Diversity

Part 16

It had now been over 2 months since the loss of their babies. Sara and Raph were still trying to cope, but it was harder on Sara for having been the one who miscarried. The babies had been in her hands to care for, and she felt she had done something wrong.

Right now, Sara was having strange food cravings and a larger than normal appetite. She wasn't sick or anything, but her sister in laws questioned if she could still be pregnant.

"We didn't see any others on ultrasound, so no. I don't think so." Sara said. But it was when she started to swell out in her belly that she questioned herself. Could she still be pregnant?

She went to Raph to tell him her suspicion.

"Raph, I know I miscarried a few months ago, but what if I am still pregnant?" Sara asked.

"What makes you think you are pregnant?" Raph asked.

"I have what all the others had. Mood swings, I'm hungry nearly all the time, I can't fit into my pants anymore." She said.

"Really?" Raph perked up at that.

Sara gladly rolled up her shirt to let him see her slightly swollen belly. He put a hand on it, but he still couldn't be sure. "Maybe you should get yourself checked to be sure."

"Yeah, I will." She said. "Maybe there's still some hope yet."
.........

Sara was examined again, and this time, there was some good news. The ultrasound showed a baby, that moved slightly as the wand was dragged over her belly.

"There is definitely a baby inside of you, Sara. It's about 5 months along." Donny said.

"But what about the bleeding she had so many weeks ago?" Raph asked, standing beside her.

"Sara did miscarry yes, but it looks like she managed to keep one of the fertilized eggs." Don said. "Congratulations, Raph and Sara, you are going to be parents in just 4 months."

"That is so great!" Jenny said, excited over the prospect of having another niece or nephew, and glad that the gloom that had descended upon the lair after Sara and Raph's loss, would now turn to joy.

The lair had been in sadness about Raph and Sara's loss for so long, but had still lived in happiness the best they could with the other babies.

Raph had been excited at the prospect of being a father, but had attempted to bear his disappointment, and accept that he was never going to be one. Now that prospect was being offered up again, and this time, he felt more anxious and worried, afraid that something would again happen to snatch away at their dream of having children.
.........

Four months later, Sara had a c-section done to deliver her baby. And just like with his brothers before him -who had also been in the delivery room, and who had cut the cord- Raph was by Sara's side, watching with fatherly pride.

"You have a baby boy!" Jenny said. Don was doing the surgery and Jenny was helping to take the baby to help clean him up.

Raph leaned over and kissed Sara.

The baby's cry was the most beautiful sound in the room.

Leo, Mel, Kayla, Mikey, Master Splinter, April, and Casey all waited out in the living area anxiously. They could hear the baby's cries coming from within the room and figured everything was fine, but they wanted to know if the baby was a boy, or a girl.

Raph came out soon after, a big happy smile on his face. The others rushed over to him.

"I have a son!" He said all too proudly.

His family's happiness couldn't be contained.

"And how's Sara?" Kayla asked.

"Don's closing the incision right now, but she's just fine." Raph said. "Now I gotta get back to her. Just wanted to let you all know." Raph went back to the infirmary.

Soon after Sara was sewn up and bandaged, and placed in a new bed, then she was handed her son to hold for the first time. Raph was at her side too.

"So what do we want to name him?" Raph asked.

"I had looked up some good names, and if it was a boy, and since Leo had wanted to help us once, and his son has a Japanese name, I looked up Japanese names, and I liked Takeshi. It means 'the strong one.' And he was strong for holding on inside me." Sara said. "And he is strong, like his daddy."

Raphael gazed down at his son. He had his skin color and no hair, and the same number of digits on his fingers and toes as him.

"Takeshi Hamato. It has a good ring to it." Raph said.

"But had you thought of any names?" Sara asked her lover.

"I was worried all about you and him during the months you were carrying him. After all we had gone through to have him, I was hoping for a miracle that he was going to be born healthy." Raph said. "But I had gone through and looked up some names, but I like what you choose better. I didn't know if you would like mine."

"I know, we were both worried." She said.

Once the name was decided on, the family was invited into the room to meet their new nephew and grandson. "His name is Takeshi." Raph said happily.

"That's a great name, my son." Splinter said.

Takeshi was handed around to the family members very carefully, and even introduced to his older cousins, Sheila, Annie, and Yoshi.

Being over 4 years old now, the three older kids marveled at the new baby. Yoshi would be glad to have a little boy cousin, since he had been the only boy before now.

It had taken Raph and Sara so long to have this little miracle baby in the lair, and the whole family was proud of them to have succeeded at having their own baby despite the challenges that had been thrown in their way.

And after the neutering that had happened to Raphael, it had nearly rendered him being unable to be a father, but Master Splinter was more than happy that his son and his wife had found a way around that handicap. He would love having a grandchild from his fourth son too.

It would be hard to say when there would be more kids, but all the turtles were glad that they had found the girls of their dreams, and had made beautiful families with them. There would be hopefully generations of the turtles to come. They were their legacies. Their diversity.

The End