"Do you really have to go?" I whined to Howie.
"Baby, you know that I have to," he said trying to reassure me, "I promise I'll be back in time to take the kids to the doctor for their check-up. You know that I wouldn't miss this for anything."
"We have to be there at 3:00."
"I know - 3:00. I'll set my watch," Howie said as he winked and walked out the door.

"I can't believe he's freakin' late again," I mumbled to myself as I put the twins into the truck. Just then Howie pulled into the driveway. He looked a bit frazzled.
"Baby I'm sorry," he said as he grabbed the diaper bag and tossed it into the truck.
"You know Howie, I'm getting a bit tired of that line. Can't you come up with something else?"
The drive to the doctor's office seemed a lot longer than ever before.

"Rhon - you're just stressing. I stressed with Arrianna. It will get better."
"Amber McLean," the nurse called.
AJ jumped up from the other side of the room where he was talking with Howie. "That would be me!" he shouted. The nurse gave him a strange look. "I mean…that would be my wife." AJ walked over and helped Amber out of the chair and through the doors leading to the examining room.

Howie and I sat in the waiting room in silence. "I think Jacob needs to be changed," Howie said breaking the silence.
"So why don't you change him?" I snapped. "Do you even remember how to change a diaper? I know it's been a while for you."
"What the hell is that suppose to mean?"
"You haven't exactly been around much lately - I'd just be surprised if you remembered how to change a diaper."
Howie was about to respond when the nurse called for Jacob and Nicole.

Amber's View

"Right in here and the doctor should be with you in a second," the nurse said as she led AJ and I down the hall and pointed to an examining room. Out of the corner of my eye I saw another nurse lead Rhonda, Howie and the twins into an infant's examining room down the hall.

"If you could hop on up onto the table," the nurse said handing me a paper sheet.
I looked down at my ever-growing stomach and laughed. "I think I'm beyond the point of being able to hop up on anything," I said jokingly patting my stomach. I saw that AJ was about to make a smart-ass comment to that and stopped him with a "Don't even think about it" look before he was able to say it.

The nurse smiled and helped me up onto the table. I undid my pants enough to pull them down underneath my stomach and pulled my shirt up to uncover the top part. The nurse draped the paper covering over my exposed mid-section, and walked out back to her station. AJ lifted the sheet and rubbed my stomach. "Damn you're getting big again," he said in wonder.

For some reason this comment really bugged me. Maybe it was because this morning I realized that no matter how stylish my maternity clothes were they were still huge. "Well if you would stop knocking me up I wouldn't be big!" I snapped.

"I wasn't commenting about you weight, I was just realizing how big our baby is getting. No matter how many times I think it, it still shocks me that an actual human is growing in there," he leaned over and lovingly stroked my stomach and kissed it gently. A mischievous glimmer came into his eyes as I looked at him, "PST, hey kid this is you're last chance…grow a penis!"

The knocking on the door scared both of us as the doctor let himself in the room. "So how are we today?" Doctor Joseph asked as he shook hands with AJ.
"Fine, a little ready to have my husband stop whispering 'grow a penis' to my stomach but other than that just fine." The doctor laughed at that and began to prepare the ultra sound equipment.
"So how far along are we?" he asked as he thankfully warmed up the gel.
"Almost seven months," I commented.
"And you're just now having the sex of the baby determined?" the doctor asked with a grin.
"Well, like I said I was tired of hearing my husband."
Soon there was the miraculous sound of a baby's heartbeat filling the room. It didn't matter how many times I had heard it before the sound always took my breath away.
"Well?" AJ asked impatiently "What is it? A boy or a girl?"
Doctor Joseph moved the wand around to get a better view of the baby, "It appears Mr. McLean that you won't have to whisper to your wife's stomach any more…I do believe that you are having a boy."

Rhonda's View

"These two have gotten so big," Dr. O'Shea said. "They are just about the size they are suppose to be. A little smaller than average though, but that's expected since they were born early. How are they eating?"
"Just fine – Jacob is a bit more fussy at eating than Nikki."
"He is?" Howie asked.
"Yeah, if you were ever home you might know that," I snapped back.
"Are you going to start that again?" Howie said.
"Okay," the doctor said trying to break the moment, "I think I'll check out some reflexes."
Howie and I sat there looking away from each other as the doctor examined Nicole first. The door suddenly flew open and AJ ran into the room yelling "It's a boy!!" and ran back out of the room.