2011 - Talk Birth

glad to leave it behind and snuggle your new baby girl (I’m also very familiar with the companion fear of,
”but what if my PAL journey ends with another loss? I’m not holding my new baby yet...”)
For many mother blessings, I pick out a quote or a poem or a reading to give to the mother. Considering
how much writing I do in my life, it is kind of surprising to me that I usually choose to give women other
people’s words rather than creating something new for them (I do say original things aloud to them during
the gifting time, in which we each take turns kneeling before the mother and telling her what she means to
us). After some looking for perfect quotes, I knew that for this friend, I needed to write something to her
from my heart and not from someone else. So, on one of my womb labyrinth postcards, I wrote the following:
Nine months ago you entered into the long, challenging labyrinth of pregnancy after loss. You have walked
with courage, strength, and grace. You have been SO BRAVE. And now you prepare to take the final step
on the path—to greet the power and intensity of your birthing time. All of your love and hope and fear will
become concentrated on the task of opening your body to welcome your precious new daughter into your
arms and your life. She is coming. She is okay. And, sweet mama, so are you. This is a time of openness
and surrender–in body, mind, heart, and soul. May you give birth with confidence, strength, bravery, vulnerability,
and wild sweet joy and relief.
[1]
(c) Sincerely Yours Photography
One of the special things about blessingways is the sense of connection with other women. The ritual
space creates an opportunity to speak and share with each other with a depth that is often not reached
during day to day interactions (and definitely not usually at baby showers!). This winter, my friends and
I started having quarterly women’s retreats. One of my reasons for wanting to do so was to bring some
of that sense of celebration and power from our Mother Blessing ceremonies more fully into our lives and
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