Book three of "Who We Become."
Sunset's life is far from glamorous, but when she learns that Fluttershy has it even worse, Sunset can't help but take it upon herself to solve her friend's problems and give her a safe place to live.
For Fluttershy, t...
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"Alright, here comes the exciting part!"
Fluttershy smiled, although what she was most excited about was getting to use the bathroom once it was done. They had told her to drink plenty of water an hour before getting to the hospital, and she felt like she was about to burst.
Sunset took hold of her hand and smiled too, which reminded Fluttershy she was focusing too much on the negative. It was a big day, and Fluttershy was excited. She was lying on a hospital bed, she wanted to run to the bathroom, having her stomach exposed made her feel uncomfortable, and yet she couldn't be more excited. Or terrified. She was definitely equal parts of both.
The sonographer opened a container of gel and applied it to Fluttershy's stomach. It was cold, but that wasn't so bad. She would gladly take some cold gel over what they'd wanted to do last time. The transvaginal ultrasound was a standard practice during an eight-week prenatal visit, but Fluttershy had been too uncomfortable to go through with it.
It wasn't that she hadn't wanted to. It would give them the first look at the baby and make sure development was going well. Fluttershy had been excited about it, until she learned that the first ultrasound would be done vaginally, since the baby was still far too small to be found through her stomach.
Although she had initially agreed, she'd panicked before they could start. Even with Sunset beside her, flashbacks had left her too terrified to continue. Thankfully, Sunset had been there to be her voice when she found she was unable to communicate herself, and they'd decided that while the eight-week ultrasound was recommended, it wasn't necessary.
But while that saved Fluttershy from an uncomfortable experience, it also left them in the dark about her baby's well-being for another month. They had been assured that everything was fine as far as they could tell with other tests, but it had been a month full of regret.
And the wait was finally over. They were at the hospital for Fluttershy's twelve-weeks prenatal visit, and everything was set up for her first ultrasound.
"And here we go." The sonographer placed a white device on her stomach, which was connected with a thick cord to a machine. He moved it around in the gel, and an image appeared on the screen across the room.
At first it didn't look like anything, just a weird fluidy mess in black and white. Then he found what he was looking for, and a small baby was visible in an otherwise black bubble.
Her baby. Fluttershy was looking at her baby for the first time. It was hard to make out individual parts and they didn't quite look like a regular baby yet, but there they were, alive and healthy.
A cursor appeared on the screen as the sonographer talked about what they were looking at, exactly. "Here's the head, which is about the same size as the rest of the body at this point. And we can see its little arms and legs here. And – oh!"
