Chapter 12 Morning sickness and food cravings
Everyone in the lair was thrilled for Raphael and Mona now that Mona was pregnant. Leonardo called Michelangelo and Kala to tell them the good news. Michelangelo and Kala rushed right over. "Is it true? Are you really pregnant?" Kala quickly asked along with other questions. "Calm down Kala and yes it's true I'm pregnant. Raphael and I are going to become parents. You and Michelangelo are going to be our child's aunt and uncle" said Mona. The whole family gave Mona a big hug and offered their help and support during Mona's pregnancy and when it's time for the newest family member to arrive. "You guys are the best and I love you all. Now I'm wondering how long have I been pregnant?" Question Mona.
"I can answer that" said Donatello. "According to my charts and results of when I scanned you it seems that you have been pregnant for four weeks." Everyone in the lair including Raphael and Mona were shocked to hear. "Let's see you most likely conceived your future son or daughter in March and its April so maybe your baby will be born on Christmas."
Raphael and Mona liked the idea of their child most likely being born around Christmas time. From that moment on the whole family including the soon to be parents began preparing for the arrival of the baby. A few shorts weeks after Mona found out she was pregnant she began to have morning sickness. She would feel fine one minute and next thing Mona would start feeling nauseous and run to the bathroom to vomit. Whenever Mona was going through morning sickness Raphael was right by Mona's side to clean her up and make her feel better. He would give Mona foods and beverages that wouldn't make her nauseous all over again.
At three months Mona was showing a little baby bump. It was early summer and to make sure Mona and everyone else in the lair was cool and comfortable during any heat waves Raphael helped Donatello fix up any air conditioners they would find in the junk yard. "Well after ten old air conditioners that didn't work out because they were either broken beyond repair or just blew up we finally found an air conditioner that can not only be fixed up but it fits perfectly in the lair. Thanks for your help" Donatello said to Raphael and he replied, "You're welcome. There is a heat wave coming and I can't have Mona and the rest of us becoming overheated. I wanted to help you out since you're doing so much to help take care of Mona."
"We're family Raphael I got your shell and also I'm just as worried about the baby as you are since that awful experience" Donatello pointed out as he and Raphael recalled what happened in the spring. "Did Mona stop having that nightmare?" "So far yes but at the same time I still keep her close to me at night because she loves it when I have my arms wrapped around her. Also thanks to a arts and crafts video I watched online I made her a dream catcher and I hung it over our bed" answered Raphael.
After tinkering and replacing parts the air conditioner was fully fixed up and all that was left was to test it out. Donatello installed the air conditioner and turned it on to see if it would work. "Yay you guys got it to work and it only took you god knows how many times since I lost track" said Mona as she walked into the living room and felt how cool it was and recalling how many times she saw Donatello and Raphael come back and forth from the junk yard for the past few days.
"Mona I thought you were feeling nauseous again. Are you sure you should be up?" Raphael asked as he went to be by Mona's side to check up on her. "I'm fine Raphael. Leonardo and Master Splinter took care of me while you and Donatello made another run to the junk yard. They gave me some tea that really settles my stomach" said Mona assuring her husband that was just fine. Raphael thanked Leonardo and Master Splinter for looking after Mona while he and Donatello were out. All of a sudden Mona's stomach starting growling really loudly. "Ok this is a sure sign that I'm hungry" Mona laughed. "Let's eat!" "What do you feel like eating?" asked Raphael. "I feel like having pickles dipped in cheese and maybe chocolate wrapped in turkey bacon" said Mona as she went into the kitchen.
The others were a bit grossed out at Mona's request but it wasn't the first time she had a weird craving and ate a strange combination of food. The other day Raphael saw Mona eating a peanut butter and sardine sandwich. "Um Mona wouldn't you like something else like a plate of sunny sided up eggs? I remember how much you like it with some toast on the side" suggested Raphael. "Gross no sunny side up eggs. The other day I made them and I felt like they were staring at me like a pair of eye balls!" Mona told Raphael along with a bunch of other foods that totally grossed her out. "Please tell me pizza isn't one of the foods that you're put off of?" questioned Raphael as he felt nervous hearing Mona's answer. After Raphael said that Mona laughed and told him that she isn't grossed out by pizza.
After Mona was done with her unusual snack she drank almost a whole jug of milk. Then she let out a really loud belch. "Excuse me" exclaimed Mona as she couldn't believe how loud she could burp. Raphael helped Mona clean up the kitchen and they relaxed together in the living room for a while before Raphael and the other turtles went out on patrol. Raphael suggested that Mona shouldn't go on patrol until after the baby was born and to take it easy with training. Splinter agreed with him because he wanted no harm to come to Mona and the baby. "You know no bad guys can hit me since I've gotten really good at being a ninja. But I promise to take it easy" Mona assured Raphael which made him happy to hear before leaving the lair.
Later on that night when the turtles came back from patrol they were tired so they went straight to bed. When Raphael got into his room he saw that Mona wasn't in bed. He found her in the kitchen eating apple slices dipped on guacamole. "I can't wait until these weird food cravings are gone. Some of these are just plain weird. Then again my brothers and I have eaten pizza with so many weird things that aren't really pizza toppings" Raphael thought to himself as he left Mona to finish her snack and went to bed.