A Midnight Birth

Our little black lady cat, Midnight, came to be 'with kitties.' We were expecting them this weekend. Yes, I actually looked up a feline gestational calendar and had it pinpointed within 48 hours or the big event. Leaving for the conference this Friday morning, I knew I would be gone when she had the kittens. This troubled me, because I had 'doula-ed' our last momma cat when she had her babies. She actually woke me up in the night to be with her while she labored. I'm not even kidding. So, I told my husband to watch her closely. To go and love on her and give her comfort and be with her if she went into labor. He looked at me like I had green hair.

I spoke to Stephen just as we arrived back in town. He told me that Midnight had her kittens, but they were dead. He looked outside today and there was a kitten on the porch, and another in their crate. Certain that there were more than two, he set off to look for them. He didn't find any. We figured that the opossum or coons may have taken to them and carried the tiny ones off. I was disheartened. I prayed for life for our baby kitties! I wanted my children to be able to see the tiny, helpless creatures grow into playful bundles of fur!

As I neared home, I had all but forgotten the kitty situation. I was strangely 'okay' about it. I greeted my family and shortly we went outside to play. My husband began to tell me about finding the kittens and how he searched in vain for others. He said "I thought I heard them, so I listened and followed the sound into the woods, but it was just birds." Just as he finished that sentence we heard a little call. Was it a bird? Was it a lost kitty? I started to run for the woods when Stephen yelled "Watch out where you step! There might be one on the ground." He yelled at the perfect moment. I halted where I was and it was the perfect place. We heard it again and then several more times. The tiny sound came from beside me in a lawn mower bag. The kind that attaches to the lawn mower for grass to shoot into. It was laying beside the garage. I knelt down and looked inside and there, snuggled up together were two solid black baby kitties!! They were alive and well! I eagerly scooped them up and made a bowl out of my shirt. They were silenced at once, even though I was not their milk filled mother.

After taking them inside, we made a cozy hole for Momma Midnight and her two little raven beauties. Daddy Jacket is none to happy that his lady and babies are inside while he is alone on the porch. Don't worry about him though, Midnight goes out to cuddle with him every few hours to get a quick break from the kiddos.