He nodded. "I'm sure it is. Try telling that to my frantic monkey brain."
I laughed, leaned close and whispered in his ear. "I think I know what your frantic monkey brain needs."
He growled quietly, a sighing rumble. "Rune, we haven't had a moment alone in months. I haven't even gotten to see you naked since we decided to do this together. And now you're trying to distract me with horny thoughts in the middle of the waiting room?"
I nuzzled his jaw with my nose. "Yup. Is it working?"
His gaze burned with arousal. "Yes. It is." His hand gripped my thigh, high up, teasingly close to my sex. "I'm about to haul you into an exam room and play doctor with you."
"And I'm about to let you," I said. "How can we find even thirty minutes of privacy?"
He glanced away, his vice-grip on my thigh unrelenting. "I dunno, but I'll figure something out."
"You'd better or we're gonna end up doing something bad somewhere very inappropriate."
"Like the back of a Volkswagen?" he said.
I frowned at him. "Huh?"
"Mallrats?" he asked, but then waved a hand at my blank expression. "Nevermind. Just a movie quote."
I opened my mouth to respond, but a nurse emerged to stand in the doorway and called my name: "Rune?"
I got to my feet, and Duncan followed me, wiping his hands on his thighs. He really doesn’t like doctors, does he? Weird. Not much else seems to bother him.
We're brought to a dark room, where after a ten-minute wait, one nurse takes my vitals, and then we wait another ten minutes, and a different nurse has me lay on my back. She slid my shirt up and my leggings down, tucking a large square of blue paper into the waistband and squirting jelly all over my belly, and then pressed the ultrasound wand to my skin.
I spent as much time watching Duncan as I did the screen—for the first minute or so, there wasn't anything discernible or recognizable to see or hear, and then she found the location and angle she wanted.
A rhythmic whooshing noise filled the room: a heartbeat.
"There's Baby's heartbeat, Mom and Dad," the nurse said. "Strong and healthy."
Duncan's hand went to his face, covering his mouth. "Holy shit, it's real," he breathed. His eyes went to mine, wide and emotional. "You can't tell if it's a boy or girl, yet?"
The nurse smiled at him, shaking her head. "No, not yet. It's about the size of a plum, right now. He or she has visible limbs, most major organs, eyes, nose, and mouth, but sexual organs can't be reliably determined until about eighteen to twenty-two weeks. That's when your next visit will happen, and we'll do the gender scan then."
"The heartbeat is so fast. Is that normal?" Duncan asked, taking the words out of my mouth.
"Oh, yes," the nurse answered. "A hundred and forty to a hundred and seventy bpm is normal for this gestational age. It slows down after about week twenty-six."
Duncan's eyes met mine again. "Holy shit."
I couldn't find words. My eyes were wet and my throat was tight. "Dunc," I whispered. "We have a healthy baby."
"It seemed…kind of abstract till now," he said. "This…seeing it, hearing the heartbeat…it makes it way more real."
"It really does," I agreed, grabbing his hand and squeezing it hard. Tears dribbled down my cheeks again. "Gah, I'm so sick of crying all the time."
The nurse spoke while cleaning off my belly and putting away the wand. "That's totally normal, Mama. There are a lot of hormones flooding your system right now, and also, it's just an emotional thing. You're creating a human being inside you. It's a big deal and it's absolutely normal to feel a wide range of very strong emotions, most of which tend to express themselves through crying."
I nodded. "The months leading up to this were pretty emotional, too, so I'm just…I'm tired of being weepy all the time."
She just huffed a soft laugh. "Unfortunately, I don't know if that's going to change much for a while. My advice? Don't fight your emotions. Let yourself feel them. It's okay." She looked at Duncan. "Your job is to support her, Dad. Don't be afraid of her big feelings, okay? And also, speaking from experience, try not to take it personally if weird stuff you do or say sets her off. Most of the time, it's not you, it's just hormones and emotions. Don't minimize what she's feeling, just…don't take it personally."
Duncan nodded, examining me with wide, thoughtful, emotionally-fraught eyes. "Is it…it safe for us to…be together? I mean for the baby. And for her."
"Absolutely," she answered immediately, understanding what Duncan meant. "Totally safe. You're not gonna hurt the baby, or her. Just for informational purposes, Mom's libido will fluctuate throughout the pregnancy. It's normal during this first trimester for her libido to be a bit lower due to exhaustion and nausea. But you're right about twelve weeks now, so you might start noticing an increase in libido. The third trimester is pretty hit or miss as far as sexual urges go, though, and varies a lot by individual. Some women want it but find it difficult or uncomfortable, others have no drive whatsoever, and others have a higher drive than ever…like I said, it really varies from woman to woman." She looked from Duncan to me and laughed. "Something tells me I should wrap up this appointment, huh?"
