Friendly Birthingday Gestures

Writers: Chelle, Jelena
Date Posted: 27th February 2012

Characters: Parale, Parme
Description: The two of them have lunch for Parme's birthingday.
Location: Sunstone Seahold
Date: month 6, day 4 of Turn 6
Notes: Mentioned: Venrys, Syren

After their first meeting, Parale had decided she liked Parme. It
wasn?t hard to make friends with the other woman and she had a small
child too. It was also helpful since she knew a great many things. It
hadn?t been too hard to find out when her birthingday was. Setting out
lunch for them to share, she?d also made a cake.

She finished setting the table and stood back, happy with her efforts.
Parale took off her apron and hung it on its peg as she washed her
hands, waiting for Parme to arrive.

Parme arrived not much later, knocking on the door cheerfully. It had
been a good day so far, the kids had made her breakfast in bed and
brought various little gifts. Even Elson had made her something in
class, which had really touched her, seeing how the two of them had
been on rather difficult terms lately. Being asked to lunch with
Parale was another little joy, Parme valued her friends and she had
really come to like the younger woman.

"Do come in," she called as she pulled herself away from the counter
and towards the doorway to greet the older woman.

Walking into the cot as she had been told, a smile spread on Parme's
face as she saw her friend. "Parale, how nice of you to invite me
over. How are you doing?" She wouldn't put any attention to the fact
it was her birthingday, Parme really couldn't see the importance in that.

"Oh I'm fine. Recovering from the gather and going back to normal."
She smiled and gestured for Parme to sit. "Everything should be set
out. I hope you're having a good birthingday."

"Oh, it's been lovely," Parme said with a wide smile, as she took a
seat as indicated. "The kids even made me breakfast in bed this
morning!" She looked at the table that was set before her with
appreciation. "This looks wonderful, Parale, thank you so much!"

"You're welcome. I don?t really get to have other adults over so this
is nice." She took a seat in the chair across from Parme and began to
fix her own plate. Parale finished heaping the food on and then just
looked back at Parme. "That's nice that they made you breakfast.
Venrys is pretty good at that sort of thing now, but Syren would
likely just make a mess."

Parme laughed cheerfully while she picked out her lunch from all
Parale had to offer. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure Talma did most of the
work, but she has a talent of making the little ones work with her.
You'll love it when your girls get older, having Talma and Meshel help
around the house has been a true blessing for me."

"Venrys is beginning her chores, but there's still quite a bit for her
to learn. She's smart though and I'm glad for the help." Putting a
bite into her mouth, Parale began to chew.

"Yeah, it will only get better." Parme said with a smile. "Be glad you
got two daughters first. My lads weren't much help when the little
ones came along."

"Ah well, I'm glad for them certainly. I would like to have one of my
own, though, someday." She gave a small smile. It was certain that she
and Ioven were trying at least. Only time would tell if she could bear
a little one.

"Yes, children really are a blessing," Parme said with a soft smile.
"Is Ioven eager to be a dad again?"

"He sees it as inevitable and he does like being a father. I'd like to
give him a boy if I could. Someone to carry on and take care of the
girls if anything ever happened." That was important and Parale
recognized that. When her father died, she'd had to figure out what
she could do to be useful when she hadn't married.

Parme nodded, understanding Parale's reasoning completely. "You have
all the time in the world to give him a son, don't worry about that."

**What if something happens? Like Narys?** She didn't voice those
thoughts, though, instead continuing to eat. "I just hope that the
babies are healthy when they come."

"Absolutely," Parme agreed. "You've got yourself an experienced
midwife, though, who'll do the very best she can for you and your
littles."

That did put her more at ease actually. Finishing her salad, Parale
started in on the entr?e. "Have you ever seen any real difficult
births?" She was curious, wondering what the possibilities were.

"I have," Parme said with a serious nod. "Especially with younger or
older women, though. They seem to run a higher risk of complications."

That was one reason why she wanted to hurry and have her children now.
As she got older, she ran the risk of having problems and she didn?t
want any part of that. "What are some of the things that happen?"

"Are you sure you want me to tell you about that, dear? I understand
the curiosity, but you might be worrying more for knowing." Parme said
with a soft look on her face. "If you do get pregnant, I promise I
will be there every step of the way to look out for possible
complications."

"Aye but if I know the signs myself it'd be better. Besides, it's good
to know rather than not." She wasn't one to shrink away, that was for
certain. Parale would prefer to know rather than be in the dark.

"Well, the most common of the more serious problems I have encountered
is when the babe gets stuck in the cord. That can be very problematic,
especially when it's around his neck, as you can imagine."

She nodded, understanding that. Parale had seen quite a few babies
born so she knew a little about the process. "Choking."

"Yeah," Parme nodded seriously. "And excessive bleeding is a
complication that's dangerous for the mothers."

"Are breach births really that difficult to deal with?" She'd heard
other women talking about that possibility but she didn't really
understand how it would be worse.

Parme nodded seriously. "Babies are meant to be delivered headfirst,
if they are positioned the other way around, there may be a lot of
complications like oxygen deprivation or head entrapment."

"Ahh..makes sense." She wondered what it would feel like, but went
down a different thought pattern. "Your children, were they hard?"

"It varied," Parme said with a smile. "Parmash, my first, was born so
quickly I couldn't believe it. With Talma it took ages and I was quite
concerned for her health."

"I wonder what my first will be like. Don't know when that will be though."
Parale offered Parme a piece of cake then continued eating as she considered
her future.

"You never really know," Parme said with a smile. "But I'm sure it
will be a most wonderful experience." Parme loved her job as a midwife
and she would love helping her friend bring a child into the world.
But like Parale said, there was no way to know when that would be. For
now, the two just had a quiet lunch together.

Last updated on the February 28th 2012

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Friendly Birthingday Gestures