Midwife by Marilyn Krysl Though I seem to wait I'm moving at the speed of light Though I seem to stand by? I'm running easily over the windswept grasslands to where the river divides the plains from the mountains Though I seem to stand by I'm gathering the sweet and the bitter herbs in shade and in sunlight I'm digging out the bones of the lost animals embedded in the lakes of tar Though I seem idle I'm releasing the father's fear into the wind, watching the wind disperse it Though I seem idle I'm sending the mother the energy of the waves of the deep and of the shallow waters Though I seem idle I'm traveling by night and by day over earth and over sea to meet the new being When I time the contractions I'm counting the sheaves of grain gathered in the mother's harvest When I measure the opening I'm calculating the number of followers in the mother's fields And when I touch the father's shoulder I'm? singing the many names of the ancestors who overcame fear When I seem to pause I send light to the father, to the mother, to the older sister When I seem to pause I send light to those who will wash and wrap the new being When I listen to the heartbeat of the new being coming I hear the tumbling of water down a great falls When I learn forward, hands cupped for the head I'm gathering together the rain and the desert heat And when at last I hold the head in my hands I've hoisted the sun to the pinnacle of the heavens When I hold the new being in my hands I've brought the mother, father, and child to the center of the eleven sacred circles And when I lay the new being on the mother's breast I'm sending the flocks of goats out to graze on the hillsides and in the valleys I'm letting the fish loose at the headwaters of the rivers I'm letting the birds go upward and out into the great migrations When I clamp the cord in two places I'm saying the child's two names, one from the mother, one from the father When I give the father the tool to cut the cord I'm binding three people together until the death of the last of the three When I take the print of the new being's foot I'm writing on the ancient tablet the word just uttered When I wait for the placenta I'm spreading bleached linen on all the mattresses of darkness And when it comes, when I examine the placenta I'm sorting the particles and waves in the spectrum of light And when my work is finished and I go from the place of birth I walk out across the fields of the planets into the spaces between the furthest stars THE IMAGES OF A MOTHER from THE COMPLEAT MOTHER MAGAZINE 4 YEAR OF AGE My Mommy can do anything! 8 YEARS OF AGE My Mom know a lot! A whole lot! 12 YEARS OF AGE My Mother doesn't really know quite everything. 14 YEARS OF AGE Naturally, Mother doesn't know that, either. 16 YEARS OF AGE Mother? She's hopelessly old-fashioned. 18 YEARS OF AGE That old woman? She's way out of date. 25 YEARS OF AGE Well, she might know a little bit about it. 35 YEARS OF AGE Before we decide, let's get Mom's opionion. 45 YEARS OF AGE Wonder what Mom would have thought about it? 65 YEARS OF AGE Wish I could talk it over with Mom. DID YOU KNOW......... Source Unknown If shop mannequins were real women: THEY'D BE TOO THIN TO MENSTRUATE. There are 3 billion women who don't look like super models and ONLY 8 WHO DO. Marilyn Monroe wore A SIZE 12. If Barbie were a real woman, she'd have to walk on all fours due to her proportions. The average American woman weighs 144 lbs.& wears between a size 12 and 14. One out of every 4 college aged women has an eating disorder The models in the magazines are airbrushed..... THEY'RE NOT PERFECT!!!!! A psychological study in 1995 found that 3 minutes spent looking at models in a fashion magazine caused 70% of women to feel depressed, guilty and shameful. Models who twenty years ago weighed 8% less than the average woman, today weigh 23 % less. PLEASE SEND THIS TO EVERY WOMAN YOU KNOW. THERE IS NO SENSE IN OUR GENERATION OF WOMEN AND FUTURE GENERATIONS OF WOMEN KILLING THEMSELVES TO LOOK THIN. WE'RE SIMPLY BEING LIED TO....LOVE YOURSELF FOR WHO YOU ARE, NOT WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE.... A TOUCH OF LOVE (source unknown) I gave this to my son upon his high school graduation and have shared it with many parents since..Enjoy... You were six months old and full of fun With a blink of my eye you were suddenly one There were so many things we were going to do But I turned my head and you turned two At two you were very dependent on me But independence took over when you turned three Your third birthday another year I tried to ignore But when I lit the candles there weren't three but four Four was the year you really strived Why look at you now your're already five Now you are ready for books and for rules This is the year that you go to school The big day came you were anxious to go We walked to the bus going oh so slow As you climbed aboard and waved goodbye I felt a lump in my throat and tears stung my eyes Time goes so fast it's hard to believe That just yesterday you were home here with me And tomorrow when the bus brings you home and you jump to the ground You'll be wearing your cap and graduation gown So I'm holding these moments as hard as I can Because the next time I look, I'll be seeing a man. P E R S P EC T I V E I used to end my Prepared Childbirth Classes with this poem. (Unknown Source) As the years go by, you forget the bad parts. Or at least you put them in perspective as unimportant. Before you know it, you're wishing you had a baby around again. But be careful not to wish you life away. First you wish you were pregnant. And then you wish you had a big belly to show off. But when the belly gets to be a burden, you wish for labor to come. And as soon as it comes, you wish it were over. You wish for the baby, and then you wish he was older. You wish your children toilet trained and off to school. You wish them grown up. And then you get what you wish, and your children are gone, and you've wished motherhood away. The time it takes to have a baby is so fleeting and so full of everthing, that maybe there isn't opportunity to savor it until it's over. And when it's over, you're left with you photographs and your memories and your regrets that you ddn't appreciate it all the more at the time. You forget how busy you were and how tired. You remember only how wonderful it was to be a mother, and is. So savor every morsel of motherhood as it comes along. Especially if, like most women today you're only having one, or two, or even three children. In the course of a lifefime, that not so many times to do something as precious as making a baby. It's important to make it count.