The Own Goal ✔️

Part 15

Pregnancy Tracker 🤰
16 weeks 👶

It's the day of our gender scan, and my first appointment with my new midwife at the private hospital.

Jack is on his way to pick me up. I've not seen him since the first scan, but we've spoken on the phone once or twice a week.

I know he's told his family about the baby and I know they were disappointed in him.

He told Stacey and she dumped him - for about a week.

Funny though when he got caught kissing an Instagram girl in a club that Stacey appeared to not even care!

Apparently Stacey doesn't care about the baby, she just wants nothing to do with it, which I'm not sure how that's going to work seeing as Jack seems to think he's going to be actively helping.

I wait in my buildings car park for Jack and as I see his car pull in, I wrap my cardigan around me, the mid September sun isn't as warm as it looks through the window.

I open the door "wait move ya cardi" he says

I unfold my cardigan from around me. I know I've popped out a little, I didn't think it would be particularly noticeable to anyone else. But Jacks grin tells me otherwise.

"Can I touch it?" He asks

"Er, yeah I guess"

As I sit down he gingerly reaches out and softly touches my tummy. "Ooh it feels quite solid!" He exclaims.

"Yeah, it's not just too much food!" I laugh

He leans over and gives me a friendly little peck on the cheek.

"Right before I forget" he reaches to the back seat and passes me a plain gift bag.

"It's from me mom" he says, I love the way mum comes out as mom in his accent.

I peer inside as Jack speaks. "Look, I told me mom that you've not got ya own mom around, an'  then couple days later she brought all this round for ya"

In the bag there's some relaxing mum-to-be bath pamper bits, some bio oil, some Palmer's coco body butter, some books on pregnancy, one looks like a funny take on it, and one is titled "things I wish my mum had told me" there's a sealed envelope too. I feel myself start to well up.

"I've not read that, an' I apologise for whateva she may have wrote, but she wants ya to know she's ok if ya wanna talk to her"

I look at him "tell her thank you" it feels weird, really weird. But the gesture has blown me away.

Sitting in the waiting room at the new hospital and I'm blown away again. "Jack it's like a hotel!"

"Obviously, ya know ya get a private room for afta the baby is born too, and dad's are allowed to stay too - not that I'm presuming anythin' by that" I don't get chance to respond before he continues "they'll do the DNA stuff here too. They'll take my sample an' keep it on record and take the babies sample once it's born and we'll know really quick like, like the next day"

We get called in and Jack gently places his hand on the small of my back as we walk towards to the nurse.

The nurse goes over our medical histories again, then takes my notes and tells me she'll update them to their records.

She confirms that we do want to know the sex and starts the scan.

The image is amazing, we can instantly make out our baby's features on the 3D scan. Jack is squeezing my hand leaning over at the screen.

The nurse turns the sound up and we listen to the heartbeat beating away, like a train chugging along.

"All incredibly healthy" she assures us.

"An' can ya tell if it's a boy or a girl?" Jack asks.

"Yes, and I've double checked from a few angles so I'm confident to tell you when you're ready"

The squeeze on my hand gets stronger.

"We're ready" I tell the nurse.

We both wait, Jack has taken hold of my hand with both of his now and I place my other hand on top, giving him a little squeeze myself.

"It's a girl" she says.

"Oh moy goid" Jack is beaming.

"Really?" I check.

She shows us on the screen how she knows, and again moves the scanner around so we can watch her moving around from different angles.

"Can ya still not feel that?" Jack asks as she flips around on the screen.

"No......" My voice is a whisper.

The nurse talks to us about the next appointment, the next scan but I can't take it in.
Luckily Jack looks like he's listening intently and I can hear him asking questions.

"Yeah I'm gonna take her home, she looks knackered don' she?" I hear him say as I seem to come out of the hazy daze.

I look at him. "C'mon, let's get ya home" he helps me off the bed and picks up my shoes for me.

"Congratulations again the both of you, I'll see you in a few weeks" the nurse calls as we leave the room.

Jack takes my hand and leads me down the corridor, I have to remind myself that he's someone elses boyfriend, not mine.

Jack pulls up into my carpark and squeezes his car into the guest space next to mine.

"Chels ya alright?"

"Yeah I am, I feel a bit overwhelmed! It feels really real now!"

"Yeah, it does" he sits back, he looks relaxed.

"Thanks for arranging that, the scan and the hospital and stuff"

"Nah, it's fine" he looks across at me "look when ya start looking at buying prams an' carseats let me know, I'll pay"

"Jack I don't need you to pay for everything, anyway, I thought you needed to be sure, the DNA test and stuff"

"I do, but I believe ya that there's no doubt, so that's just formality" he looks deeply at me.
"Do ya need any money for anythin' Chels, ya alright? Ya rent an' stuff? Ya not missing too much work from feeling ill?"

"Jack I'm fine, I'm actually feeling pretty good now. Just tired"

I start to open the door when Jack suddenly turns to me "actually Chels, can I come up and use ya loo before I go?"

"Yeah of course" he follows me in, "do you want a drink or anything?"

He looks at me, but I can't read his expression "nah, ya alright"

I point him in the direction of the bathroom and head into the kitchen.

Soon he's joining me "ya bulbs on it way out, it's flickering, d'ya want me change it while I'm here?"

"Yes, if you could, that would be great actually, I normally do it myself, but balancing on the edge of the bath probably isn't a great idea"

He looks at me "nah, nah don' go doin' anything like that Chelsea" he says, rather firmly.

I grab the spare lightbulb and follow him back to the bathroom.

He steps easily up onto the edge of the bath and reaches across to the light.

I can't help noticing that little soft flash of skin between the top of his jeans and the bottom of his jumper, a memory flashes through my mind of kissing him there....

A warm feeling floods over me, I feel like I neeeeed him.

I watch his legs as he balances, his muscles straining against the fabric.

"New bulb Chels"

I hold out the new bulb, swapping it with the old one. He gives me a curious look as he looks down at me.

I glance in the mirror. Fuck, I'm all flushed, my pupils are large.

I need him.