The drive to Kalispell's hospital went quietly and quickly. I was in a bit of a rush, but thankfully managed to stay at the speed limit and covered the distance between Columbia Falls and Kalispell in the time expected. And since Molly had only just gone into labor, there was plenty of time to get there. I had no need to speed or rush things to get there. After all, from what we'd been told, Jacki had been in labor for nearly twenty four hours when she gave birth to her three cubs, which was fairly consistent with the time it took for human women to give birth. This, of course, meant that even if our cubs would be born smaller then a human infant, the time needed to give birth was still comparable.
"Are you doing okay?" I asked Molly as I pulled up to the front area of the hospital, my folks "parking" behind me.
"I'm doing okay," Molly said weakly.
"I'm going to get out and help you get in and get checked in with the hospital," I said to her, "and then while you're on your way to a room, I'll come out and park the Transit."
"George..." Molly began to protest.
"And I'll be back by your side as soon as I can," I assured her.
I then got out to see my dad getting out of his car.
"You're taking Molly in?" Jacob Wayne asked me.
"Yes," I nodded, "to get her checked in."
"Go on ahead," he said in a calm voice, "I'll park your van and your Mother and I will come in after you."
"You..." I began to say.
"This is your family, son," Jacob Wayne cut me off, "don't miss out on it."
"Thank you, dad," I said to him and moved around to the passenger side while my dad continued over to the driver's side.
Molly had unbuckled herself, but was still seated rather nervously in her seat. I opened the door and held out a paw to her.
"There's been a change in plans," I commented, "My folks will park the cars while we go in."
"Okay," Molly said simply and moved slowly to get out of the Transit.
She was a bit shaky on her feet, as though labor, even as early as it was in it, was taking a bit out of her. I placed one arm around her back and held onto her with the other and began to move her toward the hospital. I could hear my parents beginning to drive off toward the parking lot as I lead Molly to the doors. We entered the hospital and made our way up to the main desk where there was an open secretary.
"Hello, I am George Wayne, this is my wife Molly... she's in the early stages of labor," I said as clearly as I could.
"From Columbia Falls?" the secretary asked and looked up to see Molly heavily leaning on me.
"Yes," I nodded, "she went into labor at the school there. They did contact you..."
"Yes, we've been expecting you," the secretary then pressed a sort of "page" button, "Hold on while we get a wheelchair."
"I don't think a wheelchair will be strong enough," I told her, "if necessary, I can carry her to whatever room is necessary."
"Then that would be advisable," the secretary spoke, "we'd prefer it that a pregnant woman in labor save the bulk of her strength for dealing with contractions. A nurse should be by in a moment to escort you to a room..."
I nodded and soon scooped Molly up in my arms. She wrapped her own arms around my neck as if to help hold her up and to hold her to me. At about the same time, a nurse came out from the main area to the hospital and called for us. Before turning to follow her, I said one last thing to the secretary.
"Also, my parents are our parking my vehicle and theirs," I spoke, "when they come in, can you let them know what room we're going to?"
"Yes, of course," the secretary acknowledged.
And with that I proceeded to follow the nurse while carrying my wife in my arms.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The process of labor for Molly then went by fairly slowly. We were lead to a room with a bed that did support her weight and even was adjusted a little so that Molly could sit up a little. The problem, of course was that the bed wasn't long enough for her height. At first I'd placed her on it so that her head could be on the pillows, but in that, part of her legs and all of her feet hung over the edge. She'd stay that way for awhile until she had her next contraction. When that happened, she cringed and whimpered, trying to endure the pain and in the process of this, because there was nothing for her feet to push against, Molly ended up sliding down the bed even more.
"I can't stand this," Molly announced in a slow and pained voice as her second contraction began to relax from it.
She then began to pull herself back up, and this time put her feet on the bed. The result of this was that her shoulders and head went over the top of the bed. She then cringed again when her head ended up banging against the wall. My mother and I were quick to help her as much as possible. The pillows on the bed were moved so that they were actually on the wall rather then on the bed. That helped a little, but it was clear that the contractions had put Molly in a great deal of pain.
"The contractions hurt," Molly said slowly, "when will the drugs kick in?"
Molly and I had agreed not to do things by "natural birth" and Doctor Wainwright had assured us that even with the Animatrix Serum, the drugs used to ease the pain in giving birth wouldn't cause too much trouble. And so, we had made sure to remind the nurse that Molly did not want to do things by natural birth. And by now, Molly was given an IV drip that would help her out. But so far, the drugs hadn't taken full affect yet.
"That'll take awhile, dear," Polly Wayne said to her, rubbing Molly's arm gently, "Just try to relax between the contractions.
"Don't forget to breathe deeply," I reminded her, trying to the Lamaze classes in the front of my mind and in the front of Molly's yet.
"Can I push yet?" Molly asked.
"I'm afraid not, Mrs. Wayne," came the nurse's voice as she came in, "based off of information that Dr. Wainwright has gotten from some of the other hospitals where a feline Animal Person has given birth... one in Illinois and one in Nebraska..."
"Yes, the Cheetah people in Nebraska and Jacki Washburn in Peoria," Jacob Wayne spoke up, "Jacki is employed by my department there..."
The nurse nodded, as I had introduced her to my parents. She had originally been a bit surprised that my father not only knew one of the Lion-people there but even employed one of them, but had accepted it fairly quickly and returned to her own work.
"Anyway," the nurse continued, "based off of that information, you won't be ready to push until you are dilated fully at ten centimeters."
"Ten centimeters..." Molly moaned.
"Yes, Mrs. Wayne," the nurse acknowledged, "your babies may be naturally ready to be born now... even if premature... and they may be smaller then they could be, we expect their size to be comparable with a human infant, which means that you will need to dilate ten centimeters."
"How far am I?" Molly asked.
The nurse then moved to the foot of the bed Molly was in and checked. This involved looking up between Molly's legs to check. My parents and I looked away while she did this. The nurse did so and then gave her answer.
"About one point five centimeters," the nurse spoke, "still a ways to go."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
And so the process continued. I stayed with Molly as long as I could to insure that I was there. I did my best to insure that Molly was as comfortable as I could manage. My parents did the best they could manage as well, but it was also obvious that they couldn't do everything. Because of this, they ended up taking on a role that was a sort of go between. As hours passed by and Molly's contractions came and went, and became much closer together as time passed, they actually came and went to take care of other things. As we moved into the late afternoon, my father actually left after taking some orders for food from my mother, Molly and myself.
Molly, focused on what she needed to do give birth turned down food, and my mother was willing to eat the hospital's food. I took a little bit more then what was the standard sized portion that I normally ate at home. The hospital staff had made their options known, but there we ran into similar problems that had been run into before. Since our visits to the hospital had not been lengthy beyond our obstetrician appointments, they weren't fully prepared for strict carnivorous diet that Molly and I ate and on the sheer size of the portions Molly and I needed to stay healthy. At one point, I heard a nurse commenting to another about calling a place called "Steak ETC" or something along those lines, but I wasn't sure on what exactly was said and what their idea was. But, for the moment, I focused on keeping an eye on Molly. And for the moment, my father remained firm in filling the "steak order" for myself. I promised him that I'd make sure some of it was fed to Molly as well. If only to make sure that Molly got something to eat and kept her strength up.
And as the hours passed, Molly continued to endure the contractions that hit her. At first they occurred about every hour, but as time passed they began to occur closer and closer together. At first they moved to once every forty five minutes and then once every thirty minutes. Then every fifteen minutes and every ten minutes. Then every five minutes, and toward the end, Molly was feeling a contraction hit her almost every minute. And when they hit her, they hit her hard. Thankfully after a few hours the drugs had fully kicked in and didn't feel the pain as much. And as the time passed, Molly's cervix continued to dilate in preparation to deliver the cubs that had growing inside her since the past Christmas.
"I want to push!" Molly announced between contractions as they began to hit her rapidly.
As she began to endure them in rapid succession, Molly began to become more and more urgent in being ready to push. I had gotten her to eat a little, but she mostly only ate what were my left overs. Molly, for the moment had only one priority, and she was not opposed to letting my parents I know what that priority was.
"I am ready to push!" Molly announced again, just in time to have another contraction hit her.
She squeezed my hand as tightly as she could, while digging her claws into the blankets beneath her. While the drugs had dulled her pain, they had not eliminated the pain. And by now, I was sure that the only way Molly felt that she could eliminate that pain was to do one thing. And that was to push and to push with all her might.
"We don't know if your ready yet," I told her.
"I feel ready," Molly answered, some urgency evident in her voice, "I want to push NOW!"
She then gave a pained groan as another contraction then hit her. By that time, the nurse came back in with a couple of associates to check a few things. And that was mostly related to how far Molly was dilated. The nurse had remained very focused on checking that to make sure that Molly was physically ready to give birth and capable of doing so. Some of it I remembered from the Lamaze Classes Molly and I had taken from Jen Litt and from instruction that Doctor Wainwright had given us. This included the possibility of Molly not dilating as she went through labor, and thus having to have our cubs delivered by Cesarean section. That had been a bit of surprise when it was given, as I felt Molly's hips were more then wide enough to deliver our cubs, but we accepted the information. As regardless as to whether or not it had come from Jen Litt or from Doctor Wainwright, the person who had told this to Molly and I knew far more about delivering babies then Molly and I did.
"And you're just about ready to," the nurse then announced, "we just need to get you to the delivery room."
"Wouldn't we do that here?" I wondered.
"No, sir," a different nurse explained, "these rooms here are where you wait to deliver, since labor is around twenty hours... and your wife is pushing nineteen hours fifty eight minutes and twenty one seconds and counting at the moment..."
"And since your wife is now approaching ten centimeters in dilation," the main nurse spoke, "we now need to move her to the delivery room. Doctor Wainwright is waiting for you and her there. Though, we will expect you to wash your paws first and that your parents will have to wait outside the delivery room."
I glanced to my folks for a moment. To some extent I didn't even realize how long it had been. My focus had been on helping Molly, and to a certain extent, I didn't even notice when my parents had left for either dinner, sleep or breakfast and when they came back all the time. I did eat something when they brought it to the room, and did my best to make sure that Molly ate something. But Molly was physically focused on giving birth, and thus, I ended up having a focus of comforting and coaching her through the process.
"It's YOUR family, son," Jacob Wayne spoke with a fatherly smile, "we're only grandparents."
"It's okay, George, Molly," Polly Wayne answered, "even if we're on the other side of a wall... we'll be there for you."
I then nodded and turned back to the nurse.
"Okay then... though do you have a soap that will lather on my fur?" I asked after a moment.
"I believe we do have a small supply somewhere," the head nurse replied, "though you'll need to come with Maxine, here, to do so. She'll then take you to the delivery room."
I nodded and followed the nurse that had been pointed out as Maxine out to wherever I could effectively wash my hands.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The process of washing my hands was done quickly and carefully. The hospital did have some specialized soap that was designed to lather on fur. To my surprise, the brand had actually come from a company that normally sold human soaps. This meant that many more companies out there were doing new research to get things that would work with Animal People then just the various car companies. It would probably of great help to Animal People who were covered in fur. I'm not sure if it would work for those that had scales, were amphibians, or had feathers... but considering that I was doing so to be there for when my cubs were born, I didn't have the time to really ponder that issue.
"Man, you have big claws," the nurse, Maxine, gasped as I cleaned around each claw as effectively as I could.
"You expected a cat not to have claws?" I asked.
"Well... no... but I'd thought you would have been declawed... you know to be... uh... human," Maxine responded.
"That hope has long since died," I sighed, "this IS what I am. I am still sentient and my wife and I are not and our cubs will not, be any threat to people. There is no need for us to be declawed."
The nurse, Maxine nodded as I finished washing up. I then approached her slowly and doing everything I could not to look threatening. As while a lot of the outright racism and hatred toward Molly and I seemed to be dying away, that did not mean that people weren't still nervous by our presence. She slowly turned to a cupboard near her.
"I don't think we have gloves big enough to fit you," Maxine then began.
"I intend to let Doctor Wainwright do the delivery," I told her, "I will hold Molly's hand and let her crush it while she gives birth... besides, a good part of me is scared I'd drop my cubs..."
Maxine looked at me.
"And I don't want that and don't want them hurt," I finished.
"Okay then," Maxine sighed and pulled out a surgical mask, "the mask should fit, though."
I slowly took it and managed to get it around my muzzle. I found that it was too small to fit effectively. The elastic only reached my ears and that was about it. The mask part was also small enough that if I were to talk, the entire mask would move. Maxine only gave a sigh and then lead me out of the washroom. The room was right across the hall from the delivery room, and I was quickly lead in. My parents were seated in a couple of chairs nearby. They gave me a polite wave as I was lead by.
As I entered the delivery room, I found that Molly had been moved to a specialized bed in which she was ready to deliver. And standing there with the leading nurse was Doctor Wainwright.
"And here is the father to be," he said with a smile, "Ready for your first game of catch?"
"I figured you would catch," I said carefully, "I don't want to drop a cub."
"Are you sure?" Doctor Wainwright asked.
"Yes," I answered.
"I'd be right beside you," Doctor Wainwright said, "and being there for your own offspring is well... something."
"And if you do let go, they'd only fall a centimeter or two onto soft cloth," the head nurse added, "You should be fine."
"Make a decision quick!" Molly urged, "I'm ready to push! Be ready to catch!"
"Go on, George," Doctor Wainwright urged and moved me forward to the position between Molly's legs.
Molly had had to change into a dressing gown earlier in labor and had to remove her underwear as well... and it probably wouldn't be a good idea to push newborns through a pair of panties. All the same, the sight between Molly's legs was different from what I had seen in times when we had mated. The soft white fur around her lower lips and the inside of her thighs was still there, but was obvious that she was fully dilated. I couldn't yet make out the cub getting ready to emerge.
"Okay then, George, place your hands like this below her vaginal opening," Doctor Wainwright explained with demonstration of his own hands.
I nervously followed the instruction. Doctor Wainwright then turned his attention to Molly.
"Okay now, when you feel a contraction, Molly, push," Doctor Wainwright instructed.
"Don't forget to breathe!" I added.
Molly gave a series of puffing breathes and then I heard the growl that would indicate that she was pushing.
"GGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRNNNNNNGGHHHHHHHHUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!" Molly gave a groan, clinching her teeth
She then paused and moved to relax between contractions. At that time, I thought I could see what looked like an orange and black ball of fur appear at Molly's vaginal opening.
"Okay, be ready, Molly," Doctor Wainwright encouraged, "the baby starting to crown. Get ready to push again!"
"GGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGHHHHHHHHHHUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!" Molly growled again as she pushed in coordination with her next contraction.
And then the cub's head began to fully emerge. The ears were flopped down over the head and I could wee that the eyes were still squeezed shut, but it was the head. The first of my cubs was being born.
"The head is out!" Doctor Wainwright urged, "Keep pushing, Molly, you can do it!"
"RRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Molly gave a full roar as she pushed again and from here the shoulders began to emerge.
That process was repeated at least one more time before the cub slid out of Molly and rolled into my paws. I looked down at it as seemed to struggle. It was obviously naked and its fur was very wet at the moment, but it was my cub. And it soon let everyone know that it was alive.
"Rah... rah... rah... rah... rah!" the cub cried as I held it, cradling its head. It seemed to pause between cries to breathe, but the cries were unmistakable.
"I'm a mother," Molly said weakly as she listened to the cub's cries, "is it the boy or the girl?"
The leading nurse came forward with some blankets and a towel and looked closely at the cub. She moved the umbilical attached to is belly up and revealed tiny genitalia of a baby girl... even if the cub's fur was coated in birthing fluid.
"This one is a baby girl," the nurse announced, "and very vocal."
The cub had continued its cries of "rah" while the nurse meanwhile moved to clean the newly born cub and set to cut the umbilical cord as necessary.
"Machli Tora..." Molly breathed, "George... it's our daughter!"
"Yes," I nodded.
"Okay then," Doctor Wainwright brought my attention back to things, "her brother will be wanting to join her... you'd best get ready.
And shortly after the cries of "rah" from my son, Michael Baldwin, joined his sister's.
"Congratulations, you two," Doctor Wainwright said to me he and his nursing staff began much of the third stage treatment, "They both appear to be healthy and with a great set of lungs. The only developmental problems that we can see are the ones we'd already expected."
"I see," I said slowly.
"But don't worry," Doctor Wainwright replied, "it's what we expected and they should be fine. We'll probably want to monitor them for about a week... but from what I can see, they will be fine."
I nodded as two of the nurses moved to carry Machli and Michael toward Molly. They were still crying "rah" as the nurse did so, but now their fur had largely been dried and cleaned. Though at their present size, it was tough to really tell what their stripe patterns resembled. As the nurse approached Molly slipped the top of her gown down. It exposed her breasts, which had swelled a little bit bigger and her nipples had both darkened and taken on a bit more of a teat like appearance rather then that of a human nipple in the course of her pregnancy. She then accepted each cub into her arms, resting the head against her elbow. Machli was wrapped in pink blankets while Michael was wrapped in powder blue blankets. They continued to cry "rah" until their tiny muzzles were brought up to Molly's nipples. Then those cries were replaced by the sounds of suckling.
"Errrrrmmmmm," Molly gave a contented sigh as she began to breastfeed her cubs for the first time, "we're parents, George."
"Yes, yes we are," I nodded.
I then turned to the nurses, "if you're going to be keeping Molly and our cubs here for a week, there are some things we'll need to discuss for their care."
"Of course," the nurse nodded.
"But for the moment, I'd like to enjoy being a father," I finished.