Do You Know Who I Am?

Two years ago at this time, I was freaking out because I found out that, despite my plans for natural childbirth, I was going to have a C-section the next day. I was in shock. I knew that first babies were often late, so I had mentally prepared myself to deliver in mid-June.

I called my family, I called my friends. I talked to my midwives. I went into work and cleaned out my desk. I packed my suitcase. I ate a nervous dinner. Then, I sat down in the glider rocker and read one last book to the baby in utero. I pulled Are You My Mother? off the shelf, a book I remembered fondly from my childhood.

I rested one hand on my belly and read. It was amazing to know that my baby's birthday was tomorrow. At the end of the book, tears sprang up in my eyes. The mother bird returns to the nest and says to her hatchling, "Do you know who I am?" The little bird lists all the things his mother is not and ends, "You are a bird and you are my mother." As I was reading that, I realized that the answer to "Do you know who I am?" was about to change forever.