Chapter 306: The Birth is Coming

Xuemei pursed her lips and said, "Mom, I feel like there are two babies."

Zhu Lan was startled, "It wasn't this big the last time I came back!"

Xuemei thought that she was already quite pregnant last time, but her mother left in a hurry and didn't stay at home for long. Plus, it was almost summer and she was wearing loose clothes, so her mother naturally didn't notice. "Mom, my belly was quite big when you came back last time."

Zhulan felt a little guilty because she left in such a hurry last time. Then she glared at him, "How many do you have in your mind? And you think it's two? Have you checked your pulse?"

Xuemei shook her head, "No."

She has already given birth to two children, so she knows what's going on in her mind, and her children are well-behaved, so she has never thought about asking for a pulse.

Zhulan, "......."

Well, women in ancient times were really strong when it came to giving birth. In my original memory, there were many women who dared to deliver their own babies. But she is a modern person. In my memory, when my mother remarried and became pregnant, she had constant prenatal checkups and various tests. She was even admitted to the hospital before giving birth.

Zhulan helped Xuemei sit down. She felt that giving birth to one child in ancient times was scary enough, let alone giving birth to two at once. Zhulan's hands were a little trembling as she reached out to touch Xuemei's belly. It looked quite big indeed. In fact, it seemed to be similar to the belly of her mother when she was pregnant!

Zhulan felt the babies moving again and fell silent, as if there were really two babies moving. She stared at Xuemei's belly. She was also being stupid. Children nowadays are not lacking in nutrition, and it is normal for them to be born weighing 15 or 18 kilograms. In ancient rural areas, it was rare to see newborns weighing more than 15 kilograms.

Xuemei's family conditions are not particularly good, and Xuemei is slim, so the baby in her belly must not be very big.

Zhulan's heart ached when she thought about it. The twins would be born prematurely. And how could two small children be raised in ancient times?

Xuemei was a little dumbfounded. She wasn't afraid even though she was pregnant with two children. Why did she think her mother was afraid? "Mom."

Zhulan took a deep breath and asked, "Did you feel uncomfortable riding here in the carriage?"

Zhulan was counting the days on her fingers in her heart. Oh, it was already September. It was a good thing that Xuemei didn't go into premature labor. Logically, the child shouldn't want to move. She herself had never been pregnant. All she knew were the memories of her original body and her own mother. When her mother was giving birth, she seemed to move quite violently. It was said that she would suffer from lack of oxygen or something. Ah, Zhulan was going crazy. She really didn't understand!

Xuemei was about to say that she was not feeling bad when she heard a cry of "ouch". Zhulan was startled and asked, "What's wrong? What's wrong?"

Li Xu had been listening for a long time. Her mother-in-law's face changed, so she stopped interrupting. Seeing Xuemei's expression, she said, "It looks like she's about to give birth."

Zhulan also guessed, "She's going to give birth, she's going to give birth."

Zhulan calmed down after repeating it twice, and said to Li Xu: "Who is the midwife from Lijia Village, my mother-in-law? I'm sorry to bother you to go there."

Li Xu stood up and said, "I'll go and invite you right away."

Zhulan helped her daughter out of the main room and walked to the side room. The kang in the side room had been heated and was warm.

Zhulan walked and called out to Zhao, who hurried out of the kitchen, "Mom, what's wrong?"

Zhulan said, "Go to my room and find the quilt. Your elder sister is about to give birth. Oh, and also find the blanket I prepared in advance. And also take out the newly bought scissors."

Fortunately, she prepared the scissors for safety, otherwise she would have been even more worried if she had to use the old scissors.

Zhao was dumbfounded. Her eldest sister was about to give birth. This was too late. She said hurriedly, "Okay, I'll go find her right away."

Zhulan added, "Cut some of the fine cotton fabric I bought."

There is no time to wash it now, so I'll just use it first. Fortunately, she had already washed the quilt, and luckily she made two for replacement, otherwise two would not be enough!

She was just lazy. If she had been more diligent, she would have prepared all the quilts and mattresses. But who would have thought that Xuemei would go into labor prematurely? She was thinking of buying them and making them slowly, and then finishing them when she returned to Pingzhou!

Xue Han heard the noise and said, "Mom, I'll go call my brother-in-law."

Zhulan hurriedly called the young lady to stop her, "Tell your eldest brother to drive the carriage to the county to invite Doctor Lu to come over. Tell him that someone in the family is expecting twins. Oh, and ask Doctor Lu to give the baby belly medicine. Also, find the strong liquor that your father bought for your grandfather. It will be used to wash the scissors later."

Li was killing a chicken, still holding it in her hand, "Mom, what can I do?"

Zhulan was already very calm. After all, she had experienced Zhao's birth before, so it wasn't her first time to prepare. "You continue to cook. It's such a coincidence that these two little guys want to join in the fun today!"

Li's aunts were about to say they wanted to leave but swallowed their words and responded, "They know that grandpa and grandma are back and are anxious to see them!"

Zhulan smiled and went into the house to look at Xuemei. Xuemei was not panicked at all and was still walking on the ground while enduring the pain. Zhulan thought that she should not put pressure on Xuemei. She didn't understand the situation. Xuemei had just gone to Pingzhou in April, and she said at that time that it was almost four months. Now it was early September, and she didn't know whether it was nine months or not!

Zhao came over with a bunch of things in her arms. Zhulan hurriedly took them and wanted to make a quilt.

Xuemei was stunned. "Mom, the baby will be covered in blood soon. Do you have a straw mat or something at home?"

Zhulan was speechless, "If there was a straw mattress, would I take the quilt?"

Li's second aunt said, "I have some at home. I'll ask my daughter-in-law to go get it."

Zhulan asked Xuemei, "Can you still bear it?"

Xuemei's forehead was covered with sweat. "Yeah."

Zhulan turned around and said, "Thank you."

Zhulan asked Zhao to look after Xuemei while Jiang Sheng came to the backyard. Zhulan took the liquor from Xuehan's hand and went to disinfect the scissors herself. She was worried about others doing it, so she also had to disinfect the basin and rinse the cotton cloth used by midwives to wipe their hands with hot water. There was a lot of work waiting for her!

By the time Zhulan was ready, the midwife and the straw mat had arrived.

I took two straw mats because we had just started a fire at home and there was no ash, so I had to use more straw mats.

Zhulan asked the midwife to disinfect her hands before letting her in. She watched from the side and felt at ease.

The baby in Xuemei's belly was indeed easy to deal with. Xuemei didn't suffer much pain before her uterus opened. She waited less than half an hour before giving birth. The first child was born very quickly. After the first child came out, the second one didn't take long either. In fact, there were two babies. It took an hour and a half to deliver the two children.

Zhulan's legs were numb from standing, yet she still had to help the midwife with the babies. Doctor Lu came over with some medicine, so the two kids no longer needed to apply wood ash to their belly buttons. The two kids applied the medicine and wrapped them with cotton cloth, then Zhulan and Zhao each carried a child and went out to the outer room.

Zhou Shuren was already outside, "Two boys and a girl?"

Zhulan smiled, "Two boys."

Zhulan then said to Mr. Lu, "Please take a look at these two premature twins. How are they doing?"

(End of this chapter)