We took Bradley classes during my first pregnancy (highly recommend, they’re great) because regardless of whether or not your pregnancy is bliss or burden you are aware of something truly horrible: this baby is coming out. I imagine for most women there is an initial euphoria with which a deep and primal dread sidles up beside and waits. Through bump photos and Target registries and baby showers and baby kicks, mild terror makes herself quite comfortable. The basic idea behind Bradley is that labor is natural, pain is part of the process to be embraced, and you are capable. In other words, “It’s gonna hurt like hell, kid, you can…
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Northwest Woman's Bun in the Oven Overcooked
November 14, 2037 SPOKANE, WA – An unusual story out of the Inland Northwest has surfaced this week after a 50-year-old woman was discovered pregnant during a visit to urgent care for a sprained ankle. While her age makes the pregnancy peculiar, the truly remarkable part of her gestation is its length. The woman, Krysann Sedberry, has been expecting for the last 20 years. In 2017, Sedberry and her husband were excited to find that they would welcome their fourth child in November of that year. November came and went, however, and as each month followed, the couple questioned whether or not they were pregnant at all. “By Christmas, we…
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Prize Fighter
My hair was knotted, my abdomen still too weak to hold me upright, and I was bleeding as I stepped into the most comfortable and undignified part of the Postpartum Mother’s uniform – the adult diaper. He held out his hand to help me out of the bathtub with a gentle touch and I felt fragile. I felt like a brittling petal, my movements were careful and slow. I was studying the floor for places to put my feet when I heard him smile as he said, “You’re so beautiful.” I was wearing a diaper, y’all. I did the head-tilt, the scoff of incredulity, the “thanks, weirdo” smile, but he wouldn’t…
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When Midwife Means Missionary
Because every woman deserves to know how capable she is. That her creator has endowed her with the strength of lions and wind and oceans. That she has been chosen among humans to weave together Life in her womb and that the work it takes to separate herself from that life is heroic. Every woman. Here, there, everywhere. Every woman. Because fear has no place in the carved out space God intended for Life and someone needs to tell it to get out. Carrie, the woman who assisted in the births of my children, who has been a friend and mentor here in my early mothering is amazing in her…
