Day 42:
"Hi, we're have a 2:00 o'clock appointment for Pines," Dipper said as he led Pacifica to the front desk at the prenatal doctor's office.
"Yes, you're with Dr. McGrady," the receptionist said. "She'll be with you in a minute. In the mean time I need you both to fill out these health history questionaires."
She handed each of them a clipboard and they walked to a set of armchairs along the side wall of the waiting room. Pacifica filled out the first section: age, gender, name, date of last period, basic easy stuff. Her eyes soon wandered to the various pictures, charts, and diagrams decorating the walls, more specifically the one that in uncomfortable detail what happened during labor. She groaned as she crossed her legs and squirmed. That looked painful.
Dipper sense her discomfort, and though he didn't look up from his questionaire he did reach over and take her hand in his for a comforting squeeze. Pacifica smiled as she continued in her questionaire.
No health conditons that she knew of.
No real allergies.
Only concerns she had was that she had lost a little weight rather than gaining any.
"Have you experienced any of the following:"
Repeated Physical Abuse
Emotional/Mental Abuse
Sexual Abuse
Panic Attacks
Mental Breakdowns
Heart Attack
Stroke
Fainting Spells
Pacifica breath hitched as she put a check mark next to Physical Abuse, Emotional/Mental Abuse, Panic Attacks, and Mental Breakdowns. Dipper squeezed her hand again as he reached that part and placed a check next to Panic Attack himself. They turned in their questionaires and then waited to be called back, Pacifica still warily eyeing the birth diagram.
"You've still got seven months until then, love," Dipper reminded her.
"That's not very long when you think about it," Pacifica grumbled.
"True. But you do know there is such a thing as an epidural, right?"
"Are you saying I can't handle pain?" Pacifica tried to sound tough.
"I'm saying it's an option you should probably look at," Dipper put an arm around her shoulder.
"Pacifica?" a plump middle-aged woman with curly red hair asked as she stepped into the waiting room. Dipper and Pacifica stood up and followed her back to her office.
"Nice to meet y'all, I'm Dr. McGrady," she shook both of their hands.
"Nice to meet you," Dipper returned.
"Thanks for seeing us," Pacifica said.
"Well, that is my job," Dr. McGrady smiled. "So, do we know that we're expecting, or are we not sure?"
"Well, five pregnancy tests said yes, so…" Pacifica shrugged.
"That's certainly a good sign you're pregnant. But, I'm gonna go ahead and take some blood and urine samples from you just so we can be sure. I also want to check and make sure there aren't any problems." She handed Pacifica a cup, who meekly slipped off to the restroom to give a sample before returing to find a needle and vial already waiting for her. She took a deep breath as she sat down and held one arm out. With her other hand she squeezed Dipper's hand, turning her head towards him so she wouldn't have to watch. She always got a little queasy when she watched blood get drawn.
"Alright, all done. Now it will take me about thirty minutes to get those tests done, so sit tight and I'll be back." Dr McGrady shuffled out of the room leaving the young couple to themselves.
"How's your arm?" Dipper pointed to Pacifica's freshly laid bandaid.
"Sore," she mutter.
"Sorry."
"It's okay."
They looked at the charts and diagrams on the wall, including one that showed the how single babies, twins, triplets, even quadruplets developed differently. Pacifica chuckled as she noticed the twin diagram had one of the babies grappling onto the other's head with both it's arms and legs.
"So, which one were you?" she asked Dipper.
"Huh?" he arched an eyebrow in confusion.
"When you and Mabel were still in your mom. Were you the twins climbing all over the other one, or were you the one taking the beating?"
"Definately the one taking the beating."
Pacifica chuckled.
"How you think I got this brithmark. It's not actually a birthmark. It's a battle scar."
Pacifica laughd again.
"Yup, our battle to be the first twin born."
"Which you lost."
"Yup."
Pacifica giggled, before a realization hit her. "Oh, gosh! What if we're having twins!" she clasped a hand to her stomach.
Dipper's eyes grew wide. "I mean, given my family's history that is possible…"
"I'm back!" Dr. McGrady announced as she stepped back into the office with a clipboard. "So, congratulations you are pregnant!"
The butterflies began fluttering in both Dipper and Pacifica's stomachs as they smiled at eachother.
"And the urine and blood tests didn't pick up anything worrying in the immediate tests. We'll run some more extensive tests just to rule everything out."
"Sounds good," Pacifica smiled.
"What I do want to talk about is, Pacifica you checked yes on Physical and Mental abuse, Mental Breakdowns, and Panic Attacks. And Dipper, you marked yes on Panic Attacks, so do y'all mind telling me a bit more about that?"
"Um, well, yeah, my parents were...not good people," Pacifica answered stiffly.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Are they still in the picture? Is that somethign we need to be concerned about?"
"No, they're in jail," Pacifica answered.
"And good ridance to that! Dipper?"
"Well, um…" Dipper rubbed the back of his neck. It probably wasn't best to talk about a yellow triangle demon to a health professional. "I was in a hostage situation when I was twelve which caused some, well, anxiety…"
"I can understand that. And I also see here that you haven't been putting on weight?"
"Yes," Pacifica began shifting nervously.
"Well, at this point that's not a concern, but given your background it's likely that you'll be feeling some additional stress which can make it difficult to gain weight. That being said, I'd suggest you start drinking some homemade protein shakes. There are lots of recipes you can look up online, but the most popular one I've seen women drinking is the banana, peanut butter, and vanilla yogurt one."
"Mmm. This is a diet I can get behind," Pacifica grinned.
"Yeah, I bet," Dipper said over his notepad he'd stuck in his pocket before coming to the doctor's and he was now using to write down everything Dr. McGrady was saying.
"Have you already started taking prenatal vitamins?"
"Yes," Pacifica nodded.
"Good. Other things you should do, no smoking or drinking."
"Absolutely!" Pacifica heartedly agreed, thinking to the three miscarriages her mother caused for herself because she wouldn't stop doing those things.
"Start cutting down on the caffeine. If you start having headaches, 1 11 ounce cupt of coffee will be okay for now, but eventually you'll want to probably cut it out entirely. No sushi, unpasturiezed milk or cheeses, shellfish, runny eggs, uncooked meat including deli meat or hotdogs."
"Got all that, Babe?" Pacifica asked.
"...including deli and hotdogs...got it," Dipper nodded.
"My last bit of advice would be to be sure to get as much rest as possible and try to get as much relief from morning sickness as possible. Any antiacids that don't contain sodium bicarbonate should be safe for you to have, so stock up on those. Ginger ale will also help. Any questions about any of that?"
"No," Pacifica shook her head. "I don't think so."
"Alright. Now, based on your last period date you are 7 weeks along, which means you're far enough along that we can do an ultrasound."
"Oh, yay!" Pacifica clapped and Dipper grinned.
"So, I'm going to need you to lie on your back."
Pacifica lied down and Dipper pulled up a chair next to her, reaching out to hold her hand. Pacifica pulled her shirt up to exposed her stomach. Dr. McGrady poured the jelly onto her stomach then spread it about with the wand before turning the ultrasound on. Dipper and Pacifica both watched the monitor excitedly.
"Alright, so there's the gestational sac...and coming up here...right there, is your baby," she pointed to a small, white shape on the monitor.
Pacifica gapsed slightly. There really was something in there!
"Looks like a peanut," Dipper said.
Pacifica and Dr. McGrady both chuckled.
"Yeah, it kind of does," Dr. McGrady agreed as she began making measuremenats. "So, you're exactly 7 weeks along. Everything looks good so far…"
"And there's only one, right?" Pacifica asked.
"Yes, there's only one," Dr. McGrady confirmed.
"Good," Pacifica sighed just as a soft tha-thump, tha-thump, tha-thump began playing through the monitor. Pacifica and Dipper both gasped.
"Is...is that…" Dipper began.
"That's your baby's heartbeat," Dr. McGrady nodded. "Sounds good and strong."
Pacifica clasped a hand to her mouth as she smiled ear to ear. There really was a living baby inside of her. Dipper only stared awestruck at the screen.
"Now, I'm not going to be able to tell today, but will y'all want to know if it's a boy or girl when we get there, or do you want it to be a surprise."
"I wanna know!" Pacifica cheered.
Dipper only nodded, his eyes were still glued on the tiny peanut shape and the soundwave of a beating heart on the monitor.
"Okay. Well, everything looks good so far. I'm gonna schedule for y'all to come back in about a month so we can check and see how things are going, but of course let me know if anything goes wrong or if you have any questions."
She turned the monitor off and wiped the jelly off Pacifica's belly with a towel. "Y'all can confirm your date at the front desk. Your pictures will be waiting for you up there too. Should only take a few minutes to print. Congratulations you two."
"Thank you!" Pacifica called as Dr. McGrady slipped out.
"Can you believe we actually saw our-Dipper?" Pacifica noticed Dipper was still staring at the now turned off monitor as if in a daze.
"Dipper?" she set a hand on his shoulder. He slowly turned to her and it was then that she realized that his eyes were brimmed with tears.
"We're really having a baby," he whispered, setting a hand on her abdomen.
"Well, yeah, we've known that for a week and a half now."
"I know but...I don't know...I guess just seeing it and hering it's heart beat just-just...I don't know, made it real."
Pacifica smiled as she put her hand over his. "Yeah, it does."
Dipper grinned as he planted a small kiss on her stomach. "Love you, Peanut."