Redsand Canyon then I heard your heart beating

5/11/2022 and she's ready to pop, Aquene's birthing thread! Just @Qiao @Kallik in particular for now please

The pangs had started the day before, brought with sharp inhales before they settled. She had not left the den. She knew it was coming, and once they had started to draw closer together she had sent her husband to fetch Qiao… it was time. It was time to welcome their children into the world. All the apprehension and worry that had led up to this moment faded within her as she allowed her body to simply take over. Her body had been made for this, and she had to remember that… all said and done, though, she was hoping and praying for a smaller litter than the one that the Matrona had been blessed with.

She had been expecting more terror to grace her body and her mind, worries... but they all faded to the background as instinct seemed to take over. She'd experienced births before, but never from the up close perspective that she had in the moment, feeling everything that the mother did... she wondered briefly if her mother had known she was going to die, if something had felt off or if it had been merely instinct like it felt to her now.
 
She winced as a strong contraction rolled over her. "Чертов ад." The Russian curse quickly fell over her as she drew a deep breath in, however shaky it might be, and then another one out. It felt like days, but was truthfully only a matter of hours from the moment of that first strong contraction before their first child was beginning to make it’s way into the world.