Welcome Leo

You may not remember one of the first posts on this blog almost three years ago (Adrian) on my experience being a "doula" for my friend Cecilia when she birthed her second son. This was an awe-inspiring, if short-lived experience (see original post).

Last night and today, I had the chance to do the doula-thing again, this time for my friend Erika. Cecilia asked me to write about it, but I'm not quite sure what to say yet...except that Erika did so amazingly well and gave birth exactly in the way that I have always picture for myself (except for the hospital part maybe), so she'll be a great role model if that ever happens. I'll also say that it's so nice to see when the birthing process works, by itself, with no messing around. Yeah, it's powerful, but not just in the way that it works in someone's body, but also in the way that the pieces fit together if people don't jumble them up and try to force them to connect somehow. But that's the philosophical I have to explore more along with some soul searching about some professional options...

So, for now, congrats to the new parents, especially Erika, who managed to push this 8-pounder out all at once after a picture-perfect labor. And Happy Birthday to Leo, the trooper who countered each contraction with an acceleration in his heart beat of steel!