I thought thhis was just another day of waiting and wondering how long Cybelle's pregnancy could go on.

I had been reading my cat medical guide and watching for the signs that she was going into labor. She had started paying more attention to the spots I had set up for her--newspapers and some old towels laid in some dark and private places like the book advised. Under the bathroom sink, in the little closet, and behind a couple of boxes under a desk next to where I usually work. She was checking them out several times a day, sneaking in, then scratching and digging, then wandering back out again. But nothing that I would call "urgent", and that's what I was watching for.

So when I arrived at my office on Tuesday morning around 9:30 and Ms. Cybelle ran to the door as she had every day in the two months since her rescue, I knew she had made it through another night.

And I continued under that mistaken impression for several minutes, at least until I noticed something unexpected on a blue towel set out in the middle of the floor. On closer inspection, it was a small and occasionally squirming pile of kittens.

Three kittens. All white, or off-white, to be more correct. They were dry. clean and fluffy. They looked perfect. And they might have been newborn, but they appeared to know their job assignment without additional training, as did Ms. Cybelle.

I admit to being more than a little excited. I made my first phone call to Meda., and then searched for any other kittens that might not have survived. Nothing. Only a large stain, now dry and crusty, right in the middle of the couch that is set against one wall of the office. Apparently Cybelle chose to disregard all the book stuff about private places and instead chose the couch as her delivery room, and then moved them all to the mddle of the floor to await my arrival.

Then I was back on the phone with birth notices to friends who had been following the adventure. No cigars, but a functional equivalent would have been welcome.

Still following the book, which advised a medical check within 24 hours, we quickly checked for the earliest appointment and found ourselves driving to Kaneohe for a 1 p.m. with our regular vet, Leianne Lee Loy.

She pronounced the whole family in good health, but advised us to keep watch on Cybelle to be sure that she was providing enough milk.

That sounded straightforward enough, until I thought about it a little later.

How do I know whether it's enough, not being experienced in such things? So we prepared for the worst with several cans of milk replacement and some tiny baby bottles.

What they forgot to explain was just how hard it is to make an appropriate size hole in a tiny rubber nipple. We blew it several times, and I don't think we every really succeeded. Luckily, so far at least, Cybelle seems to be handling it all on her own.

But at that point, Day 1, late afternoon, I didn't know if intervention as going to be necessary or not. So Meda eventually abandoned me to the kitten watch while she headed for home. Cybelle, the kittens, and I spent their first night together. They had the towel. I had the couch. Yes, the same one.

And Day 1 was over, for the kittens and myself.

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