Cedar Sweep [m] aniñiq

Mature Content Warning

This thread has been marked as mature. By reading and/or participating in this thread, you acknowledge that you are of age or have permission from your parents to do so.

The participants have indicated the following reason(s) for this warning: Child birth!

My miġayauraqs, Asivaq crooned to her children, admiring them before kissing each of them on the head. I have never seen anything so perfect in my entire life, she admitted; the process of childbirth had been well worth it. She looked up to @Kigipigak then with nothing but love in her eyes. I cannot believe our love made these wonderful miġayauraqs.

Her labor had been relatively easy, but it'd drawn out for almost an entire day. Although her children hadn't come in rapid succession, they'd come quickly enough in only a few pushes when it was their time. She longed for @Kukutux in the time between pushing, wishing that her anaa could be there to witness and guide her through this. But, ultimately, given the circumstances, she had done it alone and had brought four beautiful children into the world.

She laid on her side, giving her children enough room to feed if hungry. She was exhausted; her eyes were heavy with fatigue, but she couldn't keep her eyes off of them. Soon, she would sleep, but not yet. Not while her children were so new.

Happy birthday, @Atausiq, @Malguk, @Pinasut and @Sisamat!

Wait wait WAIT already? Omg! Hi babies!

When the time came he knew it was a battle for his wife alone, but he paced outside of her sleeping place at full alert, despite the many hours it took. When she struggled he would stop and be present for it, and offer support, and then bring water or food or other gifts, only to put them aside when they were not needed yet. By the time they were born there was a pile of toys near the ulaq the newborns would not be able to play with and another pile of various meats and things, for Asivaq. Kigipigak needed to be busy to ward off his own nervous energy.

And then there was Asivaq, calling to him. The smell of new life. The little sounds of each child as they moved or burped or ate, and all was well with the world. The husband and wife shared loving glances; and the man watched these small bundles at her belly, I'm silent awe of them, while farther back his tail gave uncontrolled thumps of approval.

And come into the world, she did.
In an instant, everything changed.

Her first breath was taken in a cry of hello to the world. Hello to the new things and the wonders that her soul had been waiting for. This day. Oh, this day marked the time that she could now feel the warmth of the bodies she had kicked rapidly at! Oh, and she had kicked. Kicked against brothers and sisters in the way, and kicked against the belly of mama desperately. Her favorite, when this loud thunder came close to her. She cried so loud and intensely to give greetings so many times that it was a wonder when her lungs would give out.

When helpless on her back, the cries she spewed out as her mothers tongue hit her were the result of a giggle wishing to learn how to sound. Wish! She wished! One day, she would learn how to wish more, and how to crawl, how to walk, how to run, how to leap!

It wasn't the want of wishing to be sheltered again, but this beating in her stomach that told her to crawl! Nestled to drink from the life that gave her life, the soft music of the earths vibrations taught her how to be still.

To be born was to begin to know hunger. And if ever from now Atausiq could recall that day, her first memory would be to then remember not wanting to feel such a way, after the vicious pang in her belly—

And then it was to know cold. That feeling was over in near an instant, when the third thing that she came to know was to be loved—and the fourth, perhaps to feel it. 

Something brought this hunger and this cold to an end. And Atausiq lastly, on the first day, knew what it was to feel content as she suckled loudly at her mothers teat. She was comfortably nestled between her litter mates, but this teat was hers—she claimed it with kicks and happy crocodilian death rolls to push anyone else away from what was hers.

✴ He had done this before.
The memory of a warm sea — he bobbed within it as cold as ice, diaphanous, formless until the moment that the shift came, and he moved with it this time, sluicing in to the world without the usual protest. A silence enveloped him this time.
Despite closed eyes, he saw green light.
Closed ears hearing a prayer in a voice half-remembered.
I plead for his life.
The boy yawned and let loose a roaring cry.

She watched her children fondly, studying their every move as they adapted to their new world. There were cries, shrieks, and whimpers—but none as alarming as the one from Sisamat. She pulled him closer, wondering if the cold had caused such a noise, and began to groom him in hopes of warming him up.

He counted them; he saw their little feet, and their round faces, how small they were; there were boys but there was also a girl! He had a daughter! Kigipigak did not know what to do except to observe and let the love that spawned in his chest to overwhelm him.

He saw his wife. Radiant and exhausted. Caring for one or another child, focused, happy. This was good; this was how things were meant to be. Kigipigak was struck silent by the moment and watched in awe of his second chance at a happy family.

The most of her being was frightened wriggling and ferocious drinking. Mama's belly was kneaded firmly, and the stillness did not last long. When her head released, the cries from her mouth were riddled with confusion. Hello! And many things too said goodbye, like how air greeted her skin and fled quickly after. How the warmth of breathe came and went. How when she stopped drinking, her belly still was filled with hunger.

She often let go of mama and did nothing but wail.

Their family was complete, and the work of raising their children began. She tended to the cries, cleaned them, and ensured they were in the correct position to feed. Occasionally, she'd glance at @Kigigpigak and smile broadly, still in awe of their accomplishments.

She took advantage of the opportunity when she was certain that all the children were asleep. She took a cat nap, keeping one ear on her babies in case they needed anything.