The EssenceI witnessed a Sea Lion birth her pup yesterday morning. It was nuts.
I was reconning the coastline for surf and came across this scene at one of the pocket beaches in the area.
Once the pup was born, except for the occasional agonizing groan, Momma appeared totally incapacitated. Not having seen a Sea Lion give birth before, this had me super concerned... was there a complication or some problem? Junior needs some attention and Momma is zonked:

What to do? I was really anxious for the two. If Momma's incapacitated, that's bad news.
After 10 minutes, Momma gained some alertness and pulled her placenta out. Intense...
As soon as that was out of her, she seemed like a new Sea Lion. She gained her feet (flippers?) and rolled over to face her baby.
Momma's first embrace of her child. Junior gets picked up by his ear... ye-ouch!:

What a relief! The two seem to be on the right track. Momma pulls her pup to nurse it at her "bosom":

I won't lie, after the concern I had that they were OK, this embrace of love and the relief they were on the right track got me a little misty eyed. A revelatory moment.
OK, you two are all good, time for me to scram.
I checked up later just to make sure everyone was still alright. Mom and pup look like they're doing great:

All's well that ends well! I'll leave you in peace. What a beautiful day.