I have only been alive for thirty-eight years. My wife, a few less. But in our short lives few things can compare to the endurance, the sheer physical trial, and the elation of a natural childbirth.
Felicity and I discovered she was pregnant almost immediately upon our return from Spain. It seems we conceived under the shadow of the Alhambra. The fecundity of the region spilled over into our lives in more ways than one.
When we arrived back in the States, we landed in Raleigh-Durham to visit with my parents, Stephen & Carol. While strolling in Chapel Hill we both happened to notice, across the street, the signboard of a local shop; Tallulah's. We both did double-takes. Then turning to each other, uttering the same words almost simultaneously, we said that was a fantastic name for a child, should we ever have a baby girl. We did not know then that we were to have a baby girl in December.
Fast forward: birthing classes with the renown doula, Penny Simkin (www.pennysimkin.com)
A woman with decades of natural and assisted birthing experience, having attended hundreds of births, now aids women and their partners in understanding the complexities of this miraculous process. Felicity and I took her class, were more than favorably impressed, and walked away with a wealth of knowledge. Had we not taken that eight week course, I would have been lost in the murky depths of my wife's incredible labor.
We opted to hire a doula, one Anna Rourke (www.breathwise.com) to assist us both in our decision to bring our daughter to term naturally. And again, what a difference that made.
Felice's labor was quick, by any standards. She went into labor at four pm on the Winter Solstice. Just one day past our due date. Though we had been hoping labor might arrive on this auspicious date, we had no idea what nature had in store. Her labor started quickly, with intense contractions lasting almost two minutes at times, only a minute or two apart. Normally a woman's labor progresses evenly, allowing for a bit of momentum to be gathered and the woman to acclimatize . But hers fell like the heavy snowfall that had turned Seattle into a thickly blanketed frozen tableau.
Knowing the forecast called for almost eight inches of snow, we made sure friends with adequate transportation were standing by. Thank god for Gary and Heather, and their 4x4. By five pm, we were at the birthing center triage who informed us Felicity's cervix had dilated to 9.5cm. One begins to push at 10.
Thus began what I can only describe as the most heroic ballet of pain and collaboration I have ever witnessed. Anna met us at the hospital and guided Felice through a two hour progression, masterfully anticipating contractions, fear, anxiety, and pain. By seven o five, our daughter Tallulah Cadence McDevitt had arrived.
No crying, no frantic search, or panic. Lula was placed on her mother's breast, took her new lung's first breaths, and opened her steel blue eyes to her parent's gaze. Simply magical how the new child knows more about what to do and where to go than we, limpid, afraid adults do after so much experience.
I looked into the eyes of my daughter though glazes of tears, my wife's body involuntarily shaking with surges of adrenaline, and fell deeply in love. No other cloudy emotions to wonder about, or concerns to muddy our presence. Just pure awakeness. Pure being and there-ness. I have no other words to describe it.
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