I just attended a beautiful birth

Gd really gives you what you need when you need it, you know?
I was having a very difficult day. Couldn't get out of bed, slept the morning away (I hate that), felt tired all day, and had a very difficult/intense meeting with my therapist. All-n-all, I was holding on to the edge in order not to fall into the dark hole.

Then, knowing that the woman I had committed to assist with her homebirth was on the way to good, strong labor some time this evening, I got into bed early. I thought she'd wake me at 2 or 3 am, in my estimation of how things were going. But, as I changed into softy clothes an slipped into bed at 8:30pm, she called... in strong labor. So, off I went.

I got to her home, and she was in the shower, begging me to help her. So, I got in there with her! And there we stayed until Hilary, my friend and midwife collegue arrived. From that point on, the baby was out in 20 minutes. No pushing, the woman merely breathed him out.

(this here is an orange demonstrating what it looks like when the baby's head is emerging. :-)

Hilary & I stayed for three hours or so afterward. Cleaning up, getting food for the adults, basking in the afterglow of this beautiful, powerful single mom. It was her second birth. We left her finally, when the room was quiet, and the mother was blissfully tandem nursing her two-year old toddler on one side, and her infant on the other. Nuts, but amazing, right?

It is now 4am, and I am on a birth high, adreneline keeping me from decompressing. I took the sleeping pill, plus another half. It'll work soon. I'm wiped out and *very* sore, from being a solid anchor for this swaying woman's labor. I was behind her the whole time, my thighs supporting her. Ya do what ya have to do in births. I think it's good I am not doing this in a regular way these days. My left thigh can't take the positions.

But when it's good, exactly when my oxytocin is melding with hers, I don't have much pain. It is pure power and beauty.