Three Years

II

Leslie Knope

I opened my eyes a minute before my alarm went off, and stared at my phone waiting for the alarm to sound. As soon as it went off, I threw the blankets aside and hopped out of bed. Today was the day that we would find out the genders of our babies, and I couldn't be more excited! I don't think I had been that excited since I met Li'l Sebastian for the first time. May he rest in peace. 

"Leslie..." Ben groaned groggily as he climbed his way out of the blankets I accidentally threw on top of him, "What are you doing up so early? It's our day off..."

"Ben, don't you remember what day it is?!" I shouted as I combed my hair.

"Oh no... which famous Leslie holiday did I forget?" Ben sighed as he pulled out his calendar I made specially for him. It's a special calendar that has all the firsts and special occasions that have happened in our lives. 

"No, Ben. This day isn't on the calendar, BUT it will be on next year's calendar!" I was too excited to do anything. "I'll give you a hint..." I pointed to my swollen belly and held my breath waiting for him to put two and two together. He looked at me confused and then quickly changed to a look of shock.

"Oh no.. I forgot about the doctor's appointment today, didn't I?" Ben sighed.

"Yes, we have an appointment today, but it's not just any appointment," I hopped onto the bed and cuddled him for a second, "We're going to find out the genders of our babies today!" I gave him a quick kiss and then darted for my closet. "This is a huge step! Once we know for sure, we can look through the huge, color-coded binder I made of all the baby names I could think of. Then, we can crack open my other binder of nursery ideas. That one is color-coded as well, and I have a section for each possible scenario--"

"Leslie?" Ben had gotten out of bed and came to the closet door and leaned against the threshold, "I know you're excited, but slow down. Your fast pace isn't good for the babies," he placed his hands on my shoulders and smiled, "I can't wait to find out what genders our babies will be, and I'm sorry I forgot."

I smiled a little, "That's okay, I love you, Ben Wyatt and I can't wait to meet these little humans and call them actual names. Although, I think we should name one or all of them "Li'l Cherry" since that's what we've been calling them until this point," I laughed a little only kind of kidding, but Ben looked at me like I was crazy. 

"Okay, I can't tell if your pregnancy brain is kicking in or if you're being serious," he laughed a little, "We can't actually name our kids Li'l Cherry... They'll end up making a living dancing in middle aged men's laps."

"Hm, you're right... We'll need good names for when they all run for office. Ooh! What if all three run for President in the same election?! That would make American history! Worthy of history textbooks later on!" 

"Whoa whoa... Let's not completely decide these babies' futures yet... they're not even born yet," Ben grinned, "But I like the enthusiasm and that would be an amazing feat."

...

We got to the doctor's office, and Ben and I waited a while before we were called back. Finally, we got into a room and were told to wait for the doctor. While we waited, I got into the chair where our doctor would tell us how many boys or girls we were having in the next 6 months or so. Even though I wasn't that far along, I could already feel the weight of three babies crushing my internal organs. Not to mention, I was already showing... a lot! 

The door creaked open and our doctor came strolling in, "Good morning, Leslie. Good morning, Ben. How's Mom doing this morning?"

"Fine," I smiled, "Just very excited to find out a little more about these little guys.. or gals," I immediately added. 

"Awesome! Well, let's get right to it, shall we? Dad, if you could stand over there on the other side of this chair, that would be awesome," she grabbed a tube of ultrasound gel and smiled in my direction as she opened it, "Alright, Leslie. This is going to be kinda cold, so just a fair warning." The doctor squeezed some gel on the lower part of my belly, and she was right. It was freezing! I shivered a little, but it didn't take long for me to get used to the temperature. The doctor then grabbed the ultrasound machine and flipped it on, pressed the machine onto my belly and waited for the picture to show up. Sure enough, we heart 3 healthy heart beats and saw 3 little babies floating around. I couldn't help but gasp, "There they are! Oh, they're so precious." I looked up at Ben who was grinning from ear to ear. 

"You ready for the genders?" the doctor addressed both of us.

"Yes! Well.. no. Hm... I think so," I all of a sudden couldn't make up my mind. So many things were running through my head. Finally Ben interjected and said, "yes, we're ready." He squeezed my hand in anticipation, and I nodded in agreement.

"Alright, well right there," she pointed to the first baby, "there's a boy."

"Oh, Ben... Look at him! We're having a little boy!" I shouted before the doctor finished. She looked at me, mentally asking me if I was gonna do that for each baby, "Sorry.. I got excited... carry on."

"Okay.. and right here," she pointed, "is a girl... and... this little one is... a boy. Congratulations!" she finished, "You're good to celebrate now," she smiled. Ben squeezed my hand after each reveal and looked at me once the doctor was done. 

"This is actually happening!" I smiled, "We're going to be parents of a girl and two boys!"

"I'll leave you two to have this moment," the doctor interrupted, "I'll see you for your next prenatal checkup in a couple weeks."

"Thank you," Ben replied. I was too happy to respond for once. 

"We have SO much planning to do. If you drive, I can look at the name binder in the car and we can stop at the store and pick up supplies for the nursery.. no wait.. we need to pick out a color scheme first--"

"Whoa, Leslie.. take a breath," Ben laughed, "Let's take this one step at a time, okay? Let's focus on leaving the doctor's office and then we can begin to plan names on the way home if you want to, but I don't think we should mess with nursery stuff just yet. Let's talk to Ron about that on Monday," Ben brushed a stray hair out of my face and kissed the top of my head.

"You're right," I sighed. "I need to make sure that the nursery book is ready for Ron to look at, so I'll have to make sure there are tons more instructions and sticky notes!"

"Eh, not what I had in mind, but we can talk about that later. Let's get out of here, shall we?" Ben took my hand to help me down from the chair, and we walked out hand in hand. I was going to be a mom, and I couldn't imagine anyone else being the father to these three amazing children.