Chapter 5

After preliminary paperwork, home came later but not horribly so. Andy had taken off his tie and jacket when he got in. Sharon had also hung her jacket up when they got home. Keys went on the rack by the door on their designated pegs. In the event of a late night call out, everyone knew where his or her keys should be. Typically, Andy's car was last in, first out. Finding things in the dark just made it so much smoother to transition from the comfort and security of home to hurry up and out the door. It also served not to awaken the whole household in that event of the late night call out.

Parked on the street, Gus had made a lovely supper for his "adopted" family. He chose lots of color and a chicken dish for the entree. He made a point of avoiding ocean fish, fearing that mercury might contaminate "his" baby. He was thrilled that Rusty was going to get to have a younger sibling, raised by a nurturing family. Gus had some memory of his real father and his love as a little boy, but it was all lost with the stepfather who forced the siblings to run away. This new little one brought promise and hope into the mix of Gus's life.

Andy and Sharon headed to bed after the late evening news got to the scores they cared about and the weather report which they always doubted. It was Southern California's fire season when promised humidity never came. They left Gus and Rusty with the late night comedians or a movie. Rusty's classes that Friday included a lab that started at noon. He could afford to stay up a little later on Thursday nights.

Sharon brushed out her hair as Andy started to list girls' names from his notebook. She then joined Andy on the bed. They sat facing each other.

"So, let's go Irish names again," he started. "My mom's name was Grace."

"My mom's first name is Margaret, but I never really liked 'Peggy' which is what Dad calls her," responded Sharon. "I thought her middle name was wildly exotic, Maire (my RE)."

"Oh, I like that," Andy added in a faux Irish accent. "Maire Flynn has a good ring to it."

She giggled, "What are some other Irish baby girl names you can think of?"

"How about Fiona?" Andy offered.

"No, no," Sharon shook her head. "I think of big green cartoon ogres," she laughed. "Keep going."

"What about Colleen?" Andy followed through, "My grandmother was Colleen."

Sharon nodded, "Caitlin. I have an aunt named Caitlin."

"Cora," Andy added. "I had an aunt named Aunt Cora. Oh, could she ever cook!"

"Cora sounds so 'old,'" frowned Sharon.

"Yeah, I guess it does, doesn't it?" he chuckled. "It sounds like a little white haired lady in the third pew back at Mass."

"Enya."

"Like the singer?"

"Eleanor."

"Like the Beatles song, Eleanor Rigby? No, not a happy song."

They threw names out, Siobhan, Sinead, Elaine, Abigail, Erin, Amanda, and so on, striking the ones they did not immediately find pleasing or that went well with "Flynn," the name a daughter of theirs would start life with. Eventually after half an hour of testing names with "Flynn," they came to "Maire Caitlin Grace Flynn."

Andy wrote that in his baby notebook under the boy's name they had deliberated on the night before. So the Flynn baby would be either Maire or Patrick Flynn when he or she got to pre-school.

There was no major case Friday morning to call them out after midnight nor to greet them first thing as the team assembled for the day. Just before noon, Sharon and Andy headed to the OB/GYN office for her first exam. When they arrived and got the check-in process started, Andy looked around the room. He was surprised by the number of fathers-to-be were there with him. He reflected that as a first-time dad, he was not at all interested in doctors' offices nor classes for breathing at delivery. Now, he could not imagine being anywhere else.

Sharon felt slightly out of place. The majority of the women were in their 20s with one or two in their 30s. She stood out, out of place, in her 50s. Menopause baby, she kept thinking to herself. At least Andy had come with her. She snaked her fingers in between his and smiled at him, leaning into his shoulder. In the faces of the other patients, she read amusement, indifference, and bewilderment.

One young couple actually look terrified. She did wonder to herself how she got here. It was bewildering to both Andy and her, to say the least. Once past the bewilderment, they were thrilled and happy to have a child of their union, not that he or she would push out any of the other children they held so dear.

They had Dr. Dutton's office send over Sharon's pertinent records to this office. Her file had begun and was soon to add the seemingly endless reams of paper that she had to fill out today. Andy looked over and gave her an encouraging smile.

"I thought the new health care system was supposed to streamline all this," he remarked.

Sharon cut her eyes over at him, "So did I."

He gently bumped her shoulder and put his arm around her.

"It's a good bet we will only have to do this once," he joked.

"At our age, I should hope so!" was her retort.

"Mr. and Mrs. Flynn?" There names were called out half an hour after giving the reams of filled out paper to the clerk behind the frosted sliding glass.

Hand extended, Dr. Zehava Solomon, a slightly-built woman of about 60, greeted them with a big smile, "So good of Loraine Dutton to refer you. I am Dr. Zehava Solomon."

"She said that you were the best in the high risk pregnancy category," Sharon shook her hand.

"And you think of yourself as high risk?"

"Well, don't you?" Sharon remarked.

"Of course I do, but I wanted to know where you stood. I see you have two other children, but they are already grown. No miscarriages, which is a good and hopeful indicator. Loraine started you on a regimen of prenatal vitamins and sleep and rest discipline. Is this all correct?" the doctor wanted to clarify.

"Correct. Is there an easier way to get those pills down?" Sharon inquired.

Dr. Solomon shrugged, "You could try a smooothie for breakfast. Grind them and throw them in. Or, you can use an ancient Jewish Mom trick - applesauce."

Sharon got a giggle out of that, "Yes, I have used that trick when my kids were little and unwilling to take their meds. When he was all of nine, Ricky had pneumonia and the antibiotics seemed to him to be bigger than he was. Back in that day, it was so much easier with capsules. You just took them apart and stirred their contents into the applesauce and down it went."

"Do you cook?" asked Dr. Solomon.

"Not much, not any longer, victims of a hyper-busy schedule of murder and mayhem. Why?"

"I have a mortar and pestle designed to crush spices for cooking that I used to use when my kids were small. It's easier to grind the tablet than trying to smash it with a spoon. Spoons tend to make the pills slide or simply pop out from under the spoon," Dr. Solomon leaned in as if telling a dear secret. "My husband tried using a hammer which left marks on the countertop. It was mortar and pestle all the way after that."

That elicited a big grin from Sharon as she conjured the image in her mind and the likely argument that followed the indentations made on the counter.

"So what next?" Andy looked at his watch.

"Next, we talk about sonograms, amniocentesis, and other tests to see if the baby is healthy or going to have problems," Dr. Solomon turned serious.

"Problems?"

"The first problem, if you want to call it that, is Down syndrome which is higher in incident with maternal ages over 35. During routine cell division something goes awry and too much genetic material ends up on chromosome 21. So, it's also known as Trisomy-21 in its most common form. At your age, you may have a 1 in 10 chance of having a special baby. We have several ways we can test prenatally for it. 'Amnio' is 100 percent accurate, but it also risks miscarriage. So, I'd prefer to use other diagnostic tools first.

"Down syndrome is not the only congenital birth defect tied to age of the mother. I see it's customary for you to drink wine with dinner. That stopped last night. You don't smoke nor does your husband. This is good. You don't use drugs on a regular basis - legal or illegal. Again, this is a good start for your child. No aspirin from here forward. If you absolutely need an analgesic, use Tylenol but not on a daily basis. Ease back on caffeine until you eliminate it.

"We also have a higher incident of premature births in older mothers. Are you willing to go on bed rest, if it's called for?"

"For my child, anything! What about exercise?" Sharon agreed summarily as a very worried Andy nodded.

"I see you swim. Keep that up. Walking but not jogging or running. You may do some moderate weight training but no calisthenics. I want you to avoid jarring or shaking. So if you go to the circus - Ferris wheel but no bump cars," she said whimsically, causing the couple to relax.

"Should I take more calcium?" Sharon inquired.

"You should already be on calcium with vitamin D already, given your age. So, yes, keep that extra calcium, over what is in the prenatal vitamins, will help you keep your bones as your baby forms his or hers. However, we don't want too much calcium which can cause problems for your coronary health."

"So are there other problems?" Andy asked.

"There are always problems that can happen, Mr. Flynn. We'll do a baseline sonogram today. And I will order more sonograms that I might normally do for a woman in her 20s. The sooner we find fetal abnormalities, the sooner we can make a good decision about what to do."

Sharon was emphatic, "Abortion is not an option. We're both Catholic..."

"Besides, in our line of work, we already see too much death to add to it with our own child," Andy said firmly.

Dr. Solomon smiled knowingly and nodded, "Very good. I am Orthodox and do not perform abortions unless the mother's life is in dire jeopardy. We Jews agree with you Catholics when it comes to voting for all human life, no matter the stage. Unfortunately, maternal age also carries with it the higher than average chance of maternal death and premature delivery as I noted earlier, delivery before 37 weeks. Older Moms can also suffer from high blood pressure, pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes."

Andy gave Sharon a worried look as he jotted down these possibilities in his notebook.

The paperwork was put away, "My nurse will take you to the sonogram room. Let's take a first look at this little soul."

Janice guided Sharon and Andy to another room where she could disrobe and put on a typical hospital gown, open at the front. Andy was given the tube of jelly to warm in his hands, unless his wife preferred chilled jelly for her belly.

The first pass presented a tiny object floating in a sac of fluid.

"Hey, I thought he was supposed to look like a kidney bean," remarked Andy as he leaned into the screen to get a better view. "He looks more like a peanut."

"Honey, it was the size of a kidney bean, not the shape," snickered Sharon.

Andy just stared at the image as his grin widened, "Yeah? Well, I'm calling him Peanut." Without looking at Sharon, "This is really happening. I'm going to be a Dad, a real Dad."

"Peanut, huh?" Sharon started as she swept her palm across Andy's back as they both watched the screen with heightened interest. "Well, we'll see about that for a nickname."

"Actually, we cannot tell if 'Peanut' is a him or her at this point," offered Dr. Solomon. "We can only get the beginnings of how the development is coming along and an idea of how far along you are, Mrs. Flynn."

After a few more passes, "This little soul is about 8 weeks along. It looks like everything that is supposed to be inside is inside not outside. I see no neural tube defects, which is very good. So all things being as they should be, in 32 more weeks, you will have your little 'Peanut' to have and hold."

The sonogram photos were printed out for the couple, "At roughly 12-16 weeks, we can tell if it's a boy or girl. I will also want to take a much closer look at the heart and lung development. Today, I can say, you are carrying a single child. Twins would have made things more complicated, but not impossible."

"We dodged a bullet on that one, Andy," laughed Sharon.

"Well, some times twins can happen in the 'menopause baby' season. Your body does not quite know what to do - drop one egg, no egg, more than one egg. I've seen multiples in older women," Dr. Solomon commented.

She looked back at the paperwork and continued, "So you've had two normal vaginal deliveries, so we can likely plan on a third. However, I am not ruling out a C-section until much later in your pregnancy."

"A C-section?" Sharon queried.

"If there are problems, yes. Delivery is quicker for the both of you. Quick with an epidural is sometimes necessary if you or the baby become distressed. I don't want to put you or the baby through a long delivery; it can just be too hard on the heart. For older mothers, I recommend C-sections well over half the time," Dr. Solomon instructed.

"So, how often will we be doing sonograms?" Andy wondered.

"Next month should be soon enough for the next one. Now, I do want to hear about any abnormal discharge, spotting, anything out of the ordinary should they occur before I see you again. Since you've been pregnant before, Mrs. Flynn, your body will have a better idea of what to do," she encouraged them. "I would expect that your breasts have felt lumpier and fuller than usual, maybe even tender. It's all part of the body gearing up to deliver a baby and sustain a baby. You know the drill," she chuckled.

"So everything looks good?" Andy worried.

"Everything looks normal at this point. Your wife is healthy and active. These are all good things that contribute to a good outcome. As you've already noted, age can complicate even the most normal of all things - pregnancy and delivery. So, we will be keep close eyes on you."