I’m always reading, always have a novel to settle down with at the end of the day, though my current choice is a book I’ve read before. It is MIDWIVES, by Chris Bohjalian, this being my third read, a novel that transported Bohjaian to the must read lists, he continuing to give us wonderful works…The Double Bind, Water Witches, The Law of Similars and many more.
MIDWIVES appeared when I had gone back to school to become a labor and delivery RN. The title made me eager to read a book about pregnancy, childbirth, and the work of being a mid-wife. I was not disappointed.
The following selection describes a woman’s remembrance of quickening, the time when life, when movement is first felt in the womb.
And then suddenly, I felt a tiny flutter a bit below my belly button. A tadpole flicking its tail. …Instantly that image of the tadpole…changed to that of a newborn baby. I knew my baby looked nothing like a newborn, but that was what I pretended was fluttering inside me. …Oh my God, I was happy…And quickening really is the perfect word to describe it, because your heart races, and the pace of the pregnancy just takes off.
CAN WE STILL HAVE THOSE FEELINGS of LIFE, CREATIVITY?
Yes, we can. And it doesn’t matter whether we are male or female, what stage of life we are in, how we have lived and loved so far, or the choices we have made. Life still provides possibilities, and we need to be aware of them, open to reaching out, experiencing what surrounds us. We need to remember that LIFE is amazing, though it can change slowly or very quickly.
And what is A MOMENT? What are those FEELINGS?
Again Bohjalian writes beautifully from the point of view of Sibly Danforth, the Midwife:
I’v helped birth sons and daughters…My mothers have been painters and sculptors and photographers, and all sorts of people blessed with really amazing talents…I’ve been paid with quilts…paintings and carvings and stained glass. Our house is beautiful because of barter…
(Siby Danfoth, Midwife)
AND…YES WE CAN
Reading MIDWIVES for a second time is bringing me comfort. Because life is various. Life contains surprises and sorrows. It lifts us up, yet can come at us with such a quick slap, that we are reeling, trying to regain some balance. But living is always about love. From the moment of birth, each human needs another human to hold him or her, provide the warmth of a blanket, the softness of whispered words…Welcome, I love you, have dreamed of you and wow, now you are here.
MY BROTHER, BILL
When I was just a kid, my younger brother had a hard time going to bed by himself. Thus my mother had the two of us sleep in the same room so that Bill would always feel the comfort of another’s presence. I think of that today, my brother now aging, struggling with a devastating disease, and I unable to be right there, the presence that he once needed.
And though he is in California and I am in Chicago; and though he is fighting an illness and I am not… in some way I hope to always be near him. So I call out, and I write…
It’s okay Bill, I’m here for you. And when I was a child with a loving big brother, I could not have known the importance of praying, of asking for another brother, and then you arrived…and I will now and forever be so grateful. I will say welcome home, I love you, have dreamed of you, and in my heart you will always be with me. Yes, it’s like quickening, when you know within you that you are truly blessed. With love, Beth
