Series: The Laws of Opposite Attract Series by Vi Keeland
Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 105253 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105253 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
“Uh, I’m not changing with both of you in here. Can you wait outside, please?”
“Of course,” Owen said. “Sorry.”
He opened the door and stepped into the hall, but Robert didn’t follow. I looked at him expectantly.
“What?” He shrugged. “You said you didn’t want to change with both of us in here. I figured you’d be fine with me. It’s not like I haven’t seen you naked plenty of times before.”
I put my hands on Robert’s back and shoved him. “Get out.”
I took my time getting changed, then decided to take an extra minute or two to close my eyes and try to calm down. I didn’t want my blood pressure to be sky high when the doctor came in. But halfway through my third cleansing breath, there was a knock at the door and it started to open.
“Can’t you just give me one—oh, Dr. Talbot. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it was you.”
She smiled and looked at the two men standing eagerly behind her. “Looks like we have a full house today.”
I sighed. “Yeah.”
“Is everyone coming in for your exam?”
“Actually, if you’re doing an internal, can we do that alone and then bring them in after?”
“Absolutely.”
I blew out a heavy breath and nodded. “Great, thank you.”
Dr. Talbot turned and pointed down the hall. “Why don’t you both go back to the waiting room, and I’ll have the nurse grab you in a few minutes?”
Once the door closed, Dr. Talbot pushed her glasses to the end of her nose. “You doing okay?”
I shook my head. “Can we lock the door and stay in here for a few months?”
She smiled, set the chart in her hands on the counter, and pulled over a stool. “Talk to me. The last time I had two handsome men like that flanking me, I didn’t look half as stressed as you. Oh wait, that never actually happened to me…”
I chuckled. “I don’t know if you remember my first appointment, but I was a little freaked out when you told me the baby’s measurements weren’t exactly aligned with how far along I would be according to my last period, so we couldn’t nail down a date of conception.”
“I suspected perhaps it wasn’t a planned pregnancy…”
“No, it definitely wasn’t.”
“Are the two men with you today potential fathers?”
I nodded and covered my face with my hands. “God, I’m mortified.”
“Don’t be. Things happen. And it takes two to make a baby, so you shouldn’t be carrying this all on your shoulders alone.”
“I’d prefer to be carrying it on two sets of shoulders, rather than three. I was planning to talk to you about paternity-testing options today. I read there’s a noninvasive test? I’d been under the impression that an amnio was the only way to find out who the father was.”
“Not anymore, thankfully. A mother’s blood contains free-floating cells from the fetus. So a DNA profile of your baby can be made as early as seven weeks. We take a blood sample from you, the same as any other type of routine bloodwork you’d get done. Then we collect a DNA sample from the potential father using a mouth swab. The lab can use a fingernail clipping or hair sample if a mouth swab isn’t available.”
“Wow. I had no idea.”
Dr. Talbot nodded. “It’s been a godsend—not just for paternity testing, but we can do most genetic testing that way these days, too. In the past, if something came up on the sonogram or in lab work that made us suspect a chromosomal disorder, we’d have to perform invasive procedures that were risky to the mother and baby. Now it’s quick and simple.”
“How accurate is the testing?”
“Ninety-nine-point-nine percent. Really the biggest risk is human error that can occur during the processing.”
“And how fast do results come back?”
“The lab we use quotes three to five days. But I’ve gotten results back as soon as two, depending on how busy they are.”
I took a deep breath. “Do you think we can do it today?”
“Absolutely. I can see how stressed this is making you, and stress is not good for you or your baby. Aside from causing elevated blood pressure, prolonged stress suppresses your immune system and affects sleep, both of which make you more susceptible to illness and infection. Taking care of you is taking care of your baby now, so your focus needs to be on reducing stress and eating and sleeping well. Those are the best things you can do to contribute to a healthy pregnancy.”
I nodded. “Okay. Let’s do the test today.”
“I’ll have the nurse get the samples as soon as we finish up here.” Dr. Talbot stood and walked to the sink. She washed her hands before pulling a pair of gloves from a box on the counter. “I’d like to do a quick sonogram after I examine you. Would you like the men to come back in for that?”