Author's Note
Woo-Hoo! First story of 2022 (and first NEW story in like 3 years)!! Now of course, I said that this story accompanies and announcement (which I likely already [hopefully]) covered in a recent blog post! Ergo this story should be of no surprise! Yet it is and I am. I don't know what will happen next, but we'll figure it out. Til then, enjoy this adorable and relatable One-Shot!
TTFN!
-PH20
For Clarification: A newborn foal's weight is typically 10% the weight of the dam. Example would be a dam weighing 500lbs. Her foal would be about 50lbs at birth.
Baby Mine
Sunlight spilled into the sterile white room of a hospital. The air was stagnant with the scent of sweat and blood still, despite the open window. In a nearby bed, lay an exhausted young mare, still slick with sweat and tears, but extremely happy. In her forhooves, she held a soft pale cream blanket clad newborn foal. Forty-eight minutes prior, she had given birth to her first foal and was now gently cuddling him after having given him his first ever meal from her teat. As far as the last 18 hours went, this was by far the best part (primarily because she was no longer in agonizing pain in her nether regions) of her day. Her son was now sleeping and she had to summon the bassinet closer so she could levitate him in gently. It was with a sudden realization, that she somehow completely forgot a rather crucial detail: She forgot about a name! Before she could promptly freak out about that, a nurse came in to check her vitals and to get the foal’s name and measurements/weight for the birth certificate.
“Okay Ms. Crown, let’s see here. Newborn is a male. Weight is 54 lbs. 0 oz. Coat color is--”, the nurse pauses as he carefully undoes the blanket to look at the baby’s colors “--Aha, yes coat is a mint green. Mane and I’ll assume tail are coffee brown. Excellent. Now for the name. Ma’am?”, the nurse concluded while asking for the name of the newfoal.
“Oh! Of course. Goodness it’s been so hard, but I did eventually settle on a name for in the event the baby was a colt. His name will be Ambrose. Yes, Ambrose Evan Crown. I believe that is a proud name. Plus he’s being named after his grandfather…at least in middle name”, Halo Crown responded in a quiet voice. Being careful to not be noisy as to potentially wake up her son.
Typing it all out in the computer, the nurse added the mother’s name (when asking the father’s name, Halo simply replied with ‘Oh just leave that part blank. He wanted nothing to do with us, I won’t be any source of…unwelcome bitterness to him’.) and the time of birth before sending the info off into the system of birth records. Explained how she should receive a copy in the mail within the next 2-7 business days. Then left the new mother to rest as she prepared to be discharged in a few hours.
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(6 and ½ hours later)
After being placed under observation for a brief time period, the new mother and son left the hospital in perfect health. Catching the closest trolley, Halo and Ambrose settled in a seat close to the exit. Despite being a little more rested than she had been at 6:00 that morning, Halo couldn’t shake the feeling of tiredness and resolved to close her eyes briefly (as their stop was on the other side of town) and keep a listen out for their stop and/or in case Ambrose woke up. Not even five minutes had gone by before she was alerted to the sound of somepony clearing their throat.
“Excuse me ma’am, but is this seat taken?”, a unicorn stallion around her age asked politely as he gestured to the empty seat adjacent to her and the foal carrier.
“Umm. No. No go ahead.”, Halo answered, blinking herself more awake. With that, the stallion took a seat. Not 100% awake, Halo immediately hangs her head in exhausted sleep. Barely two minutes later, she’s back wired awake due to Ambrose waking up. He didn’t cry, just sneezed himself awake. Thus causing his mother to react accordingly. Gently picking him up out of the carrier, Halo held her baby close and wiped his muzzle with a disposable wipe she’d fished out of the baby bag with her magic (and placed them back in the bag along with the used wipe). Straightening out her scarf, Halo placed Ambrose back in his carrier as she searched for a premade bottle in the bag. Unfortunately, she was a little too frantic in her search and in one fell swoop, knocked the bag over onto the floor of the trolley. A few diapers and a onesie falling out in the process.
“Dang It.”, she muttered as she started for the bag, only to find it picked up and the diapers and onesie floating in a blue aura next to the now upright bag.
“Figured that needed picking up. Here you go.”, the stallion said as he placed the items back in the bag and passed it back to Halo with an easy-going smile.
“Thank you so much! I swear I haven’t completely come to grips with this reality yet. After all, early this morning I was busy bringing this little one into the world. Now I’m just a rambling mess of confusion. Aaand I am now apologizing for my further ramblings to save some dignity. Sorry sir.”, Halo word jumbled out with a look that said ‘I swear I’m normally not this flustered’.
“It’s quite alright. So, judging by said frazzledness and hyper attentiveness, I’m gonna assume that this is your first?”, the stallion replied.
“Yes actually. Oh! Where are my manners?! Apologies, my name is Halo Crown and this is my son, Ambrose. As far as your assumption, that is correct. He’s my first and probably last born. You’d think I have had almost a year to prepare myself for what was to come, yet as soon as the pain stopped and the nice midwife passed him to me so that pelt to pelt contact could be made, I completely blanked. It fully occurred to me that I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing. He’s here now and just…the most precious thing I could ever possess. Yet that’s what has me terrified. I have no idea what to do.”, Halo said with a sigh and a baleful shake of her head. Strands of her mane falling out of the messy bun she haphazardly put up before leaving the hospital.
“You’re alright. As it is, my name is Cosmic Wave. Believe me I know how it is with the stress and fear of raising a newborn.”, the stallion responded with a smile.
“A pleasure to meet you, Cosmic. So you say you know how it is?”, Halo asked.
“Oh yeah. I got a little filly myself at home. She’s 6 months old now and it absolutely has been wild. My little Athena is just the most precious thing I know in this world. Yet the first 3 months was...hard.”, Cosmic said. A small frown graced his face as he thought that through.
Understanding the look on his face as a look she’d seen before on a friend's face after they lost a family member, Halo did the sensible thing and nodded in solemn silence. It lasted for all of 10 minutes before the telltale sounds of a baby about to let out a loud cry could be heard. Before the new mother could even react, baby Ambrose let out an ear-piercing cry. A cry that made most of the other ponies on board turn in her direction (this, of course lead to some disgruntled looks and a few sympathetic ones as well). Face now red in embarrassment, Halo gently lifted her son out of the carrier and tried to sooth him. To her surprise, that wasn't working at all so she looked confused before thinking about checking his diaper. When he came out dry and clean, she still couldn't figure out why he was still crying. So for that matter, she simply resolved to rock him a bit to see if that would help. It did help….for all of 6 minutes. Then he started crying again.
“Ok. Perhaps you’re hungry? Yeah? Yeah. Let's see about you a bottle ok baby?”, Halo soothed as she rooted through the baby bag again (though not as crazily as before) to find a pre-pumped bottle. Unfortunately she had no way of heating it up, so she had to cut her losses and hope it would be sufficient for her son. Making sure his head was supported on her left fetlock, Halo proceeded to bottle-feed her baby.
Unsurprisingly, that did the trick and after being fed, wiped off and burped, Ambrose was placed back in his carrier. Casually looking about as he has no clue as to what's going on aside from what his mother was doing. Said mother was look ever frazzled as she got her bag back in order before almost collapsing back into the back of the seat.
“Yeah, the first few days are gonna be rough. Yet they’ll also be a breeze in comparison to the first 6 months of life for him. I can tell you that babies come customized with sensors that tell them when mommy or daddy are about to attempt to relax. That makes them make a move to cry or make a mess or basically disrupt that in general. I can't even say if I got any good sleep after Athena's first month. Yet despite the sleep deprivation and otherwise franticness of raising a foal and balancing work duties and a social life, I have found solace in the fact that somehow I'm doing a good job. Even without my girlfriend around, I’m managing somehow. Just know that you're gonna do your best. It may be challenging at times. Heck, you particularly, because I read that mares can go through this kinda thing, will probably experience some sort of postpartum depression in some form or another. It's ok to not be ok. Ok?”, Cosmic said, ending in a question.
Halo thought that over for a while until she realized her stop was coming up fast.
“You know what Cosmic? You're right. I may not have a clue what I'm doing, but I’ll learn as I go. Thanks for the talk.”, Halo replied with a small smile as she prepared to get off the trolley.
“No worries and hey, if you ever need more advice or even just a friendly ear to vent to, here's my business card. It has my personal number on the back” he paused as he passed her a bright blue and green card for Marx’s Construction and Restoration Company “I also know of a few ‘mommy and me’ classes at a recreational center I could probably send your way.”, he finished with a wave as she wrote her own cell number down on a napkin (as cleanly as she could muster with a napkin). He watched as she got up and exited the trolley onto the platform, waving to baby Ambrose as the trolley once again started on its way.
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(Later that evening)
After getting home and the difficult task of getting the bassinet from the nursery to her bedroom (because her brother and sister had only halfway put it together, when her water broke) without many issues. Halo had finally gotten everything in order. The nursery was complete and everything was going fine. She had been on the phone with her mom when she first heard his cries.
“Sorry ma, I gotta go….yes you, Trip and Jojo can come by tomorrow...of course y’all gonna have gifts...you’d think after my baby shower I’d have enough of everything...ok ma I seriously need to go, Ambrose is crying...ok...love you too...bye.”, Halo hung up her cell and rushed from the bathroom into her bedroom to tend to her crying newborn.
Quickly assessing that he just needed a change and a feeding, she changed him and settled back into the rocking chair that was in her room to feed him his dinner. After making sure he’d finished, she wiped his muzzle and her teat. She then burped him (and got some spit-up on her shoulder...way to go kid). Then settled back into the chair.
“Oh my Ambrose...I dunno what we're gonna do. I barely have a clue about raising a baby. Yet imma try my hardest to keep you safe and healthy. Most importantly, I’ll make sure you are loved and you know this every day. I love you, my beautiful baby boy. From the tips of your ears to the bottoms of your hooves. Every part of you, I absolutely love. I don't know what the future will bring, but I only have one hope above all else that you grow into a wonderful young stallion. With all the grace and humility that comes with growing up with a single mother. I’ll teach you as much as I can about life and everything involved in it. You're going to be great. Yet for now, it's time to be a foal. And all little foals need sleep.”, Halo spoke quietly to her son, who was starting to yawn.
Pushing the chair back a bit, Halo settled Ambrose in her hooves as she rocked gently. Humming a song that her own mother would hum to her as a foal to help go to sleep.
Baby mine, don't you cry…
Baby mine, close your eyes…
Rest your head, close to my heart
Never to part
Baby of mine...
