Solo On The Subject of Babies

[Taylani]

Speaking :

To keep the readers from being confused I put Sharika's speech in Bold

Time Stamp Winter 5th 513

The winter light was bright, causing a glare in the pale blue sky that provided some warmth. The day quickly turning to dusk as the Drykas began to put together their own tents and pavilions -those that had moved today that is. It had been a nice walk from her and Fallan's little living area to the Opal clan's Pavilions, and then from there to the Opal Healing tents. They had been nice to her there, but instead of answering her questions they sent her on to the Nightsong of Opal's pavilion to seek out a specific healer. One named Sharika.

So it was that Taylani found herself standing outside of a tent with an opalescence coloring about it wondering what would be the proper protocol for knocking on a tent. She stood there for a long chime before she finally swept back the flap and called out "Hello?"

From within the Pavilion there was movement, and a young girl child of about six years old darted out and with a wide grin beckoned Taylani in, "Come Come Do you want to talk to Great-Grandmother Sharika or Aunt Tualane? Their the only adults here right now." This was all said in rapid Pavi, that Taylani only was able to make out the word come and you, she did however understand the names so she smiles down at the young child.

However before she could answer an elderly woman moved from one of the partitions. Her body looked impossibly frail, especially for living out here in the Sea of Grasses, but her eyes were bright and intelligent. Her white hair floated in thin tufts around her head and her clothing was layered to prevent heat loss. Her body just did not have the stores of fat any more to stay warm.
"I am Sharika Nightsong." The old woman said in common, she deduced from just the stance Taylani carried and the way she had been looking blankly at little Lisbet that she did not speak Pavi."Might I help you?" To the little girl, she drops back in Pavi "Go Lisbet, dinner will be soon cooked and you still have yet to go and roll those bandages like I told you."

Taylani waits patiently for Sharika to finish speaking to the little girl, amused but also strangely comforted in her own situation to see the patience the elder had with the child. Once she was finished, Taylani spoke with a little hesitation. "I am not Drykas.. I was one of the captives from Syliras." She didn't know why she felt that Sharika needed to know that, except perhaps to excuse herself of her ignorance. "I am pregnant but I have never dealt with pregnant women before, I was my mother's only child and we had no extended family. I was told that I should seek you out."

Sharika raised a thin brow and smiled her gapped tooth grin at the red head. "That is a blessing from Tavasi indeed. Do you wish for an examination? You don't look as if you are too far along." The older woman eyed the woman with a certain appraisal that was reserved for doctors or nurses. She did eye the narrow hips, the girl was not born to be a breeder of many children it didn't look but Sharika had seen narrower hips in her time produce one or two healthy babes.

"No I am just now ending my seventh week. My cycles are always regular and punctual. I used to dance so I had to keep up with my body.." This last was mumbled, and said so rapidly that Sharika picked up on a chord of dissatisfaction but that was it outside what her words told her. Taylani continued, "I don't think an examination will be necessary but I did want to learn. Learn what is going to happen..and I would like to learn to help others."

Sharika shook her head and her thin bony hand came out to grasp Taylani's arm. The grip was firm but not confining, the tug was demanding but not cruel as she lead the red head behind a partition where a bedroll was neatly laid out and a brazier was lit. There was a basket that was filled with white cloths that were rolled carefully and neatly. There were herbs drying hanging from a line that connected one tent support to another.

"An examination is always necessary, particularly within the first few months when the babe is first making its home. I will leave to give you privacy but I need you to strip from the waist down and use the blanket in the corner but lie on the bedroll." Sharika says in a tone that brooked no refusal. However Taylani widened her eyes and a flush raised in her cheeks. She knew that she would have to be less shy and modest amongst these people, and knew that eventually a healer would have to examine her. She just hadn't expected it this early.

Sharika noticed the blush and gave a laugh, "This is your first I wager, you look like a virgin on the way to her lover with that blush. If you are serious about wanting to learn this, to help other women then you will have to get over that. And the best way to help others is to go through it yourself. You have three chimes." With that said the older Drykas woman stepped outside of the sleeping area. Leaving Taylani to obey.

[Taylani]

Taylani sighed when the older woman left the area, she felt like her cheeks were on fire but she also knew the wisdom in that she would have to get over this modesty of hers if she were going to learn to help other women. So she didn't hesitate to pull off her green linen breeches, and then the white under clothes. She shivered for a moment as she moved to the bedroll, grabbing the blanket as she went. She sat cross legged, the blanket over her lap and swirled around her bare hips and buttocks so that she was covered.

It was only three chimes, almost to the tick before Sharika moved back in. For an older woman she moved fairly well, her gait steady and controlled if a little slow and deliberate. "Good. It is good that you follow direction. Lay down, and pull the blanket down to your hips, I need to feel your stomach." Sharika spoke, her accented common easy to understand and almost lilting sounding. She knelt beside the bedroll, this movement far less steady and sure, and waited as Taylani complied.

Taylani moved the blanket down so that it was pulled across her lower abdomen, her teeth gnawing gently on her lip. She felt very vulnerable, and she hated that feeling even though Sharika was gentle and her voice kind. The windmarks were ever present and ever visible on her arms, and Taylani could not get past that she was Drykas.

If Sharika noted Taylani's misgivings she did not speak on it, instead her hands went to the blanket and folded it down until it only covered the top of her thighs and stopped at the top of her pubis area so that she was still covered mostly. Sharika then put her withered hands on Taylani's lower belly. "If you want to do what I do you will have to learn Pavi. For many of speak only Pavi and a large part of what we do is calm, assure, and encourage." Sharika speaks calmly as her fingers pressed against Taylani's stomach. She was firm, and there were times that Taylani felt that she was pressing far too hard, especially at the lowest point of her belly.

"I understand. I am working on my Pavi.." Taylani responded, amid grunts as Sharika's finger's pressed especially hard. "What are you pressing for?" The redhead asked, not lifting her head to look, though her arms were bent and raised to her shoulders feeling as if she needed to keep them out of the way.

"Even this early stage your womb is beginning to accommodate the child. We check the womb to see if it is expanding well each check up. Without pregnancy the womb is soft and supple, once the baby fixes itself it begins to become hard, to support the babe." The healer's words are calm, and occasionally she would call upon her gnosis to work its healing into strained muscles and sore joints that accompanied pregnancy even in the early stages. Sharika lifts her hands and grabs Taylani's hands and pulled them down to Taylani's belly. "Feel. Feel for the outline of the womb, mark in your mind how many finger widths it goes from side to side and from top to bottom."

With Sharika's hands on hers, Taylani pressed her fingers onto her own lower belly, at first not feeling anything out of the ordinary until Sharika's fingers pressed hers harder into her stomach. "The baby is very small still, so you must press hard to feel it.." Sharika instructed.

Once her fingers were pressed harder she did begin to feel the hard outline, it almost felt like the size of an apple. For a long moment Taylani felt the hard bulge deep within her belly with widened eyes, her lips opened in awe. Sharika smiled at the sight, for too few of the captives truly enjoyed their pregnancies, she hoped that this one might learn to.

[Taylani]

She had felt her womb, and it was amazing. Not the fact that her womb was stiffening thanks to incubating a baby, but the fact that she could feel it and now identify the feel of the womb. In dance she had picked up the anatomy that she needed to eager, the muscles and their uses. The various bones and identifying injuries. Now Sharika was offering her more knowledge, and it was almost as interesting to Taylani as learning dance. For the first time since her capture, Taylani felt a bright surge of hope, hope for some sort of lifting of the fog she lived in.

Sharika smiles and lifts her hands from Taylani's stomach and gently lowers the lavender colored blouse down over her swell, but stopped Taylani from raising with a gentle hand on her chest. "The next examination is not pleasant for first time mothers, but it is necessary." Sharika explained, moving now to sit at the foot of the bedroll, her hands rolling the blanket up now exposing Taylani's bare legs. "Bend your knees and let your legs fall open. This is another time when you will have to communicate with the mother. This is a time when they are most vulnerable, most exposed, and most embarrassed. A good bedside manner is necessary." Sharika speaks slowly, as she waited for Taylani to comply. She used the information that she gave the red head as a way to take Taylani's mind off of her own vulnerability.

For Taylani, mortification was paramount, and she stared upwards at the top of the tent even as she forced herself to comply. Feeling the cool air just heightened the sensation of being exposed but she focused instead on the healers words. She didn't respond but she did nod her head to show she understood, not trusting her voice. In this moment she hated the Drykas probably more then any other, for this moment of weakness and humiliation heaped upon her. Even though she knew that Sharika did this with all expectant mothers, and knew that it was best for her own health and the health of Fallan's child, it was still a mighty big pill to swallow. She hated being at the mercy of the Drykas, and that is what this child has done to her even more so.

Sharika could sense Taylani's mood darkening so she hastened to speak. "Now I am examining the vaginal region, there are certain signs that infections have set in. Being pregnant means your body is producing many different things that bacteria and other infection causing entities love to fester in. Later, if you continue your studies, I will teach you how to identify and tell." , the healer's hands were professional and very brief in her examinations of the outer regions of Taylani's nether regions. She gauged by Taylani's reactions that she should not try and do a pelvic exam, not this time. She reached up and pulled the blanket back down, and discreetly looked away when Taylani raised her hands to wipe the tears from her cheeks.

Sharika patiently waited until Taylani sat up, shifting so that she could cover herself once more fully with the blanket. Though there had been tears, Taylani did not actually cry so fortunately there were none of the ugly snuffling or gulping of breath that so often accompanied a crying jag, nor were her eyes red though her cheeks were pink. Yet there was no less determination in her thoughts. The captives needed someone not Drykas, someone who were not the representation of all that had violated them to care for them in their pregnancy. "Yes I still want to study." She said, her voice a little strained but her chin lifted stubbornly.

"Good. You will be good. Get dressed, we will begin your first real lesson when you come out. Bring that basket of bandages and such out with you." Sharika smiled and stood, moving out to the outer pavilion easily humming a happy tune.

[Taylani]

Taylani hurriedly dressed, leaving the blanket bunched on the floor not because she was inherently a messy person, but simply because she was lost in a fog of joy at finding something that lit a fire in her soul once more, and her old friend anger that the humiliation of the exam had raised within her. After just a tick of calming herself, Taylani ducks out of the partition dragging the basket with her. On a lovely red colored cushion, Sharika sat, her tiny legs curled criss-crossed in front of her waiting patiently.

Taylani could not meet her milky stare, not yet, but she did place the basket beside the woman before she took a seat on another cushion. "Girl, if you can't meet my eye after an examination, you will have trouble. You will have to meet the eyes of the women you examine, else they won't think you know what you are doing." Sharika shifted, and dug through the basket, rolled bandages falling over the sides before she lifted up a couple of creams. "Tell me, what do you know about pregnancy, include the how's..there will be times you have to explain that as well."

Taylani gaped at the other woman dumbly for a moment, her eyes finally met the old woman's and she stared for a second before she nods her head. "Pregnancy occurs when.. a man.. and a woman.. " She stumbled, feeling her face burn but she swallowed and remembered the 'talk' her mother had with her. "The man supplies the seed during intercourse, if the woman is in the right part of her cycle then a baby is produced."

Sharika nodded her head, "A bit crude, we will work on your word choices. You need to practice talking about that, it won't do to look as if your as green as a baby filly." Laughing a little at her own joke, Sharika pushes a bottle of cream toward Taylani. "Take that, it is cocobutter cream. A fine woman in Riverfall makes it, when we come around there in spring you can buy me a bottle to replace it. Rub it on your belly once a day for the duration of your pregnancy. It will keep the appearance of your tiger stripes down." Sharika watches Taylani for a moment and noted her confusion. "Your belly is going to be growing far bigger then it has ever been, unless I miss my guess and you used to be a hefty woman? No? Then your belly will be bigger then it has ever been and your skin will stretch. This causes red marks, that in time will fade but still be rather visible. This butter will keep your skin's natural elasticity to avoid the appearance. Thus they are called tiger stripes. Go on, more about what you know about pregnancy."

Taylani looked at the older woman for a moment before she picked up the jar of cream, and mentally made a note to buy a jar from Riverfall when they came around to replace it. "Um once the baby is growing, it takes nine months -" Sharika interrupted Taylani, "It takes forty weeks, which is just slightly over nine months..do continue."

Taylani sent a dark scowl at Sharika when she interrupted but picked up smoothly. "After forty weeks the baby is delivered through.. ah.. the vagina after a time of labor." Sharika nodded, not surprised for a woman who was not from the horse clans to not know much more then that. Out here horses were foaling, and there was little privacy so most children knew what Taylani did. She would have to work with Taylani but Sharika felt it would prove fruitful.

"Ok, you will apprentice under me. You will come here at seventh bell every other day starting tomorrow. The day after you come at seventeenth bell, those are the days we are moving our pavilions. After a time we will meet at the healing tents, and expect to be in the room delivering babies soon."

[Taylani]

Taylani nodded, sitting back with the jar of cream in her hand, and began as if she was going to rise. Sharika holds her hand up stopping Taylani. "There is still time before dinner is cooked that we can start you on your training." Sharika turned and settled against the cushion more easily, and arranged her skirts accordingly. "You will need to know specifics, and this is what I will begin teaching you. The first three months of pregnancy is called the first trimester. This is a crucial point in the pregnancy because it is the point where the baby gets good and settled. Common complaints are nausea, heart burn, loss of weight due to nausea." Sharika watched Taylani carefully, waiting to see if the glazed eye look of someone being lectured and not really listening. When it didn't happen she continued. "Remember this because I do expect you to know what I told you. Next time you might find me asking you these questions while we are examining an early pregnancy. Spotting blood is common, but full blown bleeding is not. A heavy bleeding indicates that Lhex has intervened and the baby is being passed, not always but in most cases this is what is happening."

Taylani opened her lips, one hand instinctively going to her own stomach. She knew that many pregnancies end in this, what is referred to in whispers as a miscarriage but it was not something she had dwelled before. "How often does this....this happen. Do you know what causes it?"

Sharika nods, it is a fine question and she is glad her new apprentice had asked it. "It is more common in the first three months then in the last. Often times the causes are simple stress of living. Malnourishment can cause it, physical injury, ...there are of course herbs that will cause it as well." Sharika glared at Taylani now, her brow furrowing. "This is never to be used. Ever. However I may, in time, tell you the herbs so that you know what to look for should you find someone trying to use them."

Taylani nods, her cheeks flushing only because she remembers her threat so long ago to Fallan. Forcing his seed on her, she had threatened to kill any child that was gotten from him. It shamed her that she had threatened so, for now she felt a small bond toward the life within. It was small, but it was there. It didn't deserve to die. "What would you recommend to women who have experienced that before, and find themselves pregnant again?"

Sharika nods, pleased her newest apprentice didn't know much and was frightfully modest but she was eager to learn. That much was apparent. [b]"If it was just once before then I wouldn't do anything different. It unfortunately happens. I would assure her that it happens to many women, and it did not mean that it would happen to her again. However if it was a pattern I would order light work load for her, and frequent visits to make sure she is taking enough nutrients. There are certain herbs that also promote blood flow and promote vitality. I would suggest she take a supplement of these as well."

Taylani and Sharika talk for a bell more, Taylani asking questions more on conception and the first three months, soaking in the knowledge that the older healer gave. When she finally left Sharika's home, she finally felt like she had some purpose again, other then being Fallan's bed mate and the mother of his children.

[Elysium]

Taylani

This grade will be given upon request, if and when the PC chooses to be unretired.

and so, the journey continues...