Status: Completed for a Contest
What We Didn't Expect
One
As I lathered up my body with soap, I heard the rustle of the shower curtain before I felt the slight breeze the movement caused rush onto my wet body. Brady joined me in the shower and wrapped his arms around my slight bump of a midsection. We had found out three weeks ago that we were expecting a child. It was an exciting moment for us as we had been trying for months before finally ending up with the little package of joy nestled safely in my womb.
“When’s your next appointment?” he asked as he helped rinse the soap from my body. Once my back was clean, I turned to him to help soap him up in return.
“Today, I was scheduled for tomorrow but Andrea called off for her son’s field trip. I didn’t mind switching days with her at work.”
“What time do you have to be there?”
“Noon, Hun, have you gained weight? I don’t remember this,” I teased as I squeezed the slight fat roll that would hang just above his pant waist.
“Maybe it’s all that food you keep making me try when you make the crazy things you are craving.”
“Babe, I haven’t even gained that much weight since we learned about the baby. I don’t think this is healthy.”
“Do you remember when we were dating and I told you about that condition I had?” he asked very quietly. So quiet that I almost didn’t hear him over the water from the shower, when he was rinsed, I turned off the water.
“The womb condition, yeah.”
“Well, it’s possible that I could be pregnant too. I have been feeling queasy each morning, craving weirder things than you do, and I can’t stop eating. Oh, and I make at least twenty trips to the bathroom in an hour.”
“Those are definitely signs you could be pregnant. But how could it happen? I mean, I’d figure you would still need sperm to fertilize an egg in the womb. That’s what I need as a woman. And it’s kind of weird that you have a womb but also have sperm. I never really thought about it like that I guess,” I said to him as I grabbed a towel to dry off. He picked one up too and did himself. I brushed my hair before heading into the bedroom to pick out the day’s outfit.
“My doctor said I was a little reversed. He couldn’t exactly explain it, but he said I would be a normal guy when it came to making babies, but if I ever slept with a guy, I would get pregnant too.”
“And you’ve never slept with a guy, so how would this happen?” I turned to ask him but he had ducked into his separate closet on the opposite side of our connected bathrooms.
“I have no more of an idea than you do, babe.”
“Well, before we start jumping to conclusions, you should go with me today and see what Doctor Peters has to say.”
“Alright,” he exited the closet in jeans and a t-shirt, barefoot. I was still styling my hair in a towel.
“Your hair looks fine, besides, it’s almost 11. It takes 45 minutes to get there.”
“Fine, fine, let me just get dressed.” While he went and got the car ready, I slipped on my lacy undergarments and than added my favorite pair of jeans with a light pink v-neck. I was proud of my baby bump, so I showed it off with the slightly tight clothing I now wore. I grabbed an apple from the kitchen, my coat from the alcove, and made my way to the garage to see the little Ford Focus running, heating up from the cold winter weather.
“You look beautiful, almost glowing,” he stated with a smile as he backed the car out of the garage. I hit the button to close it and thanked my husband. We played the country music radio station the entire ride into the city and to the doctor’s office. I sang along, completely off tune, and we arrived in a timely manner. I signed us in, updated our medical information to say our new address, and waited for a nurse to call us back.
The nurse requested I sit on the examining table when I was shown to a room to wait for Doctor Peters. I did as told while holding Brady’s hand. He thoughtlessly kissed my palms while waiting. It was something he had gotten used to as we had been in this position many times, but rather hoping to hear we were pregnant. She entered a few minutes later in deep purple scrubs to show that she had been at the hospital, probably delivering a child, earlier today. Her slightly graying hair was pulled back and the glasses were, as always, perched upon her nose.
“Good to see you two again, and in good terms. How’s the little pea doing?” she asked as she glanced over my chart.
“Growing bigger and bigger each day, I swear!” I let out a nervous giggle. This was the first time having this conversation with Doctor Peters, and so it was a little awkward.
“That’s how it’s supposed to work, dear. Let’s see if we can get you your first ultrasound picture today, huh?” we eagerly nodded and I rolled up my shirt seeing as I had shed my coat in the waiting room. Slowly, she slid the gel across my slight bump and than grabbed the wand to rub over the gel. “It’s still too early for a heartbeat on this machine, but with luck we’ll see your little pea.” With a little luck, we did end up seeing our baby. Actually, it was two babies, but we were happy nonetheless. “Twins, congratulations, you two have worked so hard and now you get twice what you asked for.” We all smiled at the fact that our dreams really were coming true today.
She wiped the gel off my belly after promising to print out some sonograms and I rolled my shirt back down over the bump before placing a protective hand there.
“Doctor Peters, do you remember us saying that Brady has that unique condition where he has a womb?” she nodded. “Is it possible he could be pregnant without having a male partner?”
“I’ve never known there to be a case. But I can try an ultrasound since I don’t think a urine sample will answer any of your questions?” I looked to Brady and he simply nodded. We switched places and I held his hand this time, kissing his knuckles. He did the same thing I just had with his shirt and she rubbed the gel on his fat roll. “Well, look right there. You sure as heck are pregnant, with twins as well it seems.” Brady quickly glanced over to me and I just planted a quick kiss on his forehead. It was rough on him, knowing he had this condition that only a few in the world had, and now actually being pregnant. “Brady, I know you don’t want to hear this question, I’m sure that Teddy doesn’t want to hear it either, but I have to ask. Have you recently had intercourse with a male?”
“No, of course not, I’m a married man. Besides, I’m not gay.”
“I wasn’t implying that you were. There’s just no other medical way of proving you are pregnant besides having sperm fertilize an embryo.”
“Well, I am kind of fucked up, Doc. I have a woman’s womb but shoot sperm. Maybe in some sick, twisted way I need a woman’s juices to create a baby?” he spat out roughly and got up to storm out. I quickly apologized to her.
“Dear, I’m afraid that was a mood swing. Men’s mood swing’s happen more often than women’s do and at an earlier stage. I know you two pretty well, Theodora, and I’d love to say it was possible that he needed a woman to make a baby, but there’s nothing out there saying that it’s possible. Granted, men having wombs is a new thing, we are still learning more and more about it everyday.” I just nodded along because once Brady had told me the truth, I had researched in online. Everything she just told me I had read online at one point. “He looked to be a couple weeks ahead of you by his size. But than, it could just be that he is a man who already eats a lot as it is. We’ll know more the next time we do an ultrasound by how big the fetuses are.”
“When should I schedule my next appointment for?”
“Let’s do three weeks, just so I can compare the two of you and the babies’ sizes. I don’t want him to be further along than we think for too long. Just think, in under a year you’ll be parents to four children.”
“Yeah, and this time last year we couldn’t even have one,” I chuckled with my own joke. She patted my shoulder and led me to the waiting room where I scheduled my appointment, knowing Brady wouldn’t want his name to be on the charts just yet.
He was waiting for me outside. He had a cigarette in his mouth. He immediately threw it to the ground when he saw me standing there. I motioned for him to get in the car before I spoke up.
“You can’t smoke any more, Brady. It isn’t good for me, it isn’t good for you, and it’s not good for our children.”
“Well, it’s healthier than drinking, don’t you think?” he spat at me.
“Brady, calm down. I know this is hard to comprehend, but we will figure it out. Somehow, someway,” I promised to him.
“Will we? A year ago we couldn’t even get pregnant, now we are going to have four children under the age of one in less than a year? How will we figure this out?”
“I don’t know.”
“When’s your next appointment?” he asked as he helped rinse the soap from my body. Once my back was clean, I turned to him to help soap him up in return.
“Today, I was scheduled for tomorrow but Andrea called off for her son’s field trip. I didn’t mind switching days with her at work.”
“What time do you have to be there?”
“Noon, Hun, have you gained weight? I don’t remember this,” I teased as I squeezed the slight fat roll that would hang just above his pant waist.
“Maybe it’s all that food you keep making me try when you make the crazy things you are craving.”
“Babe, I haven’t even gained that much weight since we learned about the baby. I don’t think this is healthy.”
“Do you remember when we were dating and I told you about that condition I had?” he asked very quietly. So quiet that I almost didn’t hear him over the water from the shower, when he was rinsed, I turned off the water.
“The womb condition, yeah.”
“Well, it’s possible that I could be pregnant too. I have been feeling queasy each morning, craving weirder things than you do, and I can’t stop eating. Oh, and I make at least twenty trips to the bathroom in an hour.”
“Those are definitely signs you could be pregnant. But how could it happen? I mean, I’d figure you would still need sperm to fertilize an egg in the womb. That’s what I need as a woman. And it’s kind of weird that you have a womb but also have sperm. I never really thought about it like that I guess,” I said to him as I grabbed a towel to dry off. He picked one up too and did himself. I brushed my hair before heading into the bedroom to pick out the day’s outfit.
“My doctor said I was a little reversed. He couldn’t exactly explain it, but he said I would be a normal guy when it came to making babies, but if I ever slept with a guy, I would get pregnant too.”
“And you’ve never slept with a guy, so how would this happen?” I turned to ask him but he had ducked into his separate closet on the opposite side of our connected bathrooms.
“I have no more of an idea than you do, babe.”
“Well, before we start jumping to conclusions, you should go with me today and see what Doctor Peters has to say.”
“Alright,” he exited the closet in jeans and a t-shirt, barefoot. I was still styling my hair in a towel.
“Your hair looks fine, besides, it’s almost 11. It takes 45 minutes to get there.”
“Fine, fine, let me just get dressed.” While he went and got the car ready, I slipped on my lacy undergarments and than added my favorite pair of jeans with a light pink v-neck. I was proud of my baby bump, so I showed it off with the slightly tight clothing I now wore. I grabbed an apple from the kitchen, my coat from the alcove, and made my way to the garage to see the little Ford Focus running, heating up from the cold winter weather.
“You look beautiful, almost glowing,” he stated with a smile as he backed the car out of the garage. I hit the button to close it and thanked my husband. We played the country music radio station the entire ride into the city and to the doctor’s office. I sang along, completely off tune, and we arrived in a timely manner. I signed us in, updated our medical information to say our new address, and waited for a nurse to call us back.
The nurse requested I sit on the examining table when I was shown to a room to wait for Doctor Peters. I did as told while holding Brady’s hand. He thoughtlessly kissed my palms while waiting. It was something he had gotten used to as we had been in this position many times, but rather hoping to hear we were pregnant. She entered a few minutes later in deep purple scrubs to show that she had been at the hospital, probably delivering a child, earlier today. Her slightly graying hair was pulled back and the glasses were, as always, perched upon her nose.
“Good to see you two again, and in good terms. How’s the little pea doing?” she asked as she glanced over my chart.
“Growing bigger and bigger each day, I swear!” I let out a nervous giggle. This was the first time having this conversation with Doctor Peters, and so it was a little awkward.
“That’s how it’s supposed to work, dear. Let’s see if we can get you your first ultrasound picture today, huh?” we eagerly nodded and I rolled up my shirt seeing as I had shed my coat in the waiting room. Slowly, she slid the gel across my slight bump and than grabbed the wand to rub over the gel. “It’s still too early for a heartbeat on this machine, but with luck we’ll see your little pea.” With a little luck, we did end up seeing our baby. Actually, it was two babies, but we were happy nonetheless. “Twins, congratulations, you two have worked so hard and now you get twice what you asked for.” We all smiled at the fact that our dreams really were coming true today.
She wiped the gel off my belly after promising to print out some sonograms and I rolled my shirt back down over the bump before placing a protective hand there.
“Doctor Peters, do you remember us saying that Brady has that unique condition where he has a womb?” she nodded. “Is it possible he could be pregnant without having a male partner?”
“I’ve never known there to be a case. But I can try an ultrasound since I don’t think a urine sample will answer any of your questions?” I looked to Brady and he simply nodded. We switched places and I held his hand this time, kissing his knuckles. He did the same thing I just had with his shirt and she rubbed the gel on his fat roll. “Well, look right there. You sure as heck are pregnant, with twins as well it seems.” Brady quickly glanced over to me and I just planted a quick kiss on his forehead. It was rough on him, knowing he had this condition that only a few in the world had, and now actually being pregnant. “Brady, I know you don’t want to hear this question, I’m sure that Teddy doesn’t want to hear it either, but I have to ask. Have you recently had intercourse with a male?”
“No, of course not, I’m a married man. Besides, I’m not gay.”
“I wasn’t implying that you were. There’s just no other medical way of proving you are pregnant besides having sperm fertilize an embryo.”
“Well, I am kind of fucked up, Doc. I have a woman’s womb but shoot sperm. Maybe in some sick, twisted way I need a woman’s juices to create a baby?” he spat out roughly and got up to storm out. I quickly apologized to her.
“Dear, I’m afraid that was a mood swing. Men’s mood swing’s happen more often than women’s do and at an earlier stage. I know you two pretty well, Theodora, and I’d love to say it was possible that he needed a woman to make a baby, but there’s nothing out there saying that it’s possible. Granted, men having wombs is a new thing, we are still learning more and more about it everyday.” I just nodded along because once Brady had told me the truth, I had researched in online. Everything she just told me I had read online at one point. “He looked to be a couple weeks ahead of you by his size. But than, it could just be that he is a man who already eats a lot as it is. We’ll know more the next time we do an ultrasound by how big the fetuses are.”
“When should I schedule my next appointment for?”
“Let’s do three weeks, just so I can compare the two of you and the babies’ sizes. I don’t want him to be further along than we think for too long. Just think, in under a year you’ll be parents to four children.”
“Yeah, and this time last year we couldn’t even have one,” I chuckled with my own joke. She patted my shoulder and led me to the waiting room where I scheduled my appointment, knowing Brady wouldn’t want his name to be on the charts just yet.
He was waiting for me outside. He had a cigarette in his mouth. He immediately threw it to the ground when he saw me standing there. I motioned for him to get in the car before I spoke up.
“You can’t smoke any more, Brady. It isn’t good for me, it isn’t good for you, and it’s not good for our children.”
“Well, it’s healthier than drinking, don’t you think?” he spat at me.
“Brady, calm down. I know this is hard to comprehend, but we will figure it out. Somehow, someway,” I promised to him.
“Will we? A year ago we couldn’t even get pregnant, now we are going to have four children under the age of one in less than a year? How will we figure this out?”
“I don’t know.”