A Loving Start

 

"How Much Longer?"

"How much longer?", "How many more contractions?", "When will my baby be in my arms?", 

"Am I almost done?", "Am I getting closer?", "What time is it?", "Oh really, how much longer?"

The unknown of WHEN is the concern in many home births. The heightened knowledge of time passing without the knowledge of how much longer is present constantly. It is surrounding and swirling and filling every nook and cranny of mind and space. 

The bigger picture is that we are taught to be efficient. We are taught to race to the finish. We are taught that if we can't accomplish things quickly, we have failed. But birthing like many things in our lives is not about speed. It is about allowing the moments to unfold, allowing the time to pass as we slowly approach the end that is a new beginning. The mind needs to surrender. The body needs to flow. Each cell of the body needs to embrace the pace. This slowness and surrender enables the flow into "labor land" where time is insignificant and no longer matters. 

When we share space with someone fully surrendering and embracing "labor land", our only job is to surrender our attachment to time restraints and allow the energy to flow.  As the energy of surrender increases, every nook and cranny of mind and space fills with patience and peace. The primal brain activates and allows the body to soften, open, and release. The attention to time washes away. The peace of being in "labor land" washes over. And the end becomes a new beginning as the first lusty cry fills the room.