Dilemma

Chapter Five *Baby's First Checkup*

  I pull on a pair of maternity pants, a boyfriend tee and an old pair of Converse sneakers. I grab my purse and sit in my living room to wait for Ángel to pick me up. It's already two- twenty. My phone rings and I see that it's Ángel. I answer. "I'm outside Lizzy," he says and I leave and lock my apartment and get in his old '79 Ford pickup truck.

He smiles as I clip on my seat belt and drives off toward my OB-GYN's office for my appointment.

We get there right on time and sign in. We sit waiting and a nurse calls us into the examining room. My physician, Dr. Regina, instructs me to lay in the examining chair and pull up my shirt to my chest and my pants down a little. I comply and she covers me in tissue paper.

"This appointment is to see your baby's bone structure, measurements and the sex. I will be checking the heart beat and the location of the placenta as well," she informs me, squeezing cold, blue gel onto my stomach. Ángel is watching with child-like fascination. She rubs the probe over the gel on my stomach and there is a repetitive thum-thum noise coming from the monitor where I see fragments of white.

Ángel grabs my hand and squeezes tight when the doctor announces that the white fragments are our baby. She moves the probe over my stomach and the white fragments all mesh together to make a baby.

"Your little girl is as healthy as a fetus should be at this stage. You don't have anything to worry about. Her bone structure is normal and she's the right size for this point in the pregnancy."

"So she doesn't have any abnormalities?"

"None that are showing up. And your placenta is right where it needs to be for an uncomplicated birth."

"Thank you." I turn to Ángel and he has tears in his eyes. "Is there anything you would like to ask Dr. Regina?"

"Can I have a picture of her?" he asks, and she presses a few buttons on the machine that shows us our baby. She prints out a sonogram and hands it to him. He sits in the chair beside my own and stares at the picture.

"You are good to go Ms. Valentino."

"Thank you. Have a nice day."

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Ángel holds my hand the entire way home. He lays out on my couch when we get in the house and I grab some noodles and tomato sauce. I turn on the stove to boil my water. I lay down on the couch and prop my feet on Ángel's lap. He massages them while I wait on the water to boil. He sings along to the song playing on t.v. I close my eyes, listening to him sing and fall asleep.

The smell of garlic and tomatoes pulls me back into the waking world. I walk to the kitchen and Ángel is toasting garlic bread in a pan. I sit down at the island and watch him as he sits the toast and spaghetti onto two plates. He turns around and smiles when he sees me. "Good afternoon, Miss Valentino. Did you have a good rest?" he asks, smiling.

"It was okay. You know I could have made the food."

"You seemed tired, so when you fell asleep I just thought it'd be best to let you rest."

"And for that I thank you."

"You know I always got you," he says, stepping into my personal space. He cups my face and leans into me. I turn away just as he's about to kiss me. He sighs and kisses my forehead. He grabs my plate and slides it to me. I shovel forkfuls into my mouth and rush it down my throat. My eating habits amuse him and he smiles while I finish off my plate. "You have never been one to be shy about the way you eat."

"That's because I'm comfortable. If someone else were here right now I wouldn't be eating like this."

"As you should be," he says, smirking finishes his own plate.