Merrill doesn't believe in shoes (little_elf_lost) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2012-10-18 15:47:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, frodo baggins, merrill, richard alpert |
Who: Merrill, Frodo and Richard Alpert
What: Their first ultrasound
When: Thursday
Where: Dr. Alpert's office
Status: Complete
Rating: PG
It seemed that they had been waiting a longer time than was strictly normal, sitting in the ultrasound lab, waiting for the technician to enter. Frodo was in a chair beside the table where Merrill had been told to get comfortable. But by now they had spent so long getting comfortable that they were starting to get antsy. At least, Frodo was.
“I wonder what is taking them so long,”” he said, turning from the door back to Merrill. Staying focused on her face was usually comforting.
"I don't know," Merrill said, sounding a bit distracted. "They must be busy." She was looking down at her chest, evaluating the size of her growing breasts through the gown. "I suppose I'll fill out my Halloween costume better!" she said, glancing back up at Frodo, amused.
A little flush of red touched Frodo's cheeks. He had noticed and he had no complaints. Merrill had not yet shared her costume plans, but it sounded like something worth the suprise. "Dolly Parton?" he jokingly guessed, although he would have been just fine with that, if it turned out to be the case.
Merrill laughed. "No! It's a surprise," she said, though she immediately followed it with "Someone from Kirkwall." She wasn't very good at keeping surprises. Besides, he wouldn't really know anyone from her dreams, anyway. "She's very shapely. She has shapes." She nodded, trying to appear sage, but she couldn't help a giggle.
It was entirely possible Merrill had a small crush on Isabela.
Frodo tilted his head. "Kirkwall, eh?" He could not help but snort with laughter at the rest of Merrill's description. "I assume you mean round shapes." And just for good measure, he gave Merrill's breasts a mischievous poke. Gently, of course.
"Yes, round--" Merrill laughed when he poked her, swatting playfully at him. "Careful, those are sore," she told him. They were, but his poke hadn't hurt her, and she didn't sound the slightest bit accusatory.
And of course, it was at that precise moment the door opened and Dr. Alpert appeared. The fading pink in Frodo’s face turned back to a deep red. He folded his hands and tried to look as innocent as possible.
Richard hadn’t noticed anything. He was in the middle of reading the chart which had been placed on the door, fighting a bit of a scowl. Running ultrasounds wasn’t part of his job, it was work for a technician; but apparently Mr. Baggins had made enough donations to the hospital to warrant special attention. It was appropriate, but Richard couldn’t say he was thrilled to be doing lab work during what was supposed to be his lunch break.
He conjured up a smile that was believable enough and stretched out his hand to shake Frodo’s and then Merrill’s. “So, your first ultrasound. You must be very excited. And everything's going well? How are you feeling, Merrill?”
Merrill blushed, too, pursing her lips together and trying to look innocent. They were like two teenagers.
"We are," she said after a pause. "Well.." She didn't really want to say this, but he was a doctor, and she was supposed to. "I thought I had the morning sickness under control, but it's been getting a little worse. I've been a little tired, too, and achey." She hadn't told Frodo about that, not wanting him to fret. "But other than that, really good!"
Frodo did turn back to her with a concerned look, but also one of quiet admiration. What her body was going through was nothing short of amazing; and that Merrill was happy to be so uncomfortable for his sake and their baby’s sake, it was very moving at times.
Richard’s smile became a little more natural as he took a seat and began testing the functions of the machine. He was also refreshing his memory on how to work it. It had been a long time, including the years he had not practiced medicine. “That’s very normal,” Richard said. “And unfortunately it’s probably going to get worse before it gets better. The nausea and fatigue begins to lessen after the first trimester.”
Merrill nodded, relieved to hear it was normal, even though she’d read that in the book they’d gotten. There was something about hearing a doctor say it that was especially comforting. “I can manage, I think.” She would just take more naps. She gave Frodo a reassuring smile.
Richard pressed a button and the lighting in the room dimmed considerably. There were a few other things to get in order with the machine and he talked while he worked. “So, you’ve probably seen how this works in the movies. We’re going to take a few photos of the baby using sound waves. It’s one-hundred percent safe, no radiation. Just sound waves. We’ll be able to hear the heartbeat today. And I’ll be able to measure and get a more exact idea of how far along you are.”
“Oh, we can hear the heartbeat today?” Frodo perked up, smiling broadly.
Merrill brightened, too, and her own heartbeat jumped a little. She hadn't quite made the connection that they would hear the heartbeat today, so she was surprised and excited by the news. Apparently she hadn't gotten as much from the book as she should have! But she was pretty distracted, lately.
She smiled over to Frodo and motioned for him to come closer, offering her hand.
Frodo stood from his chair and crossed the room, moving to the opposite side of the table so that the doctor could work. It was not lost of him that this was a job for a technician. He was certain his donations to the hospital had everything to do with this care and attention. He had never thought about the possibility that one day his wife and child would benefit from what was an absolutely altruistic act of charity, but Frodo was glad for Merrill’s sake.
Richard picked up a plastic bottle that looked a little like a ketchup container with a nozzle, only it was white. “So, Merrill I’m just going to have you lie down and if you could put up your shirt to about here...” He gestured on his own body to right above his navel. “And unfortunately, this goo is as cold as they say it is.”
Merrill was somewhat oblivious to the idea that there should be a technician there instead of the doctor. Those little details slipped past her a bit more than usual, these days. She was glad it was a familiar face, but would have been fine either way.
She lifted her shirt up the way the doctor indicated, and braced herself for the coldness. She wrinkled up her nose when he squirted it on, but she was fine.
Frodo held Merrill’s hand tightly, but his eyes were fixed on the screen for the time being. He reminded himself that whatever they saw would look like a tadpole at best. But it would still be his tadpole.
Richard used a wand that looked a bit like a gourd to move the clear gel across Merrill’s skin. His eyes were also on the screen, as he searched for his intended target like images on a treasure map.
Merrill was watching the screen, trying to sit still for the scan. She gasped, though, when the image came up on the screen. She'd read the baby was the size of a kidney bean right now, so that was about what she was expecting to see; a little bean shape. But there were already little arms and legs! She breathed something in Dalish that neither of the men would understand.
Frodo felt his knees vanish for a second and he gave Merrill’s hand a squeeze to support himself. He had not expected this either, to see something actually shaped like a baby. His eyes became wide and wet.
Richard assumed the words Merrill spoke had some meaning in the country wherever her strange accent came from. He didn’t think anything of them. “There we go,” he said. He pushed his wand around so that he could get a clearer image. The bean with arms and legs wiggled under the gentle pressure. He chuckled. It had been so long since he’d done one of these tests that even he was a little caught up in the moment. “You can’t feel that, but you can see your baby’s already trying to kick.”
Merrill's eyes were filling with tears, too. "Oh! Oh, Frodo, look!" She covered her mouth. "He's wiggling! Or she, maybe she. Oh, Frodo." She squeezed his hand.
"Looks like a healthy baby," Frodo said, looking to Dr. Alpert for confirmation. He doubted the sex of the baby could be determined yet,but he briefly pictured himself with one of each. He did not have a preference.
"We can't tell the sex now," Richard said, as if he had been reading Frodo's mind. Or maybe he was just responding to Merrill's comments. He seemed a bit distracted as he took some measurements. "It looks like... you're at nine weeks and five days... "
Merrill didn't have a preference, either. She was eager to know the sex, but she thought she would be excited either way. "Goodness, that's so exact." She was a little in awe; of everything, really!
“Well, nothing’s exact,” Richard replied. “But we have a equation we follow. It puts your due date at... May 22.” He continued to check for a few things, to make sure everything was as okay as it seemed. He worked quietly, not wanting to alarm anyone; but everything looked as good as it possibly could. “I’ll print a photo for you to take home now.”
Arms and legs... Due dates... A photograph... Frodo’s head was spinning. He felt genuinely dizzy. Usually, that frightened him, but he had never felt so happily disoriented.
"May 22," Merrill repeated. "When does school get out?" she asked aloud, though she was the one who was most likely to know that answer. Merrill's head was spinning, too. All of this was just so much that everything else had vanished from her mind.
“Around then,” Frodo replied in his daze. Not a very decisive answer.
There was a beep on the machine and Richard pulled a printed photo from a slot. He gave it a few shakes so that the ink would dry before handing it to Frodo.
The photo continued to shake from the slight tremor in Frodo’s hand. He lowered so Merrill could see. Their baby’s first photograph.
Merrill ran a finger over the photo. So tiny! "Frodo.." Her voice was soft and lilting, her eyes still locked on the photo. "I want to show my mother. I think we should tell them." They probably didn't need to have this conversation in front of the doctor, but she was in a different world.
Richard busied himself by looking busy. He searched for the function on the ultrasound machine that would enable them to hear the baby’s heartbeat.
Frodo nodded, looking almost solemn. He did not like keeping secrets, but until now, he had not fully realized the depth of the secret they had been keeping. “I agree. We should tell them.”
Merrill smiled. "I can't imagine them being anything but thrilled when they see this," she said, looking down at the picture.
Richard wasn’t trying to interupt, but he had found the right button and he pressed the wand back against Merrill’s belly. His search this time was different. A heartbeat was more elusive than an image.
Merrill looked back down at her stomach when the search resumed. She’d been so distracted by the picture that she’d forgotten about the heartbeat. Her eyes widened when Dr. Alpert found it, and she looked back over at Frodo.
Frodo was surprised to hear how rapid it was, like a gallop. Then again, the little bean was doing a lot of work, growing arms and legs. He smiled at Merrill, his eyes wet again. “We have to tell them right away.”
Merrill nodded. She’d been planning to see them for dinner, anyway. Frodo would certainly be welcomed along. “Mamae would probably notice soon anyway,” Merrill said, laughing a little, though there was a lump in her throat threatening to have her start crying. “These are giant,” she gestured at her chest, “and I have to run to the bathroom every five minutes when we’re out shopping.” She was smiling even as she blinked away a few tears.
Frodo was not sure he ought to point out the fact that she was very slightly beginning to show as well. Just the tiniest bit. He did not want to risk pointing out a few extra pounds either way.
Richard handed off a few wipes for Merrill to clean herself with while the ultrasound machine powered down. “Like I said, everything looks great. We’ll have you come back to the office in a few weeks, but feel free to call me if you have any questions.” For good measure, he give Frodo and Merrill his personal cell number.
Coming back to reality, Merrill wiped off the gel and sat up. “Thank you so much, doctor,” Merrill said, pulling her shirt down. She had a lot of questions, but not ones that Dr. Alpert could answer. She wanted to talk to her parents. She wanted to talk to Obi and ask him questions about if the baby seemed happy, and if he could tell why it was wiggly. She giggled softly reaching for Frodo’s hand as she stood up.