THE GIFT
Han_DJ
Chapter 26 (26.1)
“Okay! Hu-hu-hu-hu-hu!” Natsuki was blowing wind from her mouth and Shizuru was looking at her in bewilderment.
“What is my Natsuki doing?” Shizuru asked when the contraction subsided.
Natsuki straightened up and turn her worried gaze on her lover, “Helping you out? I’ve seen these men doing this breathing thing with their wives to help them when they are giving birth!” Natsuki said pouting.
It was at that moment when Helena Fujino re entered the room and got the shock of her life for in the room lays 7 pregnant women all on the verge of giving birth. Oh kami, I didn’t know that my daughter’s life is this exciting! She thought then she commandeered towards Shizuru’s bed and her smile widened when she saw Natsuki pouting towards her daughter, kawaii.
“Natsuki, we didn’t do any Lamaze class so it’s not…ahhh” Shizuru grimaced as another contraction hits her, then her crimson colored orbs met that of her mother’s, “Okaasan, did…did…”
“Shizuru! Huhuhuhuhu!” Natsuki held the older woman’s hand and started breathing out again. This made Helena laugh, “This is not funny! You should help out too!”
Helena held one hand on her face, her eyes wide with mirth, “Ara Kuga-san, as my daughter said, that is not needed.”
Natsuki frowned, “Why?” she asked menacingly.
“For one, all of our pregnant ones here are too young to do Lamaze so all of them will be receiving epidurals!”
Natsuki’s attention was caught by Kim Possible-Go’s voice, “Finally! I thought you’ll never arrive on time!” Natsuki said.
Kim sighed then she opened the divider of the room so that she could see everyone. “All right!” she said in a louder voice to be heard by those who are howling pain.
“Don’t all right me! You’re not the one in pain here!” Nao shout back as another contraction hits, a high pitched scream erupted from her mouth.
“Nao! I can’t believe you of all people would scream like that! You’re breaking my ear wax!” Haruka said loudly then winced when Yukino pressed on her hand harder than before, “And don’t press my hand too much Yukino! I need that one for signing!”
“Ha…Haruka-chan…” Yukino took in a deep breath, “THEN LET IT BREAK! I’M NOT GOING TO BE IN PAIN ALONE!!!”
“Haruka-chan, you are not supposed to say that to Yukino, she’s already suffering here!” Rebecca Suzushiro said chastising her daughter.
“Okay enough of that,” Kim refereed, “The pain will all be gone when all of you are brought to the delivery room and the anesthesiologist gave you you’re epidural. For the moment, mommies, please bear a little pain more.”
“A LITTLE?! I FEEL LIKE I’M BEING PULLED IN HALF VERTICALLY!!! FUCK A LITTLE!” Every pair of eyes turned to Akira who didn’t even blushed from what she just said.
“I think my Akira just cursed!” Takumi said slack jawed and the others nodded.
“So bring us to the delivery room for that epidural!” Midori shouted
Kim looked at her and smiled, “Well I think I might be wrong, you…” Kim pointed at Midori, “… may deliver through Lamaze, the hospital is having problem pulling anesthesiologists for this one of a kind delivery!”
“WHAT? I am not going into Lamaze! I’m going to have that epidural at all cause!!!” Midori said angrily then she clutched on her abdomen as another contraction hits.
Okay, so long as everyone gives birth naturally, it wouldn’t be a problem. Shizuru could be a harder case since she has twins, but from her ultrasound, both babies were cephalic in position, so as long as they remained like that, then no problem with NSD… Kim was thinking as she planned the strategy she was to do for the 7 pregnant women in the hospital. She then looked at Youko who by chance met her glance.
“Do you need help?” Youko asked smiling,
Kim smiled back, “I would have dragged Shego to the delivery room to help out, let’s just pray that all of them will have a smooth birthing process.” Kim said.
“That we will,” Youko said and her attention was taken when the room door opened and Mai, Mikoto, Chie and Aoi entered.
“The red star appeared!” Mikoto shouted and was stopped when she saw the women lying down, obviously in pain, “Was there an attack while we were out?” Mikoto asked then looked at Mai, “Why didn’t we feel the attackers come?” Mikoto wondered, her face serious.
“Ahhhh,” Erstin interrupted, “We were not attacked Mikoto-chan,” the female kendoka frowned, “They are all giving birth already!” Erstin said smiling.
“Giving birth…” Mikoto made a thinking pose…
“The babies are coming out Mikoto!” Mai whispered in Mikoto’s ear which made the younger girl’s eyes widened.
“Really?!!!” Mikoto
“We are just waiting for the orderlies to arrive with the stretchers to transfer them to the delivery room.” Kim said.
“Oh, so that’s what the commotion at the ER was about!” Chie said, “I think they are pulling residents for this.” Chie said smiling, “Is everyone doing okay?”
“Aside from the pain, I think we are doing fine Chie-han, thank you very much.” Shizuru answered.
“I think Shiho is not in much pain,” Erstin said smiling, “I don’t see her grimace like you all did, she hasn’t broken my hands yet too.”
“Shiho?” Kim said worriedly then she stepped closer to the smaller girl
“I had the worst pain about an hour ago, then it became dull, bearable…”
Kim frowned and then took something from her bag. She pulled the sound Doppler, squeezed a generous amount of the cool jelly on the microphone like end and without asking folded Shiho’s clothes to expose her enlarge abdomen. She pressed the said Doppler to the abdomen and located the fetal heart beat. “110,” Kim said after 10 minutes of monitoring then looked at the others, “I need to get Shiho on the delivery room right now and do a non-stress test!”(1)
“What…why?” Erstin asked worriedly
“It’s hard to explain Erstin, but let me tell you…the baby’s heart rate is still under normal though it’s in the low normal and we don’t like that, which means there must be something going on in there and the baby is stressing... we hope that the baby is not stressed or help me God, we have to do a C section to her.” Kim looked at Shiho then at Erstin.
“So is the baby stressed?” Mikoto asked worriedly, “SEARRs probably stressed out the babies!”
Kim smiled, “That’s why I have to do the non-stress test to her.” Kim answered sweetly.
“I’ll help you bring her to the delivery room.” Miyu said then looked at Nao who was holding on to her hand as if it was her lifeline.
Ibiki was startled when an elbow hit his side and he looked at his wife then realized why, “Oh, no Miyu-san, you stay with Nao-san and I’ll help Doctor Possible bring Shiho-chan to the delivery room.”
Miyu’s eyes smiled at the older man in the room.
“Besides, the orderlies might come already and take these girls to the delivery room sooner.” He said as he stood, stepped closer to Shiho and leaned forward, “I’ll carry you to that wheel chair Shiho-chan okay?”
Shiho nodded as she let the old man carry her to the wheel chair. She was holding on to Erstin’s hand and the blonde girl has no choice but to be dragged with them.
Kim looked back at the women and men in the room after she ushered Ibiki, Shiho and Erstin out, “I’ll be seeing all of you later in the DR,” she looked at Youko, “Shego is with the aides, so I’ll leave them to your capable hands for now?”
Youko smiled, “I’ll do my best.”
XXX
Kanzaki Reito, Yuuki Himeko with Alyssa Searrs and Migami were riding the Kanzaki’s personal van. It occurred to the dark haired heir that Fumi and Yukariko must be giving birth and that the sudden appearance of the red star was the deciding factor in this situation. Knowing that it might be the case, he take it to himself that the other HiMEs that are currently at the hospital are also suffering the same thing, and knowing that most of the young women are there, he surmised that their resident OB must be there, Dr. Possible-Go is needed there, I’m glad I was able to talk Dr. Makoto into helping out! He thought then looked at the wincing face of Fumi and the slight calm demeanor of Yukariko, Glad Yukariko-san have gone through this already, she’s keeping me and Fumi’s sanity intact…
From across him were Alyssa and Himeko who were cradling Yukariko’s head, the young girl wiping off Yukariko’s sweating forehead. With him was Migami who was copying what Alyssa was doing, making the administrator smile.
Both women winced when the contraction hits again, “Oh Kami…” Fumi whispered as her uterus stiffened. Reito held the older woman’s hand then looked at Yukariko, “Kami I feel like I’m being torn in two,” Fumi said once the contraction subsided.
“And we are not even entering half of the labor process.” Yukariko said with a smile, “You should brace yourself later Kanzaki-san,” The ex-nun said teasing the dark haired heir.
“Good thing nothing Fumi-chan do will break me!” Reito answered in kind,
“We’ll see about that.” Yukariko said before turning her head to watch her daughter caress Fumi’s distended abdomen, “Do you think Migami-chan is worried for her mother that’s why she decided to stay by your side Fumi-chan?” Yukariko asked.
Fumi smiled and put a hand lightly on the quiet child’s head, “Probably, she may be one but I’m sure she could feel the stress surrounding us.”
Yukariko smiled, “I guess, she was a lot more attentive these past few days than before.”
Reito smiled at the child who looked up at him and tussled Migami’s hair, “She’s one sensitive woman, any man winning her hand will be lucky.” Reito said with twinkling eyes.
“Reito-kun she’s only a year and few months old!”
“Heh! Well we should be ready for the future no?” Reito said,
“As if!” Alyssa huffed then proceeded on wiping Yukariko’s forehead, “Are we near Fuuka yet?” Alyssa asked then she stood up to look out the van window, “I’m excited to see what Migami’s sister would look like…and if Fumi-sama will really have Mashiro!”
Reito laughed, “You are one of a kind Alyssa,” Reito said before looking out of the window too, “I’ll give Iphreeta-sensei a call, I think we are near.” He said then pulled out his mobile phone.
5 minutes later…
“Iphreeta-sensei said she’ll meet us outside the Fuuka Special Medical bay. She asked Irina, her assistant and another personnel I have no idea who, to prepare the room where she’ll help deliver the babies.” Reito said,
Himeko smiled and talked for the first time, “I’ve had experience delivering babies, if there’s anything I could do…”
Reito’s eyes twinkled, “Oh, you are sent by Kami! Iphreeta-sensei needs help, she said she’s not really an Obstetrics doctor so she’ll need another pair of hand to help her out!” Reito blew out breathe he wasn’t aware of keeping, “And I thought I’ll be dragged to do that! Thank Kami!!!”
“Oh Reito-kun, I never thought you have a funny side!” Himeko said laughing softly then she looked at the woman whose head was on her lap, “Don’t worry Yukariko-san, I got you.”
“Will I be allowed to enter the campus sir?” Fordsan asked interrupting the conversation behind him.
“Yes, please proceed to the special medical bay. It’s at the back of that long building there…” Reito said pointing Ford his way. The driver nodded and did what was instructed of him.
XXX
The metal door hissed open and he walked in. He was wearing a white laboratory coat, and smoke glass covered his eyes. His receding blonde hair was pulled back into a pony tail and he has the widest grin on his face, “Report status please?” he asked while looking at the monitor above the console.
The man by the console gulped and slowly looked at the man behind him, “The four androids were annihilated.”
“And Cynthia?”
“All taken care of sir…”
The blonde man looked at the face of the man reporting, “Did you get the video of the fight that ensued and lead to the decimation of my well built androids?”
He gulped again, “Yes…sir…” he nervously looked up to eye the man giving him a look that says ‘this better be good or else…’ then he returned his attention to the console and pressed a series of buttons.
The monitor displayed the start of the fight at the abandoned laboratory, with his androids fighting 2 monsters which were identical to the ones that attacked his base of operation. “Oh Cynthia…what have you been hiding from me?” The blonde man asked no one in particular. Then the monitor showed static before a blinding light appeared. The intense light pursued and all could be heard were the sounds of the ensuing fight. The light that covered the monitor were changing colors and this made the blonde man frown, “Can’t we make this clearer? See what’s behind those lights!” he shouted, prism…why was there prism?
“Go…go…gomen!” the nervous man said and bowed down, “It’s all we have sir! The security cameras were all melted when the building exploded!”
“WHAT!!!”
“Gomen!” the man knelt before the man, his arms reaching for the blonde’s legs, “Gomen!!!”
Silence
“Very well…” the kneeling man eased his hold on his legs, “I believe you have done your job…” he smiled and the huddled man smiled in relief, “Why don’t you get up and fetch me the full report?”
The man stood up, “Yes sir!” and hurriedly turned to get his full report.
BANG!
“See you in hell.” The blonde man said before turning to leave the room, “Give me the status report of my OTOMEs.” He calmly said without looking back at the stunned people inside the room.
XXX
The red headed doctor paced to and fro as she waits for the final graph to come out of the machine that was now hooked to Shiho’s abdomen. It has been 30 minutes and all the birthing women were securely brought to the delivery room. She received notifications that two OB residents will be coming to help her in delivering the babies. Youko was a big help as she took the job of monitoring the laboring women who now entered the active phase of delivery (2). 4 anesthesiologists came to do the women’s epidural; one is currently with her in case she need to do a C-section and Shiho needs a spinal anesthesia.
The machine beeped as the last graph finally showed, she tear the graphing paper from the machine and read the results. She shook her head when she found that there were more than 3 decels in every 10 minute window and that the decelerations were found in variable time during contractions.
Kim looked at Erstin then at Shiho with sad eyes.
“Is the baby alright?” Shiho asked nervously
“Yes,” Kim said smiling then holding on the young woman’s hand, “But you’re baby is stressing out and it seemed that the umbilical cord is being compressed and I can’t let you get through normal delivery.”
“So you’re going to cut her abdomen?” Erstin asked scared,
Kim nodded, “I’m going to have to do a Cesarean section, we don’t want the cord to be compressed more or we don’t want it to wound around your baby’s neck, so to be safe I have to do it.”
Erstin frowned, “Ain’t cesarean more risky?” she asked.
“Yes, but just giving birth is already a risk. I believe in Dr. Ong and he’s one of the best anesthesiologist around, with his help, we could do this without any complications.” Kim explained, the two young women tried to calm themselves.
“I think the others need to know.” Erstin said.
Silence
“Can she go in the delivery room with me? I’m scared.” Shiho said, her lips a little pale.
Kim shook her head no, “The operating room will be sterile Shiho, I’m afraid we can’t let her in. Don’t worry, I’ll be there, Dr. Ong, the head nurse Otaku-san and Dr. Montoya will be there to assist me. We’ll make sure nothing bad will happen to you or your baby.”
Erstin smiled at Shiho and squeezed the pink haired girl’s hand, “I’ll be waiting outside for you and little Shiho.” Erstin said lovingly,
“Thank you Ers-chan.”
The blonde haired girl looked at Kim, “I’ll go tell the others about what we talked about.”
“Okay.” Kim and Shiho said simultaneously.
XXX
“Okay,” Youko said as she met with the other three resident doctors present, “I know that you are supposed to be pre-duty and Han-san here is the only duty resident today, but you were informed that there are 7 women here giving birth simultaneously, so I need your help since this is the first time this happened.” She looked at the face of the three residents in front of her.
“I believe one of the seven is with Dr. Possible-Go, and there’s one having twins?” The Chief resident of Obstetrics and Gynecology asked, “I could handle the mother having twins.”
Youko smiled, “That’s good, you know you remind me of someone…what is your name again doctor?”
“Reece, just call me Reece sempai.” She smiled, her blue eyes twinkling.
“Okay Reece, I’ll leave Fujino-san with you.” She looked at the other two, “There are 5 more and three of us, how do you suggest we go about it?”
“We could call out two interns to help out, they could deliver babies, they were trained already in cases like this…” Han-san said before she was interrupted by Youko.
“We are talking of young mothers here, P1G1 (0100)(3).”
“All of them?” The other resident whose name was Chelli asked in bewilderment.
“All of them…well except for one who keeps on thinking she was 17 when she’s actually not.”
Silence
“Okay we could still let the interns help out, we’ll just do the buddy system. We have to guide the interns we paired up with while we deliver the baby of the other one.” Han-san suggested.
“That’s a good idea, it’ll be hard but we could do it.” Chelli said.
Youko smiled, “So two women in one room?” the two resident nodded, “Okay…I’ll be delivering my own baby then.” She said grinning.
“Huh?”
XXX
The succeeding hours was slow and it was torture not only to the pregnant women but also to the protectors who were allowed to be kept beside their partners (except for Erstin). The people left outside (Ibiki, Rebecca, Helena, Chie, Aoi, Mai, Mikoto and Erstin) were doing vigil, praying to Kami that their friends and children are well inside.
At the Fuuka Gakuen, the labor of the two older women of the group was surprisingly uncomplicated.
Himeko with the personnel named Maria took care of Yukariko who followed instruction and gave birth to a healthy baby girl with brown hair and light brown eyes like her own. Maria who also has training as pediatric nurse cleanse the baby before presenting it to the tired mother, with Himeko helping the mother out and prepping the baby for breast feeding. Iphreeta finished with Fumi a little later, and presented a purple haired girl to the pink haired mother who cuddled the baby despite her tired body. Dr. Makoto then helped Himeko suture the episiotomy Himeko did to Yukariko. Reito was smiling widely when he was informed that the babies and the mothers are well, he cheered along with Alyssa and Migami.
At the hospital…
Shiho was the first one to give birth since she undergone C-section. The healthy baby girl has blonde hair but unlike Tate, the baby has green eyes which made Shiho smile when the baby was presented to her. She could see Erstin from her baby’s eyes. Erstin was like a doting father when she received the good news that Shiho and her baby were doing okay and that she could later go to the nursery to view Little Shiho Munakata.
Midori, despite her being loud as she pushed her baby out followed Shiho, her healthy baby girl has dark hair and purple eyes that reminds her a lot of the woman who have helped her deliver her little monster. Youko after suturing her lover stepped beside the red head as she cradled the cleaned baby in her arms and engulfed her most important people in embrace, she then helped the nurse position the baby on Midori’s nipple for the baby to feed…for the first time.
Yukino was relieved when she heard her baby cry out, she thought that her baby was the one who cried the loudest amongst the other, something she attribute being Haruka’s baby. The blonde mother who resembled her baby girl so much was at first angry because she got to have an intern deliver her baby, but she was pacified when she found out that one of the resident was with them in the room to guide the intern…though her hands was full with Akira’s baby.
Akira thankfully did not have a hard time delivering her healthy baby girl with hair as wild as Takumi’s, the soft cry of the baby was overpowered by Yukino’s baby’s cry. Since Akira’s baby was smaller, there was no episiotomy needed and Dr. Chelli scrubbed out immediately the scrubbed in to help the intern who deliver the baby and do the suturing.
The room adjacent to the first one was a bit chaotic, when Nao was assigned to the intern, Miyu decided to intervene and told Dr. Han that she should do the delivery and not the other one. When the resident explained what was about to be done, the humanoid did not let the doctor finish and transformed one hand into a dagger and pointed it at the doctor who almost fainted from fear. It was through Kazuya’s intervention, asking the resident to help Nao and let the intern help Akane that the humanoid was pacified and let the doctor go. Miyu watched closely as the doctor helped out Nao and was about to change one hand into a sword when she saw the resident took two forceps to aid the delivery. The prompt arrival of Dr. Possible-Go stopped the madness and the delivery was done without any complications anymore.
Akane was just relieved when Kim took over the intern and soon she heard her and Kazuya’s baby crying along with that of Nao’s baby. Each babies were given to the tired mothers and they could clearly see the joy in their protectors eyes as they watch the mother-infant interaction. The people inside this room softly laugh after hearing the resident say “I’m quitting OB! I should have taken Family Medicine in the first place!” before leaving the room with obvious pallor in her face.
-End Chapter 26 (.1)-
A/N: I was supposed to write an epilogue…very short epilogue but it seemed I have to write part two of the ending instead of epilogue. Shiznat next chapter…sorry I have to cut, promised I’ll post 26.1 as soon as possible (perhaps tomorrow?)
(1) These are the components of Non Stress Test (OB): Uterine contractions - time between contractions which reduces as childbirth progresses. Read as the number of contractions present in a 10 min window and averaged over 30 min. Normal are 5 or less contractions in 10 mins.; Baseline heart rate - average baseline fetal heart rate (normal 110–160); Variability - fetal heart rate variability from Baseline per minute (normal 5 - 25); Accelerations - increases in fetal heart rate from the baseline by at least 15 beats per minute, lasting for at least 15 seconds. There should be 2 accels every 20 minutes lasting no longer than 2 minutes. They are normally present, indicating a Reactive or Negative Tracing; Decelerations (decels) - decreases in fetal heart rate from the baseline by at least 15 beats per minute, lasting for at least 15 seconds. They are normally minimal to none. There are three types of decelerations, depending on their appearance with uterine contraction:
- begin at start of uterine contraction and end with conclusion of contraction; a sign of increased vagal tone due to fetal head compression.
- occur at any time irrespective of uterine contractions; a sign of umbilical cord compression.
- begin at the peak of a contraction and ends long after it, hence the "late" when compared to early decels; a sign of fetal hypoxia due to uterus or placental insufficiency - the most worrisome deceleration.
If there are prominent decelerations in the tracing, then it is called Positive tracings, which means you are not supposed to be happy when the doctor said, “hey you have a positive non stress-test!” because you’re baby is actually stressed and most stressed babies poops inside their mommy’s tummy resulting to Meconium Aspiration! (Anymore questions, PM me!)
***NSD = Normal Spontaneous Delivery; C-Section = Cesarean Section (And just a nice thing to say there’s what we call VBAC = Vaginal Birth After Cesarean!)
(2)The stages of labor are: Phase 1: Early (Latent) Labor. This phase is usually the longest, but it's also the least intense, by far. Over a span of time from several hours to several weeks, your cervix will dilate (open) to three centimeters and will begin to thin out (a process known as effacement). You'll experience mild to moderate contractions that last 30 to 45 seconds and are spaced five to 20 minutes apart — although you may not even notice them until the final two to six hours (if you're dilating gradually over a period of days or weeks, you probably won't feel them at all until labor starts in earnest), and they might not come in perfectly spaced intervals. It's possible that your amniotic membranes will rupture now, but it's more likely to happen later in labor and not without a little help from your practitioner. What you probably will feel now is a backache or cramps, and you'll also probably notice a blood-tinged mucous discharge. Phase 2: Active Labor. Contractions will grow stronger and longer during active labor, a phase that usually lasts from two to three and a half hours. You'll usually be in the hospital or birthing center by this phase (or if you're delivering at home, your midwife will be with you by now). As your cervix dilates to seven centimeters, contractions will come every three to four minutes and will typically last 40 to 60 seconds (although they may not follow a regular pattern). You'll probably notice a distinct peak halfway through each contraction. (Grabe ang haba ng explanation, to sum up…it starts at 4 cm until the delivery of the baby!)Phase 3: Transitional (Advanced) Labor. During transitional labor, the last, most intensive, and fortunately shortest stage (generally lasting from 15 minutes to an hour), your cervix will dilate from seven to its final ten centimeters. Contractions are very strong at this point — usually 60 to 90 seconds long, and with intense peaks. Because they're spaced only about two or three minutes apart, it may seem as though you barely get to relax before the next contraction begins. During transition, you're likely to feel strong pressure in the lower back and rectum, nausea, fatigue, tightness in the throat and chest area, shakiness, chills, or sweats (or alternating between them). You'll also notice more blood-tinged show as capillaries in the cervix rupture. (Haba din ha! This is from the delivery of the baby to the delivery of the placenta!!!) (Lifted from http://www(dot)whattoexpect(dot)com/pregnancy/labor-and-delivery/childbirth-stages/three-phases-of-labor(dot)aspx)
(3) Parity 1, Gravida 1, (full term/pre term/Abortion/Live birth)