He was indeed right with how much more Emma was struggling. It made sense though, after all, getting the first ones out was easy but she had already used much of her energy there getting them out... and she still had 3 more to go which certainly worried John.
30 minutes has passed for Emma, pacing and sniffing/licking her cloaca when she felt the third egg drop into the birth canal, and Emma laid down immediately after drinking some water, and started to push, her wings folded tight against her as she clenched her claws through the layers of furs, her growls filling the cave.
With some already experience, Emma was getting used to the stretching as the egg slowly came through her, giving huffs of smoke upon particular hard pushes, and John can see the egg being dark green with pink stars dotted over it, calling out, "Easy, lass, I see it. Breathe and push!".
Emma took a deep breath, huffing a big puff of smoke before she grunted, pushed hard, giving out a roar as the egg finally left her, landing into the furs. She panted tiredly, only turning around to nuzzle the egg with a moaning purr, pushing it back gently to sit side by side next to the second egg with her snout.
Emma whimpered, 'Need food.', her belly heaving yet twitching still, her eyes determined yet tired, looking at John.
John could tell, especially when she licked her lips that she was hungry. He quickly nodded and went to find something for her to nibble on while she was still going through the birthing process.
"Just hang on a few minutes, luv, I'll get you something. Just take it a bit easy at the moment, you're already halfway there!", John told her.
Emma nodded with a snort and a smile, appreciating her mate right now, and she closed her eyes for a brief rest as John quickly headed to the stone elevator, heading upstairs, half surprised to see Kida and Milo in the throne room, resting on the couch with concerned and curious faces.
"She's very hungry, I suspect?", Kida asked, and John nodded, "Yeah. She needs to have more strength and the nutrients from the food would help her out. She gave birth to three eggs so far.", with a little smile of pride yet he's worried.
"Still two more to go through. I must assume that's why she already totally exhausted?", Milo questioned as John nodded.
"Yeah, she's really been pushing it. I know she's already gotten more than half of them out, but I just fear she might not have enough strength for the last one at this rate.", John feared.
Kida nodded, "How long has she been at it for?", and John sighed, "Over an hour and 15 minutes. Apparently, if the pattern holds, the fourth one will take 40 minutes to wait through contractions, and at the mark, Emma pushes for 10 minutes, and the egg is born.".
Milo gasps in concern, "Oh, by Jiminy Christmas! That gotta be exhausting!", and John nods, "Which is why she really needs food now. She's having a brief moment to rest, but she will be back to pacing sooner or later. I think it helps the egg get nudged to the right position and all.".
Kida smiles softly, "You're in luck. I thought that she might need it, so, there's a huge swordfish right on the table behind you.", and John turns around, seeing an impressionable swordfish, fresh out of the water.
Milo grins at John's shocked expression, "We sometimes have fishermen that goes out at night, and tonight is great especially with the fact that swordfish is attracted to moonlight for some reason.".
Kida nods, "You better get going with that in hand, Silver. We will wait longer as we have been.", with a patient smile.
"Thanks... hopefully she won't try to pry this thing from my fingers.", John joked. "Might be smarter for you to toss it towards her rather than getting close.", Milo suggested. "She may be more exhausted than before, but she might still lash out.".
"Thanks for the advice. I've been following it pretty well.", John said.
Kida smiles, "May the Great Kings bless her, you, and your children. Now, shoo.", and John nodded, lugging and picking up the swordfish with both hands, and walked back to the elevator, heading down below, and sure enough, Emma is pacing before stopping with a paw, her snout up in the air.
Emma sniffed, and locked eyes with the swordfish, and growled as John came closer, "Fresh from the lake! Here you go, lass.", grunting with a huge throw of his arms, tossing it over, and Emma snatched it, using a bit of fire to lightly cook it to semi-rare, and then chomped it into pieces, knowing that her gas-like intestines will destroy the fish bones on the way down.
Emma purred, licking her lips in satisfaction, and seemed to think for a moment before nodding with a snort, 'You can come over into the nest, my mate. Stay human. Swear to be gentle with the eggs.'
"You sure? I mean, I don't want to risk anything, you know?", Emma just responded to his words with a simple nod as John slowly approached her; careful not to make any sudden moves to worry her in case something was wrong. "You doing alright? Just two more to go.", he reminded her as he gently placed his hand against her head.
Emma purred under John's touch, 'I'm managing. Now, swear that you'll be gentle with the eggs', and John spoke strongly and firmly, "On my soul, I'll not harm our children. I intend to be the best father I could be, and I will be gentle with them when they are eggs.".
Emma looked at him directly, judging, and with a gentle nip of his shirt, Emma carried him over the fence/rocks, putting him down near the resting eggs, and with a nod, she resumed her pacing.
"Ma's just nervous, you three.", John whispered to the eggs as he got into a comfortable position with the eggs near him. He made sure he wasn't touching them since who knows how fragile the eggs could be upon his touch. They could either be really hard or it might not take much to crack them and the last thing he wanted was to put them at risk.
Emma paced, growling lightly as contractions came and went through her, the next 25 minutes slow and agonizing as she checked her cloaca repeatedly with licks and sniffs, and then she felt the fourth egg drop into her birth canal. She was about to lay down when she decided to do it a different way.
Emma reared upwards, her tail supporting her as her wings opened halfway, her legs solid and kneeling with the paws on the ground forward, like a squatting position, and she started to push, hoping gravity would help the egg move along faster.
"Oh, I see...", John said as he noticed what Emma was trying to do. To him, he honestly felt foolish not to even suggest the idea before. "That might be able to help you a bit more...". He prayed that would be the case.
Emma heard him, and she growled lowly as she pushed long and hard, huffs of smoke here and there, and she then felt the fourth egg stretching her out, grunting as she pushed. John, having a much better view, could make out that the shell of the egg is dark gray with baby blue streaks like a paintbrush has left them on.
Emma growled quickly, 'My mate, grab a fur, and catch it, be gentle. Height is different this way.', realizing when she lays, the egg is really close to the ground to slide and land, but squatting, that's a whole new situation. She knew that John had watched without needing to assist, being respectful, and she's glad of that earlier, but now, she decided to allow John to be more involved, and she can sense that he is anxious to touch, but from her nuzzles with the other eggs, she had discovered that they are wholly hard.
John moved fast to make sure the egg could be caught properly. He grabbed a nearby pelt and moved fast until he was practically touching the egg through the fur as she continued to push the egg out. John took a deep breath as Emma kept going until finally the egg was fully free and he had it properly secured and placed it down with the other three.
"All good, luv! Just one to go...", John announced with a smile. Emma nuzzled John proudly, 'You did good', as she dropped back to her paws, panting with a few huffs of smoke, before feeling something press inside her, and she growled, pushing it through her, smelling blood and flesh, and heard it flop.
She turned around to see an umbilical cord, and realized that it's food, cooking it slightly before eating it, the nutrients filling her up, and she snorted with a huff, 'Was the fourth egg's cord.'
John nodded, "Aye, the tyke doesn't need it anymore...", and Emma purred as she took a drink of water, hearing John speak thoughtfully, "The first three cords must have dissolved into the eggs. Maybe some of them need them more than others do.".
John then sighed. "Still see no sign of the last one though... I hope that one's gonna be alright.". He then chuckled, "Jeez, we still have no idea if we got boys or girls here."
Emma finished her drink and nuzzled John with a purr, 'I think gender goes with color.', before resuming her pacing.
John blinked thoughtfully and looked at the four eggs...Perhaps she's right. The plum purple with silver-ish blue spots on the first egg would signify that it's a girl, the dark red with thin black lines on the second egg would signify that it's a boy, the dark green with pink stars on the third egg is a tough one to figure...Perhaps a girl. And for the dark gray with baby blue paintbrush streaks on the fourth egg, definitely a boy.
John then told Emma his theories, and Emma seems thoughtful as she paced, and purred with a snort, 'I believe you're right, my mate.'
"Well, we'll find out eventually... in the meantime, I think we should still focus on getting the last one out of you before anything else.", John said as he gently petted her head. "Come on, luv, you're almost there... just a bit longer and it'll all be over... and I think we'll probably call five as the most children we'll have.", he chuckled.
Emma gave a rumbling growl as if she's giggling, and she paced some more for the next 40 minutes, licking and sniffing her cloaca before she felt the egg press upon the start of the birth canal, and went to the squatting position to push.
She pushed long and hard a few times, but she's growing frustrated as the egg didn't even move, only pushing on the birth canal painfully. She frowned as she decided to try laying down, kept pushing as she strained, panting, and then felt the egg finally move into the birth canal, but it was the wrong way as it was stretching out the birth canal flat like a line from one wall to the other.
She doesn't know if it was the pressure of the contractions upon the birth canal or the stress of the hard pushing, but she felt the egg break, causing her to roar out in pain from the shards, feeling blood and fluids go through her yet she suddenly could sense the magic and the heartbeat fighting inside the infant.
'JOHN!', she screamed, 'Pull him out!', feeling her inner walls constricting madly in pain as she stomped her back paws, tears falling down her snout and cheeks.
"Shit!", John shouted as he moved fast to her cries of pain. John quickly could tell things had gone wrong and he was trying desperately to do what he could to be able to save both her life as well as their last child. "This is bad... Emma, the egg broke! I... I'm trying to reach them!", John informed her as he got next to her.
Emma roared, crying out as she tried to push the infant closer to John, feeling John's hands reach into her cloaca, barely hearing the elevator coming down.
Kida gasped, "By the Great Kings!", horror and terror filling her voice as she practically jumped from the halfway down elevator, running to the nest, "What happened?!", immediately going into magical healer mode as Milo ran behind, unable to jump or run like his wife.
"Not sure!", John shouted. "The egg broke as she was trying to push it out... can't know what really went wrong, but right now we're trying to save the little one that's now in serious danger! Not to mention the pain she's in right now!".
Kida nodded furiously, "Right!", putting her hands upon the higher point above John's hands which is deep inside, trying to reach the infant, "Oh, by the gods! The shards of the egg is piercing the birth canal, but you're close, Silver! Emma, give one more push!".
Emma roared, crying out as she heard the command, not intending to disobey her healer as she pushed, finally putting the infant into John's hands, "Oh, I got him!", quickly yet gently pulling the infant out.
Emma can feel the motions of the infant within John's hands while feeling the agony of the shards in the birth canal, the heaves of her belly making it worse as blood flowed down. Then she felt the pop of the infant, hearing John's shouts, "Oh, it's a boy, and he's half dragon, half human! Oh, gods, hold on, son!".
John rubbed his newfound son's wings as he breathed into his little lungs, cleaning out the fluids and mucus as Kida then focused on reaching into the cloaca to use her healing hands to pull and heal the spots of the shards one at a time as Emma whimpered and roared.
"How bad is it?", John asked her. "Not quite sure yet; I think I can help heal her body and get the shards out once she pushes them further along... as for the child... I'm not sure what we can do for him.", Kida admitted.
"Hopefully, he'll at least be alright exposed like this...", John silently prayed after saying that, hoping that being free from the egg sooner than the rest wouldn't be fatal for him.
Milo quickly responded, "I may not be a magical healer, but I can still use my crystal to help the little one!", and John cradled his new son, "Do it, help him the best you can, Milo.", trusting Kida to heal Emma as Kida went to command Emma to push when she's supposed to be with the shards.
Milo nodded, using his crystal to heal the little boy's wings which is half brittle, having cuts from the shards, the superficial cuts on his legs, and tail, and as soon as he's healed, the baby, finally able to breath, thanks to John, cried out a squeaky cry.
John looked so relieved, "Thank the Great Kings! You did it, Milo!", and Milo panted after using so much energy, "You did it too, Silver. You saved him. He'll live, but he's going to be the runt of the family, a preemie...".
"As long as he lives, I doubt we care that much if he's the runt.", John gave a sigh of relief as he looked over to Emma who was doing much better, at least in terms of knowing that their youngest would be alright now. Her body, on the other hand, still needed help to be healed.
Emma growled, whimpering as Kida just had taken the first few shards out of the birth canal, using her healer glow to heal the bleeding spots, loosening up the next few shards, "Emma, push again!", and Emma cried out as she pushed, the next few shards free as Kida reached them, taking them out, and then healing more bleeding spots.
"Just a few more shards to go...Gods, please calm her down! She's still in pain, and I can't focus when she's moving like this!", Kida proclaimed out loud, and John heard her, and looked down at the infant in his arms, deciding to show her, hoping that the distraction would calm her.
He moved alongside her side, "Emma, lass, look at our son.", moving their son into view. Their son looks like a mini version of Emma as human, having tiny strands of blonde hair, tan skin, and cheekbones while having John's green eyes, smile, and the dragon parts is surprisingly silver with a pale undercarriage.
"That's right... this is our son... he looks so much like you.", John whispered as he leaned close against Emma. "Come on, luv, just do what Kida says and it's all over... our children are born, and they'll need you... much like how I need you.".
Emma gave another push upon hearing that before finally the last of the shards could be removed by Kida and she could now fully focus on healing.
Kida exhaled in relief as she completely healed the last bleeding spots, and nodded, "You're all clear to shift back to human form, Emma.", and Emma heard her, shifting back to human form, panting as Kida checked on her, "I think you should leave the prospect of pregnancy for quite a few years. Yes, the birth canal is all healed, and the womb is fine, but just to be safe and all, and besides, as long as there's no more love potions, you only can carry one for any further pregnancies.".
"And of course, you are strong, just take some time to recover and have some food/water to replenish your lifeblood as it should be.", Kida finished with a sigh of relief, "And here's something for your son. No need to wait.", using her healing glow on Emma's chest.
Emma feels the flow of milk in her breasts as she sat up, hearing their son's cries of hunger, like if he had smelled it.