Often in life I have found myself in the most charmed circumstances. Reflecting back I smile, laugh and sometimes shed tears. I wouldn’t change a thing. This was the first time I was part of another person’s birth story other than my own.
The rush of driving to a home where I knew a woman was laboring & birth imminent had my mind and my body in a heightened state of awareness that I hadn’t previously felt. Every movement, every second, every choice I made in that time impacted how long it took to reach her. There was no room for mindlessness. She trusted me to come; a privilege.
When I arrived at her two bedroom townhouse I had just gotten word that the baby had been born moments prior. A whiplash of heartbreak – because she birthed so so quickly – and I had missed it…followed by a quick jolt of logic & action that hurtled me from my vehicle, onto her porch and through the front door (families in labor don’t answer a knock at the door). The energy on the other side of that door stopped me and I was faced with the honey brown eyes of a sweet woman drying a big bowl with a towel in her hands. She looked at me so calm, with a small smile at the corner of her cheek… “Everything’s fiiiiine. Baby is here! Go on up and see you don’t have to run.” So I gently took her advice, and to the stairs. Somehow I couldn’t help but to understand that her wisdom was greater than my own, and she calmed me for the Mother with intent.
As I reached the top landing the smell of birth immediately returned me to memories of my own recent homebirth – familiar yet very different in an instinctual, mammalian way. I was keenly aware of my own womb’s tightening response, as it was holding a baby due early June. That moment is still a marvel to me. I eased the door open to her room and was welcomed by a very rosy cheeked, slightly bewildered and joyful Mother (and friend) holding her newest baby to her breast; a seasoned pro! Breastfeeding soon after birth helps contract the uterus & release the placenta…nature’s perfect plan!
The placenta came soon after my arrival and I began helping clean up the chucks pads, towels and bedding as I glanced over to appreciate the newly grown family. I fed her breakfast and held a straw to her lips so she didn’t need to put her baby down. Both of them were quite content with this type of nurturing, and my heart was painfully full of love. Oxytocin is contagious. My future as a birth worker was nurtured in those moments as I provided nourishment.
When I made it back to my vehicle more hours later than I realized (time really stands still for birth) I found myself in a heap in my driver’s seat. I had been unknowingly been under much more pressure than I knew. Even though I was not attending this birth in any sort of professional fashion (she was attended by Midwives) I couldn’t help but to be hyper aware…mindful of her physical and emotional state. Even though I was crying, it was the best cry I had ever felt: after hearing the cries of a freshly born baby girl.