There wasn't a huge amount of celebrating on Mother's Day, but it still received plenty of notice. Particularly for Animalian mothers. There were mothers whose children were already grown, either naturally or by a second dose of the Animalian virus. There were mothers who had their babies relatively recently or who'll be having them at some point in the near future. All of them got the respect they deserved on Mother's Day.
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Robby and Martha stopped over at Clara and Richard's house for a friendly visit. Clara's cubs were getting bigger, even if their first birthday wasn't here yet. Martha was definitely showing signs of pregnancy. Even if it had only been two months, she looked three months along by human standards. And it definitely looked like there will be more than one.
"Have you thought of any names yet?" asked Clara.
"We're planning to wait and see how many kits to expect," said Robby, "Shouldn't be too long though."
"And how are your parents reacting to this?" asked Rick.
"Oh, they're eager to finally have grandchildren to spoil," said Martha.
"So, are you expecting any...siblings?" asked Rick.
"Not soon," said Martha, "I'm not sure when the giant ground sloth goes into season. I think it'd be good for them, but I'd still be weirded out."
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There were plenty of mothers who had taken their kids for a communal playdate. Of course, their parents still needed to supervise them. Animalian babies were typically a lot more mobile than human babies. A good example were Bash and Bell Wesley. They didn't quite have the same proportions of normal puppies, but they were certainly able to move faster than most yearlings. But that wasn't the only reason to keep an eye on them. Like any puppies with growing teeth, they tended to be a little nippy. Currently, the two huskies were playing with Jake. Though it was more accurate that the baby Maiasaura was crawling after the much-faster puppies.
The kids' mothers were also talking with each other. "So, three eggs?" asked Julia.
Annie rubbed her rounding tummy and said, "At least. There might be more."
"Must be easy to lay eggs instead of carrying them full-term," said Julia.
"From what the other reptile mothers say, there are advantages," said Annie.
Julia looked at their playing kids. Jake was trying to grab Bell's tail while Dash was trying to nip Jake's. "I'm a bit surprised you let your baby get a dose," said Julia.
"He was suffering from an incurable disease. What else would a mother do?" asked Annie.
"What I meant is that you only gave him one dose instead of two," said Julia.
"I don't mean to offend you, but it seems to me that parents who let their children double-dose seem to want to leave the house sooner," said Annie.
"Sarah only got her second dose by accident," said Julia, though she sometimes wondered if it was really as accidental.
"Well, it seems a little weird to me," said Annie, "You and Sarah could be sisters. I guess I just want to hold onto Jake's childhood as long as I can."
"Well, I'm not rushing Bell and Bash," said Julia, "The house is crowded enough with them being adults too."
"Gotta keep them while they last," agreed Annie.
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Elsewhere, a somewhat unusual mother/daughter pair were having a discussion. Myrtle never thought she'd be having a conversation with her daughter like this, at least not for many years. Myrtle had taken the Animalian virus turning them into mice rather well. Though Milly's accidental exposure to unpasteurized milk resulted in her growing up far too soon. But things eventually settled into a semblance of normalcy, as normal as anything gets around here. Still, Myrtle missed being able to raise Milly herself. She still had a close bond with her daughter, but it was more sisterly than maternal. Which was part of this discussion.
"Mildred, I'm sure you've felt certain...feelings about children by now," said Myrtle.
"Well, I think kids are cute," said Milly, "It feels weird that I'm technically younger than most of them. I guess everyone would feel like that."
"Well, when I look at kids, it makes me think of what we...missed," said Myrtle.
"I didn't turn out so bad," said Milly.
"No, but I kinda wanted to see you grow up over time, do all the things that kids and teenagers do," said Myrtle.
"I know, but there's no way to fix that," said Milly.
"No, but that's why...your father and I want to have more kids," said Myrtle.
"Oh, is that all?" asked Milly.
"You're not thinking we're going to replace you?" asked Myrtle.
"We're mice, it's normal for us to feel like we have to have lots of kids," said Milly, "Besides, you deserve to really raise your own kids."
"Oh, that's a relief," said Myrtle.
"While we're on the subject, things between me and Lenny are getting kinda serious," said Milly.
"What?" asked Myrtle flatly.
"Well, we've kinda been talking about moving into our own place. I think he might be wanting to propose to me before long," said Milly. She gave a small smile and said, "Who knows. Maybe we could be pregger buddies together."
Myrtle shut her eyes as she felt something throb in her forehead. "Mildred, if the Animalian virus didn't improve my health, I believe this would be the part where I had a heart attack or a stroke," she said with a slightly-strained tone.
"If Dad were here, he'd have an apoplexy," said Milly.
"That too," said Myrtle. This was nothing that shouldn't be expected, considering Milly's had a boyfriend for several months. But it felt way too soon for Myrtle anyways.
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There were plenty of expecting mothers, especially after the Spring Fever season. Though some were a lot closer to giving birth than others. Case in point was the Anaconda triumvirate. Carrying sextuplets was no easy matter, even if you were a hermaphrodite snake. It was worse in that the green anaconda was one of the few snakes who kept the eggs inside their bodies until they hatched. At two months, the three of them looked full-term by human standards. Now in their final month, well, 'blimp' was one of the words that popped easily to mind.
It was becoming a hassle to even slither around their penthouse. While they didn't have legs to give out, it was very exhaustive to drag 30+ extra pounds. Before they became almost-completely immobile, they checked into the maternity ward at the hospital. Considering they were each expecting so many babies, it was best to have medical aid readily available when the time came and it looked like it would be soon.
"Why do anacondas have so many offspring?" groaned Ty.
"Because most offspring don't live to make it do adulthood," said Iphis with annoyance, having answered that question many times.
"But why don't we just lay the eggs instead of carrying them around?" asked Lily.
"What, like turtles?" said Ianthe, "You do know how many turtles make it to the water after being born, right? The answer is: not all of them."
"Well, when I'm done with my kids, I'm done with bearing kids," said Ty, "Unless there's some way to limited how many eggs are in my womb."
"Yeah, yeah, heard it a hundred times," said Iphis with annoyance. Though shi and Ianthe were eager to be done with this already.
"Well, at least we'll be fathers well before Father's Day," said Lily, "Though it can't come soon enough for me."