elisabeth’s 1 October ( part 2

)
Mom was at zero cent meters dilated. zero. She screamed when Dr Xavier broke her water. Loud. But that was just the beginning.
From Zero to a hundred, and for 24 hours we travelled a hundred. Potissum drove. Mommy threw her wedding ring at me during the long dry night. ( I gave it back to her later, after your birth. )
The sun was just rising as you were coming. I saw it’s soft rays through the clear oval church like Wren glass as they wheeled you down the wide hospital corridor. The passage was long, marble and bathed in morning lights. A beginning.
October 2. And then we were in the delivery room. Elisabeth, you popped out fast. Mommy was crying and laughing; tears and smiles.
Today, at MSK, you work a short block from this, your birth. I was supposed to name our child if it was a girl ( we had a hard time with names: your mom is quite obstinate. She was naming the boy, but the birthing was so long and difficult, I gave her my naming ‘coupon’.
I never left her, except for brief bathroom minutes. I was quite aware and awake. Today, it seems a minute.
But here you are. We love you so, then, now and forever.
Mommy named you after her still borne sister, an absence filled. You are life itself.
Elisabeth is life.

Tags: a birth, Elisabeth, part 2