Motherhood

Her water broke at 11 p.m. The blood rushed from her head and her hands started to tingle. This was it!

She thought to herself, “Wait! I’m not ready!” She ran into the other room and woke up her mother. She told her that her water broke and it was time. She ran back into her room and sat on the bed, breathing quickly, trying to process what was happening.

She could feel the panic rising up inside her. Her mother walked in the door and said “Are you ready?"...not realizing the state her daughter was in. She realized something was not right and saw the look on her daughter's face, "What's going on?,” she asked. “I’m not ready!” her daughter replied. “This is happening too fast. I’m going to have an anxiety attack.”

Her mother looked at her. She saw her daughter, terrified, not able to move forward, and she recognized this in herself. “You have to get up, you have to get moving. This is the beginning so you’d better put that anxiety in check because we have to get to the hospital!” This was how her mother was since she could remember – it was always about pulling yourself up and pushing forward, no forgiveness, no gentle start – just MOVE! It was exactly what she needed so she grabbed her bag for the hospital, mustered up all the courage she had, and told her mother, “I’m ready! Let’s do this!” They were in this together.

Her mother was her birth coach and this was finally happening (after many trips to the hospital of false labor). The showed up at labor and delivery triage and she had finally calmed down. They confirmed that her water broke and admitted her…little did they know what was to come. There was no indication that anything would go wrong. He was head down, she had a great pregnancy, she was not at risk…but there was more to be revealed. There always is…

#truestory #storytelling #everywoman #everywomanhasastory #motherhood