Impressive Vocabulary

Writers: Devin, Paula, Suzee
Date Posted: 17th July 2015

Characters: Uetia, Drumilla, K'mai, Ketrione
Description: Uetia's baby's born
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 1, day 6 of Turn 8
Notes: Mentioned: Jaylene

K'mai

Uetia stood behind a chair, her hands gripping the chair's back. She
leaned forward so that her body was in 90 degree angle and panted.
Sweat beaded on her forehead.

"Fourteen minutes between contractions now, if that was contraction,"
Drumilla noted from her position nearby. She gave the greenrider a
sympathetic smile.

"Yes, it was sharding contraction," Uetia replied tartly. She had the
most uncomfortable day behind her when her bowels had emptied itself,
preparing the body for the birth.

"The gap between them is shortening. You want me to call the midwife
now?" Drumilla asked. The young healer wasn't qualified to handle a
birth all by herself yet. She was in Uetia's weyr as her support
person, a doula. And she wasn't the first choice either. But Jaylene
couldn't leave her her Wingthird's duties and Uetia's female
relatives weren't available either.

"You're the bleeding healer, you decide," Uetia snarled. Her back hurt
like Thread was eating it, her stomach muscles was clenched hard with
contractions and baby's head was pressing against her pubic bones. She
couldn't lay down, she couldn't stand straight and she couldn't walk.
She let out a string of curses that would made any seaman proud.
Drumilla had a seacrafters in her family, so she wasn't offended.

"Fine, I call someone with more experience to check you out," Dru said
and called Storm to her. The firelizard got the task to deliver
message to infirmary. Uetia was too far along to be moved out of her
weyr.

K'mai hovered nearby. "Anything I can do to help?" He hadn't expected
to be quite so nervous about the whole thing. It was all perfectly
natural, after all. But Uetia was in pain and a _baby_ was going to
come out of her. _His_ baby.

"Tell the baby to come out faster," Uetia grunted. "And women do this
multiple times?"

"Frequently," Ketrione said as she bustled through the door with a
reassuring smile and calm voice. A young apprentice followed her into
the room with much of her equipment including a birthing stool. "How
are we doing dear," she asked the obviously laboring woman. "Anyone
able to tell me how far apart the contractions are?"

Uetia's reply wasn't worth repeating.

"Fourteen minutes and getting shorter," Drumilla raported. "Uetia,
you're taking the cranky woman in labour- act to a whole new level,"
the pretty healer smiled.

"She's always been spirited." K'mai was rather impressed by how
creative her cursing was under the circumstances. When he'd been
'Scored he'd tended to repeat the same few words.

"I'm glad you're impressed," Uetia hadn't lost all her sense of
humour. She took one hand off from the chair back and reached out for
K'mai.

During the next candlemarks, Uetia exhausted her extensive vocabulary
and fell to just grunting and panting when contractions hit her with the
ever decreasing pace.

"Oh Faranth, now I feel like I have to take a crap," Uetia moaned.

"That probably means you're ready to push," Drumilla said with slight
uncertainty.

Sirjath suddenly pushed her head in from her ledge. So far, she had
ignored her rider's labor. Now she hummed and her eye facets swirled
with excitement and expectation. Drumilla's flit joined her in
humming.

"Great, more audience," Uetia grunted. She did draw strength from her lifemate.

"You're doing fine," Ketrione reassured, not that the young woman was
actually listening to her. "Ahh, that is right" she nodded at Drumilla
in approval. "In the chair with you then," she pointed to the birthing
stool. "It's time for this babe to be born.

Uetia needed their help to move, since the baby's head was already in
her birth canal. She tried not to push while she settled to the birth
chair. Dru positioned herself behind Uetia, to be a support and brace
her if needed. She nodded K'mai to hold Uetia's hands.

Uetia let out a primitive growl and pushed. She could actually feel
the baby sliding downwards. She was strong woman and could maintain
long, steady push.

K'mai took Uetia's hands with some trepidation. She was a strong woman
and he hoped she wouldn't crush his fingers. "You can do it. Almost
there!" His eyes kept darting from her face to between her legs,
waiting for the baby to appear. The healers were acting like
everything was going well so he hoped that was a good sign.

Uetia took a break from pushing to get some air. Drumilla murmured
some encouragement and wiped her sweat-dampened hair out of her
forehead. Second push and the baby was almost out.

"Don't push for a moment," Ketrione said from where she squatted
reaching under the chair, She held a siphon and cleared the baby's
face. Then she adjusted the position and eased one shoulder free.
"Now," she said.

At the command, Uetia pushed and the baby just slid smoothly out.

"There we go," Ketrione deftly eased the babe out and checked its breath. Announcing the sex she handed it to Drumilla to give to the mother while she dealt with the afterbirth.

When the healers announced it was a girl, K'mai lit up. "A girl!" He
hugged Uetia and kissed her sweaty cheek.

Uetia was too stupefied with the birth to react or feel anything. That is, until the baby was placed on her chest. She carefully, tenderly caressed the baby's face. "Little Sabia," she breathed, the name just popping into her mind. She hadn't thought about or planned about names before hand. She hadn't dared. She glanced K'mai. "Do you mind if she's named Sabia? She will grow up calling you dad. I just want to honour and remember Sabonus somehow," she asked him.

Ketrione smiled at the interchange, It was always so precious those first few moments together for the new family. She busied herself cleaning up the new mother.

"It's a beautiful name," K'mai said. It didn't bother him at all. In his mind, Sabia had two fathers and nothing would change that. It was bittersweet to know she was named after the one she would never be able to meet.

"Sabia it is then," Uetia decided and adjusted the baby so she would reach her breast to feed. When the baby's mouth latched to her nibble, Uetia felt peace and happiness, first time since the news of Sabonus' death reached her.

Last updated on the August 6th 2015

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Impressive Vocabulary