Modern Love 2: The After Years

First Picture

First Picture

"Baby!"

"Yes Van you get to see the baby today. What do you want? Boy or Girl?" Beth asks from the passenger side of Daryl's truck. Daryl, who is driving, looks up and sees Van bouncing in his car seat an waving his hands.

"Baby!"

"Haha yes, we established that. But do you want a brother or a sister?" Daryl asked as he pulls into the parking lot of the Pediatrician Beth called a few weeks ago to set up an appointment.

"Sissy!" Van bounces and Beth and Daryl just stare at each other. Parking the truck, Beth gets Van out of the back seat and Daryl locks up. Walking into the office, Daryl and Beth can feel their temperatures rise and can feel Van slightly tense up from the other children.

"Hi, I'm Beth Greene. I have an appointment with Dr. Rhodes." The head nurse at the station smiles and checks her computer system.

"It should only take a few minutes for her to be ready, but in the mean time could you fill this out. You'll need to hand it to yer nurse in the room."

Beth takes the papers and soon looks to find Daryl and Van both sitting in the child's area playing with cars on an ABC rug. Laughing she heads over and sits in a small wooden chair and fills out the papers.

"Am I expecting? Yes. Am I Caucasian, African American, Hispanic, or Other? Caucasian. Have I menstruated or had spotted bleeding in the past two weeks? No. Have I been pregnant before? Yes. Why are there so many questions? Can't they just ask me these? I mean come one do I look Hispanic? Why would I be here if I wasn't expecting? Like seriously." She fills the rest of the feet out and Van comes running over.

"Mommy." He hands her a blue car and she just smiles.

"What color is this?"

"Bue!"

"That's right Blue! Good job!" She high fives him and Daryl kneels his way over to her then leans on the balls of his feet. Gently rubbing her back, she lets a breath out and sighs.

"Hey, It'll be okay. Alright? I love you. It's gonna be fine." Kissing her cheek, their Nurse calls them back.

"168. Decent weight. A little low, but that's okay. It's healthy. Now I need your blood pressure. Looks good. And let me just listen to your heart beat. Sounds perfect. Have you been eating regularly?"

"Yes."

"How about sleep?"

"Yes the occasional wake up through the night, but alls fine there."

"Orange!" Van yells and bounces on Daryl's lap as he points to Nurse Becka's stethoscope.

"Very good!" Becka answers and just smiles at Van.

"How old is he?"

"He's gonna be four in December."

"He's really tiny. Was he a Premie?"

"We don't know. We adopted him about three months ago. His name's Vannick. But we mostly call him Van."

"Vannick? That's an adorable name. Where from?"

"Hungary. He's our little angel." Daryl comments and both women swoon over the little boy sitting on his father's lap.

"Knock knock. Hey happy family. I'm Dr. Rhodes. How are we today?" She shakes their hands and them looks down at Van who is half hiding his face in Daryl's vest and half smiling. "And who have we here?"

"This is Van. Say hi buddy." Daryl bounce the young boy and he looks at Rhodes full faced.

"Hi..." Van looks at Rhodes and the ladies smile.

"Hi there Cutie. Okay Mommy. You ready to see your Baby?"

"Yeah." Beth lays back against the table with her shirt up to her chest and her stomach exposed. Rhodes takes the gel and spreads it across her abdomen. Turning on the saunagram machine, she then places the reader on Beth's gelled stomach. They hear her heart beat and then the smaller heartbeat.

"There's your heart beat and there's your baby's. Let's see if we can find a good shot." She moves the reader around soon they find the perfect picture of the baby. "Do you wanna know what the sex is?"

Daryl and Beth give each other a look and then answer.

"Yes."

"Congratulations. You're having a baby girl! There's her hands, feet, and little nose." Beth grabs Daryl's hand and he kisses hers. "I'll print you two pictures and then you can go celebrate."

Rhodes smiles and then leaves the room along with the nurse. Van looks from Beth to Daryl.

"What is it Mommy?" He points to the screen and Beth half smiles and starts to cry a bit.

"You're gonna have a little sister, Van."

"Sissy?"

"Yes. That's right." Van smiles and Stretches his hands out for Beth to hold him. Daryl hands him to her and Van snuggles up against Beth an then plays with the felt on her stomach. "Van. What are you doing Sweetie?"

"Sticky Mommy." He holds his hands up for her to see the blue gel on his hands and they just laugh.

"I bet."

The doctor comes back in and hands her the pictures. They get Beth cleaned up and they leave the office.

On the way home, all Van can talk about is the baby. Beth just smiles an Daryl holds her hand as he drives them home.