A day filled with taking care of business at all levels (taking care of the needs of those you serve; nourishing your own ever unfolding journey with wellness; tending to the plot of earth you currently share with mama earth; connections with beloveds). After such a rich day you peal off the layers of attire and sink your bones into bed and nuzzle in. A minute later you receive a call and learn you are invited to a birth-day celebration.
There is something so very special when you are a companion to an experienced family who are choosing to welcome this baby at home for the first time. Traversing the dusk lite roads, you imagine all the preparations and anticipation that are unfolding in the home you will soon arrive. The dusk transitions to night and the familiar winding roads guide you on a path you know by cellular memory.
Partners greet you and help you carry in gear, lights are dimmed and the air is pungent with earthy, familiar smells and sounds. You sit and hold space, while sinking into the perfect rhythm this duo are finding together. Others supporters arrive and soon you here an announcement that the baby is coming. Always trust that announcement from the one who knows. Tall and sturdy like a tree, this person held roots into the ground as they breath there baby to us all, we see a bit more of this soul with each slow and intentional breath. Then in a moment partners arms are fill with this lush and dewy baby and in the next moment guides baby to another set of arms aching to be filled. The rest of the hours, present in the home and the drive back, are filled with re-witnessing these moments of grace.
Our sweet circle of support huddle and ‘air-embrace” as we drive into the night saying it may be a few hours or a week before we reunite.
Arriving home I repeat the ritual of removing the layers and laying the bones down. Thirty second later, the familiar jingle of the phone has me upright and full of energy as I answer the phone in those middle of the night hours. Another growing family, also new to the experience of home birth, invites us to there birth-day celebration. I hold in a secret tummy laugh and let them know we will be on our way in a few minutes. I don’t know if others in our support circle were surprised or not when I called, each close to home also.
In the deep of the night , guided by the beautiful starts, we drive into an even more familiar road; the road I began traveling, from my very first day as a new learner to these mystery’s of midwifery service, decades ago.
We find the laboring family following their own well-know path to welcoming their baby’s’. Carefully resting the hard working body between each surge. Others might have concluded we arrived to soon and should leave. This person knew her well travelled path. Privacy and trust in their process were what shown its self to be needed. We held space in the next room and witnessed with sky’s transition to dawn; both dusk and dawn, such a gift. This baby began to emerge slowly and in the process asked for a few shifts in position from its mama to open the pelvis bowl with tiny shifts in its full capacity. We witnessed the love of a parent, move beyond what they felt they had capacity for in that moment, to accommodate what was needed for there baby. Then their arms too were filled with the sweetest reward.
Each family reflects on the newness of there experiences (new familiar/comforting surroundings; new positions; new ways to trust there process and babies).
Inspiration and sacred expansion held me awake as we wondered home. I invite my mind to wonder into continued wakefulness with random thoughts. I realized we welcomed buckets of joy, in the last few hours.
Gratitude for these families, to all the ancients who have gone before and passed forward the lineage in this sacred work; to the beautiful souls who answer the phone in the middle of the night and say “yes, I will come”; to the families who graciously shift there visit day so the circle of support can rest and restore and to our community for their trust and support.