Labor

I was pregnant with our first son at the tender age of 28 and I eagerly read all the current literature on childbirth. La Leche and Lamaze were very big in the 70’s. One passage read “labor is so-called because it’s really just hard work, not pain.” And so I proceeded, smug in my knowledge and preparation. Months later, when that first tsunami contraction hit, I would have happily strangled with my bare sweaty hands the writer of that passage! I was grateful for all the breathing techniques I had practiced and clung to them like a drowning person through the zig-zag of intense pain. It was not the elegant give and take I had envisioned.

 

So, though I know that’s not what this day is all about, it’s what I’m celebrating. To all the mothers who have passed through the hallowed channels of birth-giving, I salute your labor, your hard work, your intense pain, your overwhelming joy for what followed immediately after the physical battering.

 Forty-two years later I'm still saying thank-you.