In Irish legend, Macha was the wife of Cronnchu, who boasted she was so fleet of foot she could beat a chariot in a race.  Despite being pregnant, she raced and won, but collapses in agony on the finish line and gives birth to twins.  She curses the men of Ulster that they will suffer the pains of childbirth - the 'Difficulty of Nine' (five days and four nights of pain).  The poem was already in progress when I came upon this story, and it gave me the title and also a direction for the poem to evolve in.
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