Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Pop I was talking to someone yesterday who said she saw movies about the "miracle of life" - movies that graphically showed labor and delivery, in full living color, in fifth grade.  It was meant as a scare against unsafe sex, and she says it worked. That's all well and good, but we're at 35 weeks, and it's a little late to be scared.  Still, we had a childbirth education class on Sunday, and part of it was movies just like this.  It was really amazing, and little terrifying, to see women in actual labor.  Not tv labor, not Jennifer labor, but the real stuff with the sweat and the crying and the looks of fear and terror, the I-can't-do-this looks.   It amazed me how many of the women looked like they were doing something besides delivering a child.  They looked dazed and distant, wholly subsumed, as if they were on a vision quest.  Women labored standing up and crouching over and laying down, in the arms of their husbands and laying in water, but their eyes looked far away, as if they were secretly conversing with some great spirit and they were pretending that they were still here, on this plane.  It was amazing. It was terrifying.  And then all the pushing, and the breathing, and of course there was a lot of talk about tearing of muscles and tissues in places that I just don't like to imagine tearing.  And then more pushing, and the little head appears, and the shoulders push through, and then pop!  out comes the baby like it was spring-loaded.  Pop goes the baby!  R. says she's getting more used to the idea of a C-section after all that. We also discussed the whole labor process and learned relaxation techniques and coping techniques and all that stuff, in case we actually do the traditional delivery.  But I gotta be honest:  neither way looks like a walk in the park.  I keep telling Mrs. Bluesky that I'll be there every step of the way, and every time I say it it sounds more and more feeble.  I'll be physically there, holding her hand, patting the sweat from her brow, but she'll be there.  We have less than three weeks left.  On May 6th, unless something's changed, we'll meet Oliver for the first time.  Now it's getting real. 7:20:50 AM    Speak up!  []

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