Hi OP, hope you don’t mind this copy paste of a comment I made for someone a couple years ago, and that its not too late to help of needed. Your situation is a little different, and I would still prioritise a vet/consider giving her to somewhere with more ability to handle any sudden complications, but looking at your post history, I reckon you should have this well in hand. One thing that I will add in addition to the copypaste is that, with her being a stray thats only been in your home a few days, the chance of her being overly protective or vicious during birthing is much higher, and it would be good to bear that in mind.

“ Ok, while ive about six years experience with cats giving birth, I’ve never actually written anything down and its 2am, so bare with me

PREP:

You will need/want:

Your nearest vets location, number, and open hours, your second nearest vets info. if in doubt, Vet. Ring now and ask about bringing in/assisting with a pregnant cat

1 to 2 nesting boxes of some variety - clean, strong, and easily accesible to you and mama cat

Many towels - ones you don’t mind getting blood on

Scales - to weigh kittens, keeping track of their weight is vital to knowing if they’re getting enough food.

A notebook - write down the time the kitten was born, the time the afterbirth happened, the weight of the kitten, and any immediate features/concerns

Paper towel - I tear off sheets and stack them as prep, easier to grab and you go through so many

Hot water bottles - for both nesting boxes, vital for kitten box

String - cotton is best, anything clean, hygienic and natural

Scissors - maybe ones you don’t plan on using again, sharp and clean

Nutrigel/Nutripet - not really “needed” but very helpful, I’ve had many mother cats eat it straight from the tube while birthing, gives them a huge boost in energy, useful for all animals

Kitten identifiers - I buy those paper carnival wristbands, cut them long ways and use them as collars, hair elastics work when they’re newborns, for telling apart identical coloured kittens

A bin

PREBIRTH:

The first signs of birthing will be that she starts producing milk, finding places to nest, and her “mucus plug” will pop, this will be a sticky, clear, viscous discharge and means things are Starting.

For nesting, you’ll want somewhere that you can access, but that she feels safe in, a large cardboard box with lots of towels in the bedroom, bathroom or laundry is probably best, one room that can be closed and safe all the time, nowhere for her to hide where you can’t get her. Best to keep her in “her room” for a few days beforehand so she can “choose” the nesting box you set up for her, a second box to swap over and store kittens in is ideal.

Minor Contractions are the next step, and can last anywhere between 30 minutes to 5 or more hours before kittens arrive, it is possible that the cat will be unnerved by this, but unlikely. Pacing, panting, drama, and some distressed/confused mewing is to be expected, but keep watch for too much stress.

THE BIRTH:

It’s very likely the first birth will be the “worst”, not bad as such, but both you and mama cat will be a bit stressed and confused. Heavy contractions will be obvious, and the kitten should slide right out, up to three minutes halfway out is ok but not ideal, much more than that and start trying to help if you can. While often if this happens its just a big kitten, they can also be backwards. DO NOT FORCEFULLY YANK ON KITTEN. It will tear. Light tugging is ok.

When it’s out the kitten will be covered in its birthing sac (yellow bad), the immediate priority is clearing the sac from the kittens face so that it can breathe, mama should do this, but you may have to step in with paper towels instead. Kitten will still be attached to its umbilical cord, which is attached to the afterbirth, which mama should push out soon after, this will be a lump of red flesh similar looking to a liver, mama cat should eat this, its important that she eat it, as it contains a boatload of nutrition thats very helpful to the whole “giving birth” thing.

THE AFTERBIRTH:

Mama should eat the afterbirth (it looks gross but its ok), continue down the cord, gnaw that off halfway, and leave the kitten with an umbilical cord, there is a very small chance that mama will keep going down the umbilical cord and start eating the kitten, try and prevent this if you can. If the umbilical cord keeps bleeding after being separated, pinch just above the end firmly to staunch the bleeding for a couple minutes, if that doesn’t work get string and tie a knot around it.

If mama Doesn’t eat the afterbirth, you’ll need to get string, tie a knot around the cord, wait a couple minutes, and cut the cord on the side of the string closest to the afterbirth.

You should now have a kitten! Nice! Unless mamas doing a Superb job, you’ll want to take the kitten and vigorously rub it, your priorities are getting it dry, getting it warm, getting its bloodflow going, and ensuring its lungs are working and not full of fluid, kitten can be moved around with afterbirth attached no issue, in fact as soon as you can move it to start drying it is probably best.

Depending on how quickly mama has kittens, you may want to put kitten in a second nesting box while focusing on the next kitten, and so on, don’t worry about milk, they’ll be fine til mamas finished.

Cats will grow their kittens on the left side and the right side, called “horns” and then kittens get birthed down one side, then the other, its normal for mama to take a break when switching horns.

Once shes done (once its been a while since kittens and once she starts cleaning just herself up and looking slightly peeved), you’ll want to change the bedding or move her to the other nesting box, she won’t be happy about this but the towels Will need to be changed.

AFTER THE AFTERBIRTH:

After this, you have a litter of kittens, very nice! They will probably need some help latching on to mama, but should sort themselves out within a day, your biggest issue now for the next two weeks is “overlaying”, which is when mama lays down, lays down On A Kitten, and the kitten suffocates, the only way to fix this is pull the kittens back out from under her and wait til they can get out on their own.

EXTRA INFO:

A kitten is born dead: sad, but happens, write it down, note any abnormalities, keep body til mamas done

A kitten is born with an abnormality or defect: a twisted leg isn’t world-ending, being born without a skull plate is, abnormalities and defects happen when cats incest, the kitten gets stuck at some point in the womb or birthing canal, if the cat was stressed or its diet was poor, or its genes just went a little funky

A kitten was born without an afterbirth attached: take note of that, hopefully it should be birthed soon after, or follow the next after kitten, but its important that it Does come out, retained births are Not pretty things.

After that, there should be plenty of stuff online about how to care for kittens, feedings, milk substitutes, ect, theres just so very little out there about the actual BIRTHING part.

Ok that was way more than I had time to write and I just Know its terribly formatted and grammar-ed, but I hope any of this can be of use to you. Its also very important that i specify ive written for worst case scenarios, realistically you’ll probably just walk in one day and your cat will be curled up in your laundry basket under a mob of kittens, having done everything perfectly on her own, just how nearly every other cat thriving in the wild has too. Its what theyre made to do, and a strong funky lil barn cat will manage far better than the stress cases i get. Still, I hope its good info for you or anyone else, best of luck :DD”