About 3 weeks before I had prepared a box under the sink's vanity counter that was quiet, dark and safe. I lined it with lots of sheets and had bought a towel for it the day before she labored. She snubbed the box the entire time; she was a street-cat before, she knew what she was doing, dammit, and she didn't need our help with this. However, after that gush of amniotic fluid she went and sat right the hell in the box and started the process. Ms. Hardass broke and accepted that box.
I called into work for the first time and settled down with Mama Kitty as an observer. She birthed the first 3 kitties in just under a few hours, cleaning and holding each one as it was born. She was so proud and so happy with herself to finally have kittens inside in a safe place where she knew they could be protected. She looked at me like a person; I'll never forget it.
When Lucy was born, she came out bum-first like all the kitties did. Being wet from birth she looked merely like a black cat, especially with her inky toes, so when her head plopped out and to the side revealing her split face, it startled me! She started to mew as mama picked her up and cleaned her and I marveled at her face markings... so... soo... beautiful.
When Ava was born, I was so excited that my reaction could have warrented the observation that my own kittenchild was being born via surrogate. Ava and I would play in-utero through Mama's tummy. She would kick and roll when I pet and tickled her; I wanted to know which kitty it was when she finally came out. She was the cutest little tube-of-sausage-fat kitten there ever was... and her Kitler was admittedly much lighter...
And now 3 years later, her surviving kittens, Lucy and Ava, are larger than she is. But that doesn't stop her from holding and cleaning them like she did those 3 years ago...
Stumble it!
