The morning before Susu's next appointment, Chen Mu happily hummed a kid's tune as he checked off another appointment on his exclusive pregnancy calendar. He started marking important notes about certain dates and purposely left those dates cleared to accompany Susu to her hospital visits ever since she got pregnant.
From previous appointments, he has demonstrated the definition of being a good husband and father. This time wasn't any different compared to the last. After breakfast, he drove to the hospital with her. Once the car was parked, he helped her unbuckle the safety belt and carefully helped her out of the vehicle.
Arriving at the check-in counter, he held her identification card and appointment card in his hand. Politely, he handed both documents to the staffs while wrapping his arm protectively around her as others exited the clinic.
Susu looked around and realized not many pregnant women had their husbands present during their checkup. There were plentiful seats in the waiting area, but only a few were emptied. Not many were sitting patiently and comfortably while waiting for their names to be called by the nurse.
One of the pregnant ladies was walking around with her arms kneading her waist, waiting for her water to break. Sweat drenched her irritated expression as she stared at her belly like she wanted to flatten it with her hands. Her lips were chewed upon by her sharp teeth, enduring the contraction pain.
Anticipation reflected in her eyes as her eyes teared up, yet her palms covered her round belly; rubbing it in circular motions. Susu looked down to her five-months-old belly and caressed it in her palms. She leaned her head against Chen Mu's torso, feeling extremely fortunate to have someone to be there for her every step of the way.
Soon, it was her turn. Chen Mu carried her bag and carefully took small steps with her towards the appointed room. After speaking to the doctor about their diets, sleeping cycles and other related inquiries, they proceeded to doing an ultrasound.
During the ultrasound scan, the baby could be seen resting comfortably from the screen. The doctor handed a box of tissue to Chen Mu as emotions rushed up his eyes. Though this wasn't the first time he saw the miracles of life develop in front of him; it was an entirely different feeling when the child was his.
The small pea-sized picture of the baby's first ultrasound was safely kept in the pregnancy diary they created. He still remembered the first time seeing his baby on the screen, blinking like the twinkling stars in a starry sky - vibrant and lively. His tears curved like his smile as he complimented their baby's cuteness when the baby was the size of a pea.
He sat in the living room later that day and added the picture of the scan to the diary. Every time he sees their fetal development; he couldn't control his emotions.
Currently, Susu was patting his back to soothe his emotions.
Smiling, the doctor scribbled comments and checked off boxes as they continued with the checkup. Rotating the chair towards the lovely couple, the doctor asked whether they wished to know the gender of their child. With the pictures of the ultrasound scans in her hand, she saw the glittering sparkles in the couple's eyes. They nodded.
"It's a baby girl. Everything looks good from inside to the questions you've answered. If there are no inquiries from any of you, then we're done with the appointment and I'll look forward to our next meeting." The doctor nearly piled Susu's file into the folder and left the room with it in her hands.
Chen Mu covered his mouth with his hands. He helped her up from the bed and hugged her tightly. "Did you hear that? We're having a daughter! A daughter! We can use the name we came up with now! Anna Chen! We're having a daughter!"
"Yes. Yes. I heard it. We are having a daughter!" She giggled in his embrace and hugged her belly tenderly.
- Approximately four months later -
Susu went into labor in the middle of the night. Inside the delivery room, she held onto the arms of the chair, breathing inconsistently. Every few seconds, she would breathe in and rush to exhale the air out of her system. She heard many voices speaking at once, but all she wanted to do was get rid of the aching, explosive pain from below and bring her baby home.
She turned to the side where Chen Mu was sweating as much as she was. He offered his hand, and she took it while shedding tears of agonizing pain. Taking in a deep breath, she screamed in her next seconds of exhaling. The amount of sweat on her forehead, mixed along her tears, drenching down her cheeks.
The louder she screamed, the closer she was in pushing her daughter out.
"Wahhhhh," finally, a loud crying voice came from a small baby girl. Chen Mu kissed Susu's forehead and held her strengthless hand strongly.
"You did it! You're amazing! She's born! Our daughter, Anna is here. I'm so proud of you. Thank you..Thank you for giving me such a wonderful gift." The couple gazed deeply into each other's eyes as they shared a congratulatory kiss.
"Congratulations, daddy Chen." She whispered.
"Congratulations, mommy Chen." He chuckled as his eyes swelled.
Before the nurses carried Anna away, the couple had held her in their arms. Seeing their daughter for the first time, they shed a few tears while introducing themselves. "Hi, Anna. I'm your mommy. And he is your daddy. We're very very happy to meet you. It's been a long way, but we will try our best to provide the best for you. We can't wait to bring you home."
Wiping away the tears on her face, Chen Mu smiled at his little angel. "Hi Anna. You might hear daddy nagging and worrying all the time while you grow, but it's alright, because that's exactly what a dad would do. With your mommy, we will learn many lessons together. We love you so much...so much more than we could ever imagine. Welcome to our family."