Something awful happened six weeks after I was conceived. Up till then, I’d been growing happily inside my sac, comfortably cushioned by my fluid, all cosy and safe. Suddenly, my sac broke – all the fluid leaked out, and I felt myself moving into the birth canal.

“No!” I shouted. “Not yet! I’m not ready!”. Bracing my paws against the sides of the birth canal, I fought against another contraction. I managed to stay where I was, but my sac and all that comfortable fluid was gone forever. It was a struggle to grow after that.

After another three weeks, I knew that the time had come. I had to get born, whatever that would mean for me. It was a truly dreadful experience. Holding my placenta between my arms and legs (it was my lunch pack, I had to take it with me) I tried to squeeze my way along the narrow birth canal, in time with the contractions. Instinct told me that, at the end, there would be a mommy to lick me and love me, but oh! it was taking a long time. Exhausted, I finally fell out into the cold world, but where was the mommy I wanted? There was a big, warm body that smelled right, but it didn’t want me. It just moved away.... There was a human, as well. She didn’t smell like a mommy, but she did seem to be looking after me.

After a bit, my two brothers came out. They still had their sacs, and the mommy who didn’t want me licked them and gave them a little milk. Then she lay down again, and tried to push out another kitten. We waited ages, while I told my brothers how hard being born was, and they said “nonsense. It’s easy.” My third brother never said anything to me. He came half way out, but Mommy’s contractions were too weak to get his head out, and the human said she couldn’t pull any harder when there were no contractions. She was about to call a vet (I still have to find out what that is), when Tiny Tim’s head finally came out of the birth canal, but he wasn’t feeling good. I don’t think he enjoyed being born, either.... He never grew much, and Mommy wouldn’t feed either of us. Luckily our granny had kittens too (huge compared to us), and she gave us a little bit of milk. Mostly Tiny Tim got his feeds from the human, but he hated it, and screamed and fought every time.

I couldn’t drink very much at first. My tummy felt so full and uncomfortable, I couldn’t put any more into it. After a while the human put some Vaseline on my bottom, and that helped a lot! Suddenly my bowels worked, and worked and worked! I felt so much better that I was able to drink milk and grow. After I drank, I would snuggle on Mommy and say “I’ll make you love me, Mommy.”

After a few days, poor Tiny Tim just couldn’t any more, and he died. This had an extraordinary effect on Mommy. Suddenly she wanted the rest of us – even me! She fed us and washed us, and finally she loved us. It was as if she was so relieved not to have to worry about Tiny Tim any more, that now she could enjoy us.

Now I spend nearly all my time drinking milk and growing. I was 49g at birth and now I weigh 200g – don’t you think that’s good? Okay, my brothers are 300g but I’m catching up. One day I’ll be big and strong and then – look out world, here I come!

By Hazel King