Breakfast at Maggie's turned into more of a brunch after Amy and Ty first made a pit stop at Heartland on the way into town to make sure things were under control while they went into Calgary for the day. While the farm work had been taken care of, Amy had forgotten to phone an incoming new client to reschedule the drop off date for their horse. So they ended up having a surprise visitor just as she and Ty were pulling back up the driveway. It had been Amy's own fault for letting it slip her mind, or not delegating it to someone else, so instead of sending them away, had Ty turn round to get the new mare settled in and the proper paper work filled out in addition to spending the better half of an hour hearing about the mare's history and what exactly the problem was.
Of course with a new horse there Amy had wanted to stick around and check her out, get a feel for her and learn more about her traits first hand, but today wasn't a day where she could shift her time around to do it and reluctantly climbed back in the truck with Ty to finally make the drive into town.
Despite it being a little too close to lunch for pancakes, Amy's cravings demanded she order them anyway. She was quick to learn that there was no fighting it, finding it nearly impossible to properly function until the craving was satisfied. It was best for everyone if she just took care of it before it could fester and become a serious issue.
Her blueberry short-stack had been delicious, as usual, and Amy was beyond thrilled that by the time she and Ty were back in his truck headed up highway 2 to Calgary, she managed to keep them down. It was a pretty smooth ride so there weren't many bumps to jar her sensitive stomach too much. Regardless, Amy had a bottle of ginger ale in hand to keep it that way.
"Doin' okay?" Ty asked, glancing over once they reached the city limits, carefully navigating through the mid-afternoon traffic.
Amy lifted her head that had been resting in her hand with her arm against the door to look at Ty with a smile and a nod. "Yeah. I'm just kind of bummed we didn't get a chance to make it up sooner. That client completely slipped my mind." She had been looking forward to browsing through the baby stuff. Even though she saw enough of it at home from Katie, she had a whole new perspective now that it was her child she'd be needing it for. A lot of the stuff Amy knew Lou would be passing down to her, since she kept a majority of it just in case she and Peter did get pregnant again, but that was also the reason that Amy and Ty decided they should probably look into getting a lot of it new for themselves so they didn't have to worry about if Lou were to get pregnant again.
A smile pulled at Ty's mouth as he reached over and placed his hand on his wife's shoulder. "Hey, don't worry about it. It's just your baby brain at work." Lou's had been pretty comical those few years ago when she'd been pregnant with Katie. Her forgetfulness, while frustrating to her, had been rather amusing to everyone else who bore witness.
"Lou warned me this would happen. I just didn't think it would so soon. I still don't really feel that different. Except for… the sour stomach, fatigue, restless nights…oh and of course there is the constant need to go to the bathroom all the time. That's always nice when I'm trying to ride or work with a horse," Amy joked with sarcasm, grinning in Ty's direction when he chuckled at her.
"You're certainly in a good mood today." Lately it had been a lot of touch and go with Amy's moods. He knew the new influx of pregnancy hormones were to blame for it, but he was still trying to get used to the roller-coaster of emotions she could go through in a single day, sometimes even within a few minutes. It made him much more cautious of the words he chose and how to approach her if they'd been apart for long enough that he wasn't sure what he was walking into.
"I am." Amy replied, her voice absolutely agreeing with her mood. Until her morning sickness abated, she was really unsure of how the rest of the day would go. Some days all she wanted to do was curl into a ball beneath the blankets and other days she was good to go through a whole day with only minor belly aches that were easy enough to overlook. Today she felt pretty good and really hoped things remained that way physically. She didn't want her chipper mood to tank when today was a day she and Ty had been looking forward to for over a week now.
Ty guided the old truck down a maze of busy streets until he found the entrance to the parking garage for the medical clinic and swung into an open spot. He climbed out as Amy dug in the glove box to make sure she had all of the needed paperwork to make check-in as quick and painless as possible.
Ty came around and pulled the door open for her, making her smile at him while she climbed down. She nodded when he asked if she had everything, slipping her arm around his waist as he did hers until they reached the elevator entrance that would take them up to the correct floor. Amy pressed the '5' button then leaned back against Ty as the door slid closed and the machine carried them up.
The doors opened to the lobby that looked much less intimidating than the lobby of a regular hospital. Amy approached the receptionist and signed herself in, turning over the appropriate papers so she didn't have to spend their waiting time with a clipboard in her lap. She was able to go find a seat with Ty in the waiting area that was empty save for another couple at the far end who were further along in their pregnancy from what Amy could tell by the noticeable baby bump the woman was sporting. Amy smiled faintly before looking away, not wanting to get caught staring.
Ty leaned in close, his voice quiet as his breath brushed against her ear. "I think you're going to look adorable with that bump," he smiled, having noticed where Amy's gaze had fallen. He pressed a kiss to her cheek, reaching over to take her hand into his lap as they waited for their turn to come around.
It wasn't a long wait, maybe fifteen minutes at best, but the longer they sat there after the other couple were called back, the more anxious Ty became to the point where his leg started thumping against the floor.
"Now who's nervous." Amy placed her hand on his bouncing leg as Ty looked down and forced it to stop.
"I'm just eager is all."
"Amy Borden?" A nurse called, looking around the otherwise empty lobby until her eyes fell on Amy and Ty as they stood and followed her back to a room. "Is this your first?" She asked politely, pulling down a clean sheet of paper to cover the table Amy was going to be laying on that was situated beside an ultrasound machine.
"Yes," Amy replied, standing by with Ty and watching the nurse move about, awaiting instruction.
"Okay, so what we're going to do is ask you to remove your pants and underwear then lay back on the table and make yourself comfortable. You can cover up with this," she handed Amy a thin blanket. "The technician should be with you shortly."
Amy nodded, both she and Ty saying "thank yous" before being left alone for Amy to strip down and hop on the table, draping the blanket over her bare lower half.
"So, why do you have to be half naked for this?" Ty asked, sliding a chair over from the corner to sit down beside of Amy. "I thought they just squeezed that gel over your belly." At least, that's how he'd always seen it done - in movies.
"I think it's too soon to see the baby that way." Amy wasn't too sure herself, but was sure the technician could answer that for them when she came in a few minutes later.
"It's true since we don't know how far along you are that it'll be easier to go through trans-vaginally. We can try finding the baby through your belly, but the picture won't be as clear if we can find it at all. This way also makes it easiest for us to make sure your pregnancy is normal and the baby isn't developing inside the fallopian tube or where it shouldn't be. The experience is different for everyone, but you should only feel mild discomfort."
The technician got the machine set up as Amy folded up and opened her legs for the tech to have access to her. She pulled out a wand-like object she called a transducer and rolled a lubricated condom onto it before sliding it up inside of Amy. She'd been right, it wasn't comfortable and felt rather odd extending the length of her vagina and through her cervix into her uterus. Amy was almost afraid to move, but seeing the inside of her womb up on the monitor had her attention.
She and Ty both watched as the screen ebbed and flowed as the sound waves bounced off the walls of her uterus while the tech tried to find their baby. It took a few minutes of searching before she paused.
"There it is," she told them with a smile, adjusting some nobs on the machine. "Let's see if I can get a better view." Now that she had the baby in sights, it only took a few minor adjustments until it was front and center on the screen. It really didn't look like much of anything but a teddy bear-shaped blob without the ears, maybe more of a gingerbread man.
"Oh wow," Ty breathed, transfixed by the image on the screen as the nurse took some quick measurements before pointing out the little features. Not much was noticeable except for the head and arm and leg buds, but it was still the most incredible thing Amy had ever seen. She couldn't believe that's what it looked like inside of her right then.
"Judging from the size of the fetus, I'd say you are maybe bordering ten weeks, but when you have a follow-up with your doctor he'll let you know for certain." She told them as she adjusted the angle again then ran the cursor over a part of the baby that looked like it was moving, pulsing. "See this pulsing? That's the heart."
"That's pretty amazing." Ty commented, reaching out to fold his hand around Amy's, running his other hand over her arm. Both of their gazes were glue to the screen and the little beating heart that the technician was now trying to get a read on, but Amy still gave Ty's hand a loving squeeze when a jagged line appeared to measure the heart rate.
"Can we hear it?" Amy asked, hopeful that it was strong enough for them to get to hear.
"We can definitely try. It's rating at a hundred and sixty-seven beats per minute, which is nice and strong. Let me just finish up here and then we'll get the doppler." She finished taking measurements and making sure she had everything properly written. She was careful as she pulled the wand from Amy and rolled off the condom to toss in the medical waste basket. Amy was then allowed to put her legs down and get comfortable again while the technician pulled out a little handheld doppler and some of that gel Ty had asked about earlier.
Amy pulled up her shirt to expose her still flat, but expanding belly for the tech to place some of the cool gel against her skin. There wasn't much but static when the wand was first placed against her lower abdomen, the tech moving it around until a whooshing noise erupted from the little speaker. She turned it up, shifting the doppler over a little bit one way then the other until it became clearer. The baby's quick heartbeat filled the room and had both Amy and Ty staring at her belly.
"It sounds like a herd of horses, doesn't it?" She looked up toward Ty who's face just showed the awe he was feeling hearing his child's heart beating so strongly from inside of Amy. "Are you okay? You look like you're about to cry," she smiled, reaching up to rub her hand along his arm.
Ty snapped out of his daze to lift his green gaze to his wife with a smile. "Yep, yeah, no I'm good. It does kind of sound like horses, yeah." He cleared his throat in attempt to maintain composure even though he was easily on the verge of having some emotional tears well in his eyes.
Seeing their child up on the screen and then getting to hear its beautiful, steady heartbeat, made Amy's pregnancy and their impending parenthood so much more real. It absolutely amazed Ty that he and Amy managed to create this tiny life that now resided inside of her, literally taking their two halves to create one whole being. Ty never experienced such a miracle of life before. None of the animal births he'd witnessed over the course of his time at Heartland and working with Scott could ever compare to the one he'd get to experience in six more months, and he honestly couldn't wait.