Thankful for Summer

Summer allows me to be a truly active doula. I can take on a few births and not worry about overlapping schedules of nursing school coursework or the usual barrage of day job tasks. I can focus on what's important to me instead of relegating birth to my daydreams of happy, expectant couples as I tend to need to do in the middle of winter. I am thankful for the two births I have coming up and for the good-natured people I have the pleasure to work with.

Ironically, once Labor day arrives I will no longer be able to take on births at the same rate. Nursing school classes will take over and I will surely miss some incredible birth opportunities.

But, for now, I relish the time I have with these couples, their existing, growing and ever changing families and am just thankful in this moment.

Advice to a Pregnant Daughter-in-Law

by Charles Darling

Avoid sharp things like corners, scissor points,
words and blades and cheddar cheese. Eschew
whatever's heavy, fast, and cumbersome:

meteorites, rumbly truck and stinky bus,
hockey players, falling vaults, and buffalo.
Steer clear of headlines, bank advices,

legal language, papal bulls, and grocery ads.
Every morning, listen to baroque divertimenti,
romantic operas, Hildegarde von Bingen hymns.

Evenings, read some lines from Shakespeare's comedies;
do a page of algebra; study shapes of clouds
and alchemy; make fun of your husbands feet.

Practice listening like a doe at the edge
of the earth's deep woods, but learn to disregard
most everything you hear (especially your father

and father-in-law). Learn some Indian lullabies;
speak with magic stones beneath your tongue.
Finally, I wish, avoid all tears—except

that the world and time will have their way
and weep we must. Perhaps enough is said
of grief and happiness to realize

that any child of yours will live a lifetime
utterly beguiled (as my child is)
by your bright smile, your wild and Irish laugh. 

"Advice to a Pregnant Daughter-in-Law" by Charles Darling, from The Saints of Diminished Capacity. © Second Wind Press, 2005. Reprinted with permission. (buy now)