Jade relaxed a little when Doctor Tucker left with the venom sample that was needed. Jade had never wanted the fight that had happened earlier in the day. And while she knew Dymixious had a temper and had even urged him to try and calm himself to try and avoid situations where it would be a problem, she also knew that he could also be quite kind and understanding. In fact he'd doted on her rather heavily when they were first dating and none of that really went away during the time of their marriage. It was that fact that lead to her present physical condition and situation, pregnant and in labor.
"You're doing rather well," came a feminine voice from beside her and Jade soon felt a hand comfortingly rub her shoulder.
She looked over to see Frances Twist, a werecat who had lived next to the home that Moon Lake had placed her and Dymixious in when they'd came to the town to have her pregnancy treated. She'd been spooked by the battle and was soon alerted to Jade's going into labor and had offered to be her couch, since Dymixious couldn't. Jade gave a slow in response. She would have preferred having her husband there, but the battle had made that impossible.
"You're sure?" Jade asked, "between everything hurting and having to shift and..."
Jade cringed as another contraction hit her. Her labor was early, likely brought on by the emotional stress of watching Dymixious's temper get the better of him. That had resulted in her and Frances coming to Moon Lake's hospital where she'd spent much of the day. She'd gone through the periodic waves of pain as her body was physically preparing itself to birth the child she presently had in her womb, and it'd been such that she wasn't quite sure what time it was. The pain of her contractions was enough that she had focused on any clock and could only focus on enduring the pain. Shifting to her were form, based on the Komodo Dragon, just as Dymixious's form was, helped a little, but even there it wasn't perfect.
"I've been told shifting can help," Frances answered, "and given the slight increase in a were's hip measurements when assuming their were form, that might make it easier to deliver..."
"You've been told... you don't actually have experience with this?" Jade gasped.
"Not directly, no," Frances admitted, "but I'm here as a couch. To help and give you encouragement..."
"Do you even have kids?" Jade asked.
"I have one son," Frances answered, "but I am a lesbian. My wife and I adopted our son... but that isn't relevant to the here and now."
Jade slowly sighed and nodded. All she could do was focus on her breathing and hoped things would move along so that she could deliver her child. She hoped Dymixious would make it and that something could be done with regard to easing his legal situation, maybe even some form of "house arrest" in Moon Lake would work, but if he didn't, the child would be all that mattered. She would have to raise the infant and make sure things went well.
"What if the baby fears me?" Jade asked, "when I'm like this?"
"I've never heard of were infants fearing their parents' fursonas," Frances answered, "from what contacts I've had with other mothers here in Moon Lake... newborn infants seemed quite eager to suckle regardless of their mother's form. You should be fine."
Jade breathed a sigh of relief at that. It was about all she could manage as another contraction hit her. They were now beginning to get closer and closer together, and with her lack of focus on any clock, she couldn't be aware of just how long she'd been in labor. It'd been at least through the bulk of the day. She cringed and again and brought her hands to her swollen womb, as though that might alleviate the pain that she had. Transforming had helped a little, but in many ways, she did feel ready. She felt like she wanted to push, she felt like she needed to push. It was in that moment when her OB/GYN, Doctor Harris Jones came in. He was fully dressed in scrubs, though as a normal, that made some sense with regard to delivering were infants.
"So, how are we doing?" Doctor Jones asked.
"I'm ready," Jade gave a slightly pained grunt, "emotionally ready, anyway."
"And by now, you should be physically ready," Doctor Jones commented, "the nurse had informed me of your progress and how quickly your contractions are coming."
"She said I wasn't ready then," Jade said slowly.
"That doesn't mean you weren't close," Doctor Jones replied, "I just need to make one check to see on how well dilated you are."
Jade nodded as Doctor Jones moved the blankets and lifted the medical gown she'd been made to wear. On certain levels it was something that Jade wouldn't have wanted to share, as the only one she wanted looking at her there was Dymixious, but she also knew that Doctor Jones specialized in the area of delivering children. In this, he likely knew what he was doing and wouldn't engage in anything offensive. After a few moments he stepped back and gave her a smile.
"And I believe you are ready," Doctor Jones spoke, "we'll get you down to the delivery room and you will soon hold your own bundle of joy in your arms."
Jade couldn't help but give a pained smile at that, even as another contraction hit her. She was glad to be ready and ready to bring new life into the world, hopefully a world that would become better in time. Doctor Jones then motioned to the doorway, and a small team of nurses entered to help Jade transition from the bed she'd been resting in and to a gurney to transfer her to the delivery room. Frances provided some help as well, mostly by being close and holding Jade's hand. Jade's scaly skin her were form was dry and rough against Frances' hand, but Frances paid that no real mind and walked along providing what small encouragements that she could as they made their way to the delivery room.
When they arrived, Jade was transferred to another bed, though this one was specifically designed to make the delivery easier and for Doctor Jones to handle that delivery. Jade had also found that there was a well placed hole in the bottom of the bed that allowed her tail to fit through. As she was placed in the bed, she did move her tail slightly, finding that the bed's supports were on the sides and meaning that that hole was there deliberately so that she wasn't laying on her tail while delivering. That gave her a small bit of comfort as she looked to Frances and then to Doctor Jones.
"Okay, you did say you'd had some Lamaze classes before you and your husband came to Moon Lake, correct?" Doctor Jones asked as he assumed his position and again checked on the over all situation. Jade's vagina was fully dilated and as such the opening looked different from how it would look in a more normal state, with a pinkish coloring to the internal skin that contrasted heavily with Jade's blackish-gray scales, but for a pregnant were in labor, this was normal.
"Yes," Jade answered took Frances's hand.
"And they gave you the instructions on when to push?" Doctor Jones asked.
"Yes," Jade answered again, feeling another contraction coming.
"Then, you may go in accordance with those instructions," Doctor Jones gave a smile, "remember to breathe and relax between contractions."
Jade managed a small smile, but gave a cry of pain as a contraction hit. She squeezed Frances's hand and immediately began to push, moving to get her child out. Doctor Jones kept an eye forward as a pinkish form began to move forward and emerge in the opening. There was also some sign of hairs on it that matched Jade's in her human form.
"The baby's head is starting to crown, keep going," Doctor Jones encouraged.
"You can do it," Frances added as Jade recovered between contractions, though another contraction as coming rapidly.
"RiiiiiiiiiiiIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHTTTTTTTUUUUUUUUHHH!" Jade gritted out as the contraction hit and she pushed again.
This time Doctor Jones watched as the head fully emerged, but only enough to reveal the shoulders starting to push against the sides of Jade's vaginal opening. He figured that one more good push ought to do it. Once the shoulders were out, the rest of the infant would come out easily and with no problem.
"One more," Doctor Jones spoke, "You're almost there."
Jade nodded and as another contraction hit, she gave another push and through her own herculean effort, she soon felt great physical relief and heard something that made her heart melt. It was the cry of a human infant. She looked up to Doctor Jones and his nursing staff who were going through the process of cutting the umbilical cord and preparing to clean the newborn infant. She couldn't quite see the infant, but she could see the blankets in the nurses arms. All the while she heard the baby's cries as Doctor Jones smiled to her.
"Congratulations, it's a girl," Doctor Jones said with a smile as a nurse approached on the other side of the bed and offered the infant, wrapped in pink blankets to the new mother.
Jade accepted the infant and soon had her cradled in her arms with the head resting against her bicep. The baby looked up at her with eyes that reminded her of Dymixious. It gave Jade a great sense of calm that she couldn't help but smile down on the baby, even while in her were form. She also felt a great deal of relief as the infant showed no fear of her were form, and the form that Jade knew this little girl would be able to assume when she turned fourteen, but that would be in the future.
"A girl," Jade managed to breathe happily.
"What will you name her?" Frances asked.
"Hope," Jade answered, "It's about all I have at the moment and I'd like to think what this beautiful baby will represent."
"It's a wonderful name," Frances smiled in response.
While the day may not have started well, Frances could be happy for Jade and her young daughter. On some levels she could be a bit jealous, as at times she did have the wish that she and Samantha could have a baby of their own, but since both of them were female, that was impossible... outside of some genetics experiment where they took an egg from her or Samantha and injected it with mixed DNA from both of them to trigger the sort of development that occurred in conception. But that didn't change her happiness in the birth of little Hope Drake.
In many ways the birth was part of the consequences of the fight that morning and represented a string of consequences that went back to the murder of Jeff Decker. Frances was aware enough of those issues to know that Lionel Ulysses had killed her and Samantha's old friend's husband and the news had published enough on what the police had found that identified the battle to arrest Lionel Ulysses and the wererat's later murder by Dymixious Drake. All of that represented too much death and the complicated nature of life that presently seemed to have the were secret hovering on edge of discovery. Frances wanted to hope that Hope's birth would represent something better coming in the future, if not for the world, than at least for Jade.