Check Up

Check Up

Raph twiddled his fingers as he and his brothers sat on the examination table. Their dads, especially Barry, felt it was necessary to have their check up. Splinter never took them to the doctor once, but his excuse was that they were in hiding for all those years. Now that they were heroes and all of New York and the Hidden City knew about them, they weren't secrets anymore. They could live normal lives.

And what do parents of teenagers with normal lives do?

Make sure their kids are healthy.

Splinter struggled to raise them, but he did it, even with his depression. He fixed every boo-boo, soothed every fever, endured every sickness and injury his sons went through. When they got their first cold, Splinter took a risk leaving them alone to get medicine for them.

Now that Leo, Raph, Donnie and Mikey were known in the city, they could walk around and no one will mind.

Which is why Barry and Splinter took them to a doctor. Barry considered taking them to a veterinarian or a doctor in the Hidden City, but Splinter argued that he raised them, so he got to choose and since the boys were more human than turtle, a normal human doctor was the best choice.

And Dr. Berg was the woman for the job. She had taken a veterinarian course before going to medical school, so this was perfect for her.

The boys never experienced a human doctor's appointment before and so they were a little nervous. But Dr. Berg assured them that there was nothing wrong.

One at a time, she examined them. She took their blood pressure, tapped their knees to check for reflexes (she had to convince Donnie to remove his kneepads, as he refused to take them off when she told them to remove all articles of clothing and put on the thin gowns she had for them), used her tongue depressors to look down their throats (she was a bit scared to look in the red one's mouth because of how big and pointy it was, but Raph proved he was a gentle giant, and allowed her), asked them to look at the eye chart and read the letters (where she noticed Donnie having some trouble), checked their heartbeats, weighed them (Raph almost broke the scale at a whopping 450 pounds of pure muscle!), measured their height (again, Raph needed a tape measure instead of her height board and he was a staggering 8'10"), and took their temperature.

"Fascinating." She wrote on her charts her findings.

Now came the awkward questions. Barry and Splinter came into the room after the examination. Despite insisting to see a doctor, Splinter was having an anxiety attack while Barry was cool as a cucumber.

Was this human going to judge his parenting based on how healthy his kids were?

"I noticed a few things and wanted to address them while the boys are not in the room. First question: Do they have any allergies?"

Splinter swallowed. "Raphael has a peanut allergy. I read up a lot about the condition. He has trouble breathing and itches when he comes into contact with peanut products, so I keep peanut butter in a locked cabinet."

Dr. Berg wrote on her clipboard.

"I noticed Leonardo has a fast heartbeat, which could be a sign of anxiety or hyperactivity. I assume you never took them to a specialist about mental disorders?"

Splinter cringed and tried to explain, but Barry spoke up. "The father of my sons had to keep them hidden to avoid those who would bring them harm. He did what he could to keep them safe, so no, he couldn't take them to a specialist, and from how they look, it's a bit obvious why."

"I'm not judging." Dr. Berg said. "I'm also a bit concerned about Donatello. He doesn't make eye contact and his eyes wander. Does he have a social disability such as autism spectrum disorder?"

Splinter nodded. "I had to borrow a book about the disorder when he started showing signs. He was 2 when I noticed things were off. At first, I thought it was because of his species, but when I considered human disorders, since their human DNA can be a contributing factor."

Dr. Berg asked, "How did you cope?"

"He had many tantrums, which I found was overstimulation. I had to take him to an empty room in the sewers to calm himself. He had an Atomic Lass doll he carried with him everywhere and that toy seemed to keep him calm. I just had to wing it, and his brothers kept him grounded and behaved. He learned after a few years that he couldn't cry to get his way."

Dr. Berg wrote that in her charts. "I would recommend a psychiatrist to help him with his antisocial behavior. I have a friend who works with autistic children, teenagers and even adults."

Splinter felt better knowing she wasn't judging him.

"I also recommend the specialist for Raphael. He and Donatello couldn't read the chart as well as Leonardo and Michelangelo. Donatello said it looked blurry. Donatello might need glasses and I suspect Raphael has a condition called Dyslexia. As for Michelangelo..." she flipped her charts to another page, which made Splinter's stomach drop. "His blood sugars seem to be off, which could be a sign of pre-diabetes."

Splinter's eyes widened. Diabetes!?!?! His little boy? Even Barry looked concerned.

"Not to worry, there are ways to reverse it, with the right diet. Can you tell me what kind of pellets and veggies they eat?"

That question made Splinter sweat. "I beg your pardon?"

"Well, turtles are supposed to eat foods according to their breed. Have they been eating a diet according to their species?"

Barry looked at Splinter and raised his eyebrow.

"No."

"Okay, what do they normally eat?"

"Pretty much what any teenage boy eats. Freaking everything in the house."

That made Dr. Berg chuckle. "And what do you keep in the house and what was their diet like growing up?"

"Well, when they were babies, I contemplated feeding them normal turtle food pellets, but they didn't like it. Blue sometimes will eat it like cereal, but that's because he's a weird kid. I then tried baby food and formula, which they ate like there's no tomorrow. After the baby cereal came pureed fruits and veggies. Then I took them off baby food when they started eating normal foods that I would eat. I took them off the bottles at age 3, because they didn't want to give them up at 2. Then they started eating the same foods I eat during mealtimes. I went through depression raising them, and so I didn't keep the healthiest foods in the house, but I tried. Plus, I had to hunt for food, so our food was what I could find until they got older and I could take them with me on a grocery run, in disguises, of course. And being a, how you would call it, a chillaxed dad, I let a lot of things slide. They all love pizza and they eat it at least 5 times a week. They can take care of themselves, so I assumed they can choose to make healthy choice."

Dr. Berg wrote on her chart, trying not to gag at the pellet cereal bit. She did not judge at the turtles upbringing effecting their diet, due to circumstances.

"As a doctor, I see nothing wrong with their diet, however, as a past veterinary student, I see a big problem with their diet. They should be eating diets according to their species. But as their parents, it's up to you two. I assume their human DNA took over their turtle DNA, because they seem healthy, apart from Michelangelo. I'll give you the number to those specialists I talked about and we should follow up in a week." She then handed the rat man 4 pamphlets, each one having a different turtle on the cover. "And try this diet in the meantime. It might help the boys."

Splinter opened the first pamphlet, the one for alligator snapping turtles, which was Raph's species, and nearly fainted when he saw the diet his son must go on.

One of those foods was soft shell turtles.

And when he opened Donnie's pamphlet, he actually fainted.

One of the foods that soft shell turtles eat was baby mice.

Barry rolled his eyes, scooped up the rat, and called for his sons.

"Turtles, let's go!"

Then he turned to Dr. Berg.

"Thank you for the advice, we'll talk to you in a week."

The end.

I based this drawing and story off of this We Bare Bears episode. Should I make a part two about the boys struggling to cut back on the human food and having to eat turtle food? Let me know.

I hate it! I followed the pattern, did the sewing and I failed. I am not a professional, but I do come from a long line of DIYers and crafty women. Any crafters and sewers have any advice?

I was inspired by the post below to make episode ideas, now that the creators of Rise tweeted about doing something about the show on Netflix.

https://at.tumblr.com/puppyofalpacas/potential-episodes-of-rottmnt/c8piiwlt5uqt

Episode Ideas for Season 3

Eating Contest: The Turtles have to eat hot dogs against their respective villians to win Lou Jitsu merchandise.

Genderbent Episode: The whole episode goes on but everyone is a genderbent version of themselves.

Baseball Bonanza: Splinter has been kidnapped by Meatsweats, The Crabs, Ghost Bear, and Hypno and Warren Stone, and the Turtles have to get him back by playing a game of Baseball. April is a cheerleader in this episode.

Daycare Dilemma: The turtles and April have to sneak into a mystic daycare before their regression formula wears off, but things keep getting in the way.

Origin story: Baron Draxum tells the turtles where he got them before he mutated them.

Donnie and Raph episode: Donnie and Raph embark on a mission together.

April Showers: The turtle tots meet April for the first time after sneaking out to get candy after Splinter grounded them.

School Dayz: The turtles disguise themselves as normal teenage boys to experience school for the first time.

Prom Punches: After April's date cancels on her, the guys dress up to take her to prom. That's when Donnie decides to admit his feelings to her.

Weapon switching: Because they're so used to their own weapons, Sllinter makes the turtles switch weapons, which is difficult.

Ballet: When April brings her ballet class to their first performance, the turtles notice mutant silverfish on the stage, so they dress in tutus and dance to avoid panic as they battle their enemy. Bullhop appears in this episode.

Health Scare: When Mikey collapses during a mission, Raph insists that Donnie runs some tests on him, only to find out that he's a prediabetic, and Raph bans sugar in the lair until Mikey is better.

Nightmares: Leo has bad dreams about the Krang and Raph, Donnie and Mikey comfort him.

Bedtime Blues: As Turtle Tots, they share a bed, but when the bed ends up soaked, they blame each other and try to figure out who wet the bed.

Battle Shell: Donnie reminisces about every one of his battle shells.

Turtle-sitting: When Splinter has to leave overnight, he can't trust his sons alone, so he gets a babysitter, but they're not amused. As it turns out, their babysitter is a mutant.

Custody Agreement: Draxum finally tracked down the turtles' mothers from their breeders and decides to mutate them, but Splinter feels left out and like he doesn't matter when the mothers take over his parenting. At the end of the episode, the Moms go off to live their own lives, but agree to split custody.

Date Night: The turtles help Splinter prepare for his date, with Big Mama! But as it turns out, he also has a guys night (date in disguise) with Draxum. Can he do both?

Dentist Disaster: Raph has a toothache, so he goes to the dentist, but the dentist only wants his snaggletooth. (From the Todd Scouts Episode, you can't leave it on a cliffhanger!)

Splinter's Day: While his sons go on a mission, Splinter is left alone and he reveals what he does all day.

Turtle Soup: Mikey has a chance to cook against a rival chef, with his brothers as his soux chefs, but the glory goes to his head.

Mayhem and Raph: After many attempts and years of not being able to, Raph finally got to hold and snuggle Mayhem.

The Talk: Splinter has to give his boys "the talk", and they try to avoid him, but the talk isn't what they think.

Shrink-a-Dinks: After Raph eats a tiny bomb that got slipped into his bag of chips, it's up to Leo, Donnie and Mikey to shrink themselves and go into his gut to retrieve it before it explodes.

Baby Casey Jones: The turtles and April are given Cassandra's baby to watch for a few hours and they have no idea what they're doing.

Mona Lisa: Raph becomes infatuated with a Mutant Lizard and can't stop thinking about her.

Mud Dogs: The Turtles meet the Mud Dogs, because they didn't believe Raph after his encounter, and discover they have more in common than they think.

TV Trouble: Each of the turtles have a specific show to watch, all set to be aired at the same time, so they race to get chores done in order to get the remote.

Greek Myths: After hearing about the Greek Gods, the turtles reenact a few greek myths and fight over who would be Zeus.

Lou Jitsu 2.0: Donnie mixes up a formula that will restore Splinter back in his human form, only to see an old man in Lou Jitsu's fighting outfit.

Scary Movie: Mikey watches a scary movie, and is terrified, but tries to keep quiet because Raph told him not to watch it.

Twins: Donnie and Leo meet real human twins and wonder if they're as close as they think.

Naughty Words: Mikey discovers a naughty word and says it in front of Splinter, who washes his mouth out with soap, only to discover all 4 of his sons curse.

Comedic Relief: When Leo insists that he's funny, he goes to his own comedy show, but when no one laughs, he has a teenaged crisis.

Toy Store Galore: The turtles, either as teens or tots, have to use various toys in a toy store to defeat a villian (think the opening scene in TMNT2: The Secret of the Ooze, or TMNT 2003: Turtle Tots.)

Venus: A girl turtle mutant reveals herself to the boys, and she tells her story of how she was one of the turtles Draxum had, but escaped the box he kept them in, but still got mutated. The boys adjust to having a sister and Splinter having a daughter.

Pizza Short: The turtle tots experience one of the best things New York has to offer for the first time: pizza!

Raph, Leo, Donnie, Mikey, Venus, Karai (Splinter and Big Mama's daughter together), April, Sunita and Cassandra in Pico Park.

Mama Splinter is nursing her four turtle children. She wasn't sure at first if turtles could drink mother's milk, but once they started acting like human babies, she decided to try it. And she nursed them until they were too old for milk and could eat normal food.

I support breastfeeding and I post drawings like this on my deviantart page: KittyTheNerd. I did my research, and rats have multiple nipples for feeding their babies,so it would make sense that "Sliver" would breastfeed her children.

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