ways_infirmary | (no subject)

(no subject)

[ooc: After this]

In one quiet area of the infirmary is Shufti, cradling a tiny infant in her arms. She sings quietly to him in her native Borogravian tongue, whilst taking care not to disturb the other patients.

[ooc: Visiting post for Shufti and the newborn.]

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She is very thin, still awfully pale, and her movements are slow as she grows used to her legs again, but here comes Nerdanel with her son.

"Suilad, Shufti," she greets softly, almost musically.

She looks up and smiles.

"Hello Nerdanel, and Gabriel."

There is love in her eyes as she looks down at the tiny baby. "This is Jack."

It is not much different from the own love mirrored in Nerdanel's eyes for her own son.

"Hello, Jack," she says with a smile. "You have met Feaho?" No one told her that Mandos had introduced baby to friend. "And how are you feeling?"

She pulls over a chair and sits in it heavily, yanking a blanket from a nearby, empty bed.

She nods.

"He was with his daddy. I helped feed him."

She smiles. "Achy, and my bladder seems to be working overtime. But happy. How are you? I guessed you woke up while I was asleep because you were gone when I looked over to your bed."

"Yes. Sometime yesterday afternoon. But I was eager to see Feaho, and so I went out to the sofa nearest the infirmary and remained there until Gorlim found me."

Gabriel suckles on Nerdanel's finger, his wide eyes on his mother.

"Are you better now?" She asks anxiously. It's true enough that her mother got better from her coma, but she didn't live long afterwards.

Jack's eyes screw up, his face goes red and he starts to cry. Shufti lifts him a little and sniffs, then lifts her shirt a little to offer him a feed.

"Come on little one."

She smiles, happy that Shufti seems to have taken to mothering just as Nerdanel had thought she would.

"I am well. Better. Slowly regaining my strength, but I am not so tired anymore. And Feaho is a good baby, only cries when he is hungry or uncomfortable. So, I am able to sleep for two or three hours between his feedings."

It takes a little encouragement but then Jack takes the breast and starts to suck. Shufti smiles and looks up.

"How much are babies supposed to eat? I left the book upstairs."

"I tend to time it around fifteen minutes per breast. A thirty minute feed. Sometimes he is more hungry, though, and I allow him longer. It truly depends on little Jack. Just remember to switch the breast he feeds from halfway through the meal," she warns with a gentle smile.

She nods.

"He doesn't seem to eat very much, but I guess that's because he's a bit small."

"He is small and still newborn," she says. "His appetite will increase." Her eyes sparkle. "Are you still so afraid? Feeling as inept as you thought you would?"

"A little." she admits. "He is so very tiny. Feaho seemed small when I held him but Jack feels so delicate and fragile."

She smiles. "But I've managed to look after him for a whole day without hurting him, I think."

"You were a bit early, right?" she asks as Gabriel falls asleep in her lap. "While Feaho was early, he was fully developed. Something about what kind of baby he is. So, he was full-term. Jack wasn't. I have heard of that among the Men from Gorlim and others."

She nods. "Thirty seven weeks. He was five pounds eight ounces, which is right at the bottom of normal range. But Doctor Guppy told me before he was born that he was a bit small for his age. Because I didn't eat enough early on the book says."

She looks down at Jack, stroking his hair gently. "Sorry little one."

She hums softly, rocking in her chair.

"He will grow stronger and become a great man," she says with certainty. How could any child of Shufti's not with such a strong Nana to emulate.

"I hope so. He's probably in the best place to stand a decent chance of surviving and doing well."

She looks down as the baby stops sucking, a hint of anxiety in her eyes.

"How is Feaho doing?" she asks, stroking Jack's hair and gently encouraging him.

"Very well. He is already mimicking Gorlim's birdcalls. He communicates with Kelly that way. It will be a couple more months before he starts talking, though."

Gabriel sighs in his sleep, his eyes open and unfocused, but his face content.

Shufti nods.

"Why does he sleep with his eyes open?"

"It is the way of the Elves. None of us do because we do not sleep like humans. We... well, I've heard it called 'walking through dreams'. It is lighter than human sleep and we can easily wake."

Unless it was an unnatural coma, of course.

She nods.

"It sounds sensible. Does it help you stay safe?"

Jack lets go of the breast and begins to cry. Putting a clean cloth over her shoulder she puts him gently against her shoulder and rubs his back.

She nods.

"Well, those who went to Arda, yes," she says with a smile. "It's a bit pointless for those of us in Aman."

"It still sounds useful."

Jack decides to cough a little milk up down the cloth.

"Was that meant to happen?" she asks, looking slightly worried.

She nods. "They spit up, love. Usually if they have eaten a bit too much or there is a lot of gas in their bellies." Nerdanel finds the young woman's tentative fears sweet and endearing.

She will be a good mother.

"Would gas be a reason why he doesn't eat much?" she asks, rubbing the little one gently.

"At least that explains what the cloth is for."

"His stomach is also small--"

Gabriel chose that moment to wake and begin screaming that he was wet and cold and unhappy.

Nerdanel chuckles.

"I am sorry to cut the visit short, but I need to go change him and put him down in his bassinet."

She stands and gives Shufti a quick kiss on the forehead.

"I will check in on you again soon," she promises.

"Thank you." She smiles and hugs her with her free hand. "Bye bye Gabriel."

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