Hypnobabies water birth
Again I sit in the dark. Soft yoga music drifts through the room as if delivered on the smoke of the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland. It's so dark my screen is dimmed fully yet still gives a soft glow. Two feet from me is the strongest creature I've ever gotten to encounter. Fearless. Can make the largest grown man wring his hands in nervous anxiety.
A mother in labor.
She too drifts in her personal salty sea of comfort-her birth tub. Using hypnobabies she has gotten herself close to complete, chatty in between, deceivingly calm and comfortable.
She begins what I call "the real nesting" ...not the cleaning that most pregnant women do sometime in the last weeks and days before labor. No, she is changing positions rapidly, finding the right place to allow just enough space for her baby to finish it's journey. The water helps her be able to move her very full body into different positions.
She begins to push-on and off, in and out of the tub. Her body is very sensitive to the water and it seems to hinder her progress. She's determined to birth her baby in the water though and who am I to argue with the creature of amazing strength?! We do the dance of drying her off, letting her pace, sit on the birth stool, warm the tub and back in she climbs. Finally at last she gets down to hard work, giving her all-long, strong, baby moving pushes...and a little head starts to show. Our hands stay back, we offer support verbally, she declines all touch. We are honored to simply be present.
All on her own she pushes that squishy little head into her hands, gasping for air in between, smiling at the pause yet still in labor land she goes to work again and the shoulders emerge. She pushes baby all the way to it's sweet soft little tummy and then declares "I can't. Just pull it out!!" We assure her she can and did-she got this far-don't give up! Hands only supporting baby, waiting for her to have a pause, she finally reaches down and lifts her baby to her chest.
Tears flow. From mama, from baby, from daddy....oh big brother has fallen fast asleep on the couch--missed it by less than 5 minutes! What a blessing to be the cub under that strong mama, safe and cozy in dreamland only to wake up to the most special gift of all-another cub to share your life with. A beautiful sweet little sister. Perfect in every way. Emerged from a mama of great composed strength.
You would never think that even a month before we had a conversation about her fears around labor. She had everything she needed right when she needed it. Her fears finally rested, her strength rose to the occasion and her reward--the sweetest.
Happy Birthday Little Girl.
Happy Birthing Day Strong Mama.
May you always feel the enchantment and Love toward each other that you feel in this moment.
She begins what I call "the real nesting" ...not the cleaning that most pregnant women do sometime in the last weeks and days before labor. No, she is changing positions rapidly, finding the right place to allow just enough space for her baby to finish it's journey. The water helps her be able to move her very full body into different positions.
She begins to push-on and off, in and out of the tub. Her body is very sensitive to the water and it seems to hinder her progress. She's determined to birth her baby in the water though and who am I to argue with the creature of amazing strength?! We do the dance of drying her off, letting her pace, sit on the birth stool, warm the tub and back in she climbs. Finally at last she gets down to hard work, giving her all-long, strong, baby moving pushes...and a little head starts to show. Our hands stay back, we offer support verbally, she declines all touch. We are honored to simply be present.
All on her own she pushes that squishy little head into her hands, gasping for air in between, smiling at the pause yet still in labor land she goes to work again and the shoulders emerge. She pushes baby all the way to it's sweet soft little tummy and then declares "I can't. Just pull it out!!" We assure her she can and did-she got this far-don't give up! Hands only supporting baby, waiting for her to have a pause, she finally reaches down and lifts her baby to her chest.
Tears flow. From mama, from baby, from daddy....oh big brother has fallen fast asleep on the couch--missed it by less than 5 minutes! What a blessing to be the cub under that strong mama, safe and cozy in dreamland only to wake up to the most special gift of all-another cub to share your life with. A beautiful sweet little sister. Perfect in every way. Emerged from a mama of great composed strength.
You would never think that even a month before we had a conversation about her fears around labor. She had everything she needed right when she needed it. Her fears finally rested, her strength rose to the occasion and her reward--the sweetest.
Happy Birthday Little Girl.
Happy Birthing Day Strong Mama.
May you always feel the enchantment and Love toward each other that you feel in this moment.
Comments
Post a Comment