My Birthday
Yesterday was my birthday. We had a busy day, but not because of that, it was other stuff. However, when evening time came, we had a nice dinner with family and I guess you could say that was my birthday celebration. Isn’t that what birth is partly about anyway? Becoming a family.
I don’t really know a lot about my birth day. I’m not sure my mom remembers a whole lot more about it. It goes something like this I believe:
It was about chore time. (Really, the only time on a dairy farm that isn’t chore time is when the cows are sleeping). My mom had gone into labor, my dad took her to the hospital and my oldest sister who was almost 14 at the time finished up the milking. All my siblings knew what they had to do. That’s the way a farm family it. Everyone has a job to do, and they do it, like clock work.
I supposed they all headed off to school when their chores were done. Maybe Grandma came over (my grandparents lived next door) and helped with breakfast and saw everyone off, or maybe Dad was back home by then.
I was born at about 4:35 am, that much I know for sure, and being the practical farm family, I’m sure business as usual resumed, except that Mom and me had to stay in the hospital for a couple or few days. Mom was just as involved in the farm as everyone else, and hearty to boot because of it.
When we finally went home, all was well and happy, until about a month later.
Back to more recent times, I found out when I decided to have my first homebirth that my mom was considering have me at home. I’m not sure what made her (or both my folks) decide to go to the hospital. Perhaps if they read this post, I’ll find out.
My first Emergency Childbirth manual was actually given to her shortly before I was born, and she and my dad gave it to me before my first homebirth. I consider it my “lucky” one. It’s special to me, so when I lend one out, it’s my newer copy instead. (the link provided doesn’t have an image, perhaps because the cover colors vary and they may not all be from the same printing so they may be different)
I know that they both have had their worries about my laboring at home (because we live out in the middle of nowhere for one reason, the other being that there is nobody in this area licensed to attend childbirth at home) but the fact that they respect and support my wishes anyway means a lot to me. Of course, I do have my “back-up plan” which I’ve briefly discussed in a previous post. Don’t worry Mom and Dad, if I have to, I’ll go to the hospital, but remember my choices are limited (and unfortunately for women in our area who opt for hospital births, they are getting increasingly limited). I wish the birth options were growing, not decreasing. It seems all backwards to me. But, I guess that is for another post…
Sheilah
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