On a Monday afternoon, Canterlot High, home of the Wondercolts (and a sleuth of unusual happenings) was ready to release their students to enjoy the rest of their day with friends and family. In a classroom towards the back, the last health class of the day was taking place. Mrs. Twilight Sparkle wrote on the whiteboard with percentages of how the students did on their most recent test. There were a few A's, plenty of B's and C's, two D's, and a single "F".
Not all the students in the class were very eager to see their results. One of the students, Drop Shot, feared for his results as he awaited for the tests to come back. He sat in his chair, shaking ever so slightly from the anxiety he felt. It was only this class in the school that he had a tough time struggling in over the past semester as every other class was a either a cakewalk or just passable. He wouldn’t have so much trouble in his health class if it weren’t for one unusual distraction.
Mrs. Sparkle finished writing on the board and turned towards the students but accidentally knocked over her empty coffee mug on her table. The students chuckled by the teacher's accidental bump but there wasn't much she could do with the little room she had, especially with her stomach as big as it was. She chuckled along, setting the mug back up and grabbed all of the tests.
“Alright, students,” she said, collecting the student’s attention, “I'm very impressed with these scores and you should all be happy with the results. When I call your name, please come up and fetch your paper. Now then. Jet Wave, Grape Bush...
Drop sat in his seat and felt a little calmer knowing that his grade won't be known to the entire class. If there was one thing he really dreaded, it was looking like an idiot in front of his peers. He continued to waited for his name to be called.
“...Teddy Stitches, Black Widow, Drop Shot…”
Drop got up from his seat and collected his test. He brought it back to his desk and looked at it for a moment and was horrified. He sat back down in defeated mood. The large "F" on his paper signified his sentencing as soon as he'd return home. But there seemed to be a sticky note on the back page of the test. He unstuck it and read it to himself, "Drop, please speak to me after class. Mrs. Sparkle"
Drop became a bit more worried. Not only would his mother be disappointed, but the teacher wanted to talk to him. That was never a good sign. He waited quietly in his seat until the bell rang.
“...Arm Stretch, and Branch Breaker--”
At that moment, the bell rang its final call of the day as the students all began to pack up and exit the classroom one-by-one.
“Don't forget, class,” the teacher called out, “Page 157, answer numbers 1-5! Be ready with your answers tomorrow at the beginning of class!”
The classroom had dispersed but Drop sat there alone and in a small panic. What was she going to say? It only made Drop more and more worried. He put a nervous smile on his face as Mrs. Sparkle walked, or rather waddled, up to him. She held a concerned face as she sat sideways in one of the desks towards Drop.
“Drop, this was the third test you've failed this semester,” she spoke to Drop in a sincere tone, “I won't pull any punches; if you don't do well on this last test, you will fail this class.”
Drop hung his head. He couldn't bear to look in her direction.
“I know, Mrs. Sparkle,” he responded, “I've been trying my best, but I can't get this nailed down.”
“Each test has had a lower grade each time you've taken one. Are there any problems with your study? If you're having trouble with questions or concentrating, you can speak to me whenever you wish. You know that, right?”
Drop looked up at her for a moment, then back down. His eyes landed right on her mountainous middle.
“I, uh, I know.”
“But I can still help you. You can boost this grade with a retake this Friday after class.”
Drop's eyes lit up when he heard those words, and he looked her in the face with a little hope.
“Do you mean it, Mrs. Sparkle?”
“Of course, Drop. I can schedule a one-on-one study group between the two of us alone wherever you may feel comfortable to learn. This classroom, the library. Whatever works for you.”
Drop blushed slightly at the thought of that.
“Me? Alone with my heavily pregnant teacher? Gee, I never thought what that would be like. Wait! What am I thinking? Come on, Drop! Focus!”
“In-In the library,” he said, snapping out of his trance.
“I can work with that. But I'll only be available on Wednesday so you'll need to do some self-studying so you'll have a good place to start showing what you've learned. From there, I can help you with whatever you're struggling on.”
“Okay, thanks for letting me do this, Mrs. Sparkle.”
The teacher pulled out a pen and a planning book with her daily schedules.
“Are you available at 3:00 Wednesday?”
“Yeah, I’m just needed back home by five for dinner.”
She wrote down the tutoring session in her planning book quickly.
“Alright, so for now, tell your parents that the test results were delayed due to an unexpected doctor’s appointment with my pregnancy and don't sweat these results. I'm confident you'll do a better job when you retake this test.”
“I’ll try harder, Mrs. Sparkle, thank you.”
Drop collected his books and exited the classroom. During his walk out of the building, he thought back to when she mentioned her pregnancy.
“This is just either weird or surreal or maybe both! Me and my pregnant teacher, together and alone in a study session. Ugh, I don’t know how to feel about this! The test topic is human reproduction, for Pete’s sake! Sh-should I probably ask if I could be able to feel a glimpse of her baby for an example...maybe? ...Oh there I go again--snap out of it, Drop!”
Drop’s maieusophile nature had been the major learning block for the past several months. Back when the semester began, he was unable to think of anything else in his health class but his pregnant teacher, who had started off small, but slowly grew to her eight-month size. The bigger her belly grew, the more distracted Drop became. And being the second-to-last test, if he hadn’t been spoken to by his teacher, he would failed have failed his class for sure.
“Mrs. Sparkle is counting on me, Drop spoke to himself, “I can’t fail her again. This time I’m going to go home, read through the chapter again, and not get distracted by my own material. ...why does that sound harder when I say it out loud?”
He shrugged the question off and exited the building.
Author's Note
This particular story is a remastering of an old collaboration I did with another friend of mine who's no longer a brony but gave me permission to do so. This might be a stub, but next chapter, prepare for a lot of reading.
Over the next two days, Drop Shot would take to his Health book and attempt to study the subject as best as he could. But he wasn't able to concentrate as much as he'd hoped. The thought of his pregnant teacher tutoring him on the subject he secretly obsessed on constantly made his face light up and distract his thoughts, to which he would have the need to snap himself out of his self-trances.
His two days of self-study helped only little as the Wednesday afternoon rolled in and the final bell of the day rang. Once all other students were out of earshot, Drop tapped his fingers on the desk while looking up at her teacher putting things away behind the desk.
“Okay, Drop. It's just a study session. Just concentrate and everything will be fine. Don’t stare at your teacher or she’ll think you’re a creep.”
Mrs. Sparkle grabbed her belongings rather quickly. She seemed to be in a bit of a hurry.
“Uh, is something the matter, Mrs. Sparkle?” Drop asked.
“Everything’s fine, Drop,” she answered back, “But could you meet me in the library? I need to take care of something before we get started. I placed us in a private tutoring room upstairs, look for my name on one of the door's whiteboards.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Drop grabbed his belongings and wandered into the library. The room had gotten a few upgrades over the past decade, including the upstairs tutoring rooms aligned together in a perfect circle with eight separated rooms. He passed in between circled area and walked around the second story of the library until he found Mrs. Sparkle's name written on a board hanging on one of the doors.
“Thank my lucky stars these rooms can’t be seen from the outside. Those tinted glass walls are a miracle.”
Drop opened the door to the small room. It had two large tables, five chairs and a single white board. Two of the walls pointing inward and outward of the circular arrangement were made of tinted glass while the other two pointing walls were made up of drywall. He took his seat at the table and pulled out his books and papers as he waited for his teacher.
Drop hummed a tune to himself to calm his nerves as he looked at his textbook, trying to read the passages one more time. But the student kept finding himself distracted by the drawings of all the pregnant body diagrams.
The 3:00 bell rang and Drop awaited for the teacher to enter the room. Ten minutes pass...she was still nowhere to be seen.
“She did seem to be in a hurry, maybe she just got slowed down by talking to another teacher.”
Curious to her whereabouts, he stood up and looked through the glass walls. There were only a small amount of students and the librarian. He then turned around and attempted to open the door to look down the hall.
WHACK!
Drop fell onto the floor rubbing his head from where the door smacked him. He looked up to see a blurry vision coming to him. When he came to, all he could see was a round stomach covered in a dark green shirt and a concerned teacher with shock on her face.
“Oh my goodness!” his teacher gasped, “Drop, I am so sorry, are you alright?”
“Yeah...I-I’m fine,” he said, his face becoming a deep shade of blushing red. It was a good thing his skin was red enough to hide his blushing from his teacher. What Mrs. Sparkle did begin to notice, however, was Drop’s nose leaking a bit of blood.
“Oh--wait right there, Drop.”
She set her purse onto one of the tables and pulled out a plastic bag of tissue paper.
“Is something that matter, Mrs. Sparkle?” Drop questioned as he rubbed the spot where his head was smacked.
“The door accident gave you a bloody nose. Here, move your head forward, pinch your nose, and clean your nostril with this.”
“Wow, that bad, huh?
Drop did exactly as he was told. He sat on the ground and held his body in position for a few minutes until the nosebleed disipated. The teacher handed him a moist towlette to clean his hands while he tossed out the bloody tissue paper in the room's trash can.
“I'm so sorry for not being here sooner. I needed to take an emergency trip to the little teacher's room before I could start with your tutoring. Do you need help getting up?”
It's alright, Mrs. Sparkle. I can get up myself.”
He took a deep breath, and pulled himself up from the carpeted ground. His upper arm brushed up against her belly, accidentally tapping her. With widened eyes, he immediately retracted his arm in embarrassment, keeping the space he believed the teacher needed.
“Are you still able to continue with the tutoring or would you like to visit the nurse's office first, Drop?”
“I’m fine, Mrs. Sparkle. Really!”
“Well, alright. I'll set up while you get back in your seat.”
Drop strolled to the table and sat down while Mrs. Sparkle started writing on the board.
“Smooth, genius. She would have suspected something from that brushing--GAH! Forget her, I need to focus on this retake now! No more distractions, I have to focus!”
Drop pulled out his notes and turned to the first page of the chapter. He had managed to write down a significant amount of notes, plenty enough to feel more confident than he was before taking the test the first time. He lifted his head to the whiteboard in front of him where his teacher had finished writing down on the whiteboard. It only said "Chapter 7: Human Reproduction.”
“We'll start from the beginning and work your way up,” Mrs. Sparkle explained, “If you have any questions concerning the test or the subject at hand, don't let me stop you.”
“Not at the moment. No.”
“I mean only stop me if you have anything want to ask or add.”
“Oh, ahem, Okay.”
Mrs. Sparkle began drawing on the board again. She made a diagram of the female reproductive system showing the vagina, cervix, uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries. Drop tested his memory on the terms. Sadly, he felt he had some of the answers mixed up.
“Reproduction begins here, inside the woman after a sexual intercourse with her partner. The ejaculation will cause millions of sperm to enter through the vagina, up the uterus, and through the fallopian tubes. If a female and male have sex within several days of the female's ovulation, fertilization can occur and only one sperm is needed to fertilize the woman's egg.”
That little part of the lecture rang a bell for Drop. He remembered the terms, but got cervix, and vagina switched around in his head. When he realized that, a voice in his head said "idiot."
“Great. I almost believed a cervix and vagina were the same. Idiot.”
“About a week after the sperm fertilizes the egg, the fertilized egg, or a zygote, has become a multicelled blastocyst, which is a hollow ball of cells with fluid inside. It burrows itself into the lining of the uterus, called the endometrium. The hormone estrogen causes the endometrium to become thick and rich with blood. Progesterone, another hormone released by the ovaries, keeps the endometrium thick with blood so that the blastocyst can attach to the uterus and absorb nutrients from it. From there, the embryotic phase begins.”
Drop raised his hand.
“Yes, Drop?”
“How long after fertilization might a woman know that she's actually pregnant?”
“A good question. The mother will start to release a hormone that a home pregnancy test can detect once it builds up in the body. Most people recommend waiting two weeks to test, or once there has been a missed period. But these facts won’t appear on your test.”
“And what's that hormone called?”
“It’s HCG, or ‘Human Chorionic Gonadotropin’,”
Drop made a mental note of that while he wrote down those three words, along with the abbreviation.
“Before we continue, you won't feel uncomfortable with these next few bits, will you? It discusses the changes inside and out of the woman during gestation. If you do, I can remove them from the test.”
“N-no,” he hesitated, “It'll be okay, I’m sure.”
“Very well.”
Despite his unusual interest, this was the part that Drop did look forward to. It was obvious what changed on the outside, but not so obvious on the inside. He was genuinely interested as he flipped the book’s pages to to the proper section.
Mrs. Sparkle started drawing on the board again. She created a side view of a woman and labeled it "Month 1", before continuing to draw details on the woman. The more she drew, the more Drop began to realize that it started to look just like her. She then made an oval-like shape inside the image's private parts and planted a single dot in the oval.
“Wait, is that drawing supposed to be you?” Drop asked his teacher.
“Well, we may be using a book, but I decided to make this test based on my baby's reproduction. Pretty fitting, huh? Not even born yet and he's been a huge help this month.”
“Uh...heh, he sure has…?”
His eyes landed back onto her round shape as something kicked from underneath her shirt, causing Drop’s heart to jump. The teacher turned around before Drop's face light up. And luckily for him, having her turn around and her belly facing away from him allowed him to shake off his minor heart attack and continue concentrating...hopefully. He took the opportunity and wrote down a few more notes, doing his best to recall what it was she said. But the kick he saw coming from his teacher's stomach made it difficult to remember.
“Everything I had covered about the blastocyst-to-embryo happens all within the first month. The baby's starting size is essentially the tip of a sharpened pencil and after only three weeks the gender is developed but is still too early to decipher. Along with the baby's changes, the mother will begin to feel the symptoms as early as her first day pregnant. Can you name some of the ones that are common, Drop?
“Um...morning sickness?”
“Correct, but that is one of a few. Can you name a second?”
His eyes darted through his notes, but nothing came up.
“Surely you would have seen media, live action or cartoons that reminds you of some of these moments.”
“I actually don't watch much television, Mrs. Sparkle. I spend most of my time fishing in the river.”
“Very well. Women may feel the following: Morning sickness, unusual cravings, fatigue, nausea, a constant need to urinate, and even tender nipples. That last bit will be brought up again a little later.”
“Why did she have to say ‘tender nipples’? And there was that many symptoms? You stupid boy, how could you forget those?"
He quickly wrote down those as bullet points in his notes as Mrs. Sparkle returned to the board and changed the woman's model slightly. She erased the small dot in the oval and made it slightly larger, followed by changing the picture title to "Month 2".
“The second month of pregnancy changes the zygote to an embryo status. The previous symptoms discussed in month one are present, along with hormones and mood swings, but are now slightly more severe. The baby will at least be less than an inch large during this stage and will now have a beating heart along with all of its limbs.”
“Oh, wow,” Drop reacted surprisingly, “A heartbeat that early on. Fascinating.”
The teacher raised a questionable eyebrow.
“That's going to be on the test. If you're as fascinated as you say, you'll write that down so you won't forget.”
“‘Beating...heart...and...limbs.’ Ok, keep the notes coming.”
“The embryo will now begin to accelerate in development from here on out and be referred to as a fetus. It will learn to breathe and be nourished through the mother's placenta, which is essentially the baby's pillow but also its nourishment station all while continuing to develop in its amniotic sac.”
Drop listened as best he could to every word and writing down notes. Even with the main points written, he constantly zipped his eyes back and forth between his notes and his teacher’s midsection.
Back on the board, the teacher now erased not only the oval but also the model's front side before writing "Month 3" at the top. She redrew the front with a slightly widened middle, a now noticeable drawing of a fetus inside the woman and redrew the chest region but was barely larger than months one or two.
“Okay...I never would have thought I'd be sitting here seeing my teacher draw breasts on the board right in front of me."
“As the woman enters month three, the changes are now visible on her. She'll notice her first bump at this stage along with a surprising increase in breast size. Although the mother may begin to feel bigger, she'll start to feel less of the symptoms from the first two months as her body starts to adjust to the changes. The baby should be the size of a small fruit and continuing to develop its other internal systems like its muscles and liver. But even at this stage, it's still difficult to see what the gender is.”
Mrs. Sparkle looked back at her student and noticed Drop’s lack of attention.
“Are you going to write this down, Drop?”
“Oh! Uh, yes, ma’am.”
He quickly put his pencil to his paper, feeling a bit nervous as he did so. His teacher may have seemed clueless, but she was starting to notice Drop's lack of focus. Was he worried about his grade? Would his parents punish him severely? She asked these questions to herself as she continued on with the lecture. She wrote "Month 4" and redrew the front of the model again with a bigger belly and a slightly bigger chest size. The bigger the model’s belly grew, the worse Drop’s focus became.
“Month four begins the second trimester of the pregnancy. This is also the time when the mother begins to feel fewer illnesses and adjust to her continuously growing shape. But she’s still not feeling any better. The baby inside her is still making her fatigued as she and her baby gain weight. The fetus is now the size of an avocado and will now be able to open its eyes and move its fingers. And more exciting for the mother is that the fetus may begin to kick and move inside the mother.”
Drop began to think of how he'd like to see the baby kick under his teacher's shirt again. He watched for it for a moment, but nothing more came than the surprise a few moments ago.
W-wait...what did she say? Oh no, not again!
“You haven't asked me anything in a little while, the teacher took notice, “Do you have any questions or concerns, Drop?”
“Yeah. Uh...could you repeat that last part?”
“...I said that the mother will be able to start feeling her baby move inside her.”
“Ok, got it.”
It was easy for Drop to tell that her patience was beginning to get thin. He didn't want to make her mad, especially when he considered her condition. He got right to taking more notes, and made a mental note to himself never to ask that question again.
Mrs. Sparkle didn't want her student to fail, but she wanted to know what was concerning Drop badly. But she continued on with the lecture as she changed the model yet again for "Month 5" with a bigger belly and slightly larger chest but this time the model's stomach took on a bit more weight than usual.
“The fifth month marks the halfway mark in pregnancy. New symptoms may appear like an increased hunger and perhaps some bloating. Women may also get an unusual line running up and down the middle of their stomach, called the linea nigra, and even their belly button may pop out. Inside, the fetus gains its immunity system to sickness or diseases along with more organs like the spleen developing. It's much more mobile now and its brain continues to greatly develop.”
Drop was able to keep hold of his concentrate for a few more moments as his pencil scribbled and scratched at the paper in front of him.
“I don't know how good you are at math, Drop, but how large do you suppose the fetus is at this point?”
Math was one of Drop's best subjects, but size comparisons wasn’t a part of it.
“I think the size of an orange?”
“A bit off, it’s the size of an artichoke.”
“Right. I just couldn't think of something that was a bit larger than an avocado. My first thought was orange, but even then I was doubting my answer.”
“That's alright. Estimations are different for most pregnant women anyway, and even my answer isn’t a definitive one.”
Mrs. Sparkle turned back to the model and continued to update it. The belly continued to grow along with the breast size and the fetus.
“Month six,” the teacher began, writing said month on the board, “ends the second trimester but the symptoms return in full force. The baby will gain a pound every week as the fatigue becomes more and more apparent to her. Her baby has been pushing on her organs so she'll have a shortness of breath as well. Some extra symptoms to note are bleeding gums, heartburn, cramps and something called "varicose veins", which are visible veins in the mother's legs caused by all the weight being forced into them. Although they aren't harmful, the mother is recommended to see a doctor about them. Her baby is now developing to the size of an ear of corn. More movement occurs as it can move its arms entirely and even make noises with its developed vocal cords.
“Wow. It can do all of that and it hasn't even fully developed inside the mother yet.”
Drop took one more look at the model on the board, and then at Mrs. Sparkle's stomach once he'd finished writing. It amazed him to think all of that was happening inside his teacher right now.
Wait...if those varicose veins can happen to the mother, then why hasn’t she rested herself? She shouldn’t be standing up all the time for me!
“Before we move to the next month, you've noticed something else growing along with the baby with the models, correct?”
This time Drop’s blush almost noticeable.
“Y-yes...I have.”
“Starting around the second trimester, the mother has been creating milk for her baby to nurse off of, right? Almost. It's a bit more complicated than that. During pregnancy, hormones prepare the mother's breasts for feeding. The milk ducts swell and expand underneath the breasts while the mother's nipples may grow darker, larger, and appear to have a bumpy texture. All of which are tied into the pregnancy…”
Drop became too absorbed in those words. He pictured it all in his head, and his pencil never touched the paper. That was until he realized he didn't write anything. Snapping out of yet another trance, he quickly wrote down what his teacher explained. As much as he could remember.
“...Now the mother creates milk in her milk ducts first, correct? Wrong. A pre-milk fluid, colostrum, which is a thin, yellow, and much more edible fluid, is created for the newborn to feed before the mother's milk arrives. There will be moments where a mother might accidentally give a discharge of milk during mid or late pregnancy but these happenings are normal for them.”
Mrs. Sparkle turned from her books to her student, now noticing his blushing face and dabs of sweat on his forehead. There was no hiding it now, as she closed her book and put down her pen to confront the struggling student.
“Drop, you’re not looking so well. Are you alright?”
“O-of course I am,” he stuttered, “Why w-wouldn't I be?”
“Am I going too fast for you? Or was this subject something that I needed to remove from the test after all?”
“NO! No. Neither of those. It's just…”
Drop looked away from his teacher to a reflection of himself on the glass wall. After glancing at his panicked, sweaty mess of a face, he finally realized how this embarrassment was going to cost him an entire semester's worth of school work. Taking a deep breath, he finally decided to share his feelings to his pregnant instructor.
“...something else.”
“Something else?” she questioned.
The teacher pulled another chair in the room and kindly gestured Drop to move a little down the table as she placed a chair next to him so that she may have his attention.
“Drop, please,” she begged, “If there is something wrong, you know you can tell me.”
Drop twiddled his fingers for a moment before responding.
“Can I tell you a secret?”
Mrs. Sparkle nodded her head in agreement in hopes of learning why her student is having a hard time focusing.
“It's kind of personal, but I...uh...I...I have a...a thing for pregnant…....girls.”
His face went the deepest shade of red. He wanted nothing else but to disappear from existence. Mrs. Sparkle kept quiet to herself for a few brief moments.
“Is that why you've been so distracted from your school work?” the teacher questioned.
Drop could only look away from his tutor and nod. He then felt a calm hand being placed upon his shoulder.
“Please don't beat yourself up, Drop. That's not good for your health. Remember? We discussed this in chapter 4 and you had a somewhat decent grade on that.”
“I-I know. I just always doubt myself in everything I do. Also that's the first time I've told anyone my secret.”
“You shouldn't really doubt yourself, Drop. I see potential in all of my students. For example, you said you fished, right? Well I may not know a thing about fishing, but you must not have any doubts if you're capable of catching them.”
“That varies from day to day. Some days I'll catch the big one, and on others I won't catch any at all. One thing my parents tell me I am is persistent.”
“Persistent how?”
“Whether I do really well, or very poorly I always seem to try again and again.”
“You mean like what you've agreed to here? You must not feeling much doubt if you're in my classroom agreeing to a retake.”
“Believe me when I tell you I always start with doubt.”
The teacher took a pause to absorb the conversation.
“I believe you, Drop. But if you ask me, you're capable of turning that doubt into determination.”
“I really hope you're right about that, Mrs. Sparkle.”
“I know I'm right. I have hope for all of my students.”
Having his teacher encouraging him despite the uncomfortable secret reveal put a slight smile on Drop’s face
“Thanks for having hope for me, Mrs. Sparkle.”
“Any time, Drop.”
Although Drop was starting to feeling a little better, his teacher still noticed his uncomfortable gesture. Being the caretaking teacher she was, it would be fair to have Drop not feel alone in his situation.
“Can I share an interesting tidbit I read on a health magazine, Drop?”
“Um, of course,” Drop responded, “What is it?”
“If I recall, the article I read a human psyche article that said ‘the more exposed a child was to his mother being pregnant and breastfeeding when they was between 1.5 and 5 years old, the more likely they is to be sexually attracted to pregnancy’.”
“Are you...are you serious?”
“I wouldn’t be sharing it if it wasn’t written for an article.”
“Um, wow, Drop commented on his teacher’s readings, “That does make me feel a bit better. Thanks for telling me.”
Mrs. Sparkle chuckled.
“Well you must be feeling better. Aren't you confused though? This is something you don't hear every day. And from you own pregnant teacher as well.”
“I'll say it is.”
An idea sparked in Mrs. Sparkle’s mind. There was a way to keep Drop's attention to her lecture.
“Are you ready to continue your lesson, Drop? We have three more months and the delivery left to review.”
“Yes. I'm ready.”
“Very well.”
The teacher left the seat and returned to the whiteboard. She updated the model again and called it "Month 7".
“We're now onto the final trimester. In fact, last month was the time I needed to write my maternity leave papers so I can get ready to give birth to my baby.”
“It was?”
“I haven't told the class yet, but next Friday is my last day of teaching before my maternity leave.”
“It is? Oh..well, we'll all miss you when you’re gone, Mrs. Sparkle.”
“Oh, thank you, Drop. But let's not dwell on that and get back to the lesson, shall we?”
Drop nodded his head in agreement.
“Month seven becomes an anxious wait for the mother. Her body's been through so much that they wouldn't know how it ends. But that doesn't stop more symptoms from coming to remind her of that. Mothers may start to have cramps in their hands and feet and may have looser joints. Although the latter may sound helpful, her body is preparing to deliver the baby when the time comes. In fact, the baby itself is now more active than ever. And I doubt I have to explain how much my child's been active since I turned seven months pregnant myself.”
“Y-Yeah. I have to confess I saw the baby kick once before during this lesson.”
“Oh, heh, I did notice that but I tried to ignore it at the time because I'm trying to help you as much as I can.”
“I appreciate it, Mrs. Sparkle,” Drop said as he wrote down the month’s important bullets in his notes.
“Anyway, the fetus, now the size of a cauliflower or squash, is not only more active now, but more key features are being completed such as the taste buds. At seven months, it is technically safe for a baby to be born without being too premature but they would still have thin skin and underdeveloped lungs. But hopefully the mother won't have any need to go into labor this early.”
“Actually, I have heard a story or two about premature births. My brother was actually born at only seven months.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. He weighed only three pounds and had to stay in the hospital for forty days.”
“Pardon my concern, but did your brother recover from such a premature birth?”
“Oh he’s completely fine. He's actually nine years older than I am.”
“My, that must have been a tough time for your mother and father. And it was her first baby?”
“Yep. He's the oldest of the three of us.”
“That's very interesting. So your mother should have had you and your other sibling much more easily, then, given how a second and third pregnancy works. This won't be on the test, but a mother having her second pregnancy actually makes it a completely different lesson compared to what I'm teaching you. For example; her stretched womb has the capacity for her second baby to start showing as early as the second month of pregnancy.”
“That early?”
“Who knows, maybe I'll add that as an extra credit question for you.”
“That...would be awesome, Mrs. Sparkle.”
“That's only if I'm having a very good day. But these days I'm getting so big, I feel as though my moodiness keeps coming back.”
“Well it'll only be for a little while longer, right?”
We'll discuss my month in development very soon. Let's continue, we're nearly there now.”
The teacher went back up and changed the model to "Month 8".
“The mother's womb will rapidly grow in these last few months as her baby gains a pound every week from here on out. It's gotten so large inside her that the baby is pushing on her organs causing her a lack of breath, heartburn, indigestion, and pelvic pressure. She's becoming constantly worried about what the delivery holds for her and the unborn child so she's asked to be more active as even sitting for long periods of time may cause discomfort. Which is why I've mostly been standing and drawing these diagrams for you.”
“That would explains a concern I had earlier. I was wondering if it caused any kind of discomfort.”
“Now you know. The fetus is now beginning its preparations to exit the uterus. Its head starts shifting towards the pelvis, ready to be caught by doctors for labor. And speaking of the uterus, the baby, now at least the size of a cabbage and weighing a good amount, will have less room to move. It's still capable of kicking and moving to let the mother know it's ready when she is. But even then, the baby is still preparing the heart, brain and lungs for delivery this late into the pregnancy.”
“Those muscles sure do take a while to develop.”
The teacher nodded as she let Drop scribble down what he could. Mrs. Sparkle’s lecture and comfort for her student had made him feel more confident with himself as he held his major focus towards his notes than her appearance.
She changed the model once again to "Month 9". The outline pretty much matched what she looked like perfectly in size and shape.
“And now, we've come to my current month. You could probably take note that my trip to the bathroom was actually one of the returning symptoms for this month,” she joked as she blushed from the accident that she caused earlier.
“Oh, right,” he chuckled.
“Joking aside, the last month of pregnancy is the most anticipated for a pregnant woman. She's about to become a full nine months pregnant and she may or may not go into labor as scheduled. Sometimes she'd be a week or two early and sometimes she'd have even longer to wait. But thanks to her baby, some of the pushed organs inside her are given some space as the baby begins a small descent towards the pelvis, ready to exit the womb. It's now the size of a melon and will now have toenails and fingernails developed, along with the last parts of its organs, its lungs, brain, and heart, developed fully. But it won't always be that case. Due dates are usually 38 to 40 weeks but babies are known to be fully developed around this time.”
Drop wrote the last few bits in his notes, and before he knew it, he had 4 full pages of info to study for the test Friday. The teacher read a few more segments in her book, wondering if there was anything else to bring up before moving onto the labor portion.
“Normally I'd jump to the delivery, but there is an optional tenth month I can discuss.”
“If it's on the test, go right ahead.”
“Just know that I'm making it one of the extra credit questions, though.”
Mrs. Sparkle returned to the board again. This time she hesitated as she wasn't sure how to make a ten-month belly as she hadn’t reached that stage. But she drew to the best of her ability and labeled it "Month 10".
“Month 10 is a rare occasion for mothers. Only a small percentage reach this stage of pregnancy and now they can literally say they're the size of watermelon because that's just how big their baby is. If the fetus' organs weren't fully developed before, they should be fully functioning now and ready to be born. Mothers will now be even more anxious as their side effects of cramping legs, extra fatigue and more Braxton Hicks contractions prepare them for their due date, along with a baby that's having even less room to move.”
Drop decided to write all this down and thought about how uncomfortable it must be for both the baby and the mother if the pregnancy were to reach the full ten months.
“Babies are normally being born but there are women out there that actually somehow moved past the tenth month as well. A world record has indicated that someone was still pregnant for an extra 95 days, or a total of 375 days pregnant and the baby was still fine!”
“Over a year? Are you serious?” He asked with a face of disbelief.
“Absolutely. Read it on a magazine just this year for a new world record. I mean, honestly. This woman must have had a womb of steel to continue developing her baby for that long. I pray that her baby will not suffer any long-term side effects from such a long gestation.”
“I'm hoping the same thing.”
“If I ever go in for a 40 week meeting, I'm going to ask to be induced instead of waiting an extra two to three months.”
“Well, I wouldn't blame you there.”
The teacher rotated back to the board and this time erases her model entirely. She then redraws a pregnant body from the chest to the hips on its back and labels the topic at the top of the board "Labor and Delivery". Drop followed suit with a fresh piece of paper and a pencil that was almost dulled.
“After almost a full year of preparations, the mother is more than ready to give birth. But the process is much more complicated and complex than she realizes. The baby at this point has been pressing on her cervix more and more causing the mucus plug around her cervix to loosen and release the amniotic fluid. This is the mother's water breaking and the beginning of labor as contractions which squeeze the uterus will now begin to slowly increase over time. Labor is divided into three phases, the first being the longest and the second and third being the delivery phase.”
“How long does delivery usually take?”
“Approximately 8 to 18 hours. Since this is my first, it should hopefully be in the shorter times. But don't let those numbers fool you; sometimes labor might be only a few hours and even shorter than a single hour.”
“My mother once told me that she took only three hours to deliver me.”
“Maybe because you weren't her first child so she delivered you faster than your older siblings.”
“I wouldn't know. She never told me how long it took with my brother or my sister.”
“I guess you may ask her when you feel comfortable to do so.”
“Which would be never. That would just be too awkward.”
“You could possibly bring it up at a family reunion if one of the other relatives asks.”
“Maybe, I guess.”
The teacher returns to her lecture.
“The first phase begins after her water breaks. She will have contractions that dilate her cervix and can last as long as 8-12 hours. Her contractions will speed up slowly but gradually as well as slowly dilate her cervix to 10 cm.”
For some reason, Drop cringed at the thought of 8-12 hours of continuous pain. But it was something worth noting as he wrote the phase down.
“The second phase is the birthing phase. When the mother reaches 10cms, she's ready to begin pushing and deliver her baby as it will be sliding into her birth canal. Every contraction she feels will instruct her to push her baby out slowly and rest between pushes. This process can last from 20 minutes to 2 hours. Because of the elastic substance the mother's uterus is made of, the baby will be able to be pushed towards the exit because of skull plates that have yet to still be fully formed. They slide past the vaginal opening when the baby crowns, or the head begins to be exposed, and reform after delivery.”
“Wow. I can't imagine what that must be like.”
“Well...that's going to be me in about a month or so…I’ll have the honor of finding the answer pretty soon.”
“Right. Well I hope it all goes without a hitch for you.”
“Thank you, Drop. Now, once the baby is delivered, the third and final stage commences. It only lasts less than 20 minutes but the mother will gradually push out the placenta that's cushioned the baby since fertilization. Once it's out, the baby is fully born and can start nursing from the mother. And what's coming out of the mother's body? Not milk but...?”
“C-colostrum?”
The teacher turned to her student with an approved smile.
“And that answer gives me confidence you'll do great at your retake this Friday.”
“I'll do my best, Mrs. Sparkle.”
“I know you will, Drop,” she reassured him, “And I hope this session has given you more confidence than when you first entered.”
“Believe me, it has.”
“Well, our session time is up. We'll meet here Friday after class and I'll have you retake the test. Review your notes and be prepared.”
“I will. Thanks for doing this for me.”
“My pleasure, Drop. Get home safely now.”
Drop and Mrs. Sparkle packed their things up and exit the tutoring room. It would be a lengthy two days of studying for him but thanks to his newfound confidence given by his teacher, Drop felt less distracted and focused more on his test than ever.
Author's Note
If you've reached the end of this chapter, congratulations! You learned about pregnancy in a My Little Pony: Equestria Girls fan fiction..............~~shoot me.~~
Friday rolled in as the final bell rang for the weekend but Drop knew where he had to be. He exited the classroom and traveled to the library and climbed up the stairs to the same tutoring room he was taught in. With a newly sharpened pencil, Drop was ready to show just how much he'd improved...if the teacher was already here. Once again her absence was noted, but thankfully she arrived before any thoughts could be made.
“Whew...sorry about that, Drop,” she spoke a little out of breath, “You know why I'm late, right?”
“Yes. I understand, Mrs. Sparkle.”
“Alright, come and get your test. I'll wait for you to finish.”
Drop took a deep breath. A rare second chance had surfaced, and he intended to take full advantage of the opportunity. He took the test back to the desk and began answering the questions one by one as Mrs. Sparkle pulled out her pregnancy guide book and began to read it. Drop’s eyes darted left and right reading each question as carefully as possible before answering. His test was a multitude of different answering methods. Blank lines, A-B-C-D, matching vocabulary and a final paragraph along with the extra credit she mentioned. It took half an hour but Drop finished the last question and began reviewing his answers. After a quick run through his paper, he had finished his retake test.
Drop got back up, and headed over to the teacher's desk. He laid the sheets of paper in front of her and returned to his seat. His teacher put away her book and began to grade it. The only noise being made was the ticking of the tutor room's clock.
Drop sat there, waiting. His eyes wandered around the room, looking first at the floor where he saw a lone ant making it's long trek across to the door, then over to the board where Mrs. Sparkle had drawn the models a couple of days ago. It was a long lecture, but an informative one nonetheless. Then his eyes settled upon his teacher. He watched as she took her pen, and looked over his answers cautiously.
“That kid of hers is going to have a loving and responsible mother. I’m sure of it.
The deafening silence ended as Mrs. Sparkle's pen tapped against the desk and she approached Drop with her paper. He sat there, eyeing the back of the second test, hoping for a more positive grade than before. The teacher finally placed down on his desk and her teacher removed her hand. 105. Drop's eyes widened. He had confidence but he never expected a grade quite like that. He sat there in silence for several moments, heavily certain that 105/100 wasn't anything to cry about.
“YES!!” he exclaimed, throwing a fist pump into the air.
“I was hoping you'd enjoy your score.”
As Drop looked back at his grade with pride, his eyes accidentally noticed his teacher' baby making its presence known through her dark purple shirt with a small kick. His pride turned into shyness as he hid his face using his test papers. But his teacher did notice the kicking and placed a hand where she felt it.
“I think he's happy for you, too.”
“Uh, is he now?”
He looked back down at his teacher's round middle again.
“I think he is.”
She rubs the spot she was kicked at and gets an idea to congratulate her student.
“Drop? If I allow you to do something, will you promise me to do much better with the rest of the semester?”
“Of course, Mrs. Sparkle. Your lecture has given me a passing chance in health for sure now.”
She walked around and took a seat on the chair next to Drop and removed her glasses.
“Would you...like to feel him?”
Drop's face became noticeably redder than before.
“R-really?”
“This is only between you and me,” she shared, “Plus with that grade, I think you deserve it.”
“O-Okay. Thanks, Mrs. Sparkle.”
Drop looked back down at her baby bump, fighting hard to push away his shyness, as he slowly brought his hand forth. He placed his palm calmly on her purple shirt that was being slightly stretched by her stomach. His hand was right where the baby kicked, and he could feel some movement under her skin.
“Astounding…”
For some strange reason, Mrs. Sparkle's face was actually turning red. But unlike Drop, her skin wasn't red enough to hide her blushing.
“Are you okay, Mrs. Sparkle?”
“Well, um, I don't allow anyone but my husband to do this, so...this is a really rare occasion.”
“O-Oh,” Drop muttered with a blushed, looking back down at her belly, “Well, this is actually the first time any woman has ever invited me to do this.”
“I felt like you wanted to know how it felt...heh.”
“I was always a little curious.”
“We should both be glad students can't see through that glass, or this would be extremely awkward for both of us.”
“Y-Yeah. It would be, wouldn’t it?”
“Now, I was thinking of planning a farewell party next Friday. A class get-together at the local bowling alley for a pizza party after class.”
“Hey, that should be fun.”
“They wouldn't charge me for bringing my own bowling ball, would they?” she joked.
Drop laughed, “No, I don’t think they would mind.”
“Hm-hm. I'm sorry, that was terrible. Pinkie wanted me to make that joke.”
“I figured that's who'd come up with it.”
“And that same person will help pitch in for our pizzas, thank our lucky stars.”
“Awesome!”
“So don't tell anyone about this yet; I want it to be a surprise for next Monday.”
“You can count on me, Mrs. Sparkle. My lips are sealed.”
After a few more moments, Drop removed his hand. Both he and his teacher sat in silence for a moment.
“So, are you going to miss me when I'm gone?”
“Yeah. You're the only teacher that's offered a tutoring session and a test retake to me.”
“Just me? The teacher asked with confusion, “Are you sure some of the other teachers haven't done the same? Or have you just not participated in these kinds of sessions until now?”
“None of them have...at least that I'm aware of.”
“I can assure you any of the staff here at Canterlot High would have brought it up.”
“I never heard about it if they did.”
“That may be something you want to pay attention to next time. I won't be around for much longer, after all. And you did promise me to look into doing better after I'm gone. I hope you keep it for both our sakes.”
“I'll do my best, Mrs. Sparkle.”
The teacher carefully sat up and offered a hand to Drop. She picks him up and looks at his student.
“And I know you will Drop,” she finished.
Drop is suddenly embraced by a hug from his teacher as her own personal farewell gift. With one more blushed face being caused by the belly against his body, Drop returned the hug with enough care to not hurt his pregnant teacher. The hug ends and they both separate.
“Well, let's not keep our families waiting. We've got futures ahead of us, do we not?”
“We sure do. Thanks again for helping out.”
“See you Monday, Drop.”
Both Drop and his teacher exited the room and went their separate ways with a small farewell. With a 105 on his paper and a confident smile, Drop Shot exits the school to tell his parents the good news.
Author's Note
It was nice to go for a normal style, slice-of-life pregnancy rather than the heavily-fetish way. But lesson learned; don't remaster a story as early as 3AM in the morning!
