She sat me down in a chair and retrieved a heart pressure monitor. Wrapping the cuff around my arm, she then squeezed the bulb until I could feel a throbbing coming from that point in my arm.
"87 over 62," She stated, penciling that onto her paper next.
"Is that good or bad?" I asked, relieved to feel the blood flowing though my arm again after she took off the cuff.
"It's neither good or bad, it just means your blood pressure is lower than most people." Seeing the look of concern on my face, she added quickly, "But, it's normal to see it during pregnancy. Like I said, your body is building up additional blood storage which will lower your blood pressure a bit. You should expect it to go up again after you've given birth."
"Okay..." I said, rubbing my arm gingerly.
"Have you been feeling light-headed at all?" She asked.
"You could say that."
"Alright..." She jotted down a few more notes, checked her beeper, and then added, "The doctor is ready for you now."
She took me into a large, milky-white room where Dr. Melissa Jurgens was chatting with Mom and Dad. They were sitting in chairs on the other side of what appeared to be a long, metal table placed in the center of the room. A computer terminal had been wheeled out onto the tiled flooring, and the doctor was inputting a series of commands into the machine.
Unlike the machine and the fixtures inside the room, the doctor seemed vibrant and full of youthful energy. Despite her gray hair and middle-aged appearance, her eyes shined in the light behind her glasses. She thanked Colleen, her assistant, for updating my records and input that data into the computer.
"How's it going, Mikey?" Dad approached me, pawing me on the shoulder. He had brought the magazine with him, thumbing to a page on the new Tesla sports car. "They've got a really good article you should read, son."
"Not right now, Jonathan!" Mom said playfully. "Is everything going along well, Michael?"
"Yeah," I replied. "Just got my weight and blood pressure measured."
"Everything appears above board." Reported Dr. Jurgens, after she had looked through my old file and fed in the new information. "He's getting pretty big! In my experience, surrogates tend to have fewer issues in the third trimester than natural mothers, so your son should be in good shape going forward."
"That's good to hear." Echoed Dad.
"Now, this isn't your first ultrasound so you know the drill. Take this," the doctor handed me a hospital gown with pale blue polka dots, "And get changed in the private room on your right."
This was, in fact, my first ultrasound, having refused to go at any time during the past month since I had swapped. Apparently, the other 'me' had been much more agreeable before the swap. I took the gown and minced into a small room with a sink, toilet, and mirror. Should I take off everything? I had watched how they did it on TV and they usually take off everything. So that's what I did.
Slipping the gown over my head, I put my arms through the sleeves and zipped it up behind my back. It fit loosely around my body and flowed down around my knees.
"I left my clothes in the changing room, is that okay?" I asked back in the large operating room.
"That's fine. This should only take a few minutes, and you should have your results before leaving today." Dr. Jurgens said, motioning for Mom and Dad to take their seats in the corner. "Why don't you get on the table and lay on your back? Then we can get started."
I hefted myself onto the operating table, getting chills at how cold the metal was against my skin. I was looking straight at the ceiling with my arms lying at my sides.
"I'm going to rub this gel over your belly and then press this sensor against it in various places." Described Dr. Jurgens. She showed me a microphone-looking object which had a cord running into the computer. She continued, "It emits a high-frequency sound that acts like a sonar device, showing us a map of the baby and your uterus."
She rucked up my hospital gown, leaving me exposed up to the belly. Then, I felt her hands rub a warm gel over my stomach.
"Do I need to wear a lead apron or something?" I asked to break the awkward silence.
"No, an ultrasound doesn't produce ionizing radiation. You and the baby should be fine. Okay. If you feel like I'm pressing too hard, just let me know and I can readjust."
The machine began humming to life, and Dr. Jurgens pressed the ultrasound device against my stomach. It felt strange to feel her pressing like that, but it wasn't painful. She commanded me to lay on my side, so I shifted position to let her reach some spots better. My eyes bulged out when she pressed the device against my vagina, but she noticed that and reassured me that it was normal. Well, normal to them anyways.
Soon enough, it was over. She holstered the ultrasound device in the machine and, while the image was being rendered, washed and scrubbed the gel off of me. I pushed the gown back below my thighs and got off the table. Feeling utterly violated and uncomfortable by the whole thing. I was only too glad to change back into my street clothes, use the toilet once again, and rejoin the others outside the operating room.
"If you've got time, I can give you the summary results in about ten minutes." Dr. Jurgens suggested. "I will be mailing a full report to your family and the Weber family, along with any recommendations for Michael's third trimester as the need arises."
"That sounds like a plan. We know Michael is pretty hungry, so we might want to get going..." Said Dad.
"Actually, I wouldn't mind getting the results right now." I said, despite feeling a pang of hunger just then. "I figure if we're going to be here we might as well know what we're dealing with, right?"
They all knew what I was referring to; was it to be a boy or a girl? I didn't want to go another minute without additional knowledge of the genderless 'thing' sloshing around inside of me. The better informed I was, the better I could cope with this, or so I hoped.
Colleen rejoined us and led us back to the waiting room. There was another family sitting down, waiting for their appointment next. It was a young mother and father, perhaps in their late twenties, the dad playing with a set of checkers with a toddler, maybe 3 or 4 years old, and the mom resting placidly on the seat next to them. She looked over and noticed my swollen abdomen, smiling politely before returning her attention back to her husband and ch1ld. Her belly wasn't as big as mine, as it looked like she had just started to form the telltale signs of motherhood. However, she had the calmness of having been here before that I did not. She was not new to this experience.
After only a couple minutes, the doctor emerged from the double doors into the waiting room.
"Michael, Lindsey, Jonathan, I've got great news for you!" She announced, carrying with her a picture of the ultrasound.
What does she say?
