I was sewing yesterday afternoon when the labor bracelet my friends made me flew off my wrist. It just snapped and beads pinged and bounced and rolled all over my studio.
Several hours later, I went to bed and then decided to go back to Andy to lay spoons on the couch and I said, when do you think this baby is coming? and he said, a week and, a few minutes later, I said, my water just broke.
We laughed and scurried about our home. Andy moved furniture and inflated the birth tub. I gathered candles and checked on Margot every ten minutes. I swept her hair from her eyes and kissed her cheeks. Her last night as My Only Child. I cried….feeling excited and afraid.
And now, with a dusting of this morning’s snow out there in the black black night, my household sleeps and I drink tea, breathing easy through these first dull contractions. Soon. Soon the abstract movement in my swollen belly will become the fourth person in my family. Soon I will push a human out of my body. Soon I will meet my daughter.
