Beautiful Beginnings...

This is me with my baby brother... poor little guy was almost smothered with love! I was only just two at the time, but I still remember doting on him & nagging my Mum non-stop to have more babies (sorry Mum!). When she was pregnant with my little sister a few years later I remember watching her belly grow with fascination & excitement... I wanted one in my tummy too! When she disappeared for a few days and came back with a baby, I imagined that she had gone off to the most wonderful place where the most magical things happen! (MUCH better than Willy Wonka's Chocolate factory ;-) In my mind the whole process was the most normal, natural & exciting thing in the world.

So since I was a very young child my love & adoration of everything to do with babies, pregnancy, birth & motherhood has been a big part of me, and I'm sure it is no coincidence that I've had two wonderful birth experiences... in fact I have come to realise (through talking to many mothers about their birth experiences) that there really is a correlation between enthusiasm/confidence for birth & positive birth experiences; and fear/dread of birth & not-so-positive birth experiences.

By the way I should clarify that I think childbirth is always a positive experience in the sense that the arrival of each & every precious baby is something to be celebrated & thankful for... I actually refer to a 'positive birth experience' here as being one where the birthing Mum is respected & supported, where she is able to relax, tune into her body, let it do what it was so magnificently designed to do... and cherish the whole experience from beginning to end in a stress-free environment. I believe this is every woman's basic right... & I wish we didn't have to fight so hard for it!

Why "Cherish" ?

1. to hold or treat (something) as dear;
2. to care for tenderly; nurture

I have cherished my children from the moment that I knew of their existence, when they were only a tiny little cluster of cells.

I loved being pregnant... even the nausea made me excited, because it meant that my baby was making his/her presence known! (we were bonding from the very beginning), and it was also a sure sign that my body was doing its amazing job of creating, nurturing, protecting, and 'building' a little person- just as it was so magnificently designed to do. I felt privileged to own this experience, and I cherished every second of it.

After eagerly anticipating the birth of my babies, I cherished every moment of their arrival. I think this word is so appropriate here because it really helps to depict the calm, internal focus that I maintained during my labours, as I nurtured my babies through the birth process (which can't be the most comfortable journey for them either!). It was such an intuitive, sacred rite of passage for us both. When it was over I wished I could go back in time and do it all again... sounds crazy I know... but true! I'm sure my midwife didn't believe me when I told her that my post-birth tears (which she tried to convince me were the 'baby blues') were actually because I was sad it was all over! (compounded of course with tears of happiness as I enjoyed my much-anticipated first cuddle... such an emotional time!)

I now cherish the precious memories of my babies births... I think I have re-read the scripts in my mind about a thousand million times.

So I can't think of any other word that is more nurturing or loving, or has more depth of feeling than the word 'cherish'... our precious children deserve nothing less! :-)