Her neighbours might start talking, especially as the four near-identical women occupy most of the living area in the house. But Scott is closing the front curtains before Delphine even asks. It's strange, to have this be the first time all of clone club descends on her home.
Cosima has to hand it to her sisters, it definitely looks classy enough a shower to impress Delphine.
"Your kitchen looks fantastic." Alison comments. "I cannot believe we didn't make you host the last clone party. Like… you two did a great job. Or your contractor did."
"Thank you Alison." Delphine thanks her quietly. "We finished it last summer."
Charlotte hops around happily. "It was pretty ugly before. Are we eating first or is Delphine opening the presents first?"
"Eating first!" Alison announces as she slaps Sarah's hand away from the potato wedges.
"Your boobs are definitely bigger." Felix looks her up and down. "Like I've painted you and this is different. What is going on?"
"Oh umm… I'm inducing lactation. Delphine wants me to-"
"Inducing lactation?" Felix repeats blankly. "That's a thing?"
"Why are we talking about lactating?" Sarah leans in. "Like… Delphine will be engorged and leak for a while, but that goes away… and no pressure, yeah?"
"You breastfed?" Cosima asks. She'd never asked. She had last thought about that factor in possible differences in her clone sisters, but collecting that information wasn't necessarily easy to get.
"Umm yeah. I did for four months and then we started bottles and I did both for a while… and done by seven months." Sarah tells her with a shrug. "Why?"
"Was it… painful?" Cosima asks softly.
"Not really… Well at first maybe. Kira was an easy baby though. Better than I deserved." Sarah squints, looking like she is trying to remember something. "Helena did it with twins for a good long while. Longer than me."
"Helena had Alison and Donnie taking care of everything else for months." Cosima reminds her. "All she had to do was eat, sleep and feed babies."
"It was all I could do. They were very hungry. So was I. Your wife will eat like cow for months. All the time. Always eating." Helena tells her very calmly. "And then babies grow, they eat other foods … and you eat less."
"I'll keep that in mind." Cosima cannot keep the grimace from her face. She at least got to stop the pill Monday. But starting to pump sounded awkward as fuck.
"Cosima…" Delphine's voice calls her over gently to the couch. Delphine is in a perfect quarter sleeved black maternity dress. Her 34 week belly is perfect and round.
"Coming." Cosima announces, excusing herself from the lactation discussion.
Delphine leans in to whisper to her. "I need you to distract Alison, she keeps talking about how we are in the 'sad handjob' phase of pregnancy. And I am not sure how much longer I can answer vaguely."
Cosima laughs. That had not been a problem. "So don't be vague."
"Cosima…"
*We could tell her about all the fantastic multi-orgasmic sex we've been having." Cosima whispers back.
"OK. Let's eat. And then the mommies will open the gifts." Alison announces, clapping her hands. "Mimosas?"
"Honey, just one. Just one." Donnie reminds his wife, who rolls her eyes and then sips patiently at her singular mimosa while her husband watches her.
They help themselves to brunch, Delphine drinking plain orange juice like the kids, while the rest of them get to imbibe. Kira plays on her phone nearby while Charlotte chatters to her and Gemma.
"Hey… Kira." Sarah tries to get her teenage daughter's attention. "Kira."
"Just let her do her thing, Sarah." Cosima laughs it off. "She texting a boy?"
"Texting a girl." Sarah shrugs. "No difference to me really."
"Of course not, that doesn't matter." Felix chimes in. "I'm going to have a second mimosa. And check out your bathrooms."
"OK. There's one on each floor. Except this one." Delphine tells him calmly. "The ceiling is low in the basement."
Cosima opens the presents with Delphine. Most of it normal baby stuff like bibs and bowls and receiving blankets. Baby bouncers, teethers and a variety of baby clothes. Charlotte had opted to buy six one-size cloth diapers to add to their stash. Looking at all the stuff and Delphine's shifting belly makes it all feel very real and inevitable.
"Thank you." Delphine graciously accepts their gifts.
Her favourite are the set of baby nonfiction books Scott had picked up for them. They're actually cute, different. Something that makes her smile. Cosima pictures herself smiling reading them to a toddler who in her fantasy is a smaller version of Delphine.
"Thank you clone club." Cosima thanks everyone
"Is there a name yet?" Alison asks as Delphine is admiring a knit baby blanket.
"No rush." Helena interrupts, glancing out at her sons now wrestling bundles up in their snowsuits outside. "Use colours, names can wait. Meet baby first. Then decide."
"DJ and Arthur might need you." Alison observes as the four year old boys get increasingly aggressive pummelling their brother into the snow.
"No. My boys are like bear cubs. They are fine. They wrestled inside me too." Helena brushes this off, Donnie taking his cue from Alison to go intervene.
"I am happy we are not having twins." Delphine tells Cosima under her breath.
"Me too." Cosima responds, leaning in for a kiss. This was her life now and she has to make the best of it.
"Finally…" Cosima declares, shutting the door as Alison and Donnie leave the house.
"It did go on a while." Delphine laughs, returning from yet another trip to their upstairs washroom.
"Four hours. Four hours for brunch!" Cosima sighs. "Charlotte already walked to Kaylee's because she was going to be late for their movie night."
"I am all yours now." Delphine announces. "As soon as I get out of this dress. I am too pregnant to be comfortable now."
"Fuck, you're gorgeous." Cosima groans, looking at Delphine in her dress.
"I am getting really big." Delphine giggles.
"And you are lucky to have a wife who doesn't care."
"Mmmm oui." Delphine lowers her voice noticing her mood.
"I want you, in our bed and I want you to make noise." Cosima grins.
"You are ravenous lately." Delphine sighs, leading her up the stairs. "I thought as I got bigger you'd ease off but you're more intense if anything."
"I want to be close to you." Cosima explains simply. "I look at you and, you still take my breath away. Your body has done something incredible."
"Two months left." Delphine smiles.
"Yeah. Two months left to enjoy this." Cosima's enjoyment is obvious. "It's not weird how into it I am, is it?"
"Non. I like it. I like you wanting to make love a lot and cuddling the belly. Je le trouve beau." Delphine assures her before returning her kisses.
She makes love to Delphine on the couch, trying not to mind that they are surrounded by piles of baby stuff. She feels tiny feet kicking against her own belly, or her own back as they change position to begin again.
"I am kind of going to miss this." Cosima admits, lazily kissing down the surface of Delphine's belly. She feels it shift as their baby alters position slightly before kicking.
"I know, mon amour. I think… I think I will miss it too." Delphine agrees. "I will miss how much you want me like this. Miss the kicks."
"I'll miss the quiet." Cosima grins. "I think this is probably the least obtrusive this kid is ever going to be."
"Probably." Delphine agrees. "Can you get the feeldoe? I want to be on top?"
"Let's just go upstairs." Cosima offers her hand to her wife, leading her up the stairs. She wonders if Delphine wants a similar fantasy to the one from months ago. That toy had sat unused since. "Do you want to use the new bigger dildo instead?"
"Non. I want you to come from making love to me." Delphine tells her. "I want to ride you until you come."
"Done." Cosima doesn't need to be asked twice, she'll happily take as much of this as she can get. Delphine pregnant was a once in a lifetime opportunity after all.
When they're done making love, she snaps a few pictures of Delphine naked on their bed. And her heart feels full.
"Cosima… Cosima…" Delphine shakes her awake. This was not the birthday surprise she was expecting. No kissing. No toys. No Delphine naked and hovering above her. No fabulous birthday sex catered to her whims.
"What? What is it? It's like five am!" Cosima whines when she sees the time on the clock.
"I am having contractions."
"But you're not due until the 15th! It's only the 9th." Cosima mumbles out. She sits up quickly, getting a good look at Delphine.
"I know. I am sorry mon amour, but we will have to reschedule your birthday plans." Delphine tells her, before leaning over the bed as another contraction hits. Cosima's fantasies of a fancy lunch out just the two of them and an afternoon of marathon sex with her heavily pregnant wife quickly fade away.
"Umm are you OK?"
"Yes. It's only early labour." Delphine tells her. "This could go on for a day."
"Do you think it's false labour?" Cosima asks.
"I took a shower already. Contractions started about two hours ago. They are getting closer… but still far apart." Delphine informs her. "We have time. Likely many many hours like this."
"So what do you want to do?"
"Get in the shower with me and rub my back?"
"OK. We can do that." Cosima agrees. She's committed to this and she'll do her best. Delphine wants to touch and cuddle, at least for now and that's enough.
Hopefully, hopefully this will be fast Cosima hopes. She gives up on fast just after noon when Delphine vomits up her three attempts at lunch during contractions. Bridget arrives to help them, providing as much support and suggestions as she can.
Finally, finally they progress enough to be admitted to the hospital. The car ride is worse. Delphine's desire to keep moving and bracing during contractions unable to be satisfied.
"Maybe we should have had a homebirth." Delphine mumbles at her.
"Next time," Cosima shouts from the driver's seat. "Just don't have the baby in the car. I'm so not prepared for that."
Delphine laughs and it feels oddly OK. Like this isn't all so bad.
The labour drags on, even after their arrival at the hospital around 5 pm. Why was this taking so long? Delphine's tolerance for breathing slowly through her contractions erodes as the hours pass slowly in their birthing suite. This is without a doubt the worst birthday Cosima has ever had. She tries her best, rubbing Delphine's back, feeding her ice chips, holding her puke bucket.
Cosima looks at the clock. In a few hours it won't be her birthday anymore at least that's something. Back to back birthdays aren't the worst possibility. Sometimes Delphine wants to be kissed, or be cradled in her arms. Others, Delphine does nothing but rock silently, her mouth open and body naked.
Then Delphine screams and Cosima startles. Is labour that bad? Is this the rest of it now that they're passed six centimeters?
"I want the epidural now." Delphine tells Cosima, as she sways back and forth on the bed. "The contractions are terrible now. I give up. Je peux pas continuer. I don't care if it results in a cesarea. I just want it over."
"We can do that Delphine, but then you transfer care to whatever OB is on call. I will stay for support. But it'll change our plans." Bridget informs her calmly. "We can absolutely do that, it is your choice."
Another contraction hits and Delphine screams again, pushing against the wall. Her knees hold steadily even as the contraction wanes and Cosima cannot help but be impressed.
Cosima stops, considering her options. For her, the epidural and having Delphine in the bed, relaxed and unable to feel from her breasts down sounds easier. They'd just wait for the baby to come out then. But it wasn't what Delphine had wanted.
"Let's try the nitrous oxide?" Cosima suggests, looking between her wife and Bridget. "You said that was an option. Why not try that first? If it's not enough then we go to the epidural."
"I'll get it set up." Bridget tells them. "It's a good first try for pain relief. We'll get it on and I just want you to breathe normally, OK?"
"OK." Delphine agrees. "I'll try it. Hurry." Bridget rushes over to Delphine, getting the nitrous oxide ready. A few moments pass, and during the next contraction Cosima watches Delphine closely to see how she does.
The gas helps, and Delphine breathes, Cosima massages her lower back during each contraction.
"You're amazing, Delphine." Cosima tells her wife. "You're so strong."
"I don't want to be strong. I don't want any more contractions. If I ever say I want another baby stop me." Delphine cries.
"And deep even breaths. Let's try some more gas." Bridget prompts her, putting the mask back on. Delphine relaxes and Cosima feels herself calming down.
Hours pass, the sun long since down and they continue. Labour is long, and slow. Cosima wishes it could be over. Just be over.
"Do you want to try labouring on the toilet?" Bridget suggests. "You're eight centimetres. Some moms find it helps."
"OK." Delphine allows the two of them to guide her to the birthing suit's bathroom. Other than her ill-fated stint in the tub, they hadn't used it much. Delphine continues moaning and breathing nitrous oxide in bursts, the midwife turning it off between contractions.
"No more." Delphine pushes the mask away.
"Epidural time?"Cosima asks, wondering how long they'll have to wait for the anesthesiologist at this hour.
"No. I'm OK. It feels different." Delphine sits and sways, moaning deeping, taking slow deep breaths.
"You're OK?" Cosima looks between a bizarrely calm Delphine and Bridget, who just smiles and nods at her. This must be OK. This must be normal.
"Uhh I have to push." Delphine announces in surprise a few minutes later, and she ends up quickly on the floor.
"Uhh Bridget… what now?"
Bridget gloves up and quickly checks dilation. "Yes. Ten centimetres. We're ready to go."
"OK let's move to the bed." Cosima announces. Looking at her wife on all fours. Buck naked and suddenly so strong again.
"Non. Can't move. Have to push." Delphine tells her very explicitly.
Bridget simply kneels down next to Delphine. "OK. That's great. Just push here. We can move you to the bed afterwards."
It wasn't what Cosima pictured, Delphine on her hands and knees on the birthing suite's bathroom floor. But it's effective.
"And we have a head! With hair." Bridget announces to them both.
"You're doing amazing, Delphine. You've got this." Cosima tries reassurance. She tries not to panic over having a newborn. Especially a week before she expected to have one.
"I like pushing. Pushing is good." Delphine huffs between contractions as she continues to push their baby out. "No more fucking contractions."
"What does it feel like?" Cosima cannot stop herself from asking.
"Relief. Even if it burns." Delphine grunts out, continuing to push frantically while taking deep slow breaths. Cosima watches her daughter emerge in awe, a tiny head with wispy hair just visible. And it's bloody and thrilling all at once.
"And here she comes!" Bridget is smiling too, seemingly delighted with this part of her job. "We're going to pass her through your legs Delphine."
The baby practically falls out after her head emerges, and the midwives help them adjust position. Passing their newborn through Delphine's legs and handing her to her maman. Cosima moves in quickly, she positions herself half behind Delphine to prevent her from falling backwards.
"And hello Vivienne!" Cosima announces as she sees her daughter quickly pulled up onto Delphine's chest. Her wife's arms locked around the baby near instantly. "Uhh she looks grey. Is she supposed to look grey?!"
"C'est normale." Delphine nods, looking over their baby. The hands and feet retain a bluish tinge a little longer but as Vivienne begins to breathe and cry her colour improves. Her hair looks fair, but more brown than blonde. She looks up at Delphine with unfocused dark blue eyes.
"She's pinking up beautifully." The midwife reminds them both.
"C'est un bébé." Delphine breathes out in relief. "Ohh, elle est belle!"
"Yeah… that was what you were growing in there." Cosima smiles. Thankful that this awful birth business was over. She hated seeing Delphine like that. Vulnerable. In pain. The baby looks a bit squishy to Cosima. But better looking than any other newborn she's seen. She searches the child's face looking for a resemblance to Delphine but maybe it's too early to tell.
"Allo Vivienne!" Delphine greets the baby, stroking her sparse wet hair. Her head is slightly coned, her feet and ears already miniature versions of Delphine's. Delphine is smiling widely, how anyone can look that happy after being awake for at least 20 hours Cosima will never know.
"She is pretty cute." Cosima observes the baby. And very tiny. She'd always refused to get close to newborns. This time, she wouldn't have a choice. Something about the child's face makes her heart respond, more than a little. She wonders if it's because the baby is Delphine's. If that is enough to make her feel like this.
"What time is it?" Delphine asks. It's going to be close. She so wants this, let it still be the 9th. Let her have done this.
The nurse midwife laughs. "Currently? Just before midnight. Time of birth? 11:41 pm, March 9th 2018."
Delphine grins, looking down at their baby, pressed against her bare skin. "Happy birthday Cosima… do you like your present?"
Cosima merely stares, unsure how to answer that question. Had this been something Delphine had wanted? To have her share a birthday with the baby?
"It's your birthday?" The midwife looks at Cosima. "Well, happy birthday mommy. Looks like you and this one are going to share a birthday."
"Looks like it." Cosima repeats. "I guess you're my new birthday buddy." Cosima knows somewhere in the back of her mind that this will drastically shift how she will celebrate her birthday for the next decade.
"Cosima? Do you want to hold her? " Delphine offers.
"No… you should. I'll hold her after they cut the cord." Cosima decides. Vivienne is tiny and fragile and she still worries about hurting her. A newborn cannot even support their own head.
"I gave you a baby for your birthday." Delphine smiles, but she looks exhausted. Entirely spent.
"Yeah and after you initiate breastfeeding you need a nap." Cosima tells her pointedly. "You have been awake for like 20 hours. You're exhausted."
"Let's move you two to the bed." Bridget tells them. "Cosima I want you to help me get Delphine up and we'll walk with her to the bed."
"I want to go home. I want to sleep in our bed." Delphine tells her.
"Minimum two hours." Their midwife reminds them. "Then I can let you go. Or we can get you two skin to skin for a good hour, and get you some food and a shower first. We can discharge in the early morning."
Charlotte is waiting for them when they get home.
"You're still awake?" Cosima looks at the girl. It's not even 5 am. Delphine had been eager to get home, and since she could walk and pee and showed no sign of complications, they let her.
"No. I got up around 4. I couldn't sleep. Is that her?" Charlotte looks at the baby tucked into the car seat.
"No they just like hand out babies." Cosima throws back without thinking. Charlotte briefly very quiet at the bite of her words. They all need sleep. Cosima decides. Delphine most of all.
Delphine sighs walking in very slowly behind her. With all their stairs, Cosima is suddenly intensely grateful that the birth was not a caesarean. It seemed a normal vaginal delivery did quite enough to a body. She didn't want to add major surgery to the list, even if in some ways it would have been easier.
"Are you like OK?" Charlotte stares at Delphine. Cosima busies herself transferring the baby from her seat to the moses basket on the couch.
"Delphine just pushed out a baby like less than six hours ago. It'll be a while before she's OK." Cosima is honest about it. She is not eager to go anywhere near her wife's nether regions for a few good weeks. If not longer.
"I'm alright. Just sore." Delphine assures them both. "Do you have that… that round donut cushion my friend sent?"
"Umm somewhere?" Cosima begins to look for the asked for item. She knows they have it somewhere.
"Have you announced yet? On social media? Can I tell my friends?" Charlotte asks excitedly.
"No. We need to call our parents. Get a hold of clone club, a few friends." Cosima tells Charlotte calmly. "We'll take a picture or two, and announce her publicly tomorrow. Gives me time to make phone calls."
"So what is the final name?" Charlotte looks excited. "Did you two figure it out yet?"
"Yup. We named her within the first hour. Delphine was breastfeeding and we whittled down our list." Cosima tells Charlotte. She'd been more focused on meaning than Delphine, and they'd come to an acceptable compromise. Even if the second name wasn't really pronounceable in French.
"Je te présente Vivienne Aurora Niehaus-Cormier." Delphine holds up the baby, dressed in a grey sleeper covered in clouds. The child grunts and yawns, opening their mouth.
"She's so squishy looking." Charlotte laughs. "So tiny!"
"She's seven pounds." Cosima states. "A good size." A size that had caused minimal damage to Delphine on the way out, was the more important factor. Though Delphine would be sore for a while.
"Hello Vivienne." Charlotte picks up the baby. "I'm your much older sister. I'm happy to meet you."
"Can I have her back please?" Delphine asks setting herself on the couch.
"Delphine…. you need to sleep. Charlotte and I can watch her."
"No. I cannot leave her." Delphine seems instantly panicked. "I need to be with her. I need to nurse her."
"OK." Cosima agrees. "We can all go to bed for a while. You too, Charlotte?"
"No. I'll stay up." Charlotte tells them. "I'm sure I can find something to do to be helpful. Make brunch maybe?"
"Give us a few hours to sleep." Cosima insists. This was one night she was not eager to relive.
"I don't think I can sleep." Delphine tells her softly, on her slow trek up the stairs.
"You can." Cosima tells her.
"I can't… I feel like my entire body is flooded with adrenaline. It's… probably quite adaptive evoluntionarily speaking."
"Uhh no, you need to sleep." Cosima reiterates, nervously cradling their newborn to her chest as she walks up the stairs behind Delphine.
"Mon amour, I cannot sleep." Delphine insists.
"Try." Cosima urges her wife into bed, trying not to panic at the sight of the giant chux pad. "Nurse Vivienne again, I'll put her in her crib and you can sleep."
"I need her near me." Delphine asks quietly.
"OK. Then let's move the pillows, pull down the duvet and all get into bed together." Cosima offers a compromise. How any of them will ever sleep again she'll never know.