Gift of Sound

Five weeks later, Andy was stubborn as hell and insisted on accompanying his sweetheart to his doctor’s appointment. His mother was visiting Jinxx and Sammi, who’d recently had their baby, a little boy they’d decided to name Logan Jeremy Ferguson. Thankfully, like Andy, he’d been graced with the gift of hearing, despite his mother being a deaf-mute all her life. Jinxx couldn’t have been a happier father when he found out his son could hear just fine, and Sammi had the same reaction as Amy when she found out the good news.

At the moment, the couple sat in the waiting room of Dr. Morgan’s office, and despite the strange looks they got from some of the other waiting patients, they couldn’t have cared less. They’d been dating for nine months and were so besotted that they were inseparable; what others thought of them being together didn’t mean spit to them in the least.

It wasn’t long after arriving that a nurse stepped out of a door leading to the exam rooms and whatnot and called Ash’s name. Andy rose from the chair he’d somehow managed to sit in and extended his hand, gently helping him to his feet before wrapping his arm around his shoulders. He smiled up at him as he wrapped his own arm around his waist and rested his head on his chest, and the younger of the pair couldn’t help but smile back. He felt his heart swell with love the likes of which he’d never thought to experience, both for his sweetheart, and for their unborn child. His life couldn’t get any better, as far as he was concerned.

“Step up on the scale for me, Ashley,” the nurse said. She seemed nice enough, and like she couldn’t care less that there was another guy accompanying her patient this time.

He smiled and nodded, doing as he was told the entire time. Andy merely sat in the extra chair to the side, not sure how this doctor’s appointment would go in comparison to a typical yearly physical. After all, according to biology, men weren’t supposed to have the ability to get pregnant. So far, it was going as he’d expect a yearly physical to, but he knew there would be some elements that were anything but typical shortly.

“All right. Try to keep quiet for me while I check your blood pressure,” the nurse said, wrapping a blood pressure cuff around his arm.

Both of them were silent as she checked his blood pressure, which only took her a few seconds.

“Okay. One-twenty-two over eighty. Much better than last time,” she said, typing the information into his computerized chart.

“See. I told you it was probably because I’d just left my guts in the bathroom,” Ash chuckled, grinning.

“And it seems that you were right, Ashley.” She spun her watch around so she could see it and grabbed his wrist. “Pulse is seventy-six. Again, much better than last time.”

“What were his vitals last time?” Andy asked curiously.

“BP was one-thirty-eight over ninety, and pulse was eighty-nine,” she answered, looking through the computerized records. “His pulse actually wasn’t that bad, especially considering that he’d been vomiting pretty badly about ten minutes before I checked his vitals, but his blood pressure was just a few points away from being what we call hypertensive.”

“Which means?” he asked, somewhat confused.

“That it would’ve been too high. Hypertension, or high blood pressure, as most know it, starts at one-forty over ninety, so he was about an asshair away from being hypertensive. And a normal pulse rate is usually around seventy to eighty per minute,” she explained. “Sorry about my language, by the way.”

“It’s no problem, Sierra,” Ash told her. “We both have said way worse than that before.”

“Anyway, in comparison to his last appointment, his vitals are really good,” the nurse, whose name was apparently Sierra, continued. “I can give you the measurements so you can keep an eye on them at home, if you want.”

Nodding, Andy moved the chair he was sitting in right next to the exam table, leaned back, and grabbed his sweetheart’s hand. He’d never known that there were so many aspects that had to be checked every time he came to the doctor during a pregnancy, although most were normally checked during a yearly physical, anyway. He paid no attention to the nurse leaving the room shortly thereafter, as he was too lost in Ash’s chocolate-brown eyes to care, anyway.

They sat there talking about his health and how things would change now that he was pregnant while they waited for his doctor to come in. For the moment, he sat on the exam table in the clothes he’d arrived in since he hadn’t been told to change into one of those backless gowns, and he hoped he wouldn’t have to change into one this time. He despised having to wear those things with a burning passion straight from Hell, and unless absolutely necessary, he’d prefer not to get stuck in one this time. Andy could sense his sweetheart’s extreme dislike of them and couldn’t contain a chuckle because he felt the same way.

As they sat there talking while the minutes ticked by, he couldn’t help but notice a few physical changes that he wondered if his sweetheart had noticed yet. Where three months ago he’d been so flat-chested he could resemble the plains of Kansas, his chest was now beginning to fill out a bit. He looked like he was developing very small breasts, likely not big enough to fill up an A-cup, but they were there, nonetheless.

Something else he’d noticed was that his hips were getting curvier like a woman’s, too. His waist was still fairly small and defined, though he doubted that would last very long as their baby grew, but his hips seemed to be widening into an almost hourglass shape now. Sure, they’d have to be wider toward the end of pregnancy to allow the baby’s birth, unless his pelvic opening was just so small that he was forced to have a C-section for a safe and healthy delivery, but he was kind of surprised. They still had close to six months, easily, before their baby would be even remotely close to being ready for birth, but maybe it was a good thing his body was getting a head start on such minute details.

“Good morning, Ashley,” a new voice said. The voice belonged to a man, whom he assumed to be his sweetheart’s doctor. “And who’s this?”

“Morning, Dr. Morgan,” Ash answered, smiling as he extended his hand. “This is my boyfriend, Andy.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Andy. I’m Ashley’s primary care physician, Dr. Morgan,” the man said, extending his hand to him.

“Likewise, Dr. Morgan,” Andy answered politely, accepting the handshake.

“So, how’ve you been feeling, Ashley?” the doctor asked, turning his attention back to his patient. “The morning sickness getting any better?”

“I’ve been all right. Still tired as hell,” his sweetheart answered. “And not really. It seems to’ve gotten worse, actually. Andy’s been having trouble keeping food in me and coming up with new things to try to help me.”

“Hmm. What all have you tried so far?” he asked, turning his attention back to Andy.

“Well, mostly dry things, like crackers and toast,” he started. “My mom said that worked for her when she was pregnant with me, so we decided to give it a try. We’ve tried chicken soup, and that works sometimes, but usually not. The only thing he can really seem to keep down is ginger ale. Or anything with ginger in it, for that matter.”

“Well, ginger’s an old Chinese remedy for stomach ailments and usually works pretty well,” he said thoughtfully, typing their responses into Ash’s computerized file. “I can try prescribing some anti-nausea medication for you to try, though.”

“That might be a good idea. I feel like I’m not eating enough for the baby and myself because of the morning sickness,” Ash agreed.

“Well, you’ve put on about eight pounds since the last time you came in, so you’re obviously retaining something,” Dr. Morgan said. “But we do need to get that morning sickness under control. We wouldn’t want you starting to lose weight during such a critical time, nor have to hospitalize you to give you IV fluids because you can’t keep anything down.”

After typing a prescription into the computer system to be sent off to a local pharmacy after their visit was drawn to a close, the doctor rose from the stool he was seated on and came over to the exam table. He had Ash take off his shirt, something Andy wasn’t too comfortable with since he didn’t know this doctor very well, but he toned down his jealous reaction since his sweetheart seemed to trust him. Once his shirt was off, he pressed the bell of his stethoscope against his chest after warming it with his hands, the prongs in his ears so he could hear his heartbeat.

Once he’d checked his heart, which he said sounded perfectly normal, he moved to place the bell against his back and had him breathe deeply a few times as he listened to his lungs. Again, what he heard sounded perfectly normal and didn’t raise any concern. So far, so good, and he couldn’t be happier to hear that his sweetheart was in perfect health, according to the doctor.

Now that he’d finished with his stethoscope, he pulled the prongs from his ears and wrapped it around his neck in typical doctor fashion as he had Ash lay back. Still his shirt was off, lying in Andy’s lap where it’d been since he’d handed it to him. He winced a bit as Dr. Morgan pressed on his chest, which the doctor said was perfectly normal. He told them that, because of the hormones secreted during pregnancy, he was going to develop breasts to a degree, though they’d likely be smaller than a woman’s, and that they’d be somewhat tender. It was also likely that the tenderness would get worse as the pregnancy progressed, which would explain why he no longer liked having his chest, especially his nipples, touched or toyed with.

Continuing with the physical exam, the doctor moved lower to his abdomen, where he pressed down gently but firmly once again. After finding a certain point close to his pubic bone, he pulled a tape measure from his pocket and let it unroll itself until it hit the floor. He then placed the beginning of the tape measure to the point at Ash’s pubic bone and started pressing on his belly a little higher up, closer to his navel, and soon dragged it up after finding the point he was looking for.

“You’re measuring in at about eleven centimeters, which is perfectly normal for being around eleven weeks pregnant with a single fetus,” he said, rolling the tape measure back up.

“So you’re sure that I’m eleven weeks now?” Ash asked curiously.

“Mmm hmm. This measurement, combined with what I saw in the ultrasound last time, definitely suggests a gestation period of eleven weeks or so now,” Dr. Morgan answered. “The way I can tell is by finding the bottom of your womb, the point near your pubic bone, and the top of it, the point near your navel, at the moment. I can take the tape measure and measure the distance between the two points, which is eleven centimeters, currently. The womb normally grows a centimeter a week during pregnancy.”

“Ah, I see,” he said, nodding his understanding. “So we could easily keep an eye on the baby’s growth at home by doing that?”

“Yes, you can. That might not be such a bad idea, especially if you feel like the baby’s smaller than it should be at any point during your pregnancy. Or bigger for that matter.”

“The nurse that was in here before said something about us being able to keep an eye on his pulse and blood pressure at home, too,” Andy spoke up, both of them nodding.

“Pulse is an easy thing to keep an eye on, especially if you already know how,” Dr. Morgan said.

“I do. I’m certified in CPR,” he told him, grabbing his wallet for his card from the Red Cross. “It was something we had to do for health class at my old high school, and I just decided to keep myself up to date since I never know when such a skill will come in handy.”

“I’m guessing you know the two most common pulse points, then?”

“Carotid artery in the neck and the wrist,” he answered, nodding.

“I’ll teach you some others before you leave, as well as how to check blood pressure, so that if you can’t find it in either of those two places, you can try some others.”

The couple nodded their agreement as the doctor turned to leave, saying that he was going to get the ultrasound scanner again. Normally he wouldn’t have performed an ultrasound only five weeks apart like this, but he felt it was better to do so in this case since men didn’t normally get pregnant, and their bodies weren’t quite as equipped to handle a pregnancy.

Obviously, there was something very special about Ash if he was born with the reproductive organs of a woman, in addition to those of a man, but that didn’t make the pregnancy any safer for him. They were both worried about how his body would handle the child inside it, and were going to take every precaution possible. Just because this baby was unplanned didn’t mean it was unloved, and Andy didn’t think he’d be able to handle the heartbreak if he lost both his child and the love of his life because of a pregnancy-related complication that could’ve been avoided, had they taken certain precautions.

A short time passed before Dr. Morgan returned with the ultrasound scanner, which he plugged into the wall beside the exam table and started setting up. He had his patient get up to strip off his jeans, telling him that he could leave his boxers on if he wished. Andy helped him off the exam table, standing beside him so he could grab him for balance, if need be, and took the jeans once he had them off. He laid his clothes on the chair to the side while he helped him back onto the exam table, then picked them up and resumed his seat.

“Just like last time, it’s going to be cold,” he said with a note of warning in his voice, a bottle now in his hand.

“Oh!” Ash gasped, his eyes flying open wide as he squeezed some kind of gel on his belly between his navel and pubic bone. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that, no matter how many ultrasounds I have.”

“Sorry, Ashley. If I could warm it up, I would before I used it on any patient for any reason,” Dr. Morgan said, chuckling. “Now, let’s get a good look at this little one, shall we?”

“Sounds good. I can’t wait to see it again,” he agreed, a grin splitting his face.

“I can’t wait to see it for the first time, period,” Andy murmured in his ear.

“Well, technically you’ve already seen it because of the pictures I brought home the last time, mio profeta,” his sweetheart chuckled, gently kissing him.

“I know, but it’s not the same as getting to see it like you did, mio deviante,” he answered, returning the kiss.

“All right, guys. There’s your little peanut,” Dr. Morgan said, his hand holding the wand he was using to conduct the scan steady in one spot. “There’s its little head, and I can see an arm and leg here, and here.” He pointed to the two appendages. “And if you look really closely right here, you can see a miniscule fluttering. That’s its heart.”

Ash gasped in awe, tears welling up in his eyes at the precious sight of their baby and its beating heart. Andy was equally at a loss for words and could feel tears of his own welling up as he stared in awe at the screen, at the image of his child. He’d never once dreamed of being able to experience this, especially after figuring out he was gay, and he knew just how lucky they both were. He leaned over and gently pressed his lips to his sweetheart’s, wanting to convey his emotions without saying a word.

“I can let you guys listen to its heartbeat, if you’d like,” the doctor said.

Both nodded their heads eagerly.

With a chuckle, he pressed a button on the “keyboard” of the scanner after zeroing in on what would be their baby’s chest as it developed. The room was filled with a little whooshing sound, which soon turned into soft ka-thump, ka-thump, ka-thump sounds, and they realized that was the sound of their baby’s tiny heart. That caused even more tears to well up in their eyes, but this time they rolled down their cheeks.

“I can’t believe we even get this chance,” Andy breathed softly.

“Never thought you’d get to have kids, Andy?” Dr. Morgan chuckled.

“No, not after I figured out I was gay when I was twelve,” he answered, shaking his head. “I figured I’d get to experience love and happiness, maybe raising a child if I adopted, but I didn’t think I’d ever have one of my own.”

“I didn’t think I would, either, and we all know what I man-whore I used to be,” Ash agreed.

“That we all do,” the doctor said in agreement. “I used to have to test you for STDs at least twice a year to make sure you were still clean because of how much you slept around.”

“You haven’t had to do that in a while though, have ya, doc?” he asked, grinning proudly.

“Not since last summer, which is a good thing.” He paused as he set the ultrasound images to print for them. “I’m guessing you two have been together that long?”

“Not quite. A little over ten months,” Andy answered. “And what a wonderful ten months it’s been. For both of us.”

“So tell me something, Andy. How old are you?” the doctor asked as he grabbed the print-outs. “You’ve got such a baby face that it’s hard to guess.”

“I’m seventeen. I’ll be eighteen the day after Christmas,” he told him.

“You’re a bit younger than Ashley here, aren’t ya?”

“Yeah, but as far as I’m concerned, age is just a number. And considering that we’re so close in age, I don’t see why it should matter.”

“One of the things I looked into when he asked me out was what the laws were in regards to an adult dating a minor,” Ash spoke up, wiping the gel off his belly now that they were done. “Age of consent here is sixteen, which he was when we met and started dating. Besides, his mom’s okay with us being together, and even if she weren’t, it wouldn’t have been illegal, in regards to sexual activity, unless he’d been under thirteen and I’d been over eighteen.”

“Sounds to me like you really did your research, Ashley,” Dr. Morgan agreed. “Better to have your asses covered than be caught with your pants down, so to speak.”

“Exactly. I didn’t wanna get in trouble with the law any more than he would’ve wanted me to get in trouble, so I looked it up,” he told him. “And with him turning eighteen in December, the state government can’t really say anything unless rape, molestation, or murder were involved.”

“That’s true enough.” He took a moment to read over the computerized file once again as his patient got dressed. “Okay, so I’ve called in a prescription for an anti-nausea medication that should be filled by the time you get to the pharmacy, and everything seems to be progressing smoothly.”

“What a relief,” he sighed, gesturing for his lover to help him get his cowboy boots back on since he’d had to kick them off when he took his jeans off.

“Now, I’m gonna schedule your next appointment for six weeks from now, on September eighth. You should be seventeen weeks by then, and showing quite nicely for a gestation period of that time,” Dr. Morgan said. “You can reschedule the appointment to be earlier if need be, or just come as a walk-in if you have any problems that crop up between now and then.”

“Well, if they’re not so serious that we just choose to go straight to the hospital,” Ash agreed.

“Exactly. Now, here’s your copies of the ultrasound images,” he told him, handing him another manilla envelope. “And if you haven’t stopped riding your motorcycle, you need to seriously consider it within the next few weeks.”

“We’re already looking into getting an actual car,” Andy piped up. “I don’t want him on the Dark Prince any more than you do while he’s pregnant, especially once he starts showing. It’s too dangerous.”

“As I’ve already discussed with him. His balance will get thrown off a bit as the baby grows, and we don’t want him losing his balance while going down the road on his bike. Nor do we want him straining anything, especially his back, from trying to hold it up while in such a delicate condition.”

“But is he still safe to ride on the back of mine?” he asked. “It’s the only transportation we’ve got until we find a car that suits us since we’re both bikers.”

“He should be fine to ride on the back of yours until around twenty to twenty-two weeks,” Dr. Morgan said, nodding. “Once he reaches that point, I don’t want him on a motorcycle at all. He could lose his balance and cause the driver, whether it’s you or someone else, to drop the bike. That, and the driver might not be able to hold up the increased weight, which could cause a loss of balance, as well.”

“Sounds like we’ve got another ten or eleven weeks to find a car, hun,” Andy chuckled.

“That’s fine by me. That’s like…another three months. Surely we’ll be able to do it by then,” Ash agreed, nodding.

“All right. Since you already know how to check someone’s pulse, Andy, I’ll show you some of those other pulse points I was talking about earlier,” the doctor told him. “Afterward, I’ll show you how to check his blood pressure, or anyone else’s, for that matter, and tell you where you can get the necessary equipment for pretty cheap.”

Nodding, he paid close attention when the doctor started telling him about the temporal, apical, brachial, femoral, popliteal, posterior tibial, and pedal, or dorsalis pedis, pulse points. They were the ones he’d never heard of before, but were still pulse points that could be tried if he ever had to check anyone’s pulse and couldn’t find it at the carotid or radial pulse points, the two he had heard of before, due to his CPR certification courses.

After he’d memorized all of the pulse points the human body contained, they moved on to checking blood pressure. Andy realized upon checking his sweetheart’s blood pressure for himself that doctors and nurses made it look easy, even though it was just as hard for them as it was anyone else. Course, they had to practice that skill for quite a while before they could ever get a job in a medical facility, since that was one of the main things they had to check with all of their patients, so it was no wonder they made it look easy. They used the reading Sierra’d gotten at the beginning of the appointment as a base number to make sure he was doing it right.

Each and every time, he got a reading that was pretty close to the original of one-twenty-two over eighty, although it took him a few tries to get it right. Thankfully, his hearing was far better than the average person’s, and in a silent room like this one, it was easy for him to figure out when he’d lost Ash’s pulse while listening closely as he pumped up the blood pressure cuff, and when he’d found it again as he deflated it. It would still take a bit of practice to get really good at it, but he wasn’t half bad for someone who’d never done it before.

Just as he’d promised, now that Andy’d gotten pretty good at checking blood pressure, for someone who’d never had a reason to in the past, Dr. Morgan told them where they could get the supplies to do so at home. The place he told them was where he got his own sphygmomanometer, or blood pressure cuff, and stethoscope when he needed new ones. The medical supplies sold there were of very good quality, and surprisingly dirt cheap. The couple knew that if Dr. Morgan bought his supplies from there for as cheap as he did and kept going back because the quality was that good that he wouldn’t lie to them. They thanked him as they walked back out to the front desk, where they double checked the date of Ash’s next appointment before leaving.

“Well, I glad to know that you two are doing so good,” Andy said, smiling as he gently placed a hand over his belly.

“Same here. As sick as I’ve been, I’m kinda surprised we’re doing as good as we are,” his sweetheart agreed softly. “I mean, it seems like I can never hold anything down anymore.”

“Well, Dr. Morgan did give you that prescription to try,” he reminded him. “How ’bout we stop by the pharmacy and the medical supply store to pick that and the blood pressure supplies up, then head out to lunch? I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”

“Let’s run by the pharmacy first,” Ash agreed. “Maybe they’ll have my prescription ready and I can take the first dose before we try going out to lunch.”

“Yeah. Taking it before we go to the medical supply store will give it plenty of time to kick in before we eat,” he agreed, straddling his bike. “Make sure you hold on tight. I don’t want you falling off and getting hurt now for sure.”

“As if I’ve never held onto you tightly before,” he scoffed playfully, knocking his helmet against his lover’s once he was settled.

“Ready, I take it?” Andy laughed, getting the arms of his sunglasses tucked into his helmet strap.

“Yepper. Let’s head out,” he answered.

“All right. Off we go to the pharmacy,” he agreed, kicking up the kickstand before he fired the Fallen Angel up.

“Then off to the medical supply store and lunch,” Ash yelled excitedly. “Hopefully I’ll be able to hold down my food, if they’ve got that prescription ready!”

“Sounds like a plan to me. Ti amo molto, mio deviante!”

“Anch’io ti amo motlo, mio profeta!”

With a grin as wide as the Mississippi River, Andy put his bike in gear and slowly lifted his feet as he took off, his sweetheart’s arms wrapped tightly around his waist.

Notes