Tony Scott - Along Came COVID - Love and Loss in the 2020 Pandemic

“Hello, Faith — and Josh.”

Josh recognized the confusion on Ann’s face. “Faith lives with me, and this is our baby.”

“OK,” she nodded. “I did not know that. In fact, I only recently heard, from you-will-never-guess-who, that you were married to Brian Yankton. Gad.”

“Yes,” Faith said.

“So, is this pregnancy a surprise?” Ann asked.

“Yes, because I had to move in with Josh suddenly and we didn’t talk about contraception.”

Ann said, “Great! Two Ob-Gyn residents didn’t think about birth control?”

“Kind of screwed up, huh?” Josh mumbled.

“You could say that.”

“Anyway,” Faith said, “Thanks for calling me.”

“No problem. We had a cancellation in an afternoon that was already light, and I figured you didn’t want to wait.”

“True. Not that there’s a critical problem.”

Ann collected historical information and clicked away on the computer. “You have psoriatic arthritis? How do you function off medicines?”

“Poorly. Sometimes I can’t even hold a pencil. I’ve been on Humira five, almost six, years.”

“There’s getting to be observational data on biologics, and they are currently pregnancy category B by the FDA, or, as safe as you can get for medications. I wouldn’t worry about Humira. But your baby may need to have its first vaccinations delayed. We know it crosses the placenta.” Ann completed a physical examination. “I don’t feel the uterus above the pubic bone yet,” she said, poking around on Faith’s belly. “We’ll see here in a moment.”

With the exam finished, Ann wrapped Faith in her gown and sheet, and Faith scampered down the hall to the ultrasound room, Josh right behind.

“No tech?” Faith asked. “Don’t we usually have an ultrasound technician perform the scan and store the images?”

“Yes, but the less eyes we have, the less mouths we have,” Ann said.

“Thanks,” Faith said. “I didn’t think of that.”

The vaginal probe went in. Ann adeptly identified a live fetus, agreed with eleven weeks, and came up with the same due date, September 22.

“We haven’t told anyone,” Faith said. “We haven’t even told our parents, yet.”

“I think it’s important for this office to keep its mouth shut. What you say and to whom you say it is your business. I just don’t want the source to be us, here.” Ann was stern. “In an Ob-Gyn office, it’s hard to keep a lid on sensitive information, but it can be accomplished.”

Then Ann summarized. “OK, let’s see. Singleton pregnancy, three vessel cord, can’t see the gender, placenta in a good place, heart has four chambers. All that seems normal. We need to do your routine blood work and another ultrasound in a couple weeks for genetic screening. Start taking prenatal vitamins.”

“Do you think boy or girl?” Josh asked, winking at Ann.

“Girl.”

Faith gasped.

Ann then confessed. “I’m not completely sure of that. Don’t buy any dresses.”

“So, you didn’t see a penis, Ann?” Josh asked.

“No. I said everything was normal. A penis would be a birth defect.” Ann smirked.

“Yes, because that would make it a man,” Faith added.

“OK, you guys! Is that Faith making jokes?” Josh said. “We don’t need to know for sure, and I don’t care. But having a hint is fun.”

“I don’t care either. I just want healthy. I’m already in love, whoever it is.”

Josh said, “Hezekiah Menkowicz.”

The women started laughing.

“Thanks, Ann.”

Faith got dressed and left the room, a beaming Josh right behind. Josh needed to get back to work so he could get home, and Faith had blood tests and other things to do before leaving the office. Josh sported through his work, headed for home to fix dinner, and had it on the table when she came in.

She was giddy when she entered the apartment, threw a jacket and bag on the couch, and plunked onto a chair in front of her plate. “Could you believe our baby today?”

“Yes! Singleton, live fetus with normal appearing anatomy.”

“Did you see the report already?” she said. “You aren’t supposed to look at my chart!”

“No, I made that up. I didn’t look in your chart. I don’t believe there are secrets. I trust Ann.”

“Me too.”

He was inhaling his dinner.

“We’re going to have a baby.” She became serious again. “We’re going to have a baby.”

“I’m so happy about that. I was thinking about what she would look like, what she would become, how you would dress her up.” He was grinning so hard it was impossible to swallow.

“Now that I’ve seen her, I can’t wait to meet her,” she said. “It’s fun to think of a girl.”

“It’s a boy,” he said, just to torment her. “He just needs to grow some balls.”

She giggled. “No, a girl. You have a daughter, daddy.”

He almost choked on his mouthful. “I didn’t think about that. I have a daughter? I’m her father? Wow.”

“Is that bad?”

“Not at all. I just hadn’t thought about being a father and having a daughter. I’m so excited. I can’t wait.” The meal went on. “We could call her Marla.”

“Or Natalie.”

He thought for a minute, “Brunhilda, Ludmilla—”

“Jeez, Josh!” she said. Then, with a sneaky look on her face, “Cruella.”

By now, they were holding hands. She said, “Cori.”

“Cori,” he repeated. “Corrine? Corona?” then started to laugh. “Not Corona.”

Her eyes pierced into his, “Cori. Not Corrine or anything, just Cori.”

“Where did you get that?” he asked.

“I don’t know. It just came. It had nothing to do with coronavirus, I don’t know anyone with that name, it just came. There’s no one in our family named Cori.”

“It’s nice,” he said. “I like it.”

“Are you saying that just to appease or empower me?”

“No,” he said. “truly, I like it. I don’t think there is a Cori in our family either. I probably will tease our friends with Corona, but I don’t mean it.”

“Especially Haley,” she said. “She so deserves it.”

If you take a shower, I’ll clean up the kitchen.

“What?” she said, “Do I stink?”

“Yes!” He gave her a cheesy grin. “No. But you were on call last night and I bet you didn’t have one. Usually, you do shower when you get home after call.”

“Yes,” she said patting his shoulder on the way to the bathroom.

“Cori. I love it now.”

Soon the two were facing each other on the couch with their legs outstretched and meshed. Faith was in her terrycloth robe with a towel on her head, and Josh had on shorts and a t-shirt. He noticed Faith was staring at him.

“What?” he said.

“We’re going to have a baby.”

“I’m glad we’re not having two.”

“Jeez,” she said, “I never even thought about that!”

“Dr Valdez told a patient that in order to have twins you have to do it twice in one night.” Josh enjoyed the look on her face, then added, “In that case, we should be having triplets.”

“Joshua Menkowicz you are the worst.”

“Where did you learn that?” he said. “My mom would say something like that.”

“Maybe Cori will run with me,” she said. “We can play in the park. Maybe we need a dog.”

“Hold it right there. One major change at a time. I know how much work a dog is. I imagine a baby is even more work than that. We don’t need them both at the same time. Let’s get used to Cori and then think about a dog.” He kept staring at her while he thought some more about Cori and a dog. “I suppose a house and a picket fence? How about a minivan? You certainly have come a long way from not wanting a baby as a second-year resident.”