I held my breath as the sonographer pressed the probe into my belly. I could see something promising on the screen but needed to hear the expert say it before I could believe it. “There’s the heartbeat,” she said, and relief flooded through me. Next to me Tom, the baby’s father, squeezed my hand as tears rolled down my cheek.
We probably looked like any other happy couple the sonographer saw that day, about to embark on parenthood for the first time. But Tom isn’t my partner; he’s my best friend. We’re both single, he’s gay and soon we’re going to be platonically co-parenting that little bean on the screen together after years of separately experiencing the pain and longing of childlessness.
