Now the explanation...On Friday, my daughters and I were looking at a picture of my oldest holding her little sister on the day she was born. Somehow that picture inspired my 4-year-old to draw a picture of herself being born. (Hers is the top one.)
First she drew me and the midwife. Then she added her daddy later when I reminded her that he was there. I asked her about the face I was making, and she explained it was me making this sound (and then she proceeded to imitate it... cracks me up every time). :-) Strangely enough, she drew herself coming out breech (feet first). She wasn't breech, but she did come out "upside down" or "sunny side up" or "posterior," if you want to get technical. :-) I wish I could say she was wrong about my birthing posture, but she was right on--semi-reclined in a hospital bed. Is it just me, or does it look like my husband is frowning? Coincidentally, he was on the verge of passing out when she came out. The nurses had to escort him over to the couch and wrap him in a blanket right after the delivery. No cord-cutting for him that time!
My older daughter, seeing all the attention her younger sister was getting from her birth drawing, decided to draw her birthday as well. Hers is much more a testament to the sheer number of birth videos she has watched with me than what actually happened on the day I pushed her into the world. In her birth fantasy, I pushed her dark head of hair (see the dark spot between my legs?) out in a pool with a midwife attending nearby. In real life, I pushed her dark head of hair out semi-reclined in a hospital bed with a resident wiping my poop away with each push. I think I'll let her keep her fantasy... at least for now. ;-)
I can't help but feel triumphant that they both assumed, as a matter of course, that they were caught by midwives, and I gathered from our conversation that they also assumed they were born at home (like their baby brother). In their eyes, that's just the way it's supposed to be. Midwives, birthing pools, doulas, and the "birth song" are permanent fixtures in their reality. I hope they will seek out the care of expert midwives when it comes time for their babies to be born, but perhaps they won't. For now I'll just revel in the beauty and innocence of their 4-year-old and 6-year-old visions of birth.
5 comments:
How cool!
I have to say that it's almost eerie what my daughter has said about her birth. There was a window between age two and three where she said some jawdropping stuff.
it looks like the people have wings in both pictures.... spiritual experience for SURE
So cute! W talks about birth all the time. I think it really effected him to be at O's birth. He'll still recount it, complete with sounds! "Mama was in the water, like a big bathtub, and she was going ohhughhhh like that, and the O came out of her body!" In fact, last week, I had a panic attack and it really hurt. I was home alone with Wesley, and was trying to breath through the pain and moaning. We called my husband to help me and W calm down. I handed the phone to W, and I heard him say to his Dad, "I think Mom is going to have a baby!"
those brought tears to my eyes! how sweet are those!!
i've been catching up on your site lately and loving it all over again.
hi! here is a link to a martha stewart tutorial on how to make tissue paper pom poms. they are so adorable! and cheap :)
http://www.marthastewart.com/how-to/tissue-paper-pom-poms-how-to?backto=true
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