Teenagers, Love and Pregnancy

Chapter 7

It's times like these that I wish I was a woman," John said as he tapped his foot on the carpet floor of the waiting room and played nervously with his own hands. I laughed out loud as he ran his fingers through his dark hair nervously.

"What? Why?" I said through fits of laughter.

"So I wouldn't feel so out of place," he mumbled, sounding increasingly uncomfortable.

I laughed some more.

Today was the day Mom had made an appointment to see an ob/gyn to get my pregnancy checked out. Unfortunately for John, Mom had scheduled the appointment for when she would be at work, leaving John to take me. No matter how long he argued good-naturedly that I could drive myself, Mom said I shouldn't have to go alone.

"You're really scared of the lady doctor?" I asked jokingly as John kept his eyes trained on his lap, never allowing himself to look up at the...detailed...posters on the wall depicting all sorts of "wonders" of the female body.

"No," John stammered nervously, still not looking up.

"Do I need to go get a brochure and look through it with you then?" I teased.

"Okay, okay, I admit it, I'm terrified," he said with a chuckle.

I laughed.

"That's what I thought."

At that moment, a nurse in purple and pink scrubs came in, clutching a clipboard.

"Cameron?" she called. I stood and grabbed my bag. John rose to follow me, looking pained.

"Stay here," I said with a laugh.

"Your mom will kill me."

"Then I guess we won't tell her."

John sat down, looking like the most relieved man on Earth. I followed the nurse into a room, where she weighed me and took my vitals. Then she left me alone on the examination table, telling me that Dr. Gloria would be in in a second.

When the doctor entered, I instantly liked her -- she was a slightly overweight Latina woman with bright eyes and a healthy amount of laughlines.

"Hi Cameron," she said brightly, shaking my hand with a warm smile. "How are you feeling today?"

"I'm great, thanks," I said, smiling.

"Awesome. I'm just going to ask you a few questions to see where we're at, okay?"

"Alright," I replied.

A few?! Try a few thousand! For the next half hour, Dr. Gloria grilled me on every aspect of my life, asking me questions about previous pregnancies, any past surgeries, my allergies, whether I smoked, whether I drank, my family history, what pregnancy symptoms I had, whether my partner and I had any birth defects, and what seemed like hundred more topics.

After that, she explained to me what I should expect from pregnancy and what I should look for as warning signs that something wasn't right. She scheduled an appointment for my first ultrasound and another appointment for a series of tests that we'd have to conduct to make sure my baby and I were both healthy.

After that, she gave me a thorough physical, took a urine sample, and gave me some advice on things I could do to stay healthy.

Finally, she said:

"Now I know that's a LOT to take in. Do you have any questions?"

I paused for a moment, about to say no, when a question popped up in the back of my mind.

"What if I need like, a DNA test?" I said. "To like. . .see who the dad is." It had been a week since Kendall had demanded I get a DNA test, and I was eager to get it done.

Dr. Gloria looked at me for a minute. She most have thought I was the biggest slut on Earth, a pregnant seventeen year-old who didn't know who her baby daddy was.

"You don't know the father of your child?" she asked.

"I do," I said nervously. "It's just. . .he doesn't believe me."

"Well," Dr. Gloria said, "If you can get the father up here, we can run a quick paternity screening to see if there's a match."

"Yeah," I swallowed. "Okay. I'll try to call him?"

Dr. Gloria smiled warmly, which made me instantly feel comfortable.

"Great. I'll be back in few minutes to see if you've had any luck." With that, she left.

When the doctor was gone, I whipped out my cellphone and stood up, walking around the room and rubbing my belly, which was now getting sort of noticeable. I knew Kendall's number by heart. I dialed it, and waited for him to pick up.

"What is it?" he asked on the third ring. So much for hello...

"I can get a DNA test."

"Okay," he replied. "Great." He sounded the opposite of enthusiastic.

"Like, today."

"So what do I have to do to prove it's not mine?" he sounded impatient. That's okay, I told myself. At least that'll get him down here.

"Come down to Dr. Gloria Ramirez's office in town. She can test us."

"Okay. When?"

"Now."

Kendall's reply was an exaggerated sigh that nearly blew my eardrums out.

"Fine," he grumbled. "See you in fifteen minutes."

He hung up without saying goodbye.

Twenty minutes later, Kendall stood a respectful distance away from me, leaning against the doorframe while I was still perched on the examination table.

"Alright you two," the nurse said as she came in with two syringes in hand. "We're just going to take a little blood from both of you and then put it through testing. No big deal."

First, she took blood from Kendall, then from my arm, saying she was going to separate my DNA from my baby's then look for a match to Kendall's.

"We'll have results in a couple of hours," she said when she returned from taking our blood samples away. "Have a nice day."

Kendall didn't say a single word to me as he left.