Ava made a face at Andrew. How could he be so calm and level headed? Which she knew he almost always was and that also, deep down, he was still slowly trying to process the pregnancy just as much as she was. But her hormonal brain just wanted to shake him up and insist that maybe the baby did have two heads, maybe she was growing a creature inside her that would be scary. “What if it is a girl and we have to raise her in this god forsaken country? In this world where women suffer just for existing?” She pointed out, knowing she was spiraling, but she couldn’t control it. “What if it a boy and we do our best and he still grows up to be a jerk? Someone that says straight pride should be a thing?” Ava arched an eyebrow as she looked at Andrew. It was a possibility, wasn’t it? One that made her want to throw up everything she hadn’t in the first months of her pregnancy.
“Please don’t grow up to be an asshole.” She whispered to the belly again, realizing ever since they had found out the baby could hear them, both of them had been having conversations with that child. Yet another thing Ava never, not in a million years thought she would be doing. It was so difficult to control those urges to be a cliché parent. But at the same time, she knew how much her parents had talked to her when she was still in her mom’s belly, Erika told her that, and how much she’d react to their voices, how they could calm her down easy when she was born because she recognized their voices. Truth was, Ava couldn’t wait to feel the baby kicking when it heard her voice or Andrew’s. She couldn’t wait to hold that little one that would be looking between them because it recognized who they were, the parents, the people that were meant to protect that little human.
The doctor nodded at Andrew’s words and spread some of that gel on Ava’s belly. She was getting used to it, but she still hated it. It was cold and sticky and a nightmare to wash off her clothes. But it was for a good cause. She always forgot how much she hated it when she looked at the screen and saw the little Hunt there. She squeezed Andrew’s hand, looking up at him and smiling before her eyes were on the screen again. A full on spine was visible, little arms, little legs, a head. “Is that a nose?” She pointed and the doctor nodded.
“Adorable, isn’t it? I’d say it looks like yours, at least for now.” The doctor teased, giving Andrew an apologetic look.
“Look at the hands.” Ava sighed in awe, watching the baby move in there. It was crazy, she couldn’t feel it yet, but it was there, moving. Legs moving up and down like it was stretching them. “Already doing yoga in there.” She teased, tugging on Andrew’s hand. “Move those legs, Hunt, come on.” She encouraged, her free hand on the side of her stomach like she wanted the baby to feel her touch.
“Let’s see.” The doctor moved the gun around, following the movements and the direction the baby was turned to, pressing some spots that made Ava wince mostly because it felt odd, but it didn’t hurt. “Oh, there we go.” The woman smiled excitedly when the baby seemed to stretch and then relax, legs moving in an odd angle that Ava didn’t understand shit of what she was seeing. “See, right here?” The doctor tapped the screen, moving the gun a little more, shifting the image a bit. “This little bump here in between the legs?” She pointed and Ava squinted her eyes, noticing it, a little protuberance that seemed to be floating between the mini Hunt’s legs.
“Babe.” Ava held tighter onto Andrew’s hand, her eyes immediately filling with tears.
“That’s a little man right there.” The doctor smiled widely at them, moving the gun just so she could be sure. “Yes, there it is, his little penis.” She chuckled. “Teeny tiny testicles starting to form right under here. That’s a boy alright.” She confirmed.
A boy. A little boy growing inside her. A little Andrew that would grow up to be big and strong and amazing just like his father. Another boy at the Hunt household, to be best friends with their dogs and T. A boy that would skateboard with his dad, that she’d teach yoga to, and they’d raise to be a feminist, a boy that respected all the girls and women in his life, a boy that would face his friends whenever they said something sexist, racist, disrespectful. A boy she knew her father would have loved to see and play with, and that Andrew’s father would be proud of, knowing his first born had raised an amazing man to change the world. The boy she had seen in her dreams so many times since she had found out she was pregnant. A boy she would raise to be different than every jerk that had ever crossed her path.
Ava looked up at Andrew, tears rolling down her cheeks. “A boy.” She grinned, letting go of his hand only to wrap her arm around his waist. “We’re having a boy, babe, a mini you.” She laughed, pressing her head against his chest, allowing herself to cry. They could finally name their child, and there was no “it”s anymore. It was now a “he”, a “him”, their son. A son. She couldn’t believe it, they were having a son. She was going to be a mother to a little boy, a man.
“A perfect little boy.” The doctor added, still moving the thing around a bit and taking the screen shots to give to them. “Perfect formation here, he is developing beautifully. Whatever you have been doing with your eating habits, Ava, it’s working wonders. And he’ll be a big one, his legs are already much longer than they usually are at this stage.” The doctor announced, setting the gun aside and helping Ava clean the gel off her skin. “Which we could predict, considering you both got legs for days.” She joked. “I’m going to go print the ultrasound and give you two some time alone, ok? Be right back.” The woman patted Ava’s leg. “Congratulations on your little boy.” She told them both before she exited the room.
“A boy.” Ava repeated, holding tighter onto Andrew, allowing herself to simply cry and cry loudly. Everything about that was unbelievable. A perfectly human child growing inside someone that had once hurt her own body so much. Two people that never dreamed of being parents now excited about it, having a boy! Sometimes Ava wondered if she deserved it, that miracle, that responsibility. And then she looked at Andrew and new, the universe had never given her something she couldn’t handle, something she didn’t cherish and fight for, like she did his love. “A little boy, babe.” She grinned between her tears, pushing her top down and sitting up, turning to face Andrew and wrap both arms around him while she wasn’t big enough to do so. “We have a son.” She whispered, looking into his eyes, those big blue eyes she knew their baby would have too.
Andrew looked at Ava as she voiced her concerns. He knew exactly what she was referring to when she mentioned raising a girl here. Every day that marched forward, felt like things were moving backwards. “Then we teach her to be a badass. Just like you and like my sister. Like our moms. I mean, look at them, raising families all on their own. If we have a girl, maybe she’ll be the one to change the world. And if we have a boy, guess what, he’ll have a lot of females in his life. Our moms, my sister. You. He’ll have all these women to teach him how to respect women. He'll have plenty of diverse people around him to show him all sorts of religions and backgrounds. Wesley being blind. Jenna being Latina. The guys at the firehouse all from different walks of life, too,” he reminded Ava. “Hell, same goes for a girl. She’ll get to see all sorts of people. All sorts of races and religions and sexualities. See, the nice thing about babies—so I’m told—is they’re born without prejudices and without judgement. As long as they see that, they’ll grow up being loving and open.”
He watched Ava whisper to her stomach. He knew that wouldn’t be their baby because of that right there. Ava so worried about that baby being an asshole would be the very reason their child wouldn’t be. There would be too much love and openness there to be otherwise. If anything, their kid might be too much into animals to be worried about having biases against other people.
The doctor got straight into the ultrasound. Something Andrew was thankful for, as he knew both himself and Ava were anxious to finally find out which one it would be. He pulled out his glasses so that he could better see what was happening. He watched as the screen lit up, the baby coming into view immediately. He had learned how to make out its features, seeing the head and its limbs moving around. It was getting easier and easier every time they did this.
“Yeah?” said Andrew as he looked at the doctor, when she pointed out the nose. He could see the small bump on that large head, slowly growing into its features. The doctor shifted the angle now, moving to try and get nearer to the legs. He had heard that it was easier to tell if it was a boy. Girls were harder if only because it was easier and more definitive to see something there than to try and conclude the absence of it. “My nose, but definitely your yoga abilities,” he agreed with Ava.
Andrew suddenly felt his breath catch in his throat. The doctor didn’t even need to point it out. He had seen it even before she had said anything. It was impossible to miss. Those baby books were right, it was much easier to see that they were having a little boy. “It’s a boy,” he whispered under his breath just as the doctor confirmed it for them. Andrew brought his free hand to his face, running it down his chin. That was it, they were going to have a boy. He didn’t even hear the doctor as she was pointing something else out. He felt like all he could focus on was the fact that they had a son. It already made the picture look clearer. He could see that blonde hair, the square jaw and bright blue eyes.
Even without looking at her, he knew Ava was tearing up. Andrew doubted the reaction would still be different if it was a girl, but there was something about knowing and being sure in the knowledge that they were going to be parents to a son. His mother would have her first grandson.
He only looked at the doctor now that she was talking about the baby being healthy. He was developing as he should be, and Ava was also doing everything to make sure they were both in perfect health. He nodded as the doctor mentioned going to print the ultrasound before she left them both on their own.
He looked at Ava now, finally seeing the way she was crying. “You know what this means, babe, there’ll be so many shark things to buy for a little boy,” he teased. Although Andrew wasn’t crying the way Ava was, there was a shiny quality to his eyes, a sure sign of the moisture that had formed as he held back letting any kind of tears fall.
He also realized, this meant they could talk more seriously about names. They had held off on too many ideas, mostly throwing around more neutral names, but none of them really felt right. They could finally give him more of an identity. “We’re having a boy,” he nodded to Ava. “A real boy. God, we’ll have to tell our moms. Mom will be so excited she gets one of each, a granddaughter and now a grandson,” he smiled. He went ahead and took off his glasses for a moment, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand, before replacing them. “Oh man, Sean and Jenna will be excited, too, you know. Matt and Tony get a new friend. Danny, as well,” he said. This also meant, they’d have plenty of baby clothes courtesy of their friends, too, since most of them had boys already.
“You, Viola, and T ready to be in a house full of men?” he teased.
