Welcome to Gaia! ::

Keeta followed the nurse into the back, and sat down at the station where the nurse went through all the vital checks: temperature, blood pressure, weight, etc. She kept turning to look at Rhine and smiling. Being here made it a little easier to forget for a moment the challenges they had faced in life recently with Natalia and Ceres. They were going to get to see their baby for the first time!

The appointment had been postponed several times due to the recent events, and it was considerably later into the pregnancy than when she had been able to see Joel for the first time. In a way, Keeta felt slightly guilty, but she understood that she couldn't change the circumstances that had been affecting them recently. At least, they were here now and it was only fitting that there was some joy amongst all the trials.

Things went normally enough as the nurse went through her routines. The only thing that made Keeta a little confused, was the slight flicker of concern that crossed the face of the nurse as she recorded the number on the scale. When nothing was said, Keeta tried to shrug it off as her imagination, and didn't even decide that she needed to share it with Rhine. Why make him worry when it was probably nothing?

Smiling again she took his hand as the nurse finished up and led them to a examining room with an ultra sound machine. She gave Keeta a medical robe to change into and left the room, saying that the doctor would be in, in a few moments.

"I can't wait to see our little one," she said giving Rhine a kiss before starting to change into the medial gown.

"What makes you think it's a girl?" Keeta asked, turning her back towards him, so he could tie her up.

"With as big as I'm getting, I'm betting it will be another boy. Although I have to say, this baby seems to be growing faster than I remember Joel growing. But it could just be that it seems bigger and it's actually the same." She shrugged and smiled.

"Either way, I know we are both going to love it, boy or girl."

"I suppose that's true. You are kind of a lone wolf....being the only boy and all," she said teasingly, resting her hands on his. She tried to steer her mind away from the fact that the matriarch and patricarch of the family were no longer with them.

"And maybe. I'm sure the doctor will tell us that everything's fine," Keeta said, trying to keep things optimistic.

"I know you have Rhine. I know you have," she smiled and turned to give him a quick kiss.

"I just meant that the gender of the baby will not affect how we feel about it."

Just then the Dr. came in, a younger woman with blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail, and a pair of glasses resting on her nose. She smiled and glanced down at the chart.

"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Harding. I'm Dr. Tessanne, nice to meet you." She stepped forwards, extending her hand first to Keeta, then to Rhine.

Keeta shook her head and smirked slightly at her husband's reaction to the Dr's greeting. Where other women might have gotten their feathers ruffled, Keeta was slightly amused. She knew there was no harm or intention in Rhine's looking. She looked back at the Dr. as she asked Keeta to sit on the table.

Dr. Tessanne motioned to Rhine that he should make himself comfortable, before she started getting into the usual preliminary questions with Keeta. She asked about any concerns, questions, etc.

Keeta was a little concerned about how large she was getting, but part of her thought it might just be herself and not the baby that was getting big, so she decided she would wait until they got to the ultra sound to bring that up. She shook her head and didn't say anything to the doctor. Squeezing Rhine's hand, however, she turned to him.

"Did you have any questions, hon? I know you haven't had a chance to come with me to my earlier appointments.

"I guess we don't have any quetions right now," Keeta replied, when her husband didn't say anything.

"Let's go ahead then," Dr. Tessanne said.

"Your vitals all look good, although I am seeing a slight red flag here with your weight at this time in the pregnancy. I think I will better be able to address that once we get a look at baby from the ultra sound. Normally we prefer you come in much earlier for your first ultrasound, but we're glad you're here.

"If you would just lay back...." Dr. Tessanne helped Keeta scoot back and then pulled out the foot portion of the table to help her lay out full length. Then she doused the lights.

Keeta smiled a nervous and excited smile, reaching to squeeze Rhine's hand. They were about to get a look at the baby!

Dr. Tessanne smiled at Rhine, as she reached under the table for the contact gel and turned on the machine.

"Well if you want, we can tell you the gender of the baby today, provided he or she cooperates." She laid a blanket across Keeta's lower half and then lifted up the hospital gown to expose her pregnant belly.

"Now this is going to be a bit cold, but it helps the wand move around and see better," Dr. Tessanne said, as she squeezed some of the contact gel onto the exposed skin and moved it around with the wand from the ultrasound machine.

As the cold gel touched Keeta's skin, she took in a sharp breath, but quickly relaxed and turned her face towards the screen. Soon the baby would be up there! She squeezed Rhine's hand again, glad that they were both able to be here, and able to still be in love after all that had happened since the beginning of their marriage. Soon flashes of images appeared on the screen, and the doctor moved the wand around trying to pinpoint certain things.

Keeta was equally transfixed by the images on the screen, oohing and aahing over the little things with Rhine, grinning excitedly. She couldn't wait to put the pictures up on the fridge like she had with Joel. One would definitely be going in her journal as well.

The Dr. nodded absent-mindedly at Rhine's question. She wanted to finish getting measurements and pictures before she faced the couple with her concerns. Her hand continued to move back and forth and she finished pointing out the various body parts as she worked. When she was finished, she set some of the images to print before turning around and wiping the gel from the wand and Keeta's belly.

"The baby cooperated with me today, and I was able to determine the gender. Would you like to know what it is?" she said with a somewhat tight smile.

Keeta was too excited to notice how the Dr.'s attitude was a little off. She turned to Rhine and gripped his hands again.

"I didn't know what Joel was going to be, I chose not to find out, but I think it might be fun to know this time. Do you want to know, love?"

"Oh, you think you know already do you?" Dr. Tessanne said, smiling mischeviously, trying to draw it out a little and play with Rhine's confidant manner.

"Maybe I should make you guys wait, if you think you already know," she said trying to tease.

Keeta knew she was teasing, but still protested, playing along.

"No, please tell us!" she said, realizing how much she really wanted to know.

"Oh...I don't know...." the Dr. continued, before, laughing sharing what she knew.

"You're having a baby girl, just like you predicted, sir," she said, giving Rhine a congratulatory nod.