A Night Filled with Promise

Tonight is filled with breathless wonder.

We are settled in for the duration at the Women's Center, 

awaiting the monumental moment when a new child enters our world.

We have heard the cries of other babes newly arrived,

but the one we anticipate has yet to come.

Kathleen had a goal (she ALWAYS has a goal)

of knitting a tiny pixie cap for this wee lad before he was born.

She finished the stitches last night, but still needed the pom pom.

Here she is, making that final little thing.

It's done now, on the hat and we are ready!

Ready, I tell you.

The greatest efforts are still to come but this dear mother

is full of strength and hope and energy to meet the task at hand.

And I...my thoughts are jumping around as quickly as the

heartbeats of this tiny person heard echoing on the monitor,

a muffled drum beat in the otherwise hushed room.

I am mother... grandmother...

 My anxieties and expectations are those shared with women 

for thousands of years.

A mother's heart beats to the same rhythms no matter the 

continent or generation we inhabit.

Down through the ages, the birth event in caves or tents or hospitals--

the setting changes but the emotions stay the same. 

So do the ministrations of women to women:

as I soothe with lotion or comfort with soft words,

I recognize that I am repeating the tasks from long ago. Innate skills I was born knowing.

And how astonishing that I should even be present for this!

That God, in His mercy, allowed me the gift of this time,
 this moment.

Though living in Texas, I have spent months here,

weeks building up to this occasion.

And tonight I am an active participant in the miracle--

the bringing forth of new life, with all its potential.

We guess his looks, his weight, his personality.

We wonder together, these young parents and I.

We laugh and later we will weep.
Tears of joy and exhaustion.

This night is dark and long.

The morning will bring changes to this family.

Changes in the shape of a tiny man child.

Oh baby, our hearts and arms yearn for you.

Please don't tarry too long.