“Let’s not think about them just yet,” Emily said. “I want to stay happy for at least a few weeks. Can we do that?”

Daniel nodded and turned his face toward the ceiling. Emily thought he seemed a little subdued, reserved. She hoped it was just over the mother issue and nothing more. But she couldn’t help worrying that there may be something else. Perhaps the news of the pregnancy wasn’t entirely welcome for Daniel. He’d wanted to plan their child together, after all. Maybe he was disappointed that it had just been sprung on them?

Emily decided against prodding him for an explanation. Daniel, she hoped, would come to her in his own time to share whatever concerns he had. It wasn’t like she herself wasn’t filled with anxiety over her ability to parent, or over the child’s health, the future, even the state of the world it was soon to be born into! There were a million things to worry about now. It would take some time for them both to process it.

She snuggled down beneath the covers, her mind still running on overdrive, imagining what the future might hold. A son or daughter? Blond hair like Chantelle, or dark like her own? What would they call it? What room should they use as the nursery? There were so many things to think about.

She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. Best to take things one step at a time. The first thing to do was get an appointment with the ob-gyn.

Emily felt as nervous as a child on her first day at school as she sat on the bed in the obstetrician’s office, swinging her legs beneath her. Daniel looked just as much out of his depth as he sat in the hard plastic seat beside her. There were framed medical certificates on the mint green walls, colorful posters showing the different phases of pregnancy, and the unpleasant smell of antiseptic lingering in the air. Emily realized she was going to have to get used to this environment. Over the next few months, she’d be smelling a whole lot of antiseptic!

The door swung open and in walked the doctor, Rose Arkwright. On first impressions, Emily thought she was dressed very smartly, more like an attorney than a doctor. It was really only the comfortably flat shoes, the white doctor coat, and the stethoscope around her neck that gave her away.

She smiled at them both as she placed her clipboard down beside her computer and took a seat at the desk.

“Mr. and Mrs. Morey?” she asked, addressing them both. “Firstly, may I say congratulations.”

She had a warm smile, Emily noted, and she shook each of their hands with a firm, confident grip. Emily got the distinct impression that Doctor Arkwright was an intelligent, no-nonsense kind of person. She felt like she was in very safe hands.

“Thank you,” Daniel said, smiling shyly. “We’re over the moon.”

Emily was glad to hear him say as such. She wasn’t entirely sure how he felt since he’d seemed a mixture of shocked and stressed yesterday.

“Shall we get right to it?” Doctor Arkwright said. She flipped over the first piece of paper and looked at Emily. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to take a lot of detailed notes to begin with. Forms, forms, and more forms.”

“No problem,” Emily said. “Fire away.”

“The first thing we need to determine of course is how far along you are. Are your periods usually regular?”

Emily nodded. “My last one was just before our wedding. So it’s been about eight weeks.”

“So this might be a honeymoon baby?” Doctor Arkwright said with a smile. “How romantic.”

Emily blushed.

Doctor Arkwright continued. “The way we work out the due date is to initially take it to be thirty-eighty to forty-two weeks after the end of the last period. So currently we’re looking at December eleventh.”