User blog comment:Genista882/Mitsuru and Kokoro/@comment-26567684-20190504235406/@comment-26567684-20190505154518

My assumption as to why Mitsuru missed the birth was because he was out gathering soil and herbs like the other boys were doing at the start of episode 24. Considering the distance between the Bird Nest and Mistilteinn, it may have took him a while to reach Kokoro. Also how long a woman can be in labor varies - anywhere from a couple of hours to even days. I think she was in labor for a very short time and someone had to have contacted Mitsuru either while he was away or when he got back (probably due to lack of communication in where he was) because of how eagerly he was rushing to the hospital room to see Kokoro and his newborn daughter.

Even though the scene of Ai’s birth was 40 something seconds long, I fell in love with the bonding between Mitsuru and Ai -how she grabbed his finger and he started crying because he immediately fell in love with the baby.