Sunday, June 19, 2022- 23 weeks
"And then I got on a train for forty-five days. I went everywhere on that trip. Maybe you and I can go on a similar trip when you get older," Sheldon's voice wakes me from my slumber.
Even without my glasses, I can make out Sheldon's form sitting in the middle of the bed, hunched over with his head close to my stomach. "Morning," I mumble, startling him.
"Oh, uh, I didn't know you were awake. Have you been awake long?"
"No," I shake my head. "Just a minute or two." Sheldon shifts back to the top of the bed, resting against the pillows. "Do you do that often when I'm asleep?" He's never expressed an interest in talking to our son; I can't help but wonder if it's something he keeps to himself.
Sheldon shook his head. "No, that was my first time. I'd been reading that babies start to recognize voices and thought he should get to know his father's voice. I don't want him to be born and cry whenever I hold him because he doesn't know who I am."
Picturing Sheldon holding our son brings a smile to my face. "He'll know who you are. But you can talk to him whenever you want."
"Thank you. Do you talk to him?"
"Sometimes," I admit. He's still watching me, I guess I need to elaborate. "When I'm alone in my lab, I'll explain what I'm doing. Or if I'm in the bath, I'll tell him how much we love him already and can't wait to meet him. I'll talk to him about you, and what a great daddy you're going to be." The alarm on my phone interrupts my train of thought. "I need to take a shower and get dressed. The girls and I are going to brunch. Do you want me to drop you off at Leonard's or the train store on my way?"
He takes a moment to answer, finally replying, "No. I have something here I want to work on." He's looking at something on his phone. "How long do you think you'll be gone?"
"Our brunch reservation is at eleven, probably be done there a little before one." I can't help but be suspicious of his sudden interest in his phone and wanting to know how long I'll be gone. "We don't have anything else planned for after. Do you want me to come home as soon as we're done or should I ask if they want to go to a movie or something after?" He doesn't give me an answer and continues to study his phone. "I'm going to jump in the shower. You can let me know when I'm done."
I'm in the bathroom and turning on the water when I hear Sheldon shout through the door, "I hope you said you were going to jump in the shower as a figure of speech and you aren't actually going to be jumping into the shower." I don't respond before stepping carefully into the shower.
Sheldon requested I take my time returning home after brunch. When I mentioned this to Penny and Bernadette, they invited me to join them and their kids at the playground. It's late afternoon before I return home. I come in through the backdoor and don't find Sheldon in the living room or his work nook off the living room. Making my way through the house, I stop in our bedroom to slip my shoes off. That's when I hear a noise coming from the bedroom we designated as the nursery next to ours. The door is closed; I knock gently to not startle Sheldon when I open the door.
I'm surprised to find Sheldon bent over the crib, stretching a sheet onto the mattress. "I'm home," I state, stepping into the room, and noticing what my husband has been up to all day. "What is this? How did you get this stuff?"
He snaps up at the sound of my voice. "I ordered a few things from Amazon last week and had them hidden in the closet. I took an Uber to the store for the rest while you were gone. I'm sorry for not talking to you about this. I wanted to do something for you and our son. You don't hate it, do you?"
I take a minute to inspect what Sheldon has found for our son's room. He has managed to find the perfect Star Wars items to decorate. There are paintings of Baby Yoda hanging on the wall, each with a phrase like "The Cutest in the Galaxy" and "The Force is Strong with this Little One." What appears to be a Star Wars-themed changing pad rests atop the dresser next to a lamp with Yoda on it. Over the crib is a mobile with multiple characters hanging down. It's not what I was picturing for our son's nursery, but it's perfect. We hadn't repainted the room from the previous owners, but what Sheldon's chosen goes well with the light green covering the walls. "This is great, Sheldon," I step next to him slipping my arms around him. He returns the embrace, sliding one hand down my arm to rest on my stomach.
"Oh," he drops the embrace and pulls something from the top drawer of the dresser, "Look what I found this afternoon. It's so you can take pictures of him every month to see how big he's getting. Penny did that with Ava; I thought you would like to, too." He hands me the blanket, still wrapped in plastic. More Star Wars characters surround the edge of the blanket. "I only got two crib sheets. We'll need more, but we have several on the registry, so I didn't want to overdo it. I didn't overdo it with the rest of the room, did I?"
"No, Sheldon, you didn't overdo it. It's not what I imagined for the baby's room, but now that I've seen what you've put together, I can't picture our son growing up surrounded by anything else." Sheldon's face lights up at this. "Although, we're going to have to keep this room closed when our friends are here if we still want to keep it to ourselves that we're having a boy. I think it's gender-neutral, but it might raise suspicions, especially with Penny and Bernadette."
"I told him I was deciding between Star Wars and trains for his room. He kicked more when I was talking about Star Wars than trains. I need to return some train things I ordered for his room." Sheldon has surprised me at every turn on this journey to become parents. Our son is so lucky to have him as a dad.