Knocked up, by her best friend's dad.(14)

A woman, who looked to be in her early fifties or so, came in holding an iPad. “Hello. I’m Dr. Laurant. You must be Hannah and this man is…?”

Smiling, I held out my hand. “Adam. The baby’s father.”

Dr. Laurant shook my hand. “Hi, Adam. It’s nice to meet you and Hannah.” She let go of my hand and smiled at Hannah.

“Hi. Nice to meet you.” Hannah sat up.

“Now, I see that you're almost three months along, going from your last menstrual cycle.” Hannah nodded. “Good.” The doctor retrieved a small machine and brought over. “I thought while we chat, you could have a listen to your baby. Would you like that?”

Hannah’s head bounced up and down eagerly, and I practically shouted, “Yes.”

The doctor’s eyes twinkled like she was holding back a laugh, but she got the machine ready and smiled at Hannah. “Can you lift up your shirt?”

Hannah did as asked, tucking her shirt into her bra. Dr. Laurant concentrated for a moment and then we heard it. It sounded like a dog panting or more like a couple of dogs.

“Sound great. This is a doppler. Could you just hold this here for a moment, Dad? I just want to measure Hannah.” I reached over to hold the doppler, but I dropped it.

“I’m sorry.” My hands shook with either nervousness or excitement, perhaps a little of both as I grabbed the doppler.

“It okay. Pick it up and see if you can find the heartbeat.”

Giving what I hoped was a smile, and not a grimace, I moved the doppler to Hannah’s bottom stomach around where the doctor had it. I moved it over and found it, but not in the same spot as Dr. Laurant had it. The baby must have moved. Can they move that quickly? I wondered.

“Oh.” Dr. Laurant said so softly I almost missed it. She took the doppler off me and moved it down and to the left. I heard static and then the dog pant again which was the heartbeat. The baby moved again? Dr. Laurant had her brows furrowed as she moved the doppler around and chased the baby.

“What do you mean, 'oh'? Why did you say oh? Is that a good or a bad oh?” Hannah’s voice got higher and higher showing how anxious and worried she’d became. She darted up to a sitting position and cuddled her stomach. As much as I wanted to worry myself, I kept my cool, knowing someone needed to be the calm one and get all the information. Hannah needed me and this was the perfect time to show her why.

The doctor smiled, but I could tell it was forced. She put down the Doppler. “If you give me a moment I’m just going to bring in the ultrasound. I want to have a closer look.”

We didn’t even get a chance to reply before she was out of the room.

Hannah turned terrified, shining green eyes to me. Her lips trembled and I knew she was holding back tears. Leaning down, I hugged her to me. “I’m sure it’s nothing, angel. The baby had a strong heartbeat. You heard it. It’s probably nothing.”

Dr. Laurant re-entered, wheeling in a huge machine. “I’m sorry about that. Everything is fine. I apologize for leaving so abruptly, but it looks like you get to have that ultrasound now. I have a routine I follow and you threw me. I haven’t been thrown in a very long time.” Dr. Laurant beamed at us like she'd just won the lottery. “If you could just hop off the table and go out next door to the change room, you’ll find a white gown that does up at the back for you to put on please, Hannah.”

Hannah hurried to do as the doctor said. I stood to follow, but she shook her head. “You stay here. I’ll only be a moment.”

I watched Hannah leave and she didn’t take long at all before she was back and on the bed again.

“Sorry, the gel might be a little cold.” Dr. Laurant's hand and the big wand went under the blanket.

My gaze darted to Hannah and she looked scared, but I couldn’t help but laugh when she said, “Thank God, you’re like three time the size of that thing, otherwise I’d freak about that going in.”

The doctor cleared her throat loudly and I felt my cheeks heat. “If this feels uncomfortable at any time, please tell me.”

“Okay.” Hannah held out her hand, and I threaded my fingers with hers.

I watched the doctor, and not the screen, studying her expression. Her gaze was focused, but the huge smile that spread across her face told me everything was okay. “There.” She paused and pressed buttons on the machine and this time when she turned on the sound, she grinned. “Congratulations, Mum and Dad. You’re having triplets.”

“Say what?” Hannah screeched.

I stared at the screen and saw she had circled three little bubbles.

“I’m sorry for earlier. I didn’t mean to scare you, but I could hear three heartbeats. Three strong heartbeats. I haven’t had triplets without any family history or assistance, like fertility drugs, IVF and so on for a long time, so I was a little shocked.”

“Three babies,” Hannah yelled. “You knocked me up with three babies. How the hell will I be able to look after three?” The panic was evident in her voice.

“There are help groups and I'm sure your husband—”

“We’re not married. He’s my, my…” Hannah darted her gaze to me and I wished she didn’t doubt anything. She should just know how I felt, and that we were together.

“Boyfriend. And I’m here for you and the babies. I always will be.” Holy crap, babies, more than one. Hannah was going to give me three babies in one go.