Artemisia

On May 14, 2008, Artemisia had her kittens. At 4:45 in the morning a mewing woke us, and we saw Artemisia in the middle of our bedroom floor having just given birth to her first kitten. We woke up Raynah, and for the next hour sat with Artemisia and watched in awe as she gave birth to five kittens. Artemisia worked hard during that hour, continually licking clean each kitten as it was born, licking up the blood and waters, eating the placenta, yet the whole time she was sprawled casually on her side. Each contraction would visibly move the kitten down and through the birth canal. Artemisia’s long fur hid from view some of the births, but one kitten we saw particularly clearly being born. It was silvery gray blue slick and the first half of its body slipped out and then one breath later, its upper body swiftly slipped out in a spiral, like the unfurling fiddlehead of a fern captured in speed photography. Raynah and I at the same moment exclaimed, “Wow, did you see that?”

Artemisia and all five of her kittens are doing just fine.