Martial Arts Motherhood Challenge Chapter 7 – Growing Pains, a ranma fanfic

Chapter 7 - Growing Pains

Ranma leaned on the kitchen counter and belched loudly. Holding her stomach she looked up at Akane with a grimace and said, "That wasn't very ladylike, was it?"

"Heartburn again?" asked Akane as she put away more of the groceries.

"Yeah, I don't know what's worse, morning sickness or this. Where are those antacid pills?"

"They're on the top shelf of that cabinet, next to the aspirin. I'll get them down for you in a minute."

"That's okay," Ranma said reaching up into the cabinet for the bottle of pills, "I've got it."

Akane pulled a box of tea out of the grocery bag and regarded it thoughtfully, "You know, Akari and Ryouga are the only friends we haven't told yet."

"It's Ryouga's own damn fault for walking out of the house without his cell phone. What's the use of having a phone that tracks your every move if you forget to take it with you?"

"I feel sorry for Akari. He only showed up again a few weeks ago and it was almost four months this time! She must have been terribly lonely."

"I doubt it," Ranma said while stuffing a handful of chalky tasting tablets into her mouth, "Shwe hwad hwer pwigs waftwer wall."

"Ranma! That's not very nice and don't talk with your mouth full."

Ranma made a face as she chewed the vaguely fruit flavored medicine into dust and gulped it down, "Well it's true isn't it? She only married Ryouga because he can change into one. He had a promising career in martial arts until she roped him into becoming a pig farmer."

"That's not true," Akane shot back, "they love each other because of who they are and there's nothing wrong with that. Besides, Ryouga is cute and cuddly when he's a piglet you know."

Akane loved to tease Ranma about that. For years her husband had refused to tell her about P-chan for fear she would get mad and mallet the poor swine into hog heaven. He was supremely disappointed when her actual reaction was to laugh about it for days. After all, Ryouga had spent all those nights in her bed within arm's reach of his dream girl, but without any arms!

"So how come they've been married longer than us and still don't have children?" Ranma asked as she began folding up the canvas shopping bags and putting them away.

"A lot of couples wait before they have kids. Everyone doesn't get cosmic confirmation of their children's existence you know."

With that reminder, Ranma massaged her aching tummy and then pulled awkwardly at the waistband of her sweat pants. With her tiny frame she was already beginning to show and it amused Akane that she was self-conscious about it. Ranma had always been so proud of his flat six-pack abs. Akane wasn't looking forward to her husband's reaction to stretch marks.

"Ranma, remember what I told you about sparring today. No matter how much you and Ryouga may want to kick each other's butt, don't you dare."

This was something Akane just couldn't understand about men. All those years of Ryouga chasing and trying to kill Ranma had actually forged a deep bond between them and they still expressed that friendship best through martial arts. She had seen them sit and watch sports on TV all day long without saying so much as a word to one another, but five minutes in the dojo had them laughing and talking about old times.

"Oh come on Akane give it up already, New York happened over a month ago. I beat up one little armed robber and now you won't let me forget about it. Besides, I'd rather be kicking Ryouga's butt than telling him I'm pregnant any day. Can't you just let Akari know and then she can break the news to him?"

"No, he's your friend. You should be the one to tell him..." The sound of the door chime echoed through the house, "That's them. Now just get it over with so we can enjoy the rest of the afternoon, okay?"

"Okay, okay! I get it, 'Hi Ryouga. How was your trip? I'm pregnant with my own child. Did your pigs do well at the sumo finals?' It'll be a snap."

Akane shot the redhead a stern look as they went to answer the door. Akari and Ryouga hadn't changed much over the years. Ryouga was a little taller and Akari had filled out some perhaps, but they still looked basically the same as they had in high school. The couple standing outside the front door holding a cake box could have been coming home from their first date.

They all exchanged greetings and then Akane led Akari to the kitchen while the 'men' went out into the garden to talk.

"So Akane," said the perky little brunette with pink highlights, "you said on the phone that you had some good news. I have a little good news of my own."

"Oh, what's that?" Akane said putting a kettle on to heat.

"No, you go first," Akari said with a sweet smile.

"Well, Ranma and I are having another baby. Only this time Ranma's the one who's pregnant."

"What? Really?" cried out Akari, "So that's why she's been girl for so long. How in the world did you talk her into that?"

"It's something we've both been thinking about for a long time. Then just after New Years we started talking seriously again and finally came to a decision. It took all spring for Ranma to start ovulating, but twelve weeks ago it became official."

"That's wonderful Akane! I'm so happy for you both. How's Ranma handling it?"

"She's fine, but it freaks her out at times. Nothing in a guy's upbringing can really prepare him for this, especially not Ranma's upbringing. She had the worst bout of mood swings while she was in New York last month and it nearly wrecked her conference..."

Akane noticed a sparkle in Akari's eyes that looked like something more than just happiness for her friends, so she asked with a curious smile, "Akari, what was your good news?"

But before Akari could answer, they heard the sound of a big splash coming from the pond out back followed quickly by another. "Oh no... she didn't... I'll kill her!" Akane shouted as she bolted for the door, Akari following hot on her heels.

Akane raced out to the veranda yelling, "Ranma you idiot! What have you done now?"

There standing knee-deep in the pond stood a soaking wet redhead with a small unconscious black piglet in her arms, "Ranma, how could you? What have I been telling you all day?"

"Hey," Ranma called out in an annoyed voice, "I never touched the pig, okay! I just told him I was pregnant and the fool fainted right into the pond."

"Oh my poor baby," Akari cried out as she rushed past Akane and jumped into the pond next to Ranma. Gently, she retrieved her husband from Ranma's arms and stood there stroking his limp little body.

"I'm sorry sweetheart," Akane said as she helped Ranma out of the water, "but you have to admit it did look like you two were fighting."

"That's okay, just don't get on to me for jumping in and saving pig-boy from drowning." Ranma squeezed about a liter of water from her sweatshirt and then turned back to the pool. Akari was still standing in the pond with Ryouga cradled in her arms, but she was crying.

"Is Ryouga all right?" Akane asked with concern.

Akari looked up at them with tear filled eyes and cried, "If this is what happens when Ranma tells him she's pregnant, what's he going to do when I tell him that I am too!"

o o o

"Akane!" Ranma's voice reverberated through the house, "Help!"

Akane raced into their bedroom only to find Ranma lying on the bed with a pair of jeans pulled tightly up over her hips and trying desperately to fasten them over her little round belly. She was so cute that Akane immediately collapsed into giggles.

"Hey, this isn't funny," Ranma said indignantly, "Nothing fits me anymore!"

"That's what you get for buying nothing but tight sexy clothes for your girl half all these years. When we're done at the clinic today we can stop at a maternity shop and pick up something a little roomier for you."

"Okay, but what should I wear until then? Where are all my guy clothes?"

"I put them in storage up in the attic. Do you want to try on some of my stuff first?"

"I did that already," Ranma said dejectedly, "Would you mind digging out a pair of my black silk pants and a red shirt?"

Akane went and got the ladder from downstairs and had just positioned it under the attic opening when Ranma called out from the bedroom again.

"Never mind, I found something!"

Abandoning the ladder Akane returned to their room and found Ranma dressed in a pair of pink coveralls with the word 'China' stitched across the front. "Where in the world did you find those old things? I thought you threw them out years ago."

"They were in a box under the bed," Ranma said with a sense of accomplishment. Adjusting the straps to make them longer she added, "These used to be so big on me, now they fit just fine."

Akane noticed that Ranma's ankles were showing below the cuffs and said, "Well no wonder, they've obviously drawn up from being washed too often. Go ahead and wear them today, they look fine and we really need to get going."

The whole time they were driving to the clinic, Akane continued to be bothered by the image of Ranma's ankles sticking out from the old pair of jeans. Her cursed form hadn't aged at all since they were in high school, so the coveralls should have been long enough. Akane was also starting to remember other things that had not seemed to fit the redhead properly in the last few weeks.

Akane continued to ponder the problem in the examination room, where Ranma sat on the table in a paper gown while the doctor asked her about diet and the changing symptoms of pregnancy.

"So, have your mood swings stopped?" he asked.

"I haven't noticed anything strange in a couple of weeks," Ranma said, "I did cry a little when a friend told us she was pregnant last weekend, but that was mostly from laughing at her husband's reaction."

The doctor chuckled, "We'll call that a normal response. How's the heartburn, are you able to control it with the chewable tablets?"

"Yeah, it's not so bad."

Akane snorted, "That's not what you keep telling me."

The doctor grinned and took a stethoscope out of his pocket, "Alright let's have a listen," but when Ranma began to open her gown at the chest he shook his head, "Not yours."

He opened her gown and placed the instrument on her abdomen. After moving it around a few times he stood up and said, "Lie back for a minute." As Ranma complied the doctor opened a drawer and took out something that looked like a vibrator attached to a Walkman.

The doctor put on a pair of headphones, smeared some clear gel over Ranma's belly and started moving the probe around. When he found the right spot he unplugged the headphones from the unit and the room was filled with a rhythmic pulsing.

"That's your baby's heartbeat," the doctor told the awestruck redhead. He held up his thumb and said, "and it's coming from a fetus no bigger than this."

After a few minutes of just listening the doctor started to put away the equipment, but Ranma grabbed his wrist, "Can't we listen just a little longer?"

"Well no, I have another patient waiting, but you can buy these monitors anywhere."

"Thank you Doctor," Akane said standing up, "I'm guessing we'll have the top of the line model before we get home."

The doctor chuckled, "Ask the nurse at the front desk, I'm sure she can give you the address of a medical supply store nearby."

After the doctor left the room, Akane handed Ranma a wad of paper towels, "Clean yourself up and get dressed. Then we can go clothes shopping and buy you a new toy to play with."

Looking a little embarrassed Ranma began wiping off the gel and said, "It's just really amazing Akane. That was coming from inside of me... I mean, there really is someone alive in there!"

Akane smiled sympathetically, she'd felt the same way when first hearing the two little heartbeats of their boys.

They were walking past a set of scales on their way out of the clinic when the answer hit Akane like a ton of bricks. "Ranma, stand up straight. I want to check something."

They stood back to back and Akane put her hand on top of Ranma's head. She slid it forward expecting to hit somewhere on her neck, but she was shocked when it hit the back of her head instead. Dragging Ranma over to the scales, she demanded, "How tall were you in high school?"

"You mean like this? I never got measured in high school, but in college I was 150 centimeters."

Akane made her get up on the scales and then dropped the height stick down on her head. "Ranma, you've grown 5 centimeters!"

"What?" cried out the redhead as she twirled around and stared at the scale, "155 no way, but how?"

"You've been a woman now for about ten months, right? Add the time you spent as a lifeguard and that'd make you over seventeen," Akane grinned, "Ranma, you're finally growing up!"

o o o

"Sato-chan, wait up!"

Masato turned and saw his friend Hiro running up the hallway so he stopped and waited, "What's up Hiro-chan?"

Hiro fell into step as they continued towards the elementary school's entrance hall, "You and Hideto wanna come over my house and play? I've got a great new game, but it's no fun unless you got more than two players."

"Does that mean your little sister's gonna play too?"

"Well," the other boy looked embarrassed, "yeah, but she's really pretty good at it."

"That's cool," Masato said, "but it'd be great if she'd just turn into a boy for a while."

"Yeah, like that'd ever happen!"

"You ever try pouring hot water on her?" Spotting his brother up ahead, Masato quickened his pace and called out, "Hide!"

The younger twin slowed down, "Hey, Nii-chan. Hi Hiro-chan"

"Hide," Masato said while punching his twin on the arm, "you wanna go over Hiro-chan's and play?"

"Are you mental?" Hideto said punching him back, "You know today's mommy's doctor day."

Masato stopped in his tracks, "Oh right! That means Hina-chan'll be waiting for us at home. Sorry Hiro-chan, but we gotta go home or our grandmother'll get mad..."

"...and you don't wanna make Hina-chan mad!" Hideto finished his brother's sentence.

"That's okay," Hiro said, "Is your mother sick?"

"No," Hideto said, "She's making us a..."

"...baby sister," Masato finished, "So once a week she goes to..."

"...a doctor and one of our grandmothers..."

"...comes over to play with us."

Hiro laughed, there was a good reason why the teachers put the Saotome twins in separate classrooms. "When my mom was making my little sister, my dad played with me while she went to the doctor. What about your dad?"

The twins just looked at one another and burst out laughing. They said goodbye to their friend at the shoe lockers then exchanged inside shoes for sneakers. At the front door they ran into a crowd, which included Hiro again.

"What's the hold up Hiro-chan?" Masato asked.

"There's a geisha at the front gate!"

"A geisha?" Hideto asked.

The three boys pushed their way to the front so they could get a better look. Standing at the gate was a pretty middle-aged woman in a blue kimono.

"That's not a geisha," Masato said disappointedly.

"That's our grandmother Saotome," Hideto added with a little more excitement.

"Your... grandmother?" Hiro's question was repeated by half a dozen other students.

Laughing and waving farewell to their stunned classmates, the twins raced across the courtyard to greet Nodoka. If it had been anyone else, the rambunctious boys would have wrapped their arms around her in a tackle hug, but instead they stopped an arm's length away and bowed politely. Nodoka returned the bow and was then enfolded in four little arms.

"Are you watching us today grandmother?" Hideto asked.

"Well no," Nodoka said, "this is Tendo-san's week, but I thought I might walk you boys home."

The twins looked at each other and made faces. "Aw, we're not in kindergarten anymore," Masato said.

"We walk home by ourselves all the time!" added Hideto.

"Oh," Nodoka said with a dramatic sigh, "then I guess I'll just have to go to the ice cream shop all by myself."

"Ice cream!"

o o o

An hour later a tired, but happy woman in a blue kimono led two ice cream fueled bundles of energy through the door of her son's home. The boys practically flew out of their shoes and raced into the house screaming, "We're home!"

Nodoka took her time collecting the boys' shoes and placing them neatly facing out from the step. Then she removed her own clogs and exchanged them for a pair of house slippers from the small cabinet located in the genkan for that purpose. She sighed, hesitating for a moment before following the boys into the house.

She really wasn't up to facing Soun's wife today. The woman was certainly well educated and refined, when she was an adult anyway, but invariably when she was with the twins she turned into a spoiled little brat. It grated on Nodoka that such a person was playing an important roll in the education of her grandchildren.

Turning the corner into the living room she was relieved to find the sofa occupied by a voluptuous adult woman. Her dark brown hair was gathered up into a ponytail and she was wearing a yellow sundress that looked as if it had been painted on her.

"Hello Nodoka," Hinako said looking up from the book she was reading. She giggled and said, "Don't look so pleased."

"I'm sorry Hinako," Nadoka blushed slightly, "It's just that you're usually playing with the boys."

Hinako nodded, "They were disappointed too. There was a big fight at school this morning and I had to drain six of the hooligans before they broke it up."

"Boys will be boys," Nodoka said smiling.

"Oh no, these were girls. I'm so full of hot angry feminine energy right now that I should be able to stay this way all weekend," Hinako smiled wickedly, "And for Soun's sake I intend to do just that no matter what the twins want."

"I see," Nodoka said uneasily.

Hinako dropped her book on the coffee table and stood up, "How about a cup of tea?"

"No, I really should be going," Nodoka said, searching her brain for a good excuse.

"Oh come on," chided the younger woman, "How often have you and I had the chance to just sit and get to know one another without some sort of chaos breaking out? Besides, Ranma and Akane will be back in about an hour and they'll have the first sonogram pictures of the baby."

Truth be told, that was Nodoka's reason for picking up the boys at school and delaying them with a trip to the ice cream shop. She wanted to be there when Akane showed the pictures to her grandsons for the first time. For an experience like that she could put on a fake smile and sit through tea, "Yes that would be nice, Hinako."

Twenty minutes later the two grandmothers were sitting on the veranda watching bright red autumn leaves fall from the maple tree into the koi pond. "This is nice," Hinako said after taking a sip of tea, "I'm so glad Ranma took this place over and is raising the boys here. It has such a wonderful atmosphere."

"Yes," Nodoka agreed, "Soun raised three beautiful daughters here and my son spent some of his most formative years in this house."

"I remember her in those days," Hinko said. "She was quite the troublemaker at first. I think she was the target of my coins more times than anyone before or since, but she matured in her third year and has done very well for her family."

"I'm quite proud of my son," Nodoka said, "He's done some amazing things in spite of his handicap and always in a manly way. What more can a mother ask?"

Hinako looked at Nodoka curiously, "Well, I think the most amazing thing she's done so far is having this baby. It took a great deal of courage to go through with it and she's handling it with a great deal of dignity as well, but I wouldn't call it manly."

"My son is not having a baby," Nodoka said in a flat voice, "He and Akane are simply using the curse to bring about a happy end. That thing deserves none of the credit."

Hinako blinked. Did this woman really believe the red haired girl wasn't Ranma? "Um... You make it sound like Ranma's girl half is a separate person. Isn't it more likely just another aspect of Ranma? The yin to his yang as it were."

"My son may be locked inside that thing, but it has nothing to do with him or our family."

Hinako was finding Nodoka's attitude a little hard to believe. Had the woman looked in a mirror lately? "Well, she looks just like you Nodoka. If I saw the two of you walking down the street together I'd instantly think you were mother and daughter."

A wall of battle aura suddenly formed between the two women and Hinako nervously fingered the five-yen coin attached to her charm bracelet. She had always considered Nodoka a non-combatant, but now she could see that not all of Ranma's formidable power came from Genma alone.

"What do you know?" Nodoka shot back, "You're not his mother!"

Hinako answered just as harshly, "I've known the adult Ranma at least as long as you have Nodoka. I was her teacher for two years and whether you like to admit it or not I am her mother in-law. I've seen her at her best and worst in both male and female forms and I'm certain of one thing, no matter what she looks like she is always Ranma."

Hinako set her cup down on the veranda and stood up, "You need to open your eyes Nodoka. You have a son and a daughter. That makes you one very lucky woman."

"You have a lot of nerve," Nodoka said venomously, "you've never been a mother."

"That's right," Hinako said responding in kind, "my normal body's too frail, so I'll never have children of my own. That's one reason I became a teacher, but I'd give up my career in a heartbeat for a chance to have a little girl in my arms calling me mama. That's why I envy Ranma and her curse, and why you should treasure them!"

"My Ranma can't be a woman," Nodoka's voice began to crack, "it's just not possible."

"Anything is possible," Hinako said resolutely, "if you believe in the people you love. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go let our grandchildren spoil my husband's weekend."

As the younger woman turned and stormed back into the house, Nodoka swore under her breath. She forced herself to calm down and sip her tea. "I was right," she whispered, "That woman is nothing but a child in an adult's body. She has no idea how important it is to raise a son with the proper values."

She sat there for a long time just staring out at the leaves floating on the surface of the pond and her mind began to wander into the past. She remembered a day not unlike this one when she and a girl she thought to be Ranko Tendo sat together in this very spot. That had been a pleasant day and for a time she felt the Tendo's 'cousin' might become the daughter she never had.

Nodoka sighed, "If only she had been real."

o o o

"Doctor? Excuse me, doctor?" the nurse hated to wake up the young resident, but she really needed someone to look at her patient. She gently tapped the sleeping woman on the shoulder and tried again, "Doctor Ono? Please wake up."

Kasumi's eyes blinked open. In the eleven months she had been a resident at Northern Yokohama Hospital she had learned how to catch a catnap whenever and wherever the opportunity arose. She had also learned how to wake up quickly, "Yes Sasaki-san, what is it?"

"I'm so sorry doctor," the nurse said bowing quickly, "but could you please have a look at the patient in LVI 2? His grandparents are in the waiting room and would like an update on his condition."

"Certainly," Kasumi said as she stood up and accepted the records binder the nurse was handing her, "I'll be right in."

Of all the parts of the hospital she had been required to work as a resident in Family Medicine, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit was by far her favorite. Not only did she get to work with newborns, she was also able to work with some of the most cutting edge technology on the planet. She might have even changed her specialty if she and Toufuu weren't planning to open a clinic together in his hometown.

She looked at the binder and noted the birth date on the cover. How could someone only nine days old amass a medical record nearly two centimeters thick? She opened it up and began reading as she headed for the NICU. The boy's name was Kenta, which stood for healthy and stout, certainly an expression of his parents' wishes for their son rather than the reality of his condition.

At five minutes after birth he had an APGAR score of only two, which was very bad. At six minutes he was diagnosed with perinatal asphyxia and ventilation was begun. When he failed to respond to that he was placed in liquid ventilation where he remained still. No determination had been made as to the reasons for the lack of oxygen in his blood at birth or how long the condition had existed, so it was difficult to know just how much damage had been done.

Kasumi waved her ID card at the airlock to the NICU and the pressure seal door hissed opened. She stepped inside and waited for the air cleaners to do their job and the inner door to open. Then she walked past the rows of regular incubators, each containing a precious tiny human life, and went directly to the four larger units at the back of the room.

The LVI's or Liquid Ventilation Incubator's were Japan's gift to the world of neonatal care. Years of determined effort while the rest of the world's medical community scoffed at them had resulted in a technological breakthrough that pushed back the survival line for premies by nearly four weeks. But the little boy in LVI 2 was no premie and his full term body nearly filled a vessel meant for babies much smaller than he was.

Kasumi checked his vitals on the bank of monitors built into the unit. Heart rate was fine and his blood oxygen levels were good, but his brain waves showed he was still in a deep coma. She bent down and looked at the little boy through the perfluorocarbon solution that carried oxygen into his tiny lungs.

The liquid's slight yellow cast made it hard to see his body in detail, but Kasumi's trained eyes could tell that the boy's color was off. She shuffled through the thick file looking for the last fluid analysis and discovered that it was more than 48 hours old. Standing up she reduced the pressure in the vessel slightly and increased the temperature a bit.

Stepping around to the opposite side of the LVI, she set down the binder and dusted her fingers with a bottle of baby power left there for the purpose. She stuck her hand into the latex glove mounted in the side of the unit and reached towards the infant within. Even through the thick material of the glove she could feel the rhythmic vibrations of his mother's recorded heartbeat being played on a continuous loop inside the vessel.

She rolled him gently in the sling that kept him from sinking to the bottom and looked into his little mouth. She tried pushing on one of his hands with her index finger, but it didn't make a fist. She tickled the bottom of one foot and got a reflex kick, but he didn't pull away from a second tickle. Extracting her hand from the glove, she said quietly, "Sweet dreams Kenta-chan, we'll try that again when you get a little stronger."

After passing through the airlock again, Kasumi walked into the NICU monitoring station and addressed the nurse that had awakened her, "Kenta's doing fine, but there's little change in his condition. I'd like you to take a PFC sample from near his mouth and send it down to the lab for analysis."

Kasumi furiously scribbled notes into the binder as she talked, "I think the hemoglobin contamination count may be up and if it is we're putting too much stress on his lungs. Who's the neonatologist on call?"

"Dr. Yamaguchi," said the nurse with a wry smile, "but she's not on call. She's in her office, it's the middle of the afternoon doctor."

Kasumi looked at her watch and raised an eyebrow, "Really? I've always said they need a window in this place. Would you ask Dr. Yamaguchi to come down when she has a chance? I'll need her consent to put Kenta-chan on assisted ventilation. I guess those are the grandparents?"

Kasumi looked through the glass that separated the nurse's station from the small waiting room. Inside was a middle-aged couple just standing there staring into the NICU. The woman's shoulders were shaking visibly and the man anxiously massaged a tiny stuffed rabbit between his hands.

"One more thing, Sasaki-san," Kasumi said turning back to the nurse, "could you bring me a pot of tea and three cups."

The nurse looked from the young doctor to the grieving couple in the waiting room, "Of course doctor, right away."

"Thanks," Kasumi said as she handed the medical record binder back to the nurse. She turned towards the door to the waiting room and straightened her white coat. She blew out a puff of air and let the calm reassuring smile that her family knew so well spread over her face. It was time for Dr. Kasumi Tendo Ono to do what she had always done best and bring hope to those who felt hopeless.

o o o

Ranma lay on the examination table in the darkened room and suppressed a shiver as the technician smeared cold gel over her abdomen. At twenty weeks there was no longer any chance of hiding the fact that she was pregnant.

"Sorry," he said, "I guess that's kind of cold, huh?"

"Yeah," Ranma said, trying to keep her teeth from chattering, "You could say that."

"Okay then. Before we begin I have to ask if you want to know the sex of the baby or not."

"It's a girl." Ranma and Akane said in unison.

"I... I'll take that as a yes," the technician laughed. He reached up and turned a monitor to where both women could see it. "You'll be able to watch what's going on here and just let me know if there's anything you want to get a closer look at."

"What if we want snapshots?" Ranma asked, "I have parents that won't take no for an answer."

The technician chuckled, "Then they're going to be very happy grandparents. We're recording all of this on a virtual imaging system. Just wait until they see the baby picture you're taking home with you."

Using a probe that looked like a larger version of the one on the heart monitor at home, the technician began to move it systematically across Ranma's tummy. Vague fuzzy images appeared on the screen and then suddenly something that looked like a face flashed by.

"What was that?" Ranma cried out excitedly.

"I'd say that's either one hell of a tape worm or you've got a baby in there."

"Are you always this amusing?" Akane said sarcastically.

"Hey, it beats looking at gall bladders all day," the young man said, "Okay, here's a profile. Take it from me she'll look a lot cuter when she starts kindergarten."

The nose and chin were now clearly visible on the monitor, "Her head looks too big," Ranma declared.

"At this stage the brain and heart are the two most important organs, so they get the biggest share of the body. That'll change when she reaches high school." The tech moved the probe again and a tiny hand appeared, "Looks like we have a left hand with five fingers..." moving the probe again brought another hand into view, "and there's the other one."

Akane gasped, "There are only four fingers on that one."

"Look a little closer," the tech said with a grin, "I think you'll find the thumb is serving pacifier duty right now."

Sure enough on closer inspection the baby was indeed sucking her thumb. When they'd moved down the tiny body past the visibly beating heart to the hips, the technician moved the probe around to the other side of Ranma's stomach.

"Okay, time for the all important leg count. I see one... I see two... Well, either your little boy is very shy or you were right. Congratulations, it's a girl."

Akane and Ranma exchanged grins, "I never doubted it for a second," Akane whispered.

"Me either," Ranma said with a wink, "I always believe what talking dogs tell me."

Twenty minutes later, after getting images from every possible angle and telling an endless string of bad jokes, the technician put away the probe and gave Ranma a towel to clean off with.

"Okay, now we wait a few minutes while the magic happens."

"What do you mean by magic?" Akane asked. This had not been part of any of her sonograms seven years ago.

"This nifty little computer is analyzing all those images and stitching them together for us. In just a few more seconds... Yup, here we go. Now, if this doesn't satisfy those anxious grandparents of yours nothing will."

On the screen in front of them a 3D image of a tiny baby appeared. Surface detail and color had been added to the black and white sonogram images to give it a very lifelike appearance.

"Oh my god," Ranma uttered breathlessly, "is that really my baby?"

"Oh you haven't seen the best part yet," reaching around, the technician touched the screen in the corner where a small compass symbol was displayed. As he moved his finger the image rotated, "Go ahead, take her for a spin!"

Akane leaned on Ranma's shoulder as she reached out and touched the screen. She moved her finger until the image was facing them. Then in a quiet voice they both said, "Hello Ranko-chan, we love you."

x x x

All characters in this story are a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead is purely coincidental.

This work is copyright (c) 2006 by Juliet Carnell, it is not public domain and all rights are reserved. This work is not for publication. This work may not be reproduced, distributed or sold in any format or media. This work may not be included in any collection without the express written permission of the author. The reader may make one printed or electronic copy of this work for personal use.

Author's Notes:

(1) nii-chan - a very informal way for a younger brother to address his older brother.

(2) geisha - female traditional Japanese artist-entertainer, they waer very ornate kimono and elaborate hairstyles.

(3) genkan - the entryway into a Japanese house where you remove your street shoes, it is similar to a foyer but is usually set below the level of the house.

(4) APGAR score - a simple and repeatable method to quickly assess the health of newborn children immediately after childbirth. A score over 7 is normal, but a score below 3 is critical.

(5) perinatal asphyxia - the medical condition resulting from deprivation of oxygen to a newborn infant long enough to cause damage to the heart, lungs or brain.

(6) liquid ventilation - a form of respiration in which a person breathes an oxygen rich liquid instead of air. In clinical trials this has shown to speed up healing of lungs damaged by fire and in helping premature newborns develop stronger lungs.

(7) perfluorocarbon - a class of chemicals that act similarly to blood in that they can carry and exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide.

(8) neonatologist - a doctor specializing in the care of ill or premature newborn infants.