Infectious

Ah, how unfortunate to have something neat to share and not have the mental energy to word-paint.

Called to a birth this morning at 2:45. Hauled my (apparently expanding a bit) rear end out of bed and into Seattle, the usual routine. Laboring woman with a lot of vocal energy and negative thought patterning going on. Her mom (who was herself a mother to 12 - I think that's what they said - children) sleeping on a recliner in the corner. Her little sister arrived a while later, and that is who this post is more about. This young woman was amazing. It was her first exposure to labor and birth, and she'd had no special preparation for it really. It took her a bit to get a feel for how things were going (her sister, the laboring mom, kept her in line - she was the best kind of bossy laboring woman), but before long she was rolling along with it nicely and guiding her sister through the most wonderful guided imagery exercises. This was verbal coaching better than I had ever seen before. Just after the birth, I looked up and saw this *light* in her eyes, this realization that looked very much like "this is where it IS."

I wonder if I saw the conception of a new midwife. It was incredible to see someone light up like that. A little catching even; this sense that yes, this was extraordinary, this everyday birth we just attended. They all are.

I'm not sure if I'll ever know whether she'll take this spark and do something with it. I don't know her well enough to say anything more about it, really, than that I saw something special in her. If nothing else, it re-infected me today, tired and to-do-listed out. If nothing else, birth touched her and she touched me.