There is something very completing and satisfying in cleaning things up after the birth. It's nice at a home birth, but it especially seems right after a birth at the center.
There is such controlled chaos immediately after the birth. Someone looks after the baby and gets food for the mom, but there is always the laundry and the paperwork. I don't mind either, but there is just something about putting clean sheets back on the bed and finishing the chart after the family has left for home.
Everything seems settled and right. I know that completing isn't correct grammar, but it is the word that just seems to fit so well. There was the increasing crescendo as birth neared and then the sweet relief that all had gone well. All of that is followed by the excitement of all those things the baby and parents have never done before-first nursing, first stool, dressing baby for the first time, and all the excitement of calling family and friends.
When all of these things are done, it feels as though there should be a symbolic end, a completing of the cycle for the building and the tools. That is what cleaning up and making the bed is, the completing of the cycle. From quiet to quiet.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Three deer, three babies
On my way home from the latest birth, there was a doe standing by the side of the road. Not unusual in Michigan, in a wooded area, late at night. However, in 10 years of driving to late night births I had never seen a deer.
In the last week I had seen three, all when I was coming from or going to a birth. I was beginning to think that they were out to get me. After all, the first deer we spotted waited until the last possible moment and then jumped in front of the car. I hit her at maybe 5 miles an hour. She looked hurt and rather annoyed with me, but got up and walked away.
But then I realized maybe they were a sort of new talisman for a really nice birth. All three of the births this week were to women who had had poorly positioned babies the last time. They all had long labors with lots of back pain. For each of them I was prepared for another long labor. What happened instead is that they each had a much shorter labor, with a well positioned baby. For the first two, my birth assistant and I arrived with 10-15 minutes to spare before the baby was born. The third one was at the birth center, but she was only there for an hour before the baby arrived.
So maybe the deer were a sign.
In the last week I had seen three, all when I was coming from or going to a birth. I was beginning to think that they were out to get me. After all, the first deer we spotted waited until the last possible moment and then jumped in front of the car. I hit her at maybe 5 miles an hour. She looked hurt and rather annoyed with me, but got up and walked away.
But then I realized maybe they were a sort of new talisman for a really nice birth. All three of the births this week were to women who had had poorly positioned babies the last time. They all had long labors with lots of back pain. For each of them I was prepared for another long labor. What happened instead is that they each had a much shorter labor, with a well positioned baby. For the first two, my birth assistant and I arrived with 10-15 minutes to spare before the baby was born. The third one was at the birth center, but she was only there for an hour before the baby arrived.
So maybe the deer were a sign.
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