178 - First Appointment
178 - First Appointment
Well, we’re now working on the next generation of Lowery’s that this office has taken care of. You do know that Dr. Coggins is going to be thrilled to hear that you’re having a baby. Are you okay with me sharing that information with her? Or has Tammy already let that cat out of the bag? – Dr. Blake
Geo rented a storage unit for his furniture and housewares to go to. He had to have an address for everything to be delivered to. A storage unit seemed to be the best solution until he and Porthos could go find a place for them.
They had three more weeks until they had to report to their new stations. Currently, the plan was to go look at apartments and houses over the weekend. Porthos had made an appointment with a realtor and sent the woman a list of their requirements. Sid, the ultimate travel planner and member of almost every travel discount club, booked them a hotel outside of DC.
When they asked Dom if there was anywhere that she recommended that they look at, or avoid, she admitted that she did not know anything about the Maryland area. “My apartment and office are in Virginia. I know some people that work out of Meade.”
A few hours later, they received a group text listing out a few cities with pros and cons. Porthos called the realtor back and requested three of the cities that Dom had recommended. Preferring one of them that had easy access to the MARC train for Geo’s commute to the Pentagon.
This morning, none of that was on any of their minds. Nervously, they sat in the waiting room of the obstetrician that had treated all of the pretties during their pregnancies. Since Dr. Coggins had retired and Dr. Blake had taken over the practice, the office had been updated.
Cookie’s crews came in on a Friday after the office closed and worked two shifts of twelve hours each. The city inspector handed over the certificate of occupancy on Monday afternoon, and the office only lost one day of services.
Priscilla had not been in since they had remodeled and was intrigued by the slats of wood on the wall that created a march of progress going from a woman to a woman holding a baby. In the first woman, there was a spot about the size of a coffee bean in her stomach.
As the woman’s belly got bigger, so did the wooden baby. In the next to last woman, the baby was head down and detailed enough to pick out the individual limbs. The last image had her holding the baby in front of her.
“I bet Sticks did that,” Porthos said as he leaned over the arm between their chairs.
“Probably,” she rested her head on his upper arm and linked their fingers together.
Turning his head, he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Do you want something like that in the nursery?”
She gave a small laugh, “I honestly don’t know what I would want in a nursery.”
“We have a little bit of time,” Geo told her as he thumbed through nursery ideas on his phone. Holding his phone across the small aisle between the two rows of chairs for her to see the very pink princess theme, “You should keep this in mind.”
Shaking her head, she smiled at the man across from her. “And what if it’s a boy?”
On the other side of her, Denver put an arm around her and kissed her temple, “He better be okay with having tiaras.”
Porthos reached over and slid the screen up and clicked another picture. “They have it in blue for a prince too.”
The door to the back area opened and a nurse with a tablet stepped out. “Lowery, no sorry, Landon.”
Priscilla chuckled as she stood up. “That’s going to take some time to get used to being called a different name.”
“We’ll remind you,” Denver said as they also stood to follow her to the back.
The nurse moved out of the way and pointed to the scale in the little alcove. Automatically, Priscilla stepped up onto the square panel. The nurse wrote down the number and then had her stand against the wall to get her height.
Grinning at her patient, the nurse asked, “I assume that you know where to go?”
She nodded and smiled at her men as she pointed to her right, “We go down that hall to the last door.”
“This is where all your momma’s come, isn’t it?” Porthos asked as Geo grabbed her hand and they all headed down the hall.
As they approached the end of the hall, the brass plate sign on the last door came into view. Priscilla laughed when she saw the sticky note that someone had placed underneath the permanent sign. On a green sticky under THE LOWERY SUITE slanted bold script was added AND LANDON.
“Yup, this is definitely where your family comes,” Porthos laughed as they saw the door and signs.
“It is,” she said as she pulled her phone out of her back pocket and unlocked it to take a picture of the door.
“Do you want me to take a picture of the four of you?” the nurse asked as she tucked her tablet under her arm.
“That would be great,” Denver said.
After accepting the phone, the nurse arranged them so that the two signs were still visible. She snapped a few pictures and then ushered them into the room. Denver lifted Priscilla up and sat her on the exam table as the other two playfully fought over the pink princess crown pillow.
“Don’t mess up my dad’s pillow,” Priscilla told them as she rolled her eyes.
“That one may be Dakota’s,” the nurse told them as she got the blood pressure cuff. After getting Priscilla’s vitals, she went over the first visit questions. She reviewed the medical and family history with the four parents and was finishing up when there was a quick knock on the door.
“Come in?” Priscilla said, not certain if she was the one that should be answering that.
Dr. Blake opened the door a little and looked at the woman on the exam table, “You don’t sound overly confident with that.”
“Not sure if it was the right answer or not,” she said with a shrug.
“I’m done with them,” the nurse admitted.
Stepping inside, the doctor asked, “Did you get mouth swabs?”
“No, I didn’t bring the test kits with me,” she admitted with a blush. “I’ll go grab them.”
The doctor sat down on the now empty rolling stool and looked at the three men on the couch. “With my poly’s like Molly, there’s no doubt about parentage. However, with the reverse, there’s lots of questions. The first being, do you want to know?”
Denver looked at the men on either side of him, and they both shook their heads no. Turning back to the doctor, he answered for the three of them. “No, we would rather it only be listed in the medical files and not be told.”