Arrivals in the Maternity Ward

Chapter 4
Chapter 4

Chapter Description: The day for Stan to be changed back into an adult approaches, leading to mixed reactions. Is the road back really the right direction, when the maternity ward is a place for new beginnings? Fourth of four chapters of the main story! Will be followed by not one, not two, not three, but four Endings(and Bonusendings!)! Based on a chat with an AI about the proper treatment of age regressed people ... I wasn't disappointed. Thanks to Areat for going through it and helping me with the polish.

Stan woke up with the first hints of morning light creeping through the curtains. There was no disorientation, no doubting of his situation, as merciful as it would have felt for a moment. He was regressed to a newborn, since now already three days. Right now he knew he was in a transportable crib made for newborns and felt lying on a soft, flat mattress, four plastic walls surrounding him, distorting the world around him, even if it was only a hospital room. At least he could see the ceiling clearly, but it was impossible far above him.

Stan tried to move a bit, just a centimeter with him feeling the head of the crib on his near bald head would have been enough. Using all his concentration – he would have pressed his teeth together if he had them –, he tried to coordinate his arms and legs, but they wouldn’t do it. All it helped him in was revealing once again his weakness … and that his diaper was wet. The regressed man hated the feeling. He hated having no control of his body. Most of all he hated the feeling of dependency.

In the crib next to him Emily suddenly began to cry.

Chance, or do we have the same biological clock?, Stan wondered, when a third idea crossed his mind. Or is it twin telepathy?!

Before he could decide which he liked the least, Maria stood up and walked over to their daughter and picked her up.

“Shh, Emily all is okay, mommy is here!” She assured her as she held her in her arms and checked her diaper. “All wet? Oh, my poor baby!”

With this Maria placed Emily on the free bed with the diaper changing mat and utensils already prepared. In the quick and efficient way she had already acquired, she changed the newborn’s diaper. Seeing her redressing their daughter, he wished he could help, even more he wished he wouldn’t have to go through what followed.

“Good morning Stan,” Maria greeted him coming over. “How are you today?”

Having long since given up trying any meaningful communication as it only resulted in failing and cooing, Stan just looked at his wife until she bent over and picked him up.

“All wet again,” she noticed, touching his butt, with just a bit too much sweetness in her voice. “Let’s get you clean.”

The regressed man remained silent as she laid him on the changing mat on the free bed, but part of him was thankful. Last night he had woken up much earlier and noticed the wetness in his diaper, but decided not to act. When Maria finally had woken up after Emily had begun crying, it had felt like an eternity had past … there wasn’t even a clock around for him to check!

Still, what could I have done?, he wondered. Crying?

Snaps clicked, as his onesie was opened, a tearing sound as his diaper followed. Stan tried looking somewhere else, wished to be somewhere else, but already he felt Maria grabbing his ankles and carefully lifting his butt to clean his private parts with baby wipes.

Are they still private?, he wondered. Will she ever look at me the same?

Already his wife had rolled the used diaper together and put a fresh under him. She gently lowered his butt in it, put the front with the sleeping Mickey Mouse over his genital and taped it tight but still comfortable.

“There all done,” she noticed, her tone nearly indistinguishable from what she had used on Emily, if she knew or not. “It wasn’t hard, but I see you are hungry already!”

Stan had been too concentrated on his thoughts, allowing his instincts to take over. He realized his fists were curled, he was opening his mouth and trying to suck on them … signs of hunger he hadn’t even noticed he had made! And yes, he felt his tiny stomach growling. Tiny indeed, for newborns hardly could drink enough to stay satisfied for long. When preparing for Emily he had read somewhere the stomach size should be that of a shooter marble or ping pong ball now. A lot breastfeeding was needed to keep it full, but Maria seemed to be prepared for it.

His wife placed him safely in the midst of her bed, before picking up Emily and laying her besides him. His daughter looked around curious and with the same signs of hunger he had been showing. Neither of them had to wait long, for already Maria picked them up, first him and then Emily, placing them near her full breasts. Stan no longer resisted at he had the first time and allowed his body to move closer to the nipple which sight was hardwired to wake desire in him … though one different now than as an adult. As his toothless mouth closed around it and his reflexes made him suck without that he would have been able to stop it, the regressed man let his thoughts wander.

Tandem nursing, he remembered, the warm sweet milk caressing his throat. Why did she have to switch to this? It makes me only appear more like Emily’s twin! Did the robot nurses tell her?

Stan looked to the other breast and found Emily looking at him with limitless innocent curiosity in her blue eyes. Shouldn’t he at least be thankful for this? To be so close to his daughter now, when else he would have been banned from the maternity ward except for the visiting hours? Didn’t he see her now, so close and so equal to him, in a way no father could ever dream of? Feeling her little body on his, her feet exploring him? Feeling her little heart beating?

Again his daughter reacted as if they shared a telepathic link, for in this moment her hand grabbed his. Maybe it was just an instinct. Maybe Emily wanted to lay claim to the breast he occupied. Whatever his daughter might have thought or not thought in this moment, Stan felt a shudder going through him. No, in this moment he couldn’t feel sorry for being there at all.

Over them Maria watched them with wet eyes.

***

A bit later, with both their twins in the newborn nursery, Maria went on another walk outside with Jana. The mothers enjoyed the fresh air as much as talking about life outside, work and random things not connected to diapers and night time feedings. Maria would have enjoyed it more, hadn’t she had to softly but firmly block the tries of the other mother to exchange telephone-numbers. The trouble to explain to her in the future what had happened to Dylan would be too much to bear. This was made even worse by the fact that it had really clicked between them. Maria would have loved to stay in touch and exchange tips, stories and just talk about the twins.

I won’t have twins anymore, Maria reminded herself. I won’t even have photos of Dylan.

The latter fact she had realized when Jana had shown her a photo of herself sitting on her bed, holding her twins Yule and April in her arms, and having her five year old daughter Cindy on her lap. Maria hadn’t been able to help herself but feel envious and began wondering how if she somehow could make one holding her own twins without Dylan noticing.

The Robot Nurses might help, she thought. They will just have to look on us and have it in their file ready to send to me. Dylan will never know.

Already she looked out to find one of the androids to ask – only to have one to share with Jana, as she told herself –, but before she could do so, she found a visitor in her room.

“Good morning Mrs. Lockney,” Dr. Meyer greeted her, sitting at a table near her bed. “How are you holding up?”

“Fine,” Maria answered but felt the shadow of a worry. “Is there a problem?”

“Oh no, it is perfectly fine,” the doctor hurried to say. “Indeed, I came to inform you that we can restore your husband to his normal age tomorrow.”

She felt stunned. “Tomorrow?”

“Yes,” Dr. Meyer confirmed. “You will be released the day after. He can go home first and prepare things before your release.”

Maria didn’t know what to say. She wanted to have Stan back, but at the same time she feared how empty this room would feel without Dylan. The silence lasted a bit too long, so she swallowed and gave the doctor a slight smile.

“I’m sorry, it is just unbelievable that Dylan …” she stopped. “That Stan will be an adult again tomorrow. I mean the growth ... is unbelievable.”

Dr. Meyer nodded with an understanding smile.

“I know,” he agreed. “I don’t deny there is stress – such an change in the body always means stress – but given his current biological age, I think it is best to change him back as soon as possible. If we delay it too long we risk effects on his memories and mental state.”

Maria tried to sound neutral. “Which effects?”

“Let me clarify. The brain of a newborn has 86 billion neurons. The same as an adult, which is what allowed us to change Stan into one without initial mental problems. His neural network including memories and the connections that enables adult thoughts are still there. But a newborn’s brain is also very plastic and highly adaptable. It prunes unnecessary synaptic connections of which it has a lot at birth with an astounding rate. Which is great for let’s say Emily, who has so much to learn. But for your husband it means his brain is removing old memories, skills and so on,” Dr. Meyer explained. “Besides these connections, also a newborn’s brain’s neuroplasticity is amazingly high, meaning it is always ready to reorganize itself. Right now Stan’s brain is organized like his brain as an adult, but his body will notice this isn’t how it should be and start aligning it more to the necessities and standards of real newborns. Along with the loss of memories and skills, his responses would align with that of newborns rather quickly. This is very significant for example for the prefrontal cortex – the part of the brain for complex cognitive functions in us adults – as it would become less active and dominant. Instead his more primitive brain areas involved in sensory processing, motor skills, and emotional bonding would take precedence.”

Maria starred at the doctor. His words … his lecture really, had overwhelmed her intellectually as well as emotionally.

“So you say,” she tried. “Given time, Dy … Stan would resemble Emily mentally?”

Dr. Meyer shrugged.

“Six months and he would be pretty much indistinguishable from her or other newborns, given the latest studies with primates.” He noticed. This was when he sensed the emotional upheaval in the woman and assumed it was simple fear about losing parts of her husband. “Don’t worry. The days he spent as a newborn are much too short to have anything but a slight effect. You will have your husband back completely. I can promise you that.”

Maria found the strength to nod.

“I will set the appointment tomorrow 10:00 a.m. and will do it myself,” he assured. “Don’t worry Mrs. Lockney. Everything will be right.

***

Robot Nurse Luna watched the newborns in the maternity ward. Everything was well within the parameters, until she got an update in the station’s schedule.

Tomorrow 10:00 a.m.; Room 314 B,

Stan Lockney’s treatment with age-progression and gene-changing serum to restore his recorded age and genetic structure.

This was nothing unusual. Regressions done for medical reasons were normally reverted if the person hadn’t decided to stay in the new age. Yet in this case …

To better understand the medical background leading the doctor to make this appointment she checked the maternity ward’s security system. The registry of the maternity ward showed that Dr. Meyer had visited Mrs. Maria Lockney just minutes before. Every word in spoken on the station was recorded. This wasn’t explicitly told to the mothers and for the doctors’ there was no way to decipher the background noises, but for the robots like her …

The android went through Dr. Meyer’s explanation about what was occurring in Dylan’s brain. She agreed with the diagnosis, but not with the conclusion. Dylan showed normal newborn brain development. Pruning of old connections between synapses in favor for new ones, along with a restructuring. If his brain became like that of other newborns … even if he lost his memories from before his for sure unique birth, was this a reason to stop it? No child remembered the time before its births for long!

Luna understood Dr. Meyer’s goal was to restore Stan Lockney. What he didn’t seem to understand or take into account was that Stan Lockney hadn’t just been regressed, but Dylan Lockney had been born. His existence and needs were factors she couldn’t ignore. What effects would such a procedure have on the newborn?

Biological Factors: The change into an adult would mean grave stress for a newborn.

Psychological Factors: There was no way to determine such changes would have on his emotional and cognitive well-being, but as newborns were meant to exist in a different state from adults it couldn’t be healthy.

Developmental Considerations: It would mean the end of any normal developments Dylan would have to expect.

Child Welfare Laws: The law granted every child the right for health and normal development. Aging Dylan into an adult would be against the spirit of this.

Social Factors: Changing the newborn Dylan into the adult Stan would alter his social role dramatically. It would remove social protections and add expectations and obligations leading to stress no newborn could handle.

This was bad. Worse still, was that Dylan’s existence and the potential for a bright future ahead of him would be stolen from him. Yet, didn’t Stan Lockney’s existence count, too? Robot Nurse Luna had her morale core check every aspect of the case. In the end she came to the conclusion that Stan Lockney’s existence was theoretically. He had existed and could again exist. Dylan Lockney’s existence was a fact, no matter what he or any other human thought.

Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotic bound her to not allow a human being to come to harm, also not for another theoretically existing person. The rules of the maternity ward directed her to protect the newborns in her care with every ounce of her existence. Dylan was such a newborn. She had to protect him. But even from doctors if they hadn’t had his well-being at heart but that of the adult he no longer was?

This was one of the questions Luna needed the support of her Robot Nurse Sisters for. She contacted them via network and … the result was unanimous.

***

Maria rested on her bed. Her mind felt empty, as she looked out of the window.

Why don’t I feel good?, she wondered. Stan will be back with me soon … holding me.

Of course she knew.

I will never hold Dylan again, she admitted. I knew it was just for a few days … can’t I at least be happy for Stan?

A knock pulled her from these thoughts. Welcoming the diversion, she looked to the door.

“Come in,” she called, half expecting Dr. Meyer to tell her he had forgotten something.

Instead Robot Nurse Luna entered.

“Hello Mrs. Lockney,” the android greeted her.

“Hello,” Maria replied, noticing she hadn’t brought Emily and Dylan … and Stan with her. “Is something wrong with the two?”

“No, they are both sleeping peacefully,” Luna answered in a calming tone. “I’m here to talk about Dylan’s appointment tomorrow.”

“To discuss the schedule?”

“To convince you it is wrong.”

Maria blinked.

“Dr. Meyer said it was safe,” she noticed.

“For Stan,” Luna replied. “Not for Dylan.”

“Stan is Dylan.”

“No,” the android slightly shook her silver head. “He isn’t.”

Maria crossed her arms, listening.

“A baby is conceived by the combination of DNA of the mother and the father, in Emily’s case in the form of your egg and Stan’s sperm. Both fuse to something new, unique and larger than the sum of its parts. In Dylan’s case, too, yours and Stan’s DNA fused and created him.”

“Stan’s DNA was changed by a serum,” Maria argued. “He didn’t cease to exist.”

“Do you see Stan when you look at Dylan,” Luna asked. “When you hold him?”

Maria decided not to go down this path. “He will be restored to who he was.”

“Would you allow Emily to be returned to an egg cell?”

“This is not the same!”

Luna leaned her head slightly. “Why?”

For a moment Maria was lost for arguments.

“Stan was … is an adult,” she tried, a part of her wondering why she was arguing. “You can’t compare an adult to an egg-cell.”

“Eggs are formed with a woman’s birth,” the robot nurse reminded her. “The egg cell which fused with the sperm to create Emily was the same age Stan was when he fused with your DNA to create Dylan.”

This left Maria baffled.

“A cell is not an adult,” she noticed. “Adults have histories, rights, a life …”

“Right now there is no adult,” the android gently reminded her. “Just a baby boy with a right to exist just as his sister has. Conceived by you and Stan. Born to be loved and cared for.”

“He wasn’t born!”

“The maternity ward was home to babies born from labor, c-section and release from artificial wombs,” Luna informed her. “Before their birth they were fetuses, becoming newborns by a physical process as well as a societal one. What difference does it make that this one happened with help of an age-regression-serum? It resulted in a newborn, so it was a birth. Each birth is a wonder.”

Maria knew she should shut it down here and now … instead she found herself listening.

“Dylan is a newborn, just like any other on this station. Three days on this world, just as his birth certificate says. He is Emily’s twin and your son, as any genetic test will show you. As your heart already tells you. Don’t you want him?”

Maria’s heart beat up to her throat. The android formulated the very words part of her had longed to hear, wanted to be true, yet she fought this side of her down. Out of the depth of her memories she could hear a little boy’s voice asking her pleadingly.

“Why don’t you want me?”

She swallowed hard.

“Dylan … he is just a file. A fiction we agreed on for Stan to be able to stay on the station,” she argued as much to herself as to the android. “Don’t you remember?”

“I do remember not seeing him as what he is due to letting my memories of what he was cloud my judgement,” Luna admitted. “You are making the same mistake.”

“He will forget his life if he stay this young.”

Maria heard herself saying these words, only then realizing how far down Luna’s road of reasoning she had already followed her.

“All newborns forget their existence before birth as they age, this is natural. This way they can embrace the wonderful life they have been gifted with,” the android noticed. “Also, these memories don’t belong to him but Stan. His memories are those he has of you and his sister in the maternity ward and of all those days that will follow. Don’t you want to share those days with him?”

Memories of the dream, of Dylan playing with Emily on the carpet replayed before Maria’s inner eye again and again.

“Why don’t you want me?”

“Stan wants to return to adulthood,” she finally managed to say. “I can’t deny him that.”

“Every newborn, wishes to return to its previous existence. A place of familiarity and security. In Emily’s case it is the womb. In Dylan’s case it is adulthood, though one he can’t understand is not his own.” Luna stated calmly. “Despite these wishes, our duty is to guide them into their new life, helping them adapt to the world outside of old securities. To a new life we know is best for them. Dylan, too, is beginning his new life as a newborn, and our role is to support him in this transition.”

“The life we had … have.” Maria stumbled, feeling a slight tremor going through herself. Why had the words of the android have to make so much sense? “I can’t throw it away.”

“I understand the strength of you memories. They will always belong to you,” Luna noticed sympathetically. “Let me show you the future you are gifted with, if you accept it. Accept Dylan.”

With this the pulled a large envelope out of her nurses’ coat and handed it to Maria. The woman hesitated taking it and even more pulling out what was in it. The android sensed the slight tremble and respected her doing it in her own time. Finally she held a sheet of photos in her hand.

The first one showed a boy and a girl, two toddlers, sitting on a soft rug, playing with blocks. Little blond angels in matching overalls, their features, the blond hair, the blue eyes, undeniable marking them as twins, their close bond showing.

“We have a service to make photos of newborns via age-progression,” Luna explained, pointing to the small number two in the corner. “These are Dylan and Emily as two-year-olds.”

Right out of my dream, Maria thought, touching the older version of Dylan, the question of his dream version ringing in her mind. Why don’t you want me?

She put the photo on the bed nearby, fighting tears.

The next one showed Emily and Dylan at four, chasing each other on a meadow, their bond deepening as they explored the world together. Another one showed them as six, Dylan holding a book, his expression one of curiosity and joy, Emily sitting next to him as they shared a moment of learning. As ten year olds, riding on bikes, their face showing excitement. As fourteen year old teenagers, smiling with a school in the background. The last one showed them as eighteen, no longer children, but young adults, posing for the photographer in what seemed to be their outfits for the prom, Emily a beautiful young woman in a long white dress, Dylan a mischievous looking young man in a black suit, looking nothing like Stan but like himself.

Maria didn’t say anything for a long time and Luna knew it was time to leave the mother to allow her to make her decision.

“If you decide for Dylan, just tell me or any of my sisters to cancel the appointment,” the android told her. “If you do so, you will leave the maternity ward with two children instead one.”

With this the Robot Nurse left.

To be continued … in many ways!