While their daughters were busy with school and Animalia's PR campaign, Julia and Thomas Wesley had made their way to Horizon Light Hospital. The building had originally been the Lyre Medical Clinic, but with the Animalian Virus outbreak and everything that went with it, it had seen a major expansion thanks to major donations from Horizon Labs. In this the clinic had gone from a small medical clinic to a major hospital that could cater to both humans and Animalians and the clinic had changed its name thanks to the donation.
"So here we are," Thomas said to Julia as he lead her into the waiting room for the obstetric ward in the new Horizon Light Hospital, as clinic had renamed itself, "Ready for the first ultrasound."
Julia gave a small smile to her husband, noting his happily wagging tail and then looked down to her developing baby bump. It had been slowly pushing out since she came into heat and she and Thomas went at it with the intention of having a new child to add to the Wesley family. She was a bit bigger than she had been with Sarah at this point in that pregnancy. She supposed that as an Animalian she would develop faster than she did as a human carrying Sarah. A part of her didn't like the idea of pretty much being part of the research needed for Animalian pregnancy, but she and Thomas had ultimately put off giving Sarah a brother or sister to the point when they'd been too old to really try it as humans. Thanks to Sarah giving them their double doses of the Animalia Virus, they'd gotten a second shot at that and they weren't going to let the opportunity pass them by, especially as by now, Julia had long since come to love being an Animalian, though she would never tell Sarah that it was mostly because of her husband's enlarged equipment.
"It's only my first as an Animalian," Julia pointed out to her husband with a small smile, knowing he was excited. The wagging of her own tail let everyone know that she was excited too, but she did remember that this wasn't her first pregnancy.
Thomas Wesley only shrugged as they looked to the waiting room, and found that there were a few other pregnant Animalians there as well with their mates standing or sitting with them. The male Husky Animalian noted all of them looked as pleased and eager as he was sure he and Julia did. He had to agree that this wasn't Julia's first ultrasound, as they had had ultrasounds done when she was carrying Sarah, but it would be her first as an Animalian and he wasn't about to hide his excitement at that. The approached a small window made of clear plastic.
"I'm Thomas Wesley, my wife Julia is here to see Doctor Clark and get her first ultrasound," Thomas spoke the attendant seated behind the window.
"Yes... Wesley," the attendant said, "Doctor Clark will see you shortly. Please have a seat."
They both nodded and moved to sit in one of the chairs there in the waiting room. The cushions were soft and while they had backs, they were high enough up that no Animalian would have to worry about fitting their tail in the chair. Julia settled into one soon rested a hand on her womb. In a strange way, it was like she could feel the life growing inside her when she did that and felt great pride in being able to bring new life into the world, a sibling for Sarah and Malice.
They didn't have to wait too long before Julia's name was called and she and Thomas followed the nurse that called them. The obstetric ward wasn't the largest ward in the hospital, but it was far more than what had been there before. When she'd been pregnant with Sarah, Julia remembered them having to drive quite a way to see a doctor who specialized in dealing with pregnancies. Now, thanks to Animalia's growth, she didn't, and that suited her just fine. After being lead to an examination room, they had to wait again, but again it wasn't long. Soon after, a lone woman entered with various medical equipment on a wheeled cart. Both of them turned to her, Dr. Melody Clark.
"And so, Mrs. Wesley, how are we feeling today?" Dr. Clark asked.
"The morning sickness is FINALLY going away," Julia declared, "so that's a plus."
"I'd imagine," Dr. Clark gave a friendly smile, and began to go over the various chart information that the nurse had collected when Thomas and Julia first entered, "Have we had any unusual pain? Any discomfort beyond what you would consider a normal part of pregnancy?"
Julia shook her head. She had explained to Dr. Clark that while she had become an Animalian when it was first allowed and had to admit that her present pregnancy was the first time she'd been pregnant as an Animalian it was not the first time she had been pregnant. While things had been progressing a bit faster as an Animalian, many of the feelings and sensations she felt weren't too different from when she'd been pregnant with Sarah. Ultimately, Dr. Clark did understand.
"Nothing outside of the what I remember," Julia answered, "Other than some things being faster than I remember, but that is probably part of being an Animalian, right?"
"That is the theory," Dr. Clark nodded, "as many animals have shorter pregnancies than humans. The big thing that we're going to be looking for is how developed the fetus is. With dogs, for example, puppies are born at a point that would be considered premature by human standards. Their hearing hasn't developed and their eyes are shut... and even if the eyes are open, the puppy wouldn't see anything. Their eyesight and hearing develop AFTER they've been born. But that might not be the case with Animalians. Your puppies... or puppy... may develop fully, which would indicate a heightened rate of development..."
"And if not?" Thomas asked nervously.
"If your puppies... puppy... is born and is "premature" by human standards, we may ask that they stay in hospital's maternity ward longer just to make sure they're healthy, but that's all speculative at present, I'm afraid," Dr. Clark said weakly, "we won't know for sure until you give birth."
"So long as the puppy is healthy," Julia answered.
Dr. Clark nodded, "and I take it you're wanting an ultrasound today?" Both Thomas and Julia noted her friendly smile, which gave an indication that Dr. Clark have been dealing with a lot of pregnant Animalians wanting to see the babies within them. It was something that animals normally didn't get to see on their own. Their only answer was to wag their tails, which elicited a chuckle in response. Dr. Clark chuckled and went about her work. She took one power cord and plugged it into a nearby wall socket.
"Okay, now... you may need to lift your shirt a bit, Mrs. Wesley as our scanner might be mislead by the cloth," Dr. Clark spoke, "and for warning while the gel we use will work with your fur and will easily rub out... it IS still a bit cold."
"We're Siberian Huskies," Julia answered with some pride, "our breed was bred to deal with the cold."
The gel was cold, even through her fur, but in the end the reward for Julia and Thomas was plain to see as an image soon appeared on the screen that the ultrasound equipment showed. It showed the outline of the developing puppy and Julia thought she could see some of the base features that would mark the child in her womb as an Animalian, but that had little to prepare her for the surprise Dr. Clark was about to deliver.
"Here's one..." Dr. Clark spoke as she found the puppy they were presently looking at, but also noticed something on the edge of the scree and moved to it, "and here is two..."
"TWO?!" Thomas and Julia both barked together in surprise.
"That's what it looks like," Dr. Clark answered, "and they look healthy from what I can see."
"And very cute," Thomas said to Julia.
"We'll need an extra crib," Julia stated.
Thomas licked her cheek, "We'll need to tell Sarah and Malice."