![]() ![]() By the light of the coals, she poured water from a bottle into the kettle. Turning to her satchel, she drew out the small teakettle and two cups that her mother had given her for her sixteenth birthday, only a month ago. She had helped her mother many times, and she'd known for years that she would be a midwife, but now it was finally real.Īlmost finished. This was her first delivery, and it was an unassisted delivery, too. She tried not to listen to the mother's gentle, cooing noises as she cleaned up between her legs, moving gently and efficiently as her mother had taught her. ![]() The baby's cries subsided, and Gaia passed her over. She knew, normally, she wasn't supposed to give the baby to the mother to hold, not even for an instant, but now the mother was reaching and Gaia didn't have enough hands. Gaia wished her own mother were there to help, especially with managing the afterbirth and the baby. ![]() Gaia wrapped the child in a blanket, then held the bundle toward the flickering firelight for the exhausted mother to see. It was a good baby, healthy and well formed, if small. ![]() The baby cried indignantly, and Gaia breathed a sigh of relief as she checked for toes and fingers and a perfect back. IN THE DIM HOVEL, the mother clenched her body into one final, straining push, and the baby slithered out into Gaia's ready hands. ![]()
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