The Beginning - 7/8/11

That day I was just stopping by my mom’s to help her with some charts and organizing folders.
Thinking that was going to be my intro to the birth-world.
Then my mom says:
OK, I have to go to a birth now and you’re going to come with me...
Just like that.

I was nervous: I’m not ready. I don’t know enough. I’m not in the “birth clothes” that I imagined myself to be in. What will I do? What will I say? I’m ill-equipped.

And off we were. What happened in between 2 PM and 11 PM that night, I don’t think I can just describe and expect you to know. Because you can’t know unless you’ve been there. Unless you really know.

I didn’t do much. Made some post-labor tea for the mom and rubbed the charlie-horses out of her legs. But I was there – soaking it all up. Taking it all in. Being there.
Watching my mom. Her calm – ease – knowledge. Could I ever do that? Could I ever be that smart and gentle... and powerful?

When I got home that night, I just kept telling Chris: there’s nothing like it. I can’t explain it because there’s nothing like it.

I’ve heard before: This life. The birth-world – you don’t choose it. It chooses you.

That night. That crazy, unplanned night:
it chose me.