images to look at to help you fall asleep i think

This picks up after my post I made last year (I feel like I remember calling it “Part 1”) (Yes this post is “Part 2”) where Shadow starts going into labor while he’s at work with Rouge and Omega at GUN. But like you don’t need to have seen those to get this, all that happens is Shadow calls Sonic and tells him he’s gone into labor and they need to go home like right now and there you go that’s the context.

Medical diagrams and infographics yipeeeee!! I genuinely don’t know what happened to the page with all the notes I took of all the stages of labor. Like I remember copy and pasting just that little section in the top right where I started taking notes and I was like “oh I should probably just dedicate a whole page” and I DID but now it’s GONE and I highkey made my hand sore from writing that much I need to remember to use the text option in Procreate more lol.

I’m too lazy to rewrite those notes but it was genuinely interesting learning about the processes and stuff, and also I didn’t know that oxytocin was like the main character of your body’s hormones when you go into labor and I found that fascinating. But yeah also having your significant other helping you through your labor physically and emotionally genuinely just makes oxytocin faster for you and I just think that’s really sweet like awwwwww thanks babe I need your energy for my brain chemicals now.

Various examples of a few birthing positions I found when researching, some are good for stage 1 during early and active labor, and others are better for stage 2 when pushing etc etc

Not sure why I didn’t label anything with specific stages that would’ve been helpful but around here is when Shadow goes into stage 2. At this point the body is ready to starting pushing, the cervix is dilated 10cm and this is when the most intense contractions happen, the body automatically feeling a strong urge to push with each one.

If you couldn’t tell I’m a big fan of Shadow hurt/Sonic comforting him and in this case it’s Sonic helping Shadow through what I saw someone refer to as a “category 5 tummy event” for labor

At this point Shadow’s been in labor for around 24 hours ish so basically an entire day (because I want him to suffer) (but also statistically if it’s the body’s first time delivering a baby it takes a lot longer than a second or third child). Stage 1 (early and active labor, cervix dilating) takes the longest, averaging around 12-19 hours just to reach a full 10cm. Stage 2 is shorter but it is the most physically “laborious” part of labor, it can take anywhere from 10 minutes to a few hours.

Not to get into specifics for Shadow’s anatomy, but I also think his body would already put him through a longer labor because of his healing abilities and the speed at which he can do so. During labor, you’re not technically “injuring” anything, but your cervix has to dilate to let the baby through, and I feel like maybe his bioengineered genetics would just be at a constant war with his standard Mobian physiology and the body’s natural process of giving birth. Like his body starts to go into labor, his brain and hormones and chemical processes all start working on getting this baby delivered, but then his super fast healing Chaos-powered abilities are like “why is there a hole in your body getting wider. stop that. no seriously you’re like bleeding and everything you’re supposed to keep that stuff inside you” idk something like that lol. (also writing that just made me think of that one Brooklyn 99 clip where Jake is in the hospital and he’s like “I’m fine they said I just have internal bleeding, that’s where the blood’s supposed to be!”)

Highly recommend watching different species of animals give birth if that sounds interesting (weird obviously but I promise it’s fascinating). Like most mammals have it similar to humans where you gotta push out an entire baby but then you have land mammals and ocean mammals and dolphins and sharks are really funny cause they just swim around and then theyre like “oh shit I dropped my baby out of my body oh whoops there is goes down the ocean current be free my child. oh hello again i guess you can follow me around i did just birth you” but us land creatures have to do the whole thing yknow….on land so there’s no water to help us out and everything is still so there’s a bit more work put into the labor process. If that made any sense idk comment down below or something

I might end up coming back to this page later and taking the time to color this completely. My favorite thing to draw all the time is Shadow seeing his baby for the first time and also Sonic seeing his baby for the first time and it’s like a tiny little them and they already love each other so much and now they have this baby creature to take care of and love so much aughshdlfshdf lalalalala typing this out just makes me want to go frolicking through a field of flowers

And then these last 3 are reuploads but I’m posting them again here so you put all the context together.

And that’s the pregnant Shadow for now! Dw tho Spectral gets a little sister later, so Shadow’s gotta give birth to that creature as well.

Sjjadkskfnfkksjd anyway I know it’s been like 6 months since I posted the first part of Shadow going into labor I’m sorry for not sharing these sooner I wish I had the time that I think I do to draw gay hedgehogs and then I realize that I work 40hrs a week and also am an engineering student and I just get so sidetracked with life….

For everyone who wanted to see Shadow giving birth I hope the wait was worth it sort of at least??? I seriously love you guys so much you get me ❤️❤️ like thank you for the amount of support I’ve gotten bc I was not expecting it at all I thought everyone would think I was cringefail or something.

Anyway I remember when I sketched the key frames for this I felt like this is what their first kiss would be like,,,,there was a storyboard with it but I literally didn’t animate any of that but I’ll give you the rundown for gits and shiggles

it’s basically Shadow and Sonic sparring and doing rival things and then Sonic staggers Shadow and tackles him and then they do that stupid thing that happens in movies when they both look at each other for like an eternity while the suspense builds up and then they kiss and I’m aroace but that shit gets me like ooooooooh they like each otherrrrrr and then my stomach does the thing and I’m smiling and lowkey giggling to myself ndjskanjfkskf weeeeeeeee aegoromantic things

Also idk if it’s noticeable bc it’s like a single frame or two but I tried drawing Sonic pulling away from the kiss (doing the “oh shit I literally just kissed my rival on the mouth without thinking I sure hope he doesn’t punch me in the face for this oops”) but Shadow doesn’t realize it and he sorta automatically follows Sonic’s mouth and still tries to kiss him for a second even after Sonic pulls away bc the emo hedgehog is touch starved as fuck and actually just wants to be held and comforted,,,,but yeah he makes himself look like an idiot there and Sonic realizes this and has that “ooooooh you want me so bad it makes you look stupid” expression for a microsecond before he just goes back to kissing Shadow.