No Matter What

High-Risk

I covered my mouth, because puke was about to go flying all over that exam room. Pregnant? I'm pregnant? You can't be serious. This has to be a bad dream.

I ran to the garbage can and let everything out. Connor had his hand on my back, trying to soothe me.

"Are you alright, honey?" Doctor Andrews asked.

"No! How the hell could I be alright! This is awful!" I said, finding a tissue to wipe my mouth off with.

"Are you kidding?" Connor said, holding my hand. "I can't even tell you how happy this makes me feel."

"Even now? How can you be happy at a time as terrible as this?" I asked.

"When I first went to the hospital after the accident, the doctor's told me I wouldn't be able to walk again. They also told me there was just about no chance I'd be able to have children naturally." For the very first time in my life, I saw his eyes grow red and fill with tears. "Ayla, this isn't terrible. This is a miracle! They literally told me I was sterile and I'm not."

I'm such an idiot. We should've kept wearing condoms. But seriously, why would we? He was supposed to be completely unable to have kids.

Before we really had time to process anything, I was being led down the hall to a different room. Doctor Andrews was going to have me schedule my first ultrasound for later in the week, but the room down the hall was open and the tech was free due to a cancellation, so we could be squeezed in.

"And here they are!" Doctor Andrews said to the tech. "Good luck you two. I'll see you next month."

She left the room and the ultrasound tech reached out her hand to me. "Hi there. I'm Elise. I'll be the one doing all your sonograms from here on out."

"Ayla," I said, giving her a small wave. "This is my boyfriend Connor."

"Nice to meet you both. Ayla, you can hop on the table and we'll get started," Elise said. I went up to the table and laid down. Elise hit the lights, washed her hands, and powered up the machine. "How are you both doing?"

"Amazing!" Connor said, putting his hand on my shoulder. "I can't believe something like this is happening."

"Yeah...this is definitely unbelievable," I said.

"Do you have anything fun going on for the holidays?" Elise asked me.

"Not really. Just getting ready for Hanukkah with my family," I said. "I need to go buy presents. Haven't done that yet."

"I can be the same way sometimes. Shopping is hard. You can go ahead and lift up your shirt," Elise said. I pulled up my sweater. "Great. You're going to feel some cold jelly, okay?"

"Yup," I said.

She squirted it on my bloated stomach and I shivered for a bit. I watched as she turned the monitor away from us.

"Okay, I definitely see something...and something else here. Want to hear the heartbeats?" Elise asked as she pressed the wand into me and moved it around.

"Heart...beats? Beats? With an S?" I asked.

Elise smiled. "I see two babies on this screen, so yes. You have twins here. Congrats!"

"No way! It's twins?" Connor asked.

"I quit. Where's the 'exit game' button in here?" I said.

"No way, Ayla!" Connor said. "This is a double miracle! It's like a double rainbow, but with babies!" Elise looked over, a little confused. "They told me I wouldn't be able to have kids after my accident in the spring. This is just so incredible!"