I'm posting this today because I know we will be too busy celebrating all day tomorrow. Tomorrow marks the day that our dear Ane turns four. She entered this world on her due date. She entered this world without pain (at least on my part) and she came in hurry. All in all, I labored less than an hour and half, which is why she was born on the bathroom floor of our wee bungalow before our midwife arrived. Chris and I experienced one of the most profound moments of our relationship on that bathroom floor. After realizing that I did not have to go #2, I called to him that he needed to come catch the baby. Seated upon the throne I grabbed his waist while a wave of contractions took over my body. I could hear Chris breathing erratically. I briefly wondered if he was OK. Then I threw myself on all fours. Chris was behind me. Suddenly her head emerged with no conscious effort on my part. I asked Chris what he saw and he managed to semi sob, "She's. Looking. At. Me." We waited. I tried to push a little and it burned. I told Chris that I wasn't going to push. Our midwife, Nancy, and I had I talked about some of the forceful pushing I did during our son's birth. So we waited. Her head was born. Chris was watching her. It seemed like a long time and then my body pushed her into the world and into Chris' arms. I rolled over, lifting my leg over Chris, baby and umbilicus and said, "Where's my baby?"

Chris heard brakes and stumbled to the front porch where our midwife stood at the front gate. She reported that when she saw Chris with  enormous pupils, a soggy sock and smeared with blood, she wasn't sure what to think. Chris told her we were in the house and turned around and walked right back in the house; leaving Nancy at the gate with all of her bags and equipment. Nancy was able to locate Ane and I by my laughter. She found us on the bathroom floor, me sucking on my new offsprings nose. A few of my neighbors also peeked in the bathroom . Nancy helped me up and I walked me down our hallway to the bedroom where birthed the placenta and got in bed with Chris and our daughter. It was purely ecstatic! Chris and I were truly high for days afterward. I felt like a goddess.

Nancy bathed me in herbs. Her energy made the whole day feel like a sacred party. The sun was bright. It was a perfect spring day. She called our baby a stargazer because she came into the world looking up toward the heavens.

Children are truly magical beings.

Anwen's birth also falls on the same day (three years later) that I was diagnosed with stage lll colon cancer but that day's meaning was forever changed by our dear magical daughter.

Happy Birthday Sweet Pea.

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Also, because I'm a big advocate of women and our choice to give birth without a cascade of interventions check out The Business of Being Born. Remember, birth is an emergence, not an emergency.