s a girl. When I was pregnant with  my boys I was sicker than a dog. With my daughter I wasn’t sick at all. Viv hasn’t had much morning sickness.”

“No, it’s a boy for sure. The men in my family haven’t had a daughter in over 100 years. All the women are married in. It has to be a boy.” Bill said.

I laughed. “I don’t have the slightest feeling one way or another. I just hope it’s healthy.” I said. 

Bill and Ruth started arguing about it, but were interrupted by the ultrasound technician opening the door. 

“He y’all, my name is Suanne. Are we ready to see the baby?” She asked in a thick southern accent.

We all nodded. She had me lean back, and made sure I was as comfortable as possible before she had me lift my shirt. My swollen belly seemed to be growing every day, but it still looked more like I had eaten too much than a growing baby. Suanne dimmed the lights a little more and squeezed the cold jelly on my belly. 

“Alrighty y’all, we’re ready. Are we finding out the sex today?" Suanne asked.

I nodded, “Yes please.”

She put the wand on my belly and the pressure made me have to fight even harder not to pee my pants. First she took some measurements and pictures, then she turned the screen so we all had a better view. At first I didn’t know what I was looking at, but Suanne pointed to the screen and explained what the images were.

“That’s the face. Here’s an arm, and another arm.” She slid the wand over a little. “Here’s a foot, and a leg. And you see the three lines right here?” she asked.

We all looked closer at the screen and nodded. “That means you’re having a girl. Congratulations.” 

Ruth squealed and clapped her hands. “I knew it!”

Bill didn’t say anything, but from the look on his face I knew it was because he doesn’t like being wrong, not because he was unhappy he was getting a granddaughter. 

Suanne laughed at Ruth's excitement and took some more measurements and pictures. After a few moments she finally let me up to use the bathroom. I wanted to kiss her, but I barely made it as it was. She finished getting everything she needed to make sure everything looked as it should, then wiped the goo off my stomach. She cut the pictures that she took and gave us a copy of most of them. 

“The doctor will have to look over these, and someone will give you a call if there’s anything suspicious. If you don’t hear from us, no news is good news. Congratulations again” Suanne said as she left the room. 

“The first girl in over a century. This baby is going to be special, I can feel it.” Bill finally said. 

“Of course she is, she’s got an amazing mommy.” Ruth said as she smiled at me.