"Can I go with you when you find out if it's a boy or a girl?" Max asked while eating a bowl of cereal about halfway through Amy's pregnancy.
Sheldon and Amy exchanged a look before Amy answered, "I guess that would be alright. My appointment isn't until four, so we could pick you up after school on the way to the doctor's office."
"Really?" Max excitedly asked.
"Why not? I know some people bring a lot of people with them when they find out. We were going to tell you right away tonight, anyway. Now you'll find out at the same time we do. We aren't going to tell everyone else until Friday night. Do you think you can keep it a secret until then?" Amy confirmed.
Max rolled his eyes. "I'll only have to keep this a secret for three days. I was able to keep it a secret that you were pregnant for way longer."
Noticing the time, Sheldon pointed out, "You better get moving or you're going to miss the bus. We'll pick you up after school."
"Bye mom, bye dad. See you later," Max grabbed his backpack and exited the apartment.
Sheldon also began to gather his things for work as he thought aloud, "Are you sure you want Max to come to your doctor's appointment? They ask a lot of questions. Do you really want Max to hear all of that?"
"We can have him wait outside the room until they begin the ultrasound. He'll understand us not wanting him to be in the room for all of it. He has said he's excited about the baby, but hasn't shown a lot of interest in anything baby-related, aside from saying it would be fun to share a room. I want him to feel as included in this as he wants to be," Amy replied while also gathering her work bag.
Eight hours later, Amy was parking the car outside her doctor's office. The family made their way inside and waited for Amy's name to be called. The nurse walked them back to the exam room and pointed at a chair just outside the room for Max to wait in. Ten minutes later, the door opened and Sheldon motioned for Max to join them. Sheldon resumed his spot, standing next to Amy, holding her hand, and pulled Max next to him, tucking him under his free arm.
"You said you wanted to find out the gender, correct?" The doctor confirmed while moving the ultrasound wand across Amy's stomach. "I take it that's why Max is here today?"
"Yes, we want to know," Sheldon confirmed while Amy nodded her head in agreement.
A few minutes later, the doctor froze the image on the screen. "Well, Max, it looks like you're getting a little brother.'
"Really?" The almost twelve-year-old asked.
"Really," the doctor confirmed while pointing at the screen. "It's hard to tell if you're not used to looking at ultrasounds, but if you look right here, you can see it's a boy."
Sheldon squeezed Amy's hand. "I love you," he leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.
"I love you, too," Amy said before turning her attention to her son. "And I love you, Max. I'm glad you could be here for this."
"I'm not sure how I was expecting you to react to learning the baby is a boy, but it wasn't how you reacted. How are you feeling about the baby being a boy?" Amy asked Sheldon as they climbed into bed that night.
Sheldon rolled on his side to face his wife, "I never thought about if I wanted it to be a boy or a girl. I just kept saying the typical 'as long as it's healthy, I don't care what it is,' but when the doctor said it was a boy, I realized I'd been secretly hoping it would be a girl."
"Really? A little part of me was hoping it would be a girl, too. We've already got an amazing son and I don't know if we'll have another baby after this one. It would have been nice to have one of each, but I am excited for you to get those moments with this little boy that you didn't get to have with Max when he was a baby," confessed Amy while inching closer to Sheldon.
Resting his hand on Amy's stomach, the couple was quiet for a few minutes. Ever since Amy felt the first kicks, this became an every night occurrence, Sheldon hoping to finally feel the baby move. "I guess I wanted it to be a girl because I know you'd be an amazing mom to a little girl. You'd have taught her to sew, and read Little House on the Prairie with her, and have tea parties, and do all those things that you never got to do with Max because he wasn't interested in it."
"You never know, Sheldon. This baby might be into all of those things. Max would ask me what I was doing when I'd be sewing; I'd explain it to him and how it worked, but he would wander off and find something else to do. Max's class read Little House on the Prairie in fourth grade, I think. You saw how happy I was when he'd ask if I wanted to read it with him," suddenly Amy grabbed his hand and shifted it on her stomach. "Ooh, did you feel that one? I think that was the strongest one yet. He's moving all over the place tonight."
"I guess you're right. Plus, Leonard and Penny are having a boy; our baby will be less than two months younger than theirs. It will be fun watching them grow up as best friends. If you have the baby a few days early, our son will meet the cut-off for school and they'll even be in the same grade," he pointed out before pulling his hand back in surprise and quickly replacing it. "I felt that one. I just felt our son move for the first time. You know, now that we know it's a boy, we could start talking about picking a name for him."
Amy held Sheldon's hand on her stomach and watched his face, noting the small smile that spread across his face with each kick he felt. "I want to wait to pick a name. Just until after we move. We put in the offer on that house on Saturday and still haven't heard back. I know the realtor said it could be up to a week before we hear anything, but I really want that to be our house. I don't want us stressing over picking a name while we're also trying to move."
"The doctor did say you should be keeping your stress levels down as much as possible, so I guess I can live with that. Would it be alright if I looked at names, as long as I don't say anything to you about them?"
"Sure. Now let's go to sleep, I think your son has already dozed off for the night, his evening gymnastics have slowed down," Amy suggested before kissing Sheldon goodnight.
