I'm a Believer

*Zuriel* · 06-02-2018, 10:26 PM

ooc: Elias should post first and then the pups if they're players want to do a birthing post!

Waking up in the middle of the night was a fairly common occurrence for her these days. Between the pups moving and kicking and never being able to quite get comfortable her sleep was pretty much always restless. Ever since the conversation she had with Elias she found herself checking for him whenever she did wake up like this. Sometimes his presence was obvious in the moments when he would sleep against her side or back. With how much she moved around it was normal for them to simply sleep near each other and in those moments she would look toward his shadowed form in the darkness. She was always relieved to see that he was keeping to his word of being around more often. It had taken a lot of worry off of her which was something she was grateful for in these last days of her pregnancy. There was plenty to think of without being concerned over the status of their relationship.

She was jerked awake by something and she wasn't sure exactly what it was until another contraction reminded her. Any sleepiness that was lingering left her at the realization that her water had broken. The sun had just begun to rise over the horizon so it was still mostly dark in their home, the light slowly beginning to filter in through the entrance. What little sunlight there was seemed to be filtered through a heavy layer of cloud cover. The air was cold and from what she could see the snow was falling in heavy flakes outside, adding to the blanket of snow that had already accumulated on the mountain. Zuriel stretched out her neck toward Elias as the contraction passed in order to nudge his cheek with her nose. "Elias... Elias, wake up. They're coming."

Her heart was already beating quickly from excitement and nerves as she got to her paws. She took a couple of steps to cross the room to the alcoves she had created to store her herbs. There was a small bundle of them that she had set aside for herself. She did leave a few leaves of motherwort and about half of the trillium she had found off to the side for later just in case she should want or need it. For now she began to chew the bitter leaves, swallowing them and then picking up what was left to place them within reach of where she had been laying. "I don't want anyone else here yet," she told him, knowing he was probably wondering if he should go get Daelos. Even if he hadn't been it was still something she wanted to make clear incase anyone tried to come check on them. "If anything starts to go wrong then go get Daelos, but otherwise... I only want you here." She wasn't sure why she suddenly wanted to keep everyone away while she brought her children into the world, but it seemed sacred in a way to birth their children alone with Elias in the place where she pledged her soul to him and Ruina.

She felt too restless to lay down and for a while she paced the small space where they usually slept, pausing every once in a while to lean into him as a contraction gripped her. The herbs quickly began to do their jobs as the contractions began to come with more frequency. The pain wasn't too terrible just yet, but she knew it would be worse if she hadn't had the trillium available. She hadn't been as prepared with her first litter so she knew too well how that could be. She finally laid down onto her side once the contractions began to get too strong for her to stand. She tried to lay so that she could use Elias' body for support, but she left it up to him where he wanted to be. She wouldn't force him to stay near her if he didn't want to. Once she began to push she mostly lost track of everything around her anyway. Zuriel tried to pace herself since she knew there was a long labor ahead of her, but there was only so much of that she could do.

She quickly lost track of time or how many times she had pushed with her contractions, but she finally felt the first pup slip free. She gave a relieved sigh and pulled herself up to begin cleaning their first born. It was easy to see that her assumption that they were going to be large pups was correct. This one especially seemed to take after Elias in color and size she thought as she gently moved the black and gray boy to her stomach. Part of her hoped that he would be the largest of the litter so that she could look forward to his siblings being a bit easier to deliver. Only time would really tell if her hope came true. In the brief moment she had before the contractions picked up in earnest again she let herself enjoy these first few seconds with their son. Above all she was simply happy to hear her son's cries and to see that he was healthy.

Once the contractions begun again she rested her head down again and let herself fall into the rhythm of it all. She wasn't sure how much time had passed, but she could tell that some time had passed at least by how far the sun had risen as she looked outside. Their second child came into the world without too much fuss. Perhaps her hope that the rest of their litter would be smaller than their first born would be correct. As she lifted herself up to rest on the elbow of her foreleg she noticed the tired strain in her muscles that had already started to settle in. As much as she wanted to grow their family and continue on this ancient line for Elias, she silently hoped that this litter would turn out to be smaller than she suspected. She began to clean up the second pup, happy to see that they at least had one girl. She tried to clean up each pup as much as possible and get them against her stomach as quickly as possible so they wouldn't get too cold. Once she had their little girl next to her larger brother she noticed how similar the two seemed in their markings. Really the only difference was the undertone to their coloring. It was hard to tell with their puppy coats and damp fur, but it was an interesting thing to notice at least.

So far she hadn't decided on any names or attempted to give them any on the spot. It was easy for her to decide that it would be better to focus on getting them all into the world first. There would be plenty of time to find suitable names for each of them once this was all said and done. Their third child was perhaps the easiest of the litter. A few strong pushes brought their second daughter to them. The size difference between this pup and her siblings was quite obvious and Zuriel was careful to make sure that her daughter had good access to her stomach so that she could eat alongside her siblings. It was hard to tell whether she was actually tiny or if she was simply small in comparison to her brother.

It was hard to distinguish whether she was actually putting more effort into her pushes than she had been or if she was simply growing more tired and she was having to use what little energy she had left. She felt spoiled by how easy it had been to deliver their daughters once the fourth pup came into play. Her panting grew heavier and she began to grit her teeth against each contraction and push, noticing the pain more than she had before. She sat up far enough to reach the herbs she had set aside before, taking the second dose of each of the leaves. She had hoped that she could make it through without them, but she was quickly beginning to worry that wasn't the case. She was looking out toward the entrance of the den, but she wasn't really seeing it. The sun had nearly fully risen at this point, but the snow was continuing the fall so the light still wasn't all that bright.

Once the second dose of herbs began to take effect she was able to face the contractions a bit more easily. It still took more effort than she really had to give, but she pushed through until she finally felt their next child slip free. She followed the pattern she had set for herself and sat up to clean up the newest pup, but she was shocked enough by her son's coloring that it made her hesitate for a moment. In a way it was bitter sweet for her. If anything it was enough to take her mind off of her exhaustion for a moment so that she could start cleaning up their son and moving him up to settle in among his siblings. He stood out like a sore thumb among the grays and blacks of the other pups, in the same way that she imagined Regulus had when he was born. She was a little surprised that such a rare trait carried on to her own children, but maybe the chances were higher since there were so many children. She didn't look up to see Elias' reaction since body told her she wasn't quite finished yet.

Now that the vibrant, red boy was settled in Zuriel laid back down once again so that she could begin pushing with each strong contraction. The strain on her tired muscles was beginning to hurt more than anything else. She tried to put as much strength behind each push as she could in the hopes that she could deliver the child faster, but it didn't seem to be moving along as much as she'd like. For all the knew this all could have transpired in the span of minutes, but it seemed more like hours. The only thing she could really tell for sure was that it was taking longer this time. It was hard not to panic when her energy and strength were so quickly dwindling. She finally felt the pup, but something still didn't seem right. She lifted herself up a bit to look, but she trembled and collapsed back to the ground with a whine before she could do anything. From what she could see it seemed like the pup was turned at an odd angle, but she couldn't be certain.

Zuriel took in a deep breath, waited for a particularly strong contraction, and pushed with a pained whimper. It took several pushes like this before the last pup finally slipped free just as her head began to swim and it felt like she couldn't get enough air into her lungs. The only thing that made her get up was a rush of adrenaline fulled worry for her last child. She pulled herself up just like she had four times before and began to clean up the last-born son that seemed to follow the previous colorings of gray and black. She rasped her tongue over his back, waiting to feel him breathe and hear the squeals that she had received from the rest of the litter. A moment of fearful panic started to creep in on her as seconds began to pass by without any response. She began to chant a silent prayer to no one in particular while she rubbed his back more vigorously, her exhaustion forgotten and ignored in favor of worry over her son. She didn't realize that she began to plead out loud as well, her voice a quiet, breathless whisper. "Please... please..."

Finally she heard the cries she had been pleading for and her relief brought tears to her eyes. Five children more or less brought safely into this world. Three sons and two daughters. Once the fifth child was safely feeding at her stomach she gazed at them all for a moment, not realizing that she was crying until she noticed the tears dampening the fur on her cheeks. She barely had the strength to keep her head up, but she would do it all again if it meant that she would have this tiny souls with her. She finally looked up at Elias again, searching his face to see his reaction. She didn't know what she expected or wanted him to do or say, but she was happy to have him to look to this time.

"Talk" "You" Think

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