You sit with bated breath, trying to quash the giddy mixture of fear and hope that writhes in your belly. Too many times you have been here before, eager and excited, only to have those feelings of elation dashed with the utterance of six words.

The time on the clock reads 10 past the hour. They’re running late. You should have been seen 20 minutes ago. You feel torn at this: On the one hand, you feel that this will just prolong the inevitable, while on the other hand it allows you to cling on to a reality that, as of yet, still hasn’t come to fruition.

You look around you, taking in the faces of others. Some, like you, are alone, while others have someone accompanying them. You wonder if they feel the same way you do, or if they’re in the throes of happiness, unable to contemplate the possibility of anything less than good news.

Heads shoot up as a door opens, and a friendly face pops out.

“Penny Wright?”

It makes a moment for you to recognise the sound of your own name. This is it. The moment you have been waiting for.

You rise from your chair, legs feeling weak beneath you. You shoot up a silent prayer to an entity that you’re not even sure you believe in.

“Hi Penny,” they say as you make your way over to them. “My name’s Claire, please do come in.”

You walk in behind her, and sit on the bed that she gestures you too. Her assistant stands in the corner.

“This is Amy,” she explains. You shoot her a strained smile.

You barely hear Claire as you go through your history. Your answers are automatic, having had to give them many a time before.

You’re given a couple of minutes to strip down to your pants and lie down on the bed. You call out that you’re ready and both Amy and Claire re-enter the room.

Your hands are shaking, and you feel sick.

Lifting your top up, Claire squirts a blob of gel onto your stomach. You take in a sharp breath. It’s cool to the touch, and your skin breaks up into goosebumps.

The probe begins to make it’s way over your belly, and you watch Claire as she focuses on the screen. Her brow is furrowed.

You watch as she narrows her eyes, and bites her lip as if she is trying to focus on something.

The fear that has been writhing in the pit of your belly pierces through you like ice, and your skin goes cold. You can feel beads of sweat forming on your forehead.

You want to ask if everything is okay, but the words are lodged in your throat…

But then you see Claire relax, a small smile playing at her lips. “There,” she says, turning the screen towards you and pressing a few buttons.

And then you hear it, a sound that you had never thought to hear.

A heartbeat.