Daily Excerpt: Lessons of Labor (Aziz): Competence and Ease
Excerpt from Lessons of Labor: One Woman's Self-Discovery through Birth (Aziz) - COMPETENCE AND EASE I started mentally repeating a request to my unborn daughter: “Just hold on until the midwife gets here, and then you can come right out.” The pain of pushing, that now familiar ring of fire, barely registered in my brain. I was only focused on holding my baby in until professional help arrived. I didn’t fight or try to control the pushing, but I didn’t help it along. I just took shallow, panting breaths, let my body do its work, and asked my baby to come slowly. Just a few minutes later, at 11:30 p.m., my midwife walked in the open door. She came straight over to me, crouched down, and caught my baby as she slipped easily out of my body. Committing to the moment, I can discover competence and ease. Do you know the feeling of being in the zone, when everything seems to fall into place with little or no effort? The freedom of living life ...