Pranas’ Birth

On a bright day of April we walked to the river with my love to have a bonfire and show the sun to the belly. We boiled tea from raspberry leaves and nettles collected onshore and lunch on fire. We drank the springtime. After spending the day in the forest, we welcomed guests in the evening, ate dinner and chatted until the dark. That morning bowls shattered, in the evening a glass cracked into pieces by itself. My mom used to say that shatters bring happiness – will tonight bring the birth of our little baby? After the guests left, I decided to wash the dishes, so that in the morning we would greet the day in a clean home. I went to sleep with lots of energy in my body. I had felt my sweet womb practice for several days, especially nights. Even every few minutes, rhythmically, but I knew that they weren’t the waves of birth yet.

The little wavelet that woke me up that night was different… I get up and see red moon, I even gasp from how bright it is and tell my love to take a look at this beauty. Soon after the first wavelet rolls another one, and another one again, stronger every time. After a couple of hours I start feeling that I can’t lie in bed anymore; when the wavelets come, I want to run around and sway. Start the fire – I say – the baby is coming. Now the love also gets up, kindles the warmth of our home, stirs up some fruit salad. I adorn myself with the birth dress. I eat in between the waves. I try to count how often do the waves come and how long do they last, but it seems to be unnecessary. I submerge into the bathtub. Hot water helps to dive deeper into myself, breath the waves out with no sound. It’s getting stronger and stronger. Around seven or eight in the morning I call the sister so that she would come to support me and sway together. During the two minute break between waves, I only manage to tell her what’s happening; I don’t hear her answer, but I know that she’s coming. Everything starts looking like a dream, it becomes so strong, probably stronger than I had expected. I remind myself every time that the waves roll away, and I keep getting a minute of rest between waves. My love, turned into living adaptive weight support, is rolling under me, handling my nips and maybe even biting. Being next to me the whole time, in some magical way, he manages to even prepare lunch. We’ll eat it when the baby will be born already.

That’s how I roll until the end, with two sources of light – my love and my sister – caressing me and breathing together. There comes a moment, when I don’t know where to put myself anymore. And that’s not needed. I only need to surrender to the process, listen to the baby. I emit sounds that I’ve never heard before. I remind myself that the meeting is around the corner. I feel the head trying to come out. For a few waves, it surfaces and then goes back in again. For a couple of waves it really burns, but I’m breathing… And I push only then, when I really can’t not push, because the body is doing everything herself. There, the head is out! I see black little hair somewhere. I think that I will get a little break but suddenly the little body slips out as well. Just like in my dreams – in a fraction of a second. It took us ten hours. Suddenly the time stands still and complete calm fills the room. . . I know that my love has already caught our little child, and with no rush, after deep inhale, I set my eyes on the little perfect boy. With amazement I observe for another moment. I gently take my little son and snuggle Him on my chest.

The four of us – sister, love, the little one and I – are bathing in bliss. Placenta is not rushing to birth, but I’m not bleeding, I feel great, so we’re not pushing her anywhere. After three hours go by, we cut the cord, become two from one, and with one gentle push I let go of ready placenta, decorated with a perfect tree of life. After cuddling me, the sister leaves our little family of three to enjoy love together.

That day before little Prana was born, the outside was full of buds, everything was unfolding, just about to bloom. When I looked through the window the day after birth, I saw flowered cherry trees, fully open tree leaves, many shades of forest green. The little Prana was born with nature. He flowed to us with the life force and brought a new way of breathing. The peace starts with birth.