The Next Ultrasound (Part 2)

Posted on Tue Jun 28th, 2022 @ 4:10am by Captain Maho Takahashi & Commander Keisuke Takahashi 'K.T.' & Commander Victor Delling MD & Lieutenant Commander Brennyn Scott M.D.

1,260 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Trade Troubles
Location: Sickbay, Deck 7
Timeline: After 'The Next Ultrasound (Part 1)'

Previously, on Star Trek Myogi:

"Sounds good, Doc." Keisuke said. "So, shall we move this to a biobed and get the actual ultrasound underway?"

Delling took a glance at the Captain, whose color looked better. He'd been delaying that exact thing because she'd practically fallen into the seat. "Do you think you're alright to get to a biobed?".

"Yes, I think so." Maho responded.

And now, the continuation:

"Perfect. Through the door and into room one. It's a private room, so nobody will overhear your scan." He gestured to a small door just across the way that was labeled diagnostics and imaging.

Nodding, Maho got up and made her way with Keisuke by her side into the room Dr. Delling had described. The last CMO under Miyahara had previously used this space as an operating room; Maho supposed that things change with different doctors in charge.

Climbing onto the Biobed contained within the room, Maho undid her uniform to reveal her belly. Now at six weeks, her belly was beginning to protrude. If what she had read was true, and the baby would double in size by the following week, then it wouldn't be long before her secret was out. Not like it mattered too much, anyways, since it seemed like almost half the crew knew about it.

As Maho got onto the Biobed, Keisuke settled into one of the provided visitor chairs; the closest one to the biobed. Counselor Scott could have the other chair if she wished, but Keisuke wanted to be close to his wife. Surely, Scott would understand.

He scanned her belly, to measure her uterus, then offered Brennyn the scanner.

Bree had taken the outside visitor's chair, indeed content with letting the father to be sick close to his wife. Scott watched Victor begin the scan and she expected this would be an opportunity just to observe not merely his technique, but also his approach to explaining what he saw. When he handed her the scanner instead, she was inwardly a bit surprised, but outwardly, she took the moment in stride, excepting the scanner and offering a smile. "Let's see what else we can see, shall we?"

As Bree scanned the captain's belly, the scanner just an inch or so above the skin and emitting a slight hum and blue light as she moved the instrument downward. She pressed a button and immediately, a multidimensional hologram of the captain's uterus, and most importantly, the tiny life growing inside it. Pointing to A small dot with an even smaller flickering in the middle, Scott's smile widened. "There's your little one. I am pleased to report your baby is growing in just the right spot. That is, the baby is growing inside your uterus as opposed to outside, and just as I would expect at six weeks, your little one is about the size of a lentil bean." She expanded the image with a flick of her wrist, and immediately visible was a being that looked more like a jelly bean to her than a human being. Black spaces revealed where the eyes and nose would later form as well indents on either side of the head where the ears would be. Scott pointed at the tiny flicker. "See that? That is the baby's heartbeat." She paused then, turning to the parents to be and said, "Want to hear it?"

Keisuke's eyes widened.

"I wasn't aware the heartbeat was detectable this early." He admitted. "Well, babe, do you want to hear it?"

"Of course I want to hear it, silly." Maho responded. "If I've got to be responsible for carrying this thing inside me for the next 34 weeks, I want to make sure it's developing properly."

"Absolutely," Scott replied, already smiling in anticipation of what they were going to hear. There was nothing like introducing first time parents to the sound of their child's heartbeat. "Biologically, a human baby's heartbeat is always detectable about now, but in the old days, if you wanted to hear the heartbeat this early, the mother to be had to endure a vaginal ultrasound to hear it. Thankfully, our technology has come much further and you can hear it without that particular intrusion." Without further ado and with another flick of her wrist, Scott zoomed in on the baby's flickering heart and with the press of a button, what always sounded to her like the galloping of horses could be heard by everyone in the room. "There we are. Nice and steady, and absolutely perfect. The heartbeat is much faster right now than ours, and that will continue until he or she is about two years old, but the heartbeat does tend to slow a bit more by the third trimester, but it will still sound a lot faster than what you're used to hearing of your own heart."

Maho and Keisuke shared a smile; it was their first time hearing their child's heartbeat. The thing that they together had created was taking on life of its own this early into Maho's pregnancy.

"Well thank you doctor, counselor." Keisuke nodded to each of the two crewmembers dressed in teal. "This has been quite the informative experience. I understand that the previous doctor told us that because of modern technology, the gender was determinable this early on, but Maho and I would like to wait until the point when in the old days, the gender was determinable. It is my understanding that Maho's own mother waited until that point with both pregnancies, and it's a tradition that Maho wishes to carry on; a decision that I support, as her husband."

"Sounds like fun," Bree replied. "Should be fun letting the suspense build," she added with a grin.

"That's reasonable. I'll note it in the chart.". Victor agreed easily, his fingers entering a notation in the captains chart. "I would like you to switch to a hypo of prenatal vitamins for the moment instead of the pills, on the off chance that the vitamins themselves are upsetting your stomach. ". He handed the hypo that he'd filled with the solution to her.

"Alright;" Maho responded, accepting the hypospray. "Should I bring in the pills that I have left?"

"Nope just pop them in the recycler same as you do your empty dishes."

"Alright;" Maho nodded. "Are you still good with retaining your predecessor's schedule of weekly ultrasounds?"

"I believe that is unnecessary. There's nothing wrong with your pregnancy to require more than monthly scans."

"Very well;" Maho said, glad that she no longer had to endure weekly ultrasounds. "Will this time one month from now work for you?"

"Yes that should be fine." Victor said after pulling up his schedule on a PADD and glancing at it. "You can also walk in at any point, I'll be here. "

"In the meantime," Scott added, "I can put together some nutritional suggestions to ease your nausea and vomiting and offer suggestions for prenatal exercise. It's never too early to start practicing ways to ease stress, aches and pains as the pregnancy progresses and to prepare for labor."

"Sounds good." Maho said. "I'm usually reachable by PADD whenever I'm in the ready room, and I'll occasionally check in when I'm off duty, so feel free to send me your recommendations, and if I don't respond right away, I'm either out of the ready room or off duty and not checking my PADD."

Posting by

Captain Maho Takahashi
Commanding Officer

Commander Keisuke Takahashi
Second Officer

Lieutenant Commander Victor Delling
Chief Medical Officer

Lieutenant Brennyn Scott
Chief Counselor

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