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.