The following weeks were a return to somewhat normalcy. While the Kups, as they'd affectionately come to call the triplets, continued to grow into a cute kitten bump that Kristy was oddly proud of, things in the Chola house had gone relatively unchanged. The family had little arguments like all others but lots of love. It was normal in that magical, wonderful way that mammals live for.
One of the only real changes was the couple's morning rituals. Which would normally lead to them enacting the very thing that led to the bobcat's current condition. This day, as light filtered through, the new ritual played out. Kristy yawned and her honey brown eyes fluttered open, the feeling of a paw gently rubbing her warm belly, making her smile. She blinked and purred as she looked over at her husband. "You know most cats don't like belly rubs."
"Tough." He grunted, eyes still closed.
Kristy rolled her eyes and scooted closer to Sam. Giving him a kiss as his paw reached more of her belly. She giggled and pushed the covers off herself. Her thin nightie had already been pushed up off her noticeable belly. Her cream colored fur was spun in messy circles by the gray fox's paw.
Then something shifted and twitched against Sam's paw. Kristy's eyes widened as she felt it too, along with some more that Sam was unaware of.
"Was that…?" He asked, a mixture of shock and excitement in his voice.
"Uh huh." Kristy nodded, eyes still wide and smile growing.
"Which one was that?" Sam asked, watching her belly closely, ears up and tail stiff.
Kristy smiled in awe, she had felt their little kicks and flutters for a while now. She didn't believe it when she had read that she would be able to tell which was which eventually. She was oh so wrong. The bobcat was even starting to suspect a little bit of the personalities of the lives growing within her.
Purring, she ran a paw up to Sam's on her belly. "That's the little go-getter. All on her own." Moving Sam's paw a little lower to where he could feel another thump even better. "She's probably saying I'm hungry momma." The bobcat giggled and kissed Sam's cheek. She giggled, feeling his tail snaking its way around her thigh.
"You mean he." Sam teased. The two had been going back and forth on what they thought the kups would be. All fun and teasing for the expecting parents. In truth neither really cared what they were, just that they were healthy.
"We'll see." She moved his paw to the other side of her belly. "And we'll finally know just who this lazy boy takes after." She giggled looking at Sam as he felt not a thump but maybe a lump move and the warmth of her body at work. "Doesn't kick much but when he does I know it."
Sam smiled and hummed in humor. "I guess we should get moving if we don't wanna be late." He knew if he didn't get moving he might just lay here the whole day.
Kristy smiled and meowed. "Just one more. This little one here is feisty. Small, but I can tell she'll be a paw full." She held Sam's paw to where Kristy always felt the last kup above the one he just felt. Then as if on cue the smallest thump he had felt yet hit him square in the palm pad.
Sam softly chuckled. "This one is a daddy's boy. He just gave me a high four."
"Five." The bobcat held up a five fingered paw and wiggled them. "SHE could have five."
"This one is four." He wiggled his paw across her belly.
A rumble from deeper in her belly cut off Kristy's giggled purr. "Again, we'll see soon but first, breakfast."
"Agreed." Sam replied before crawling out of the bed.
Kristy rolled and slipped to the floor with a drawn out meow. After stretching out on all fours like her ancestors. She stood up with the help of the bedpost,groaning, worried about how difficult things would get in the next few months. Today though, things were fairly simple, some nice fruits and fluffy honeyed hay for Orchid. Stefano had caught a ride with Owen for an early class today so he was going to miss out on the biscuits and gravy Kristy was craving.
Sam, however, wanted her to take it easy. Relax at the table and let him prepare breakfast. The bobcat just insisted that she was fine, saying her kind did it all alone when times were far tougher. She gave Sam a bunch of kisses of thanks before joking that she'll never learn to cook if he keeps doing it.
Sam relented but still watched from the table.
Kristy loved being watched on stage but this was a bit much. Orchid didn't notice, the room wasn't tense, she had seen parents arguing and this was far from that. Besides, she was more upset by the smell of cooking gravy.
Soon enough the family, even those unseen, were fed and happy. Even Sam, while he might have been slightly nonplussed with Kristy's refusal to relax, he had to admit she was getting good at making gravy. After everyone was dressed, they dropped off Orchid with Roxxie and Kno and the couple headed off to Kristy's appointment.
As the pair pulled into the parking lot, the excitement of what's to come was palpable. The couple said little as they held paws and walked inside together. Everything felt perfect till they found out that Kristy's regular OBGYN was out and that a substitute would be seeing them today.
Sitting in the waiting area Kristy meowed. "I hope whoever this is doesn't have cold paws."
"That's the gloves and gel." Sam replied.
Kristy giggled, but as she opened her mouth to explain that's not what she meant the receptionist called their name. "Oh, we're up." The pregnant bobcat popped up excitedly, smiling as she waited for Sam oblivious to the jealous eyes of the vixen who looked like she found sitting difficult with her large belly.
At least she was almost done, Kristy was several months behind her.
As the nurse took the Chola's to the examination room a recurring thought came back to Kristy once again. Just a few years ago she would have been this excited to just land a side stage gig for a night. For a payout that nowadays she could spend on groceries and not even think about. After pondering to herself for a time she decided she wouldn't trade either for the other, and with a smile she squeezed Sam's paw.
After the nurse left them in their exam room, Kristy changed into the hospital gown left for her while Sam did his usual routine of looking to see what he could get into by rummaging through the draws. While the bobcat tried to get the unflattering gown to hang on her in a more becoming way she looked at her husband with her brows up and ears to the side. "Baby, why do you do that everytime?" She mewed "You're like Orchid whenever we buy sprinkles."
"Because, it's dull till the doc gets here." He replied, pulling two tongue depressors from a drawer.
Sitting on the edge of the exam table the bobcat mewed. "Okay…what are you going to do with those?" She lifted an eyebrow.
"What am I?" He placed the two pieces of wood behind his lips over his canines.
"Morris the unkissable elephant."
He stuck his tongue out between the two wooden teeth and pinned his ears back, blowing a raspberry at his wife.
"Cute." She giggled, looking him over. "Now come over here and kiss me, you're making me feel old." She held up her arms toward him.
Before Sam could do as requested, a knock came from the door. He quickly mouthed later before they were greeted with a surprise.
"Hi!" Dr. Lightcoat greeted them excitedly, her tail wagging casually.
Kristy's eyes lit up. "Hey! Did you lock Doctor Snowclaw in a closet so you can see what I got in me?" She smiled happily.
"Ah ha ha! No, thanks for the suggestion though. But when they were splitting up his patients I saw your name and practically crawled over everyone to get it. So how have you been?"
"Well." Kristy thought for a moment. "I get a little dizzy in the morning before the meds kick in, but I haven't fainted again." She meowed, taping her lip. "Still throwing up, and a couple weeks ago I did have a massive migraine." She placed a paw on her belly and smiled. "But it's worth it."
The doctor smiled hearing the last part. "Well that all sounds normal. The morning sickness should stop in a week or two. How much movement have you noticed in the last couple of weeks?" She asked, pulling on some gloves, she paused and gave Sam a stern look before silently demanding he give her the tongue depressors.
"A lot actually." Kristy said, watching as Sam handed over his entertainment with a playful scowl. She motioned for him to come over beside her. "At first only I could feel them but this morning Sam felt them too." She smiled more, bouncing slightly with excitement.
"That's good!" Dr. Lightcoat exclaimed. Sam meanwhile moved to Kristy's side and held her paw which she pressed to her belly to feel the little kicking, Dr. Lightcoat smiled at their excitement. After that, the vixen had Kristy lay back on the exam table so she could start the normal physical examination to ensure Kristy's body was adapting normally to carrying kits. All the results were satisfactory, Kristy coat was the only thing that seemed adversely affected by the vitamin regiments. That was just her hair growing thicker, which might make her itch because of skin irritation. Once she was finished, Lightcoat removed her gloves. "Now the fun part." The vixen's tail waged as she grabbed the mobile ultrasound machine from the corner. "Ready for the cold gel?"
Lowering her ears the bobcat asked. "Does it have to be cold?"
"Sorry." She said, applying the gel to the bobcat's tummy. Kristy shivered, holding Sam's paw tighter before giggling at herself. Taking the probe, Dr. Lightcoat lightly pressed against the bobcat's tummy, moving it around from one side to the other to gain her bearings of where the kits were situated. Once she found them, she would mention whether they were kup A,B or C before moving on to the next.
"Alright, now that we've got the boring part out of the way we can do the fun stuff. So this is kup A." By this point they were familiar with A, B and C. A being the closest to the birth canal and largest of the three. "And it looks like we have a boy."
Kristy smiled brighter seeing the clearest picture yet of one of her kittens, the shape of each little paw, each toe sometimes, even the hint of a face could be seen at some point. She tried not to purr too loud thinking it would interfere with the ultrasound. "Knew that one was a big boy." She whispered. "Um, can you tell what he is?"
"Hmm, let's see." She moves the probe around "Well, looks like he has a bobtail." She moved the probe to his rear end to show what looked like a short stick. "Though we really won't be able to see what they look like till they're born. Even then, who knows what they'll look like as they grow older." She moves the probe to the other side.
"He's going to look like his momma." Kristy smiled at Sam watching his face.
Sam, meanwhile, had just been staring at the screen, his tail stiff and ears up. But an amazed look in his eyes as his smile never faltered.
"Let's see if B is going to be as cooperative." Doctor Lightcoat moved the probe around. Getting the needed data to record this one's growth before getting to the exciting part. "And I can already see a long tail." The stick on this one's rear did look longer, it even curled around under it.
Squeezing Sam's paw, Kristy whispered. "You got one too."
"It's not a competition." Sam teased returning the squeeze.
"True, they are both of ours." She purred and pulled his paw up to her lips for a kiss.
"And looks like we've got another boy." Dr. Lightcoat remarked. Highlighting the tell tale signs.
Giggling the bobcat said. "Not sure if I'm disappointed or not. A girl like me would be such a pawful." She smiled.
"Well there's still a chance it could happen." Sam said as the doctor moved the probe to kit C. "Still, I'd like to have at least one girl."
"Orchid could use a sister." Kristy quipped looking at the screen.
"Looks like she might be in luck." Lightcoat stated. "We appear to have a long tailed girl."
Kristy's eyes brightened happily. "A little girl." She mewed relieved.
"So, everyone looks healthy, but our little girl isn't growing quite as fast as her brothers." The doctor noted.
"Oh is that a problem?" Kristy asked with concern growing in her voice. Sam adopting the same worried look. His ears pinning back and his tail going still.
"It's something we'll want to monitor. Right now she's a healthy size but she's in the bottom percentile, even for a grey fox at this age." It was the first time they'd heard Dr. Lightcoat speak in a serious tone.
Kristy's expression fell. "That might be my fault. I'm small for a bobcat."
"It's not your fault." Dr. Lightcoat gave Kristy's shoulder a squeeze. "If it is genetic then that means you inherited it from someone else. It didn't start with you. Just focus on the positive. She. Is. Completely. Healthy. And you are going to continue providing the nutrients that she needs to keep growing. At this point, it could just be her brothers are stealing all the groceries and next time you come in she'll have caught up. Okay? Stay positive."
Kristy took a breath and meowed. "Yeah, positives." She looked at her belly and giggled "Hear that you greedy boys, let your sister have some." She poked her belly with a free paw.
(Big thanks to all my wonderful friends for allowing us to use their Zoosana's in our story. They helped so much with making this story fell more real. Also check out the great Sapperjoe85 stuff he's my partner on this.)