For Max, on the two week anniversary of his birth
The pain you forget.
It’s the triumph and relief over pregnancy and labor
You remember.
The final two pushes:
His head and shoulders out and down.
The beauty of it,
The primal howling that brings
A son forth.
The son, my Sun.
This, this is my True North—
The room we were in,
The stillness of the early morning
The calm steady quiet of the hospital, as if knowing, waiting,
Everyone who showed up, nurses, midwives,
Midwives,
A doula
Birth partner;
The Canon that captured your first moments,
Alicia Keys and Under Pressure and
Everything, so surreal.
I’ll never forget how twelve hours passed
like twenty minutes
My mind distorting the time to prepare.
And the joy we felt as we heard your first cries.
Max you are real
Max you are real
We are doing this and it is happening
And thank you for choosing us
And thank you most high God
For this epic incomparable gift
In the form of this child, 7 lbs 15 ounces.
Life will never be the same again, my sweet,
And family has taken on new and renewed meaning.
Of this and much else I am right now certain.
Erika
