“What does it look like?”
“We can’t do it. You’re in a delicate state.”
“Your body disagrees with you.” She smirked and squeezed me tighter. “Plus, you cannot treat me like I’m breakable for nine months. I’ll go crazy.”
I pulled her hand away. “The answer is no, for now.”
“You won’t last long,” she said, challenging me.
“Watch me,” I said, but I knew she was right.
I turned, went into our closet, and grabbed my white T-shirt that said “Diva” on the front of it in black block letters. I pulled it over my head as I spoke to Mia. “I’m going down to the studio for a bit. Everyone has left for the day, so I wanted to work on a few things.”
“I’m gonna see if I can get into the doctor this afternoon since our parents will be here tomorrow. Do you want to come to the appointment if I can get in today?”
“Absolutely.” I turned and hugged her and then pulled back and looked her in the eye. “I’m really excited and happy, and I can’t wait to marry you and tell everyone about the baby.”
“Me too.”
I headed down to the empty studio and worked a little bit on Chad’s songs at the sound board, and then I went into the sound room with an old Fender Stratocaster that Martha’s husband had loaned me. It had this chime-y but rich sound to it when I played the neck. I plugged in, closed my eyes, and began to play the beginning of Led Zeppelin’s “Ramble On.” I tried to layer in both guitar parts as best I could by adding extra reverb, but the baseline was definitely missing. I kept my eyes closed and tried to imagine the baseline and pattering percussion in the beginning of the song, and then I actually heard it. I opened my eyes and saw Mia standing in the sound room, just feet away from me, tapping the beat on the back of a leather office chair. She was bobbing her head and smiling, encouraging me to continue. I wasn’t singing the lyrics, but as soon as the song started to build, Mia began twirling around. She was wearing a white sundress with long, billowing sleeves and knee-high brown boots. My little angel would have easily fit in dancing on the stage with the real band back in the seventies.
Mia could hear the music the same way I could. She had an imagination for it, and even though I was only playing the one-dimensional guitar part, I knew she could hear the full richness of the song. I watched her dance around, a picture of beauty, my soon-to-be wife, the mother of my unborn children. She closed her eyes as I built higher and higher and as soon as I hit the chorus, we both sang it at the top of our lungs.
I loved those impromptu concerts with her. We played around like that in the studio all the time, but since finding out Mia was pregnant, it’s like the light that followed her around got brighter. After the morning sickness passed, she smelled better than ever before. She looked better, she glowed, her hair looked shinier, and her cheeks had a natural blush to them. It made me want to keep her pregnant for the rest of our lives. I was surprised at my own old-fashioned, primal thoughts.
When we finally stopped jamming, Mia went to grab her purse. “So, the appointment is in half an hour. Are you going with me?”
“Yep, let’s go.” I grabbed her hand and we headed out.
We rode the subway into the village where the OB/GYN’s office was. After Mia filled out a thousand forms, the nurse took her temperature, blood pressure, and then weighed her before leading us to an exam room where she asked Mia to undress.
I stood up when a young, Asian, female doctor entered the room. “Dr. Chow,” I said, reaching my hand out to greet her.
“It’s Dr. Cho. Three. Simple. Letters,” she said to me without cracking a smile.
“Oh, sorry, Dr. Cho. Nice to meet you.”
She shook my hand, then Mia’s, and then went to the sink to wash her hands.
“So, you had a positive pregnancy test at home and you’re six weeks past the first day of your last menstrual cycle?” she said to Mia, who simply nodded. “Okay, then we can do an ultrasound today to confirm and see if we can find the heartbeat.”
I could tell Dr. Cho was a straight shooter. She didn’t mess around and probably didn’t have the best bedside manner, either. She pulled the long stick from the ultrasound machine to perform the test transvaginally. Like I said, I’m a quick study. I didn’t even flinch when Dr. Cho held the probe up with triumph. Mia’s legs were already propped and spread in the stirrups. I stood by her head and stroked her hair while our eyes stayed glued to the monitor.
Suddenly on the screen appeared an oval shape floating in a large black circle. You could immediately see the steady flicker of a heartbeat.
There are moments in life that you know you’ll never forget, even while it’s happening, and that was one of them. “She’s going to be a drummer!” I announced before the doctor could even speak.
Mia elbowed me. “Shhh.”
That’s when we heard it. It sounded like a pounding and sucking at the same time, but it was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard. It was the sound of my kid’s heartbeat.
“See, baby, she’s gonna be a drummer.”
“What if it’s a boy?” she said.
The doctor interrupted us. “We won’t be able to tell the sex for some time.”
“I can’t imagine not having a beautiful little girl that looks just like you.”
Pointing at the monitor, Mia smiled. “That’s our baby.”