“Thanks for coming, bud. I’m glad you came.”
Pictures of babies filled my head.
“Yeah, only they’re coming out as eggs. Isn’t that weird?”
Again, visions of babies filled my head.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you meet them.”
She went to climb on my lap, but it was mostly missing. Instead, she snuggled in beside me. My back was killing me. When Altan came out with the tea, he set it down and squatted in front of me.
“You’re not okay, are you?”
“No, I think I am. I probably overdid it.”
“I’m calling your mate.”
“He’s finishing up his forty-eight. He should be home…” I looked over at the clock. “Give him ten minutes.” He wasn’t one to dawdle, especially not now that I was so far along in my pregnancy.
I didn’t drink any of the tea, instead getting up and walking around. The back pain moved to my side, then to the front, then to the back again. That was not how back pain was supposed to behave. Altan held his phone up again. “Can I call him?”
The crunch of tires in the driveway saved me. A worried call from my bestie was averted by Theo’s arrival. Little did I know that when my mate came in, he was going to help Altan gang up on me. My bestie couldn’t tell him all about how much I overdid it and how he thought something was wrong, fast enough.
“Let me call the healer,” Theo said.
“I’m fine.” Visions of the babies popped into my head again. “Bunny Foo-Foo thinks this is labor.”
“Is that right, timing-wise? Aren’t you too soon?”
“No, it’s just about time according to my dates, and if that’s what my furry friend thinks is going on, I’m going to believe her.”
“Do you want me to stay or leave?” Altan’s hand was on my shoulder.
“Please stay.”
Both he and Theo kept me company. They brought me drinks, held my hands as I walked, and kept me upright when the pain got bad. Hours later, despite it feeling like days or maybe weeks, it was time to push. I rushed into the nursery, asking my mate to help me get undressed. Altan stood behind me, keeping me steady as Theo removed my pants. Then I got onto one of the dog beds, squatting. They were on each side, helping me stay upright.
It hurt. A lot. It was terrifying knowing that I had not one but three beings to push out of me when one felt impossible. Butbetween the encouragement of my mate, my bestie, and Bunny Foo-Foo, I could do it. I squeezed and pushed and screamed and cursed. And then there was one beautiful teal egg sitting on the dog bed.
“Get me to the next one.” I didn’t have time to admire our first egg. My body wanted them all out and now.
They picked me up, not even pretending to help me walk, as I wasn’t sure I could. Another half hour of tears, screams, and pushing before our next egg, a light-pink one, sat on the second bed.
They carried me to the next bed and, once again, I pushed and pushed. This one was the hardest, my energy nearly depleted, but I did it with their help, and we had a light-violet egg on the final bed.
My babies were in there.
I held on to my mate tightly. “They’re so beautiful.”
Altan kneeled in front of the violet one. “They really are.”
“Sorry about the dog beds, Bunny Foo-Foo.” She, too, was enamored with the eggs. “They were the right shape.” We could curl up around each one if we wanted to or possibly sit in the middle.
I waited for a reply from my furry friend, but all she sent back was a feeling of warmth and love.
We have three babies coming. They are almost here.
“Let’s go get you showered and cleaned up,” Theo said.
