every waking moment, heda nursed multiple pups. her own birthbabies were growing, speaking; they did not need so much of her milk, which flowed liberally for the new island children. still, they were young, and heda feared her devotion to the newest might affect them.
and so she brought them in where she was able. 
she fed them in tandem, an older sibling with a younger, for she had at once thought of them all as hers. @Saint with @Dinah, accipitra with simeon, @Hierophant with @Malakai, judah with @Anathema. this was instinctive, for heda was still quite new to the ways of motherhood and lactation. 
this however ensured two types of nutrition was created by the young mother, a protein-laden blend to support the older pups as they developed their independence, the second with a fattier richness for the second brood.
heda also chewed meat for the pups ready, often cradling one or two of the infants at her breast while she regurgitated for the others, or chewed it into a paste.
sleep was not hers, nor caracal's any longer. only prayer, only murmuring, shifting babies from milk to arm to nest and back to her belly.
towhee had come and heda had almost fallen asleep at once upon greeting her, too tired to hardly speak but deeply grateful for her mother in law's presence.
god had given her eight children. as simeon and judah murmured and kissed their little siblings, heda's silver-smudged eyes opened with a fond and golden light. "you both are so gentle with them. they'll know you as their brothers, and brothers have things to teach."