When Edna reaches Madame Ratignolle's, she finds her friend exhausted and overwrought in her labor pains. Dr. Mandelet and a midwife also attend the birth. Edna regrets attending; the birth is a harrowing scene. Edna's own childbirth experiences do not provide useful perspective, because she was drugged with chloroform for the pain. After the birth is over and she prepares to leave, Madame Ratignolle whispers dramatically to her "Think of the children, Edna . . . Remember them!"
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