Chapter 27
Jasmine and Robin walked down the maternity ward corridor with mixed emotions. Glimpsing the baby photos on the corridor walls, they made their way into a small scanning room. It was a pivotal moment for the new parents, full of bright anticipation, mingled with the inevitable tinge of worry. Would everything be fine? Would the ultrasound scan reveal a healthy baby, all as it should be?
The nurse gave a wide smile and directed Jasmine to lay on the bed, whilst Robin sat at the side. After the nurse smeared Jasmine’s bare abdomen with gel, she ran the scanner smoothly over it. Robin and Jasmine held hands tightly, waiting with relish to see the first sight of their baby. Immediately a small head appeared on the grey blurry screen.
‘And here we are,’ said the nurse, staring at the image. ‘Baby’s head and spine.’ She pointed to the minute row of bones. The nurse then used the scanner to take measurements and recorded them.
‘Is everything OK?’ asked Robin, eyes like saucers as they fixed on the screen. Jasmine too was transfixed on the tiny life growing inside her. There was a slight pause, which alerted both of them. They sharply turned to face the nurse, who seemed to be hesitating.
‘Y-es, I just need to…’ She ran the scanner further downwards on Jasmine’s abdomen and gave a tinkle of laughter. ‘Ah-ha, that explains it,’ she concluded. Realising both parents were looking at her intently, she pointed back to the image on the screen. ‘Look.’
Jasmine and Robin inhaled dramatically. There, on the screen, before their very own eyes, wasanotherbaby.
‘Oh, my God, it’s twins!’ yelped Jasmine.
‘It certainly is,’ replied the nurse warmly.
Jasmine tore her eyes away from the screen to look at Robin, who had turned a whiter shade of pale by now. He couldn’t speak. Instead, he was mesmerised by the two tiny mirages before him. Except they weren’t mirages, they were real, very real, moving with life. His children – plural, they were havingbabies, notababy. Jasmine couldn’t help but giggle at him.
‘Robin?’
Eventually his eyes slid to rest on hers and he gulped.
‘Didn’t see that coming.’ He blinked and looked back at the screen. He tightened his grip, making Jasmine wince.
‘Oi.’
‘Sorry.’ He quickly released her hand. ‘Jasmine, we’re having twins,’ he said, as if she didn’t have a clue.
‘Yes, I know,’ she laughed.
‘Let me just take the measurements of baby two,’ said the nurse.
Baby two, thought Jasmine, already wanting to name them, which prompted her to ask the next question.
‘Can you tell what sex they are?’
‘Do we want to know?’ Robin cut in quickly.
The nurse looked from one to the other before replying.
‘You can’t always tell from the first scan, especially when the baby is so small. Being twins, your babies are especially small, which is why I looked further. I suspected there was more than one baby.’
‘I see,’ said Jasmine, turning back to admire in wonder at her tiny babies. She understood why Robin might not want to know the sex of them, but, ever practical, Jasmine thought otherwise. The pragmatic side of her kicked in. Knowing the gender of their babies, whether girls or boys, would prove extremely useful in preparing for them. Then another thought swiftly followed. They could be having both, a girl and a boy. Nothing had primed her for this, or Robin for that matter. She stole another glance at him. He’d at least got a bit of colour back now, the shock having sunk in. A loving warmth swamped her. Robin would make a wonderful dad –isgoing to make a wonderful dad. She suddenly became tearful.
‘Hey, you all right?’ Robin stroked her arm in comfort.
‘Yes,’ she choked.
‘All done here. I think you both deserve a good cup of tea,’ said the nurse, wiping the gel off Jasmine.
‘We do,’ nodded Robin, helping Jasmine to get up off the bed.
They drove home in a companiable silence, each lost in their own thoughts. There was such a lot to consider. Both their worlds had turned upside down, but already Jasmine and Robin were full of love for the new lives they’d created. Robin was thinking of work and how having two newborn babies was going to affect it. Would having an extra baby mean more time off? Then there was the expense. Did it really matter in the grand scale of things anyway? He felt as though his brain was being torn between pure joy and celebration and trying to figure out all the boring practicalities.
Jasmine was thinking of names. She had plenty to choose from with both sexes to consider and two babies to name. Then her mind turned to more rational matters, thankful her home was three-bedroomed. In a way she was pleased to be having two babies together. Although she shared a loving relationship with her brother, she’d often envied the closeness of twins; that special bond between two embryos, growing jointly from day one. She pictured her babies, each a foetus now with its own arms, hands, fingers, feet and toes. All the time they were growing, being formed together, side by side, or top to tail in her case. They were lying across each other, which was why ‘baby two’ hadn’t been spotted straight away. The wonders of nature, thought Jasmine in awe. How magical. Once more she looked sideways at Robin driving. He was staring out, gripping the steering wheel so rigidly the whites of his knuckles showed. She cleared her throat.
‘How do you feel about all this?’
