Part 9 – Waiting and Naming

The next few weeks were long ones for Charlie. While he knew intellectually that things were moving lightning fast, relative to the average length of the process, it all seemed to drag. He'd never been good at waiting and usually hadn't had to in his life. To pass the time, he read lots of pregnancy books and scared himself with what could go wrong. He started calculating the odds of getting a child at the end of this whole complicated and messy process, made hugely more complicated by medical intervention, and had to go solve some murders for Don in order to calm down.

Then it was time for Charlie to fly up to Oregon to give his 'donation.' One piece of luggage was taken up entirely with a full body 'pregnancy pillow' for Mary. He also took cute Los Angeles T-shirts for Mary's two girls. Charlie and Colby had struggled for a while deciding on what to give Mary's husband – what do you give a man who was allowing his wife to carry your baby? Eventually they decided on a gift basket of California dried fruits, nuts, candy and chocolate, figuring that maybe he could use that to deflect some of Mary's pregnancy cravings.

Charlie called Colby from the clinic when it was time for him to give his sperm sample. He didn't really need help but wanted Colby to be part of the process, even remotely. Then he came home and everyone sat on pins and needles for a few days until they got the news that three excellent embryos had been created with donor eggs and Charlie's sperm and had been inserted into Mary with no problems. More pins and needles until they got the incredible news that one of the embryos had implanted and was busy growing madly. Charlie and Colby shared an emotional phone call with Mary, where Mary promised to take care of their growing child and Charlie and Colby offered her anything and everything under the sun to make her happy and comfortable.

Then it was the same nine months of waiting that most people got.

Colby was sitting at the dining room table with his laptop when Charlie rushed into the room, waving an envelope. "Look, look, look!"

"The sonogram printout?"

The clinic and Mary had been keeping them up to date on her health and progress, but this was the first picture they'd seen. Charlie pulled out the black and white printout and they stared at it.

"Uh," Charlie said, squinting. "Where …"

Colby pointed to a dark blob. "I think that's a hand."

"Or the head …"

They squinted for another moment then smiled wryly at each other.

"It's only been 11 weeks," Colby said. "Can't expect it to look like a baby yet."

"Still," Charlie said proudly. "The weight and fetal movement is entirely within normal parameters."

"Yes, it is," Colby smiled. "Over a quarter of the way done!"

"Twenty-eight point two thirty five of the way, if the delivery is at strict national average."

Colby nodded, though he privately doubted much about their baby would be average.

"I think I'll put this on the fridge!" Charlie said.

"Umm, okay," Colby said, "But you get to interpret it to everyone who asks where the head is."

Charlie nodded distractedly and wandered off to the kitchen.

Colby smiled, watching Charlie go. They were only a quarter of the way through and already life had changed. Ever since Mary had gotten officially pregnant, Charlie had been having regular panic attacks, over everything from the weirdness of changing a girl's diaper to private or public schooling to the safety recalls on some car seats.

Colby had felt like panicking too, until he'd realized that his training had prepared him for this. Not specifically for a surrogacy with his male lover, but in planning, structure, ways of thinking. He'd gotten logistician training in the army and knew how to break down a complex situation to component parts.

He was approaching the arrival of their baby like a lengthy incursion into enemy territory – they would have to provide for all facets of living, nothing could be assumed to be easily available unless planned in advance. Yes, they lived in the middle of the Los Angeles Valley where everything was available easily, but Colby was determined to not be running to Walgreens at midnight to pick up a 'binky.' He knew full well that he was over-planning and that most people got along fine without these elaborate spreadsheets and lists. Yeah, at least my coping mechanisms are useful … Charlie had spent five hours yesterday investigating the entrance criteria at top universities.

Charlie came back out from the kitchen, munching on an apple. Charlie had been eating a lot lately and had been nauseous in the mornings. Charlie had argued that the syndrome of sympathetic pregnancy was a real one, but Colby had looked it up, and it was really only valid if you were actually around the pregnant person. However, Colby thought it made Charlie feel more connected with the pregnancy, so Colby went with it. He hoped Charlie wouldn't put on too many pounds …

Charlie sat at the table next to him. "I've been thinking about taking a semester off from teaching when the baby comes."

"Really?" Colby said. "Have you changed your mind on the idea of a wet nurse?"

"No," Charlie said. "Obviously I can't do the breast-feeding thing, but the first six months are crucial for bonding."

Colby grimaced. "Can we … can we afford you taking a semester off? I mean a wet nurse is going to cost a lot already."

"We can afford it when I get that Martin's Grant."

"Charlie, you can't plan on getting an award!"

Charlie grinned impishly. "When it comes to Mrs. Deanna Martin, and her adoration of a certain brilliant but modest mathematician? Yes, I can."

Colby laughed at Charlie's confidence, knowing that Charlie was probably right, no matter how smug it sounded.

"Hey, Angel," Colby said, "I have a task for you, if you want to take it on."

"Sure, sure!" Charlie said eagerly.

"Since we're having a hard time deciding on names, maybe you could get opinions and ideas from other people? And sort of gather together a list?"

"Oh!" Charlie said, "Then I can evaluate the names based on certain criteria!"

"Like what sort of criteria?"

"History, etymology, dissonance, lots."

Colby smiled. "Go for it." At least it would keep him busy for a while.

Charlie pushed the last pin into the corkboard and stepped back. The board was covered with scraps of paper, name suggestions from each of his friends and family. He'd limited them all to three suggestions per gender, but that still made up a fair number of names. This was only a search for a first name, since he knew that the middle name would either be Alan or Margaret and the last name Eppes.

Charlie had taken up his task with relish, something to make the waiting pass faster. He was statistically analyzing each name, in terms of popularity, origin, historical allusions, sound quality, possibilities for positive and negative nicknames, demographics, and a host of other factors. He turned to his chalkboard and added the last set of names.

This last group was from Coop, who had contributed 'Davis, Remy, Jefferson,' for a boy and 'Belle, Savannah, EmilyAnne' for a girl.

Megan had chosen 'Brett, Daniel, Anthony' for a boy and 'Alyssa, Lily, Miriam' for a girl.

Larry had added 'Galileo, Carl, Nicolaus' and 'Hypatia, Henrietta, Sally.'

David (with input from his not-my-girlfriend-really Fiona and his just-my-roommate-really Matt) had picked 'James, Michael, Jonathon' and 'Jennifer, Michelle, Amy.'

Amita had chosen 'Stanislaw, Oscar, Irving' and 'Emmy, Sophia, Shafi.'

Will had given him 'Einstein, Wolfgang, Benoit' and 'Jacobina, Giuseppa, Enheduanna', though it was quite possible he was kidding.

Don had contributed 'Peter, Joshua, Matthew' and 'Elizabeth, Sarah, Leah.'

Alan had listed 'Eli, Ruben, Benjamin' and 'Eve, Maia, Rivka.'

Colby had chosen 'Tyler, Mitchell, Morgan' and 'Carson, Jesse, Drew.'

Nena, for some bizarre reason, wanted 'Nonny' for either a boy or a girl. Charlie had already mentally discarded this, but he ran it through the analysis anyway.

After all the computations were done, and Charlie couldn't come up with any other factors to include, the final ratings said that the ideal name for a boy would be Daniel, with Matthew in the second place. For a girl, it was Eve, with Lily a scant tenth of a point behind. He looked at the latest sonogram, which showed an actual face with nose and mouth and everything. It didn't look like the baby was going to get his nose but it was too early to say. They'd still managed to avoid learning if it was a boy or girl.

Charlie gathered up his calculations and checked the calendar. Just 83.45 days. Give or take...