April, 2000
Children running in and out of the room
Anxious and impatient
Cheering for their mother
Wanting to see their sibling be born
Voices all around me
Different conversations pull me out of my darkness
The room is light and alive.
Someone pours warm water over me
Washing away tension and anxiety
My midwife’s broad back becomes my
resting place during labor
She rocks me gently through the contraction.
HANDS...everywhere, hands.
Hands that reassure, pressing where it hurts
Soothing hands that know my pain
Hands with oil stretching me open
reaching inside to release
the baby held captive in my womb.
I push through the burning.
My midwife is the encourager and says,
“Don’t be afraid.”
I’m not afraid now
Just eager to greet our baby
My baby.
I reach down between all the hands
and feel the soft head coming through.
I cry out, “Thank you, God!”
It’s a girl
She cries as she lays on my bare breast
She’s beautiful - and so alive!
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Beautiful!!!
ReplyDeleteYour vivid glimpses took my breath away, recalling my own labor and delivery. Though mine was a C-section and the voices were doctors and nurses, my husband and coach beside me, encouraging and narrative, you helped me remember those beautiful moments nearly 20 years ago.
Thank you,
Mother One