Chapter 2
"Hi, I'm Dr. Cheshire and I'm going to be doing your sonogram today." The doctor introduced himself as he closed the examination room door quietly behind him. He briefly shook hands first with Monica, who was already sitting on the examination table, and then with the Tuckers, who stood in the opposite corner of the room expectantly. He then dropped the file folder he had in his hand on the counter and made his way back over to Monica. "So, Monica, is it?" He recalled in a friendly manner as he patted her shoulder welcomingly. Monica smiled and nodded in return as she sat up a little straighter. But then Dr. Cheshire motioned to the table and moved over to the sonogram machine. "Well, Monica, if I could just get you to lay down here, we'll get the ultra-sound started." He instructed with an added smile as he switched on the machine and switched off the lights.
Monica obeyed immediately and lay flat on her back on the table. She couldn't say she had ever done this before, and to be truthful, it was sort of scary and exciting at the same time. She was about to see the baby for the first time and she wasn't exactly sure how it was going to make her feel. Throughout the entire pregnancy so far, she had never allowed herself to forget that this wasn't her baby. But it still felt so amazing to have a tiny life growing inside her.
"Okay, everything here looks good." Dr. Cheshire grinned broadly as he lifted Monica's shirt enough to reveal her swollen belly and ran over it with some sort of small device that was hooked up to the machine. Some sort of blurred image appeared on the screen, but they couldn't see much yet. Although they could suddenly here a quiet buffeting sound drifting throughout the darkened room "Alright, here that?" He beamed cheerfully, obviously referring to the strange sound they were all hearing. They each nodded in understanding, though they weren't exactly sure what they were hearing. Of course, Dr. Cheshire was quick to explain. "That's the baby's heartbeat." He informed them all, knowing how happy they must have been to hear that. Mike and Abby exchanged excited glances as they listened. They couldn't believe it. That was so incredible!
Monica was actually surprised to find joyful tears tighten in her throat as she lay there. But then something even more amazing happened. The picture on the screen cleared and everyone saw the baby for the first time. It was there on the machine clear as day. They could easily make out the head and shoulders and even the legs and arms a little. There it was. That was the tiny life growing inside of Monica. This combined with the gentle sound of the heartbeat still floating through the room, easily caused the tears to fall freely from Monica's honey-brown eyes over her angelic features. That was so unbelievable! She couldn't wait to tell Andrew and Gloria about this.