38
CANDRIN
And babies make seven
“I need to go outside.” I was completely naked, in my twelfth hour of labor, and covered in sweat and yet I was determined to be under the stars. My babies didn’t want to be born in the house. They wanted to be where their papa bears were most free… in the woods…. the woods where I first met their fathers.
“We can help you outside,” Huston said and the others agreed readily.
“Not just outside. I want to be in the woods behind our first home.” This might’ve been my house before I met them, but that place was our first home and I felt drawn to be there nowin such a powerful way there was no denying it. “I have maybe two minutes to get to the car before the next contraction.”
That snapped them into gear. Oberon wrapped a blanket around me. Tanner ran ahead to get the van, and Huston collected my wallet, just in case. I didn’t plan nor want to have anything to do with the hospital, but if I didn’t have my ID, I would surely need it.
I didn’t make it all the way to the vehicle, contracting in the hallway, but soon enough I was inside and bucked up, Oberon driving me home.
“Take me to the clearing. The one I like with the boulder that was made for sitting.”
It took us more than a bit to get me out there, my mates working their hardest to make sure I didn’t fall when a contraction hit and/or trip on a branch. None of them seemed too pleased with my unexpected request, but they were supportive and I appreciated it. Oberon and Tanner even snagged some extra blankets and water as I made my way to the tree line with Huston by my side.
“Here?” Tanner asked as we reached the clearing.
“Here.” It felt right. This was where our babies were meant to enter this world.
Oberon laid out blankets and Tanner insisted on running back to the house to get pillows. Huston gave me his arm to squeeze as the pain radiated through me once again. The contractions were getting closer. So much closer. It wouldn’t be long now.
I threw off the blanket that was wrapped around me and waddled around the impromptu bed on the ground. It was sweet and I appreciated my mates’ efforts, but the more I walked around the less it felt like this was where I needed to give birth.
“Tell us what to do,” Tanner pleaded. “We’ll make whatever you need happen.”
A burning sensation ran through me, one I’d been told would signify that I was just about there.
“The bolder.” I cried out. “I need to be there.”
The idea was ludicrous at best and yet they jumped into action, helping me over to it. I squatted down, my back against the cold stone, Oberon and Huston flanking my sides and giving me something to hold onto as I prepared for the next contraction. It was almost time to push and I wanted to be ready.
As the contraction started to build, I pushed, my mates encouraging me, telling mewhat an amazing job I was doing. Sweat dripped from my chin and more than once I feared I wouldn’t be strong enough to stay up right, but I managed with the help of my fated ones.
“I see the baby’s head.” Tanner was in what I would later affectionately call the catcher’s position and hearing his words gave me the renewed strength to keep going. “You’ve got this.”
I wasn’t sure that I did.
The tightening of my stomach became unbearable and I cried out, pushing with all that I had, remembering that my baby needed me to do this. I pushed until I couldn’t think about anything else, the burning growing stronger, the pressure building until suddenly it wasn’t and the most beautiful sound in the world filled the clearing: our baby crying.
If my mates hadn’t been holding me up, I’d have collapsed on the spot.
“Blanket.” I wanted to sit down and enjoy my first moments as a father before the contractions began again.
Once settled on the blanket, Tanner set our daughter on my chest, the cord already cut.
“Meet Armelle,” Tanner placed her against my chest.
The three of us enjoyed a few moments with our sweet daughter when the contractions started back in full force. This time Tanner held our daughter and I got on my hands and knees. This hadn’t been part of my birth plan, but just as with squatting by the rock felt right, this did too. This time things went much quicker and Huston was there to bring our baby into the world.
“Barrett.” I tasted the name. It was perfect. “He’s so big.”
Looking back and forth between our two babies I wondered how there had even been room for a third in my middle. And for half a second I worried that maybe there wasn’t but then my body went into full on delivery mode, obliterating that fear.
This time I delivered on my back, not wanting to move from my spot, with Huston and Tanner on either side of me holding our cubs. Oberon took his turn helping me deliver, putting a pillow under my lower back and holding up my legs as he encouraged me. When our third little bundle joined this world,he was anything but little.
