The Third Visit.

Continued from: The System.

Visit number 3, 22nd week of pregnancy:

Shin and I burst into the waiting room. This time minus the sweat from our previous visits, it is the middle of October after all. As per our last two visits I am freaking out because we've probably missed the 11:30 cut off. Again we we make it by the skin of our teeth and for the second visit in a row we've already been to the checker-inner machine.

I am determined that this visit will go better than the last one.

Weight, check. Again no need to lie, yeah prenatal yoga! Urine sample, check. Blood pressure...

...machine approached with caution. On the first go my blood pressure is between the dreaded numbers on the sign. BUT! All on my own, without anyone reminding me, I scrap the first results and try again. Second time lucky. Everything is filed away in my plastic folder.

Next step, the baskets.

Again approached with caution. Upon close inspection there is a sign on each basket. Basket 1: Nervous Freaky Doctor (the guy we had last time). Basket 2: No preference. Basket 3: Doctor Tamura. Is that her? We can't remember. BUT! Rather than chance it, Shin kindly asks the nurse that has been watching us scrutinize the baskets if this one belongs to our regular doctor. BINGO!

Exhale.

We take a seat at the back of the room where it doesn't matter if Shin snores when he passes out. The poor man has only slept for a couple of hours after finishing work. The wait begins.

Thirty minutes in, toilet trip number one.

Fifty-five minutes in, toilet trip number two.

An hour and thirty minutes in, toilet trip number three. Sigh. For the last hour The Bean has been pummeling my bladder nonstop. Let's hope that there is this much action during the ultrasound. And then...

"平野さん！"

NOOOOOOOO.

We had done so well.

As the nurse approaches she is wearing a kind smile, nothing like the death stare from last time. Then she lays it on me, apparently the ultrasound machine in Doctor Tamura's examination room is not working. Not again! My first instinct is to lose grip on reality and freak out. Maybe toss a sofa through the window. BUT! I pull myself together and wake Shin from his slumber so that he can talk to the nurse who, by the way, is still smiling but looks very nervous. Seems that I've misunderstood, the machine is working but they are unable to give us a picture to take home. Whatever, let's just get on with it.

We wait for another thirty minutes and are called to exam room two. I'm suddenly giddy, this is the day we find out if we are playing for team pink or team blue. Enter the cheerleaders, "Go Hiranos Go!"

Our lovely doctor is waiting with the ultrasound machine fired up and ready to go. Resisting the urge to hug her, I hop up on the bed and moments later we are listening to the heartbeat in surround sound and watching The Bean chillin' in utero. Now, when I say 'chillin' I mean it.

Fast asleep.

Back to the camera.

I'm not sure if it was the utterly pathetic way I squeaked out, "Boy or girl? Today?" or that Doctor Tamura had witnessed the brief moment when I considered tossing a sofa through the window. Either way, the woman ultrasounded like her life depended on it. A silence descended on the room.

...

...

...

Maybe.

Maybe it's a...

Maybe it's a boy.

IT'S. A. BOY!

Tears flow. Visit number three is a success.

Baby boy belly at 22 weeks and 1 day.