gLausGo

I put the stick down and prepare for a very long three minutes.  But it's already there. ´Pregnant 3+' I had bought the test while simultaneously laughing at myself for my paranoia. Not so paranoid after all, but ... still laughing. I smile all through the shower. I smile all the way to work. I smile when I drop the bomb on a friend. It's a shocked smile, a not-yet-quite-believing smile,  but a smile. I'm having a baby. Used to Scotland, the doctor tactfully asks: 'Is that good news or bad news?' 'Unexpected news.' My parents don't even bother with initial shock and go straight to happy. They'll make great grandparents and they can't wait. My friends and family are great friends and family. Touching messages with congratulations and compliments. So many compliments in fact, I get to blush a lot. But there are questions too, of course. And assumptions. That I didn´t pay enough attention in sex-ed.That it was a hard decision. That I...

- You need to pull your trousers down. Further down. And take that belt off. Big belts are very incovenient. And jeans... you'd think no one would want to wear these things! I unbuckle the belt and pull the offending jeans down a bit. The squirt of cold jelly duly follows as does the ultrasound probe. The baby doesn't feel like humouring us with a photogenic position, so the obstetrician focuses on its head for some measurements. The brain! I can see the corpus callosum, ventricles... and wish I could have a better look. - Can I have a picture? - No, that's illegal. - But I'm a brain scientist, I would really like to have one of the brain as well! - You'll learn to separate your professional interest from your motherly feelings. You should consider yourself lucky that you're even getting three pictures. I'm only allowed to give one. That's one picture plus two fuzzy attempts at getting a good position. - What are we looking at now? How big...