Pregnancy? Freaking weird. SO WEIRD! Aisling has been my roommate for a little while now and honestly all I can think is that there’s a horse growing inside of her. It’s almost too weird to even touch her because does the baby feel it too? What if I touch her and it hurts the baby? I mean, I babysit a lot for Rexanna and Ki’irha the other mares around the Basin because kids are fun but babies before they are even born are not something I have a lot of experience with. And we’re not even going to get into the fact that I’m a father - I put that bun in her oven and I’m so worried that in some way Aisling hates me for it. I mean my job is pretty easy, she’s the one doing all the work carrying around another creature in her belly.

And meanwhile, my questions never stop.

Can it hear me talking? Does it like the stories I tell? Aisling tells better stories but I still like talking to it, weaving these incredible and insane stories to see how quickly I can get Aisling to giggle in the sweet way she does and wondering if the baby is laughing too.

But we’re not laughing tonight. I tried, tried to distract her with jokes, but she retreated into the cave and I paced at the mouth - just out of reach of the falling rain, uncertain about the best way to comfort her.

Not to mention what came next terrified me to my very soul.

This is what birth was?! I’d never stop apologizing to Aisling for participating in the act that caused this to happen to her. What a violent, disgusting, but rewarding act?? It was terrifying but mesmerizing and, eventually, I drifted back toward her and added soft, encouraging words to the sound of the flute that was filling the cave.

And then she was there. I’m standing there like an absolute idiot while Aisling gets to work, while she whispers to and cleans our daughter. OUR DAUGHTER! I’M A FATHER!!

“A GIRL!” I shout and it echoes in the cave, causing me to wince, and my pink legs carry me out and I continue the celebration out in the rain as I announce to the Basin, to any of the sleeping figures in the caves, that our daughter had arrived. “IT’S A GIRL!!”

When I return, my excitement is still bubbling but mother and daughter are both standing and I feel outside of this moment between them and I’m not really sure if I should move closer. So I linger, all awkward-like, at the mouth of the cave and wait - all the while feeling as though I am going to absolutely burst from happiness.