Category: Pregnancy & Childbirth

Only months after giving birth did I realize how much I could have benefited from a spiritual birth plan

What I didn’t expect was how much fun it would be. Each time I dipped, and came up to speak my words, I smiled and laughed.

Ritual helps us pay attention. From the joy of a recovery to the grief of a funeral, ritual helps us inhabit the breadth of human experience.

As I push the stroller along the bumpy paved path of the local park, I feel rare sunlight on my face after a long winter. The season seems to be hinting at changing, while the cold breeze reminds me it’s not spring just yet. I needed to go outside, to see the sun today. It was a gray and isolating winter, as I stayed home for many days with my beautiful new baby. He had been born premature in November, and the five weeks that he spent in the hospital were one of the darkest times of my life. Though my son’s health always progressed well throughout that period, we were in limbo.

The truth is that I didn’t lose control when I became a parent. I never had control. What I had was the illusion of control, the false conviction that my blessings were earned.

I notice how the increased light in my window is mirrored in my body, in my own “inner chambers,” and I feel great anticipation for this new phase of life.

The women who attended my blessing circle couldn’t believe the news when they heard it. I daresay everyone felt like they had a little bit to do with it—I certainly think they did.