It was still early in the morning when Rosalie told Patrick that she was going to Margreet and Huib. She ran the whole way, as if in a hurry. Panting, she entered the guesthouse, ran upstairs, because she knew that Margreet and Lisa were working there.

"Margreet! Margreet! Today the baby is coming!"

Margreet looked up in surprise, "Today?"

"Yes, I'm sure! When I woke up, I felt it in my belly. I am so happy! Soon I will be able to see my little girlfriend! Can I be with you when she is born?"

Margreet blinked her eyes in surprise and thought. "I don't feel anything yet, no abdominal pain, no contractions. Maybe it will start later in the day, I have no idea. And whether you can be there, I'd rather ask Patrick and Bea first. I don't know if you will enjoy watching a birth..."

Margreet grabbed her mobile and told Bea what Rosalie wanted. Bea promised to check with Patrick and then call back. A moment later she told her, "It's very strange. I have always thought that childbirth is not suitable for such a young child, almost traumatic, all that pain and blood, but Patrick and I both felt very strongly that it is right, that it is good for Rosalie because of her bond with your baby, and also that she will have no problem at all with the birth process. So I put it down to you. If you want her to be there, it's fine with us. But if you'd rather not, please let us know too, and we'll come and get her."

Margreet had already sensed, that it would be no problem at all for herself, so she immediately relayed that to Bea. "Let her stay here as long as she wants. We'll keep you posted on how things are going. I'm very curious, I have no contractions yet and my waters haven't broken. I only have a very slight cramp in my bowels, so I'm going to hang up, I really need to go to the toilet."

"Margreet, are you in the guesthouse now? Yes? Just go to the bathroom at home. I think you might be dealing with contractions," Bea advised.

"I think you're right, it feels just a little different. See you later!"

"Okay, good luck!"

Margreet walked over to Lisa and asked her if she wanted to take over her part of the work. "It looks like our little girl wants to play outside!" she said, stroking her belly affectionately. "I'm going home, and will give Huib a call on the way that he needs to go there too."

"I'll do that, I'll go and call him for you!" Rosalie was already running downstairs, outside, to Huib's work shed.

"Fine, good luck!" said Lisa. "And if you need help, just call us! Shall I let the others know?"

Margreet nodded, "Go ahead!"

.

This was the first time Huib and Margreet would be experiencing the process of giving birth. As a result, you would expect them both to be tense. Nothing was further from the truth, they were completely relaxed!

Huib was clear enough in his mind to boil water and prepare a couple of jugs. On Margreet's instructions Rosalie helped to pick out the first set of clothes for the baby. While they were quietly making the final preparations, Margreet felt that the slight cramping she had been feeling had to do with her bowels too after all. After she emptied them, however, the cramping did not go away. She put her hand on her belly, and felt her uterus harden every now and then.

"You were right Rosalie, I think the baby really wants to come today. Feel it, right here on my belly."

Rosalie quietly put her hand on Margreet's belly. "Just leave your hand there for a while until you feel something change."

She smiled at the attentive look in Rosalie's eyes, and could tell by the expression on her face that she felt a difference the moment she herself felt a contraction coming on.

"What's happening there?" asked Rosalie.

Margreet tried to explain it to her, "The baby is in my womb. That's a strong muscle that has a kind of baby chamber in it. Because it's time for the baby to be born, that muscle starts to push and pull, so that she slowly sinks further down, and comes out between my legs. What you felt was that contraction of that muscle."

As she told, Margreet formed the shape of a drop upside down with her hands, with the tip down. In this way she showed how the uterine muscle tried to push the baby out.

"Where do you get this wisdom?" asked Huib behind her. "From the Internet?"

"No," replied Margreet, herself surprised, "from inside, I just knew it, I saw it in front of me."

"Wonderful," Huib said, hugging her and also putting a hand on her belly. Three hands on one belly, all three felt how the uterus tightened and relaxed again.

"A little further and further," Rosalie sighed. "What's the baby's name?"

"Gloria, we call her Gloria."

"Gloria... Gloria..." Rosalie visibly enjoyed that name. A big smile appeared on her face. "Come on Gloria, come on out." And to Margreet, "Doesn't that muscle hurt her? Doesn't it push her too hard?"

"Not too hard. It won't damage her, but she probably won't like it either."

"I think she'll be glad when she's out of it soon!" thought Rosalie.

"Tell you what," suggested Margreet, "I'll have a nice hot bath. That will help me relax when it starts to hurt. And it's nice for Gloria to be born in a warm bath, too."

"Good idea, I'll just run the bath for you," suggested Huib. He took the things they needed immediately after the birth to the bathroom, while Margreet started to undress in the bedroom. She pondered how special it was, that in Rosalie's presence she was not at all ashamed, had no problem at all with the girl seeing her naked. Margreet grabbed an easy pair of pajamas, underwear and maternity bandages and took them to the bathroom. There she saw that Huib had already laid out everything for the baby, right down to the umbilical clamps. Only the clothes he had left by the dresser, so he could easily dress her there.

Rosalie asked her about the maternity bandages, what they were for. Margreet explained to her, that there would also be blood during the childbirth. "The blood will also get into the bath water. Maybe it will look like I only have blood in the bath."

Rosalie interrupted her with a shake of her head: "No, it's just going to mix with the water, and then it will look like a blood bath, but it's not! It doesn't matter, I'll take a good look at your face and see if you're all right."

Margreet stroked the girl's cheek: "Thank you Rosalie, that's really sweet of you. And if you don't like the look of it, you can leave the bathroom, that's okay."

As Margreet stepped into the bath and let herself slide in the warm water, she felt a stronger contraction.

"The water broke, I felt the amniotic fluid flowing between my legs," she said calmly as if she had experienced such a thing so many times before.

The contractions then became stronger and came faster one after the other. Margreet felt it, experienced it as painful, but was able to cope with it. Even during the last period, when the contractions came faster and faster, she remained calm and relaxed.

Huib initially sat next to her head, cuddling Margreet a bit and kept an eye on the warmth of the water. Later, he sat down by her legs. Margreet felt that the moment of birth was already very close, and spread her legs as far as the bath edges would allow. Exactly at that moment, another kind of contraction came. Without thinking about it, she pushed with her abdominal muscles with that contraction. Huib looked up in surprise at the strength with which his sweetheart cooperated. At the second push contraction, he looked between her legs in a flash. His eyes grew large and he was already holding out his hands: "Gloria is coming, I see her head!"

Rosalie, who was holding Margreet's hand, looked where he was pointing. She beamed, "I see her hair, she's coming Margreet!"

At that moment the third push contraction came. Huib and Rosalie saw that Gloria's head now came all the way out. Huib's hands were directly under it, catching her.

"Go on," he urged Margreet, "one more time and she'll be all the way out."

As she followed the wave of the fourth push contraction, she felt the body of the baby slip out of her.

As Gloria announced her birth with a short cheer, Huib intuitively checked with his little finger to make sure there was nothing in her mouth that might impede her breathing. Then he placed the baby with Margreet on her belly and chest. Margreet beamed as she held the tiny body with both hands.

To keep both his wives warm, Huib turned on the shower on a gentle spray and waited a moment for the water to reach a comfortable temperature. As he sprayed over Gloria's back, he watched the girl relax, move her head and her little mouth seek out her mother's breast.

"Oohhhh she's already drinking, she knows herself how to do it, where to drink. Smart girl!" he heard Rosalie beside him.

Margreet looked at her little daughter with wonder, stroking her little head. As she did so, Huib sprayed a little water over it, so that her hair became a little cleaner.

Gloria didn't seem to be bothered by it, she drank quietly, and then put her head between her mother's breasts again, where she let out a firm burp. Rosalie hooted, which caused a small startled reaction in Gloria. Gloria looked at her with wide eyes. Rosalie looked tightly into Gloria's eyes and said, "I see you, Gloria, I see you." Then Gloria closed her little eyes and fell asleep.

While Huib put the umbilical clamps on the umbilical cord and cut the cord in between, Rosalie told Margreet: "I saw her, I really saw her. As if I could look deep inside her. And Gloria saw me too. I am so happy with her!"

"You, dear Rosalie, you are her best friend, already!"

"Yeah..." she replied with a deep sigh.

"Are you going to continue cleaning and drying her now?" she asked Huib.

"That seems like a good idea. She's clean enough for now, so we'll just dry her off and get her dressed." He held out his hands, with a large towel, to Gloria. "Can you hand her over?" he asked Margreet. Carefully she pushed herself up a little, and laid her slippery little daughter in the bath towel Huib held out to her. "Will you manage here while I wrap her in some towels next door?"

Margreet laughed, "You may take the time to really dress her, I feel fine. I'm going to take a little shower while the water runs off. Oh no, the afterbirth is yet to come," she interrupted herself as she felt another contraction. She put her hands between her legs and just barely managed to catch the placenta. As she explained to Rosalie, who was watching with big, surprised eyes, what a placenta was, Margreet checked to see if she saw anything unusual about it. "He seems fine," she murmured and looked up at Huib.

Huib pointed Rosalie to a glass bowl he had set up a while ago, and asked her if she would hold it by the bath for a moment so Margreet could put the placenta in it.

She took the bowl to the bathtub, where Margreet slipped the placenta into the bowl.

"So, we'll take care of that later! Now I'm really going to take a shower. Go on, Huib, get Gloria dressed, I'll be fine here!"

"I'll stay with you," Rosalie said to Margreet, "I don't want you to fall or anything."

"Ah sweetheart, feel free to go with Gloria, that's much more fun for you. I'm doing really well," Margreet urged her.

As Rosalie hopped behind Huib, Margreet got down on her knees. Yes, she felt really good, much better than she had imagined, but she decided to be careful.

A moment later she went into the bedroom in her pajamas, where Huib had just laid Gloria dressed in the middle of the bed under the comforter.

"She's waiting for you!" reported Rosalie cheerfully. "How sweet she is huh, I think she's so sweet!"

"Incredibly sweet, just like you," replied Margreet. "You really helped me very nicely with Gloria's birth, thank you!"

Rosalie looked at her in surprise: "Helped? How?"

"Just because you were there, because you were sitting next to me. You helped me with that. You were so caring and so happy when you saw Gloria. Really nice!"

Huib sat down next to Margreet on the edge of the bed, kissed her, kissed Gloria. He expressed his joy and gratitude, praised Margreet for her strength and calmness during the delivery. "I am so happy, so incredibly happy, I really have no words for it. Happy with you, with our sweet girl. How beautiful she is huh?"

Huib sighed, pulling Margreet close to him for a moment. "Darling, I'm just a little upset. Shall I call Annerieke and Simon? And Sjaak and Lisa? Or would you rather wait with that?"

Margreet looked at him happily: "Just call them, and maybe Rosalie want to call Patrick and Bea after that."

Huib briefly told Annerieke and then Lisa that everything had gone well and that Gloria had been born. He asked if they felt like coming over already, Margreet felt well enough for a visit!

Then Rosalie told Bea what she had experienced, and that Gloria was already there. "Are you coming to visit us?" She listened for a while and looked up questioningly at Margreet. "Yes, Margreet likes it, just come!"

Huib got to work in the bathroom, cleaning and drying everything. What to do with the placenta, he didn't know. He would ask his mother in a moment. When he had put the laundry in the washing machine downstairs, he heard the first visitors coming in. The estate people came in at the same time, and almost immediately after that came Rosalie's parents. They congratulated Huib, shared his joy and followed him upstairs. The image they saw there, would always remain in their memories:

.

In the middle of the bed Rosalie was sitting

with Gloria on her lap

very quietly

.

Both girls looked at each other

And everyone saw it:

.

They are seeing each other!

Not just a little bit

No, deep, really deep

.

.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

.

.

To be continued in part 2:

.

“New life”

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