Looking For His North Star

Chapter thirteen

They dropped Yusuf at school before they arrived at the hospital. Yusuf had been so reluctant to go to school that day, Yaman had threatened to carry him into the class infront all of his friends, so he would be terribly embarrassed. Yusuf had been livid.

"But uncle.... I want to know if I'm getting a brother or a sister!" He whined.

"And you will, once you come home," Yaman said, firmly. "Now go to your class and concentrate on your studies."

Yusuf had gone away huffing, visibly annoyed.

Now Seher stretched out on the examination couch in the radiology room, premonition flowing through her whole being. The doctor stood on one side and Yaman stood on the other, arms crossed, worry lines etched into his forehead.

"This will be cold for a while," the doctor warned.

She nodded, her eyes fixated on the ultrasound screen.

He moved the ultrasound around on her stomach. Soon, the thud- thud of a heartbeat filled the room and Seher's own heart skipped a beat. Her baby was alive and thriving...

The doctor frowned, lowering his eyes to the screen, muttering under his breath.

That was when she became aware of the rhythm of the baby's heartbeat. The thud- thud was out of sync and offbeat, too slow one time and too fast another.

Cold fear gripped her soul, and she reached for Yaman's hand desperately.

"Something is wrong!" She gasped. "Something is wrong with my baby's heart! Please, make it right!"

Yaman leaned forward looking helpless, his hand spasming around Seher's. His eyes held the terror she felt.

"Doctor, what's going on?"

The doctor pulled back from the screen.

"Calm down, calm down," he said. "It took me a while to realize the situation. What you're hearing is not just one heartbeat. They're two separate heartbeats..."

Seher exchanged a look with Yaman.

"Mrs Seher, you're pregnant with twins!"

Her eyes jerked towards Yaman, the same shock she was feeling evident on his face.

"Twins..." He said with wonder.

"Do you want to know their gender?" The doctor asked.

Seher nodded in a dazed way, blinking back tears.

"It's not easy to find out the gender of twins in an ultrasound. Normally one baby fully covers the other. So we do the NIPT test, and it takes about three days for the results to arrive," he said. "But your babies are placed in such a way, their gender is clearly visible here. It's a very rare occurrence."

He gave them an appraising look. "Phenomenal..."

The doctor waved at the screen. Seher concentrated on the changing shapes through her blurry vision. She squinted.

Suddenly, the shapes became distinguishable. Two perfect little faces, turned towards each other. Button noses, tiny hands and tiny curled feet....

"According to the Nub theory, this one here," the doctor pointed to one baby. "- seems to be a boy. And this one," He paused. "- is obviously a girl. Congratulations, you're having fraternal twins!"

Yaman made a strange noise in the back of his throat. Seher squeezed his hand.

"For first time parents, finding out that they're having twins can be a bit of a shock," the doctor smiled empathetically, retracting the ultrasound device. "I'll give you two a moment..."