Sheldon filled the tea kettle with water and slammed it onto the stove before turning on the burner to heat it. "Sheldon, you need to calm down. There's no point in you stressing over this until the next appointment. It's going to be a very long weekend for both of us if you don't relax."
"How can you be so calm about this? The doctor saw something on your scan today and wants to do more tests. Why couldn't we have done them today?" Sheldon paced the kitchen while waiting for the kettle to whistle.
Sitting on one of the stools at the island, Amy watched her husband pace. "They couldn't do the tests today because it's already Friday afternoon. The person who does the 3-D scans is off until Monday. I'm calm about this because they didn't see anything wrong, they just want to confirm the gender because it wasn't looking like it should for a boy." She slid off the stool and put her hand on Sheldon's back, pushing him towards the couch. "I'll finish making the tea. You sit down and work on calming down."
Sitting in his spot, Sheldon rested his head in his hands until Amy passed him a mug of tea. The pair sipped their tea in quiet. "I don't think we should tell Max," he finally broke the silence that had fallen over the pair.
"I agree," Amy nodded her head. "There's no point in telling him unless there's something to tell. I don't want him worried about it all weekend. The doctor said it could have been the way he was positioned this time that was making it difficult for them to get a clear view. We'll get the 3-D scan on Monday and they'll figure out if they were wrong last time or this time."
"I guess you're right," Sheldon reached for Amy's hand. "I'm sorry for freaking out about this and I'll try to be in a better mood the rest of the weekend so Max doesn't think anything's going on."
Sheldon managed to keep his composure throughout the weekend to keep their son from suspecting anything might be going on with Amy's pregnancy. Waiting until Max left to catch the bus to school Monday morning, Amy suggested, "I think I should drive today. I know you've been wanting to practice driving more, which is why you've been driving to and from work every day, but you're already nervous when you're driving. I know you're worried about my appointment this morning. I don't want that to make you more nervous about driving."
"That's fine," Sheldon quickly agreed. He'd been objecting to Amy driving since he bought his car, but was relieved she offered to drive that day. "We should probably go so we're not late. Maybe if we get there early, they'll be able to see you early, and we'll be able to sort all of this out."
Twenty minutes after arriving at the doctor's office, Amy was lying on the exam table with her shirt pulled up, exposing her stomach. The doctor picked up the ultrasound wand and spoke while adjusting the machine. "We're only looking to confirm the gender, which isn't something we usually need a 3-D ultrasound to do, but it wasn't very clear on your scan on Friday, so we want to double-check."
The doctor moved the wand around Amy's stomach, and Sheldon intently watched the screen. "It's freaky how clear it looks. The baby has Max's nose."
"He's got your nose, so does this baby," Amy reached for his hand as the doctor continued to get clear images of the baby.
"Okay, looks like your scan on Friday was correct and the scan last month was wrong. I hope you hadn't picked out a name or bought a lot of boy stuff because you are in fact having a girl," the doctor froze the image on the screen for Sheldon and Amy to see.
"How is it possible you got it wrong last time? You said it was clear to see that it was a boy," questioned Amy, not taking her eyes off the screen.
The doctor turned to face Amy and Sheldon. "It's possible the way the umbilical cord was positioned made it look like there was something there, either the cord itself or a shadow from it. I'm sorry we were wrong last month, but this does happen on rare occasions. This is why we look at every scan and recommended the 3-D scan to confirm if it's unclear."
Amy looked at Sheldon, attempting to guess what he was thinking about what they had just been told. He continued to stare at the screen, leaving Amy to reply to the doctor. "Thank you for clearing this up. While we'd been looking forward to having another boy, we're excited about adding a little girl to our family." She shifted to sit up and wipe the gel from her stomach with the towel she'd been handed. "Sheldon, are you alright?" Amy asked, noting Sheldon hadn't said anything since the doctor told them they were having a girl and not a boy.
"Yeah," he shook his head. "We should go to work. Leonard already texted me asking where we were. I didn't tell him we were going to be late this morning."
"Thanks again, Doctor," stated Amy, following Sheldon out of the office.
The couple went their separate ways when they arrived at the university and did not see one another again until the end of the day. Meeting back at the car, Sheldon again quietly got in the car, which Amy noticed. "Hey," she turned to face him before starting the car. "How are you doing with this? I know you said after my first scan you'd been hoping it was a girl, but seemed excited about it being a boy."
"It's just a lot to process," the physicist shrugged. "I'd been starting to think about names I like for the baby, but now I'm going to have to look for girl names. I am looking forward to having a daughter, though. We should probably tell Max when we get home, before everyone else comes over for dinner."
Entering apartment 4A, Amy and Sheldon found Max sitting on the floor in front of the coffee table, working on his homework, like they did every night. "Hi, mom. Hi, dad," the twelve-year-old greeted them. "I'm almost done with my homework. Can I go over to Noah's house for dinner? We're working on a project together. His dad said it was okay for me to come over so we can work on it after dinner."
"Sure," Amy agreed. "Do you need a ride or is Noah's dad picking you up?"
"His dad can pick me up on his way home from work."
Sheldon sat on the couch and watched his son work on his homework for a few minutes. Seeing him start to pack everything in his backpack, Sheldon spoke, "Before you go to Noah's house, your mom and I need to talk to you about something." Leaving his backpack on the floor, Max hoisted himself to sit on the couch next to Sheldon. "Your mom had a doctor's appointment on Friday. They saw something on the scan that didn't match what they saw last time, so we had to go this morning for her to get more scans."
"Are you okay, mom? Is the baby okay?" Max quickly looked at Amy, who was sitting in the armchair.
Nodding her head, Amy started to explain, "Yes, we're both fine. At the appointment on Friday, the doctor said it didn't look like a boy, so they wanted to do a different scan today to get a better look at everything. They think it might have been the umbilical cord or something when they did the scan that you were at last month because the scan I had this morning showed that this baby is definitely a girl, not a boy like they thought."
Max looked between his parents, "You're serious?" When they both nodded, the sixth-grader replied, "I'm really glad we're looking for houses to move to because I don't think I want to share my room with a little girl. I have nothing against the color pink, but I don't want everything in my room to be pink."
"You're okay with this?" Sheldon was concerned about the boy's reaction.
"There's nothing we can do to change it. I'm not going to love the baby any less because it's a girl and not a boy. I was looking forward to having a little brother, but it will be nice to have another girl to balance out the group. We've already got Halley and Michael. Penny and Leonard are having a boy, now you're having a girl."
Suddenly the phone rang, interrupting their conversation. Sheldon answered the phone, said a few words, and hung up. "That was Noah's dad. He'll be here in five minutes. Call when you're done and I'll pick you up."
Gathering his backpack, Max headed towards the door to meet his best friend's dad downstairs. He turned back before reaching the door of the apartment and approached Amy. Bending next to her, he whispered to her stomach, "I was looking forward to having a little brother, but you being a girl instead doesn't change that I can't wait to meet you." Straightening up, he moved towards the door again. "Bye, guys. I'll let you know when I'm ready to be picked up."
