Things happened fairly quickly after the first of Anton and Marlysa's eggs hatched. The other eggs had been at least rocking a bit when they discovered that the first egg was in the process of hatching and faint noises came from within them, which sorta sounded like a cross between a snake's hiss and a young crocodile's chirp. Anton and Marlysa both figured it was some way the new hatchlings could alert their parents that they were hatching, and that the noise was distinctive to them as Animalians, though Marlysa admitted that she didn't remember for sure if she had made a noise when she hatched from her egg or not. However, with no way to tell what the gender of their oldest hatchling was, they needed to get them all to the clinic right away. While Anton hastily began to assemble a stroller that was built for four and could fold up and down, Marlysa stood by carefully as each egg hatched.
One hatchling tentatively seemed to reach for her breasts, and she wondered if they would actually need her in the way young mammals did. It'd be different for Marlysa, but then again, it'd make sense given that she'd gained breasts when she was uplifted. In that it'd make no sense for her to have them if they served no biological function and she did notice that all four of the hatchlings as they emerged had scaled nipples just like she and Anton did. That had to be something they inherited from their parents and marked them as Animalians, which in a way made Marlysa happy. Many things were rather new to her when she was first uplifted, but she found that one of the things she truly loved was love and family.
"They're adorable, Anton," Marlysa said to her husband as he finished with the stroller, "positively adorable."
"That's because they're related to you," Anton answered as he and Marlysa moved to carefully place the four hatchlings in the newly completed stroller.
Marlysa playfully shook her head and left to make sure their car was ready, leaving Anton to begin strapping on a diaper from one of the packets that they had in the nursery that they'd picked up. It was advertised as being perfect for Animalians of all kinds in dealing with tails and all that. There was some private frustration with being used as a guinea pig, but Anton did have to admit that there was a lot of things about Animalians that were simply still in the "testing" phase because of how new Animalians were to the Earth. After a few moments, Marlysa returned and looked to him.
"The car is ready, dear," Marlysa told him.
"And so are these four," Anton commented, looking down into the stroller where the four of them lay, safe and snug under warm blankets and with their eyes looking about the room.
Marlysa smiled at them and then at Anton, "Then let us all go."
++++++++++++++++++++++
Getting to the hospital proved easy enough, and Anton had even found that with the recent rush of births, the maternity ward was quite active. In fact Dr. Melody Clark was actually present when they arrived and that there was no need to call her in. She also had another doctor walking with her as she came in.
"Hello, Doctor Clark," Anton said to Melody with some polite greeting.
"Hello, Anton, Marlysa," Melody said to the proud parents, "it would appear that we have another happy Animalian family."
The doctor with her nodded and looked with some obvious awe at the four hatchlings in the stroller. Noticing the look that Anton gave toward the new doctor that was with Melody, Melody decided to begin the introductions.
"This is Doctor Timon Remer, he will be taking over from me," Melody spoke.
"You're leaving?" Marlysa asked.
"Oh, no," Melody answered, "but my specific field is to help with pregnancy and provide some checkups for your eggs. Now that your eggs have hatched, their care will move over to Doctor Remer. And you don't need to worry, he will will look after your children with the same care that every doctor is expected."
"You have nothing to fear," Doctor Remer assured them, "I've always had a soft spot for children... and these four... are very cute."
That made Anton and Marlysa both smile.
"Now, what are your prime concerns at the moment?" Doctor Remer asked.
"Mostly health and gender," Anton spoke.
"And whether or not they will need milk the way mammals do or if they can go without..." Marlysa quickly added as she looked down to the four hatchlings, who seemed to focus a lot of their attention on her.
"Well... on the milk issue, they might do well, I trust you've had the vaccination that was developed?" Doctor Remer asked.
Marlysa nodded, to which Doctor Remer nodded in response.
"Well, then you should be fine," Doctor Remer spoke, "given how young these four are and the fact that Animalians combine animal and human characteristics, they could well require some milk... though you may be able to try and feed them some of the things you eat in addition to milk."
Marlysa felt reassured by that and soon after she felt Anton rub her back and shoulders. Meanwhile, Doctor Remer looked down at the four hatchlings as they kept their focus toward their mother.
"As for the rest... that will take a brief physical exam," Doctor Remer said slowly.
The exam didn't last long, and despite some startled cries at the contact in the process of the examination, it was enough for Doctor Remer to declare that all four were healthy with an even balance of two boys and two girls and even gave Anton and Marlysa some special colored blankets to help them identify which infant was which. Their oldest was a female who was given pink blanket, and Anton and Marlysa had agreed to name her Joyce, after Anton's deceased first wife. Next were twin boys who were given red and blue blankets respectively. Rex had his red blanket and William had his blue blanket. The youngest was the other daughter in her green blanket. Marlysa named her Danielle after an author who's books she picked up while she was carrying her eggs. With the health of their children assured, Anton and Marlysa felt some proud that the Williams family would have many happy years ahead of them.