Rite of passage

With 10 weeks left until my due date, and my friend Sam giving birth this week, I have found myself in a new stage of this pregnancy. I have an overwhelming urge to be "prepared" both in my house [commonly called nesting] and emotionally/spiritually as well.

Our local library yielded several books specifically about labour, two of which I borrowed. For then next few weeks, my study will be these:

Birth Skills by Juju Sundin

Birth by Catherine Price & Sandra Robinson

Jewels has also lent me an older book called Mornings of Joy by Pennie Kidd, that she said helped her through all three of her labours.

Much of my motivation in reading and preparing now, is so that I can have a sense of control in labour. Quite clearly it is the biggest thing that I've yet had to face, but it is becoming very important to me that I do what I can, to make it the best experience possible.

I was contemplating labour as a Rite of Passage for a woman. It seems to me, without disparaging those who use painkilling drugs and opt for Caesarian deliveries, that experiencing the labour in all it's pain and glory is hugely important to us as feeling like whole women. Even those I know who do use epidurals [and who knows, I may join their ranks] give it their best shot before that time and endure hours on end of excruciating pain.

Why would we do this? If it were not a child that I was delivering, there is no way that I would chose to go through potentially days of pain, without the drugs! Better yet, if a surgical option could quickly remove the problem, I'd sign up for it.

Looking at Sam this week, as I visited her in the hospital, I thought about how the mother who has just given birth is honoured as a champion, we come to see the baby but we also come to pay homage to the one who endured and won. Champion she is! Sitting proudly with her child, having only 4 hours sleep in the 48 hours since birth, and looking exhausted while clearly content - she is more than a hero. Unfortunately no medal is presented, and the ordeal quite quickly forgotten by everyone, until next time.