Chapter Text
Minato sat in the waiting room. Naruto bouncing on his lap. Since his son was born nothing was like how Minato pictured it. Kushina was supposed to be by his side. Naruto was supposed to be born healthy, not premature. Minato thought back to that night.
Kushina had woken with severe abdominal pain and bleeding. She was 31 weeks along with their son. Minato had never jumped out of bed so fast. He didn’t care about all the laws he broke getting Kushina to the emergency department. It was all a whirlwind after that. She was immediately rushed to the OR for an emergency c-section. Placental abruption. He had never heard of it before, but he will never forget what took his wife away from him. She lost too much blood and didn’t get to see their son take his first breath.
Little Naruto had a rough course in the neonatal intensive care unit, NICU. He was there for over 2 months. Minato remembers the breathing tube tapped to his face after he was born. His lungs were underdeveloped. Due to the emergency situation Kushina wasn’t able to get the course of steroids before he was born. Steroids that would have helped his lungs. However, every day Naruto got stronger and stronger. It was like Kushina was helping him, giving him her strength. They were discharged with a large farewell from the staff.
Now Minato sat in the pediatrician's waiting room waiting for Naruto’s first appointment. Thankfully Naruto was able to be weaned off his oxygen before they went home. Minato found himself not sleeping at night, concerned if anything would happen to Naruto. Minato wanted to be ready. He started to doze off for a second as he was sitting up. It wouldn’t hurt if he shut his eyes for a few seconds.
Minato didn’t know how long his eyes were closed, but nearly jumped out of his seat when he heard a shrill voice.
“Uzamaki Naruto.” Naruto started to cry. Minato quickly went to soothe his son as he gathered their things. He was so focused on his son, he didn’t notice all the eyes on him from the women in the office.
“Shh Shh. It will be alright little one. Come on don’t cry.” Minato kept his voice as soft and calm as possible. He made his way to the door with the nurse. Soon they were rushed back to get Naruto’s weight, length, and head circumference. The almost calmed Naruto started crying tenfold compared to earlier. The cold wooden board and scale must have been torture for the naked baby.
After the measuring, Minato swaddled Naruto in his blanket, decorated in bowels of ramen. He would dress him once they got to the room. The exam room was brightly colored with child geared toys decorating the walls. Naruto will love playing with those when he gets older. A sting shot through Minato’s heart, just one more thing he will do alone.
“Dr. Haruno will be with you shortly. Please just leave him only in his diaper for the exam.” And just like that Minato was alone with Naruto again. He could do this. Minato just stared down at his son, his face looked so much like Kushina. Kushina had found this office a week before Naruto was born.
“Oh Minato, you will not believe the pediatrician I found. She has been out of training for 2 years. Do you know she trained under Dr. Tsunade Senju! All of the moms at the mommy to be class raved about her! We will need to schedule an appointment to meet with her closer to the due date. Oh I just can’t wait.”
This office had Kushina’s seal of approval and that was good enough for Minato. As he waited he took time to fill out more of the developmental forms. Naruto had finally calmed down and was starting to sleep cradled against his chest.
“Hello. I’m Dr. Haruno. This little guy must be Naruto and you must be his father, Mr. Uzamaki. “ Her voice was sing song, that was the first thing he noticed. When he looked up he was flabbergasted at the young Doctor. Her cascading cotton candy locks fell to her mid back. She had sparking emerald eyes that looked full of kindness. He thought about how she looked and how children must be in awe of her. She extended her hand out for him to shake. He took note of her smooth hands.
“Yes this is Naruto. I’m Minato Namikaze, Nartuo’s father.” Her grip was strong. Minato wanted Naruto to carry part of Kushina with him for life, so he gave Naruto her surname.
“Oh sorry about that Mr. Namikaze. Let’s start with any questions or concerns for little Naruto since leaving the NICU.” He was pulled out of his daydreaming with her question.
“He doesn’t sleep through the night yet and coughs when he is laying down.” Naruto was zonked out. Unlike the nurse’s voice Dr. Haruno’s didn’t seem to hurt his ears.
“Let’s see little Naruto is 3 months old, so we wouldn’t expect him to sleep through the night until 6 months of age. However every child is different so he may do it sooner or even when he is older.” Dr. Haruno smiled as she looked at Naruto.
“Now this coughing does it happen every time he is laying down?” Minato shifted in his seat to look at her better when they talked. The jostling around caused Naruto to wake up and start crying. Before he could do anything Dr. Haruno spoke.
“You have your hands full. Let me take him for a little.” Minato could only watch as Naruto was taken from his arms. This was the first time someone other than Minato had held Naruto outside of the NICU. Anxiety filled Minato’s veins. Naruto quickly quieted down with the coos from Dr. Haruno. Minato didn’t think it was fair she could calm his son so quickly.
“It is mainly at night. The NICU talked about keeping him upright after feeding and burping him frequently to help with reflux.” Minato made sure to follow all the advice he had gotten before leaving the hospital. He kept a notebook in his work bag and referred to it multiple times a day.
“Does he spit up excessively or seemed bothered by it?” Dr. Haruno didn’t even bother to look at Minato.
“He spits up a little, nothing excessive. He never seems bothered by it.” Naruto cold guzzle formula like a champ.
“That’s good. I was reading that he was placed on flovent for his chronic lung disease of prematurity. How often is he getting it?”
“I give it to him once a day in the morning. He was on it twice a day, but I was told he could be weaned down since he was doing so well.” Minato wanted to reach into his bag and look at the paperwork. He was now worried he was doing something wrong.
“How many puffs does he get in the morning?”
“Two. I give it to him every morning with the spacer we left the NICU with.”
“Perfect. How about you try giving him one puff twice a day. That way he will get the same dose, but having part of it at night should help with any inflammation in his lungs. Splitting the dose will help give him a more consistent level of medicine in his lungs. Has he had any fevers, runny nose, congestion?”
“No.”
“Will he be going to daycare or staying home?” Dr. Haruno had started to walk over to the exam table. She delicately placed Naruto on the table, after she laid out his blanket.
“He will be starting daycare next week when I have to go back to work.” After his wife’s death he was able to take some time off to be with Naruto. He was able to go back part time when Naruto was still in the NICU, but he took a couple of weeks off after he was discharged. He wanted time to settle Naruto in before starting back up at work and putting Naruto in daycare.
Minato watched as Dr. Haruno checked Naruto over. Naruto looked memorized by the doctor.
“Just to go over some general cares. Most children in their first year of life can have 10-13 viral illnesses, making it seem like they are sick all the time. Naruto should still go to daycare, but he may have a tendency to catch a cold easily. If that comes up and you have any concerns bring him in or call into the office. We don’t have to do any vaccines today, but he will need his second round at 4 months of age. I recommend having him come in at that time for another check up. Let me give you our card with the office hours and contact numbers. We do have doctors on call at night if any questions or concerns arise. It would either be me or one of the other 3 pediatricians who work in the office.” Minato took the card and placed it in his bag. He made sure to take a picture of it to save on his phone as well.
“Well I must say you have a beautiful baby boy. I look forward to seeing him in a month. Please let us know if anything comes up in the meantime.” Dr. Haruno wrapped Naruto back up in his blanket, her swaddle was so perfect he was jealous.
“Thank you Dr. Haruno. We will be seeing you again in a month.” Her smile made him melt before she bid them goodby and left.
Minato sat in the exam room for a moment. He could do this. At least they had an emergency contact number for the nights. He hoped he didn’t need to use it to much.
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Sakura stepped out of the exam room and sighed. She felt sorry for little Naruto and his father. She had heard from Hinata about their story. Hinata was one of the neonatologists who took care of Naruto in the NICU. She wanted to reprimand the nurses for their giggles about how attractive Mr. Namikaze was.
Sakura moved from exam room to exam room. She got coughed on by 3 patients, almost punched in the face by a 3 year old, and a teenager cursing at her. She was ready for the day to be over. Checking her watch she realized she would have to go home soon to get ready for her date. Ino had decided to set her up with a blind date, which Sakura begrudgingly agreed to. She checked her in-basket one more time before heading out.
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Sakura sat nervously at the front of the restaurant. Her date was 20 minutes late. What if they stood her up? She knew this was a bad idea.
“Sakura?” A deep baritone voice brought her out of her thoughts. She looked up to see one of the most gorgeous men in her life.
“Yes. You must be Kakashi.” Kakashi gave her a dazzling smile.
“Sorry I’m late. I got held up at the office.” He was the second most gorgeous man she had seen today. Kakashi offered his hand as she stood up, which she easily took.
“No problem. What do you do?” Sakura couldn’t help but ask. Ino had told her almost nothing about this blind date. The only fact Ino found important was that Kakashi was tall and handsome.
“I am an architect. My boss wanted to go over one of the new accounts this afternoon. He has been off for family matters.” They easily fell into a conversation.
As their date winded down to a close, Sakura's phone went off.
“Sorry I have to take this. I am on call this week.” Sakura felt bad as she went outside. Kakashi gave her an understanding nod.
“Mr. Namikaze is everything alright?” Sakura could tell it was going to be a long first year of Naruto’s life.