Somewhere on the far side of the house Elsie heard the clock strike midnight. She had gone to bed early, but had tossed and turned for most of the time. Frankly she’d felt off all day and she worried that maybe she was coming down with something. Sleep was fitful and uncomfortable and she envied Tyb who had come to bed, passed out and was sound asleep next to her in bed. It wasn’t fair how well he slept.

What she was coming down with made itself perfectly known a short while after she heard the clock strike two.

The first contraction felt like little more than those of her cycle and she wrote it off as maybe something she’d had with dinner. She was still half asleep at the time and it wasn’t until a little while later, when the discomfort got a little more intense that Elsie woke up more fully. Something was off alright and she was starting to understand just what it was.

Gently she slid from bed and made her way to the washroom, closing the door softly behind her and lighting the lamp with her wand. She grabbed a washcloth and soaked it, running the cool cloth over her face and arms to rid herself of the light sweat that had started not too long ago. The next contraction stopped her in her tracks and she gripped the sink with both hands, unable to hold in the whimper that followed.

This was… this was it!

Did she wake Tyb now? Who knew how long this was going to take. Els thought back to the books she’d read on delivering and everything was so different for each person that she kind of had to figure out some averages based on what she’d read. Looking at herself in the looking glass, Elsie thought she would wait a while, the question was how long could she pull it off without Tyb noticing?

Once the contraction had passed, she breathed deeply and reached for her hairbrush. She took her time brushing through her hair and plaiting it tightly to keep it out of her face for what was surely going to be a long night. She snuck out of their room and to the living room where she lit a fire in the hearth. The contractions came and went with little regularity and varying in intensity over the course of the next hour or so as Elsie paced the length of the room. It was only when they stopped her in her tracks every few minutes that she penned a quick note to the midwife and sent it off into the night.

Time to wake Tyb and change their rest of their lives. Of course she couldn't make it there easily, a contraction halting her in the doorway of their bedroom, leaving her breathless and grimacing. ”Hey Tyb?” She managed in a hoarse whisper after it passed. ”Hey Love, I just owled the midwife.” Merlin she just hoped Nurse Moony could get here quickly.