Some of you knew, and others of you maybe guessed, that I had come to visit Kate this month so that I’d be present for the birth of a grandchild. He has arrived, a little brother for Raj, and has expanded our family and our hearts. I have never been more blessed to share in this kind of history-making.
Back in the 70’s and 80’s when my friends and I were in our childbearing years, many of us decided that we wanted to give birth at home, where we could enjoy the miracle event in a warm and quiet environment surrounded by our dearest people. In hospitals in those days, various inappropriate medical protocols were routinely applied to women and newborns, as they still are in some “modernizing” places in the world.
Most of my likeminded peers found doctors and lay midwives to attend births; a few did it without any outside help. One doctor in our county attended my first child’s birth in a hospital, and three at home. Kate was my last baby, born at home with a certified nurse-midwife in attendance. We usually liked to have two or more other women at hand to help with household or birth-related tasks as well. Maybe to watch older children, bake a birth day cake, fetch things for the midwife or make up the bed with clean sheets afterward.
I was one of these friends who was happy to be called, often as a sort of lay doula whose only training had been on-the-job, and from my own experience. The cultural setting of a certain time and place gave me special opportunities, and Providence enabled me to take advantage of them.
These blessings have continued as my own daughters have asked me to be with them in the hospital when they give birth. I’m aware that not every grandmother gets this kind of invitation; so often we are the ones who take care of older children when a younger sibling is coming into the family. Even in cases where we might fit into the birth plan more directly, it doesn’t always work out. Joy asked both her mother and mother-in-law, and it was impossible for either of us, four times.
I am supremely grateful for these experiences. To accompany a woman on her birth journey, to wait together as women have done since the beginning of time, feels like a sacred trust. Waiting on God and waiting for the process to unfold, from the first signs of labor until the child is placed in her arms… it is such a privilege. And it never gets old, seeing a child emerge from the womb.
For a long time now, the births I have waited for and witnessed have all been in hospitals. These days most of them are peaceful and geared to the needs of the families more than to hospital efficiency, and sometimes I even have a rocking chair to rock in while we wait and pray, or chat quietly. Or sleep, as Kate and both of us fellow-waiters did for a while before this child decided to get on with it.
And when he did push out and take his first breath, the momentous moment passed without a nod at its passing. The next moment was full of jubilance and awe. We laughed, and wept. Everyone admired the little round head. Soon he was snuggled up to Kate, looking all around, and suckling. A human’s skin is never so soft as when he is fresh from the womb; then begins the lifelong drying-up process. But not to worry — there is plenty of softness at the totally out-of-this world level for a couple of months, and we are smooching him as though by our kisses we drink from the fountain of youth.
I’ve nicknamed the tiny guy “Amerigo,” or “Rigo” for short, for purposes of my blog, after the cartographer and explorer Amerigo Vespucci whose (latinized) name was given to the New World.
Welcome, little Rigo! God bless you as you begin your explorations!
Gladsome Lights 
How eloquent you are, Gretchen! A beautiful telling of a beautiful event. Welcome, little Rigo!
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I suppose you have such an uncanny ability to give blog names because you have been in the loop of naming so many and more! Love this blog and the pictures ♥ Because of lack of comment I assume Kate is well. Good Job Darling Woman! I love Rigo’s face communicating with his Dad.
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What a dear and blessed little baby he is! How wonderful that you were all together for his birth.
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Congratulations! What a Blessed Event & what a Beautiful Baby! Thanks be to God! I’m so happy for all of you!
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Aw…he is beautiful, and how wonderful that you could be a part. Congratulations to all of you. ❤
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I’ve been waiting for this gem of a post. I’m ministered to by your insight and reflections on one of the deepest and most powerful experiences of living in this world…birth. I love the nickname you chose for the newest member of the family and the pictures of Raj with his brother are so precious. So glad you can be there to be blessed and to bless that dear little family!
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What a delight to read your post. How happy I am for all concerned with this sweet little man’s birth. May God’s blessing be on him.
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Congratulations dear Gretchen and what a wonderful post!!!
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Oh what a darling!!! Many congratulations to you all! How lovely to be at this birth!
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Thank you, Gretchen, for that beautiful post! What a great beginning to a lovely day!! I’m so glad you were there for the birth—your daughters are so lucky!😘
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Oh, what a beautiful blessing! Congratulations to you all!
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Lovely, GJ! So happy for all of you, and especially that you could be there and enjoy all the love that a new baby brings with him. May he be blessed and be a blessing.
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That precious little face and then big brother counting Rigo’s little toes! What a wonderful relationship ahead for these two brothers. I’m so happy for all of you and I enjoyed your post about it so much, visited and read yesterday and had to come back today. I love it that many young mothers today are choosing home births. Since 2012 I’ve followed Parisienne Farmgirl and loved reading about her last children’s births at home. And just the other day I read one blog friend’s post about having been doula for her grandchildren, another one due soon. She is Christine from Vista Woman and it must be beautiful to see your grandchildren come into the world. My best to your new little grandson, Gretchen!
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What a high privilege and a renewed joy each time, GJ! Congratulations to you and your family on the birth of the newest wee member. Your account reminds me of reading Ina May Gaskin’s “Spiritual Midwifery” many years ago. You capture the holiness and utter practicality of what I remember reading there.
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So very lovely. We had a new granddaughter at the beginning of June and I’ve made two trips over the Strait to see her. Such softness and such a light bundle of love in my arms. You’ve expressed the same joy over this wonderfully sacred event. May Rigo grow in health and grace.
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Congratulations, Lorrie! I’m glad you get to see her that often – blessed gifts!
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This was an epic life chronicle, a mother’s birth story and her daughter’s birth story. Beautifully intertwined. And he is precious; I know you are pondering many things in your heart at the present.
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