The tour guide

   Working in Labor and Delivery is not just a job for me, it is my ministry.  I liken myself to a tour guide.  I help women navigate through their journey from pregnancy to motherhood. I have traveled their road many times. I help them avoid pitfalls and guide them in making decisions which will give them their ultimate birth experience  I am well aware that my presence, my actions have an indelible imprint on their families' lives.  I will forever be part of their story.  It is a responsibility not lightly taken.
   Each woman brings her own set of needs.  I've done this for 31 years, so her physical needs are predictable, and met routinely.  But caring for the social and emotional needs that she brings with her and the drama with which she surrounds herself are the challenge.   Some women embrace their labor as a means to achieve the joy set before them, and emerge victorious.  Others are so captive in their drama, they suffer through their labor, and use it as evidence to reinforce their victim-ness.
   In my poetry writing days, I wrote these two poems. The first is about a teen mom, the second one is about a mother who gave back to me more than she had allowed me to give to her.
         

                   IN THE IN-BETWEEN

          The girl moans; this child, mother-to-be,

          Thrown from youthful dreams to woman’s reality. 

          The labor propels her, an unrelenting rhythm

          Claiming her end, demanding her beginning.  

          She’s alone in this in-between:

          Abandoned by his anger and deserted by his fear.      

           I hear her soul’s despair, her agony I hear.

          I come to ease her pain. I touch, I speak, I just stay near. 

                                                 Annemarieke, 8-12-02  

                 

                 GIFTS EXCHANGED

          Just another day, just another mother.

          “Don’ need nobody, done this 5 time befo.”

          I think “Fine, don’t need me, fine.”  

          Labor long, labor hard.

          So, I come, I stay, I touch, I give.

          Just another birth, just another baby. 

          The thank-you note,

          Crafted with gratitude, painstakingly illiterate,

          Is my treasured possession. 

                                               Annemarieke, 8-14-02