so it came as a bit of a surprise when my sweet friend asked me to be on her birthing team (as a shortstop). she's pregnant with her second child and will have her husband and a dhoula in the room with her, and she's asked for me and another friend as well.
when she asked me i was completely honored and elated and bragged to a few friends...and then read the 'birth in a nutshell' chapter in a book she lent me.
ummm, that shit sounds crazy.
i don't know why it shocked me so much considering i've thought of being a midwife or dhoula before. but, it fell in the same category as being a bush pilot in east africa, or a school marm in a one room schoolhouse (oh, wait).
but i said yes and i'm going to do it with ghusto.
she said she asked me because she and her husband see me as both calming and funny, which i take as the highest compliment. but, in all honesty, me and my antics get pretty annoying pretty fast when birth is on the line.
no worries. we came up with a safety word. if anyone in the room says it, i am to quietly take my leave.
the word, you ask?
zucchini plant.
