Chapter 16:
"We have to decide, Harm," said a frustrated Mac as they ate lunch together outside the JAG building, "the appointment's in an hour."
"I know it is" replied Harm, "I'm still not sure what I wanna do is all." They'd been having the "do we find out the sex of the baby or not" debate for the past month. They agreed that they had to be united on whatever the final decision, but that was as far as agreement had gotten them.
"Well, I'd like to find out just because it'll be easier to choose a nursery theme and shop for baby clothes" said Mac, "but if you don't want to find out, I don't want to force it on you."
"I know, babe" said Harm, " I understand what you're saying and I want you to be happy, I just can't help but feel like the delivery will be more special if we don't already know what we're having."
"Harm, you're talking about the birth of our first child, it's going to be special regardless of if we know the sex or not" replied Mac.
"Well, of course it is, but it'd be really amazing to hear the 'it's a boy!' or 'it's a girl!' as soon as the baby's born" said Harm. "I guess I've just always pictured it happening that way."
"Always?" asked Mac. "Just how long is 'always'?"
"From the moment I knew we'd spend the rest of our lives together" answered Harm. "I've been dreaming about this day for so long, Mac, about how exciting it'll be, how I'll be right beside you no matter how many hours it takes, about how exciting it'll be to find out if we have a son or a daughter…" Harm's words trailed off as he began to choke up.
"Oh…." said Mac, also choked up at the mental picture Harm had painted. "That's it then, we're waiting."
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"Yes, I'm sure" she answered. "I want it to be just the way you've imagined it. I didn't realize it was something you'd put so much thought into for so long, and there's no way I'll let the convenience of buying the right color of sleepers and caps a few months early take that away from you - from us."
"Thanks, Mac" said Harm, a few tears still visible in his deep blue eyes. "Finish your lunch, we don't wanna be late for the appointment."
"Definitely not" answered Mac, sniffling just a bit. "Even though we're not finding out the sex, it'll still be great to see the baby."
"Yeah, maybe it'll actually look like a baby this time" said Harm "I'm still waiting for that to happen!"
"It does look like a baby, Harm, you just need some practice at shadow recognition is all" said Mac as she finished the last bite of her sandwich.
"Yeah, maybe so, but you've gotta admit those pictures aren't easy to figure out" replied Harm.
"Come along, my dear" said Mac, choosing to avoid another discussion on ultrasound pictures and how impossible they were to make sense of, "time to go."
"OK, OK…" said Harm with a smile, and the two of them headed for the car.
---------------------------------------------------
"Hello Sarah, Harm" said Dr. Mianni as she entered and held out her hand to each of them. They'd talked about how it was funny that Dr. Kendall had always referred to Harm as "Commander" but had called Mac by her first name, and Dr. Mianni called them both by their first names. Just went to show that each doctor is different.
"How are you both today?" asked the doctor.
"We're doing good" replied Mac, "we'd been stressing over whether or not we wanted to find out the sex of the baby, but we finally reached a resolution on that matter, so we're good."
"I see, and what did you decide?" asked Dr. Mianni.
"We don't wanna find out" answered Harm. "We'd rather wait until the delivery, make it an even more special day." He looked over at Mac and smiled.
"That's fine, whatever you two are comfortable with is fine with me" said the doctor. "Most folks nowadays want to know as soon as possible, but I think there's something to be said for not finding out. Like you said, it makes the delivery just a little bit more special."
"It'll be special no matter what, but yeah, we think waiting is the right thing for us" said Mac.
"Well, we don't need to wait any longer to get started here, are you ready?" asked the doctor as she reached for the bottle of ultrasound gel.
"Very" answered Mac, "go for it." Harm stepped over next to the table and took Mac's hand as she laid back.
The doctor squeezed the warm-yet-somehow-still-cold gel onto Mac's tummy and moved the wand around until she found her place.
"Harm, could you get the lights, please?" she asked. He reached around behind himself and flipped the switch.
"Ok…let's see here….." said Dr. Mianni as she slowly moved the wand. "Let's get some measurements of a few things…." Harm and Mac watched contently, still amazed that they were seeing their baby.
"Well" said the doctor, "if you did want to know the sex, I've got a very good idea as to what it is, but I'm not going to tell you."
"That's right, don't tell us!" said Mac. "It was too hard to come to a decision on that, and we finally did, and we're sticking to it!"
"Indeed" echoed Harm, "don't even give us a hint of a clue of what it is, please!"
"Don't worry, I'm very good at keeping secrets" said Dr. Mianni with a smile.
She continued moving the wand around, taking measurements and pictures, and towards the end she got one that was just amazing.
"Oh, look here guys" she said pointing to the screen, which she'd frozen for a moment. Harm and Mac looked to where the doctor was pointing.
"Hey, it's a hand!!" said Harm excitedly.
"Yes, it is" said the doctor, "pretty neat, huh?"
"And you thought you'd never be able to make out anything on these ultrasounds" Mac said to Harm, herself in awe at seeing such a clear and perfect image of her child's hand on the screen.
"Well, I can make out things when they're that obvious!" said Harm with a huge smile.
"I'll print you a copy of this shot, I know you'll want it" said the doctor.
"Thanks" said Mac, "we've got a nice little collection of these already in the baby book."
"Something you'll treasure forever" said Dr. Mianni.
"We sure will" replied Harm, thrilled that he finally saw something recognizable. He thought about how wonderful it was to see that tiny little hand and to know that in another 4-and-a-half months, he'd get to hold it in his own. He couldn't wait.