When pregnant women go past their “due date”, they are often greeted with questions about when the baby will come. They may be on alert for signs of labor all the time, feel frustrated or angry, weepy or scared. They may feel like a watched pot or a beached whale. That pregnancy will last forever. They eat pineapple, eggplant parm, spicy food, have sex (whether they want to or not), take endless walks, drink teas and tinctures, start wondering if an induction is such a bad thing.
In reality those last days are precious. It is when a woman ripens, becomes ready, begins mothering herself as she will mother her newborn. Her breasts fill with milk, her hips spread, her joints loosen. Thoughts wander and emotions run wild. A woman opens, slowly, for birth and for motherhood. So treat those days as something sacred- don’t rush it. Let yourself open to the intensity of waiting, so you are prepared for the intensity of the moment when it comes. Waiting is hard, but it has many lessons to teach us- about babies, motherhood, and life.
“What we don’t have is reverence or relevance—or even a working understanding of the vulnerability and openness a woman experiences at this time. Our language and culture fails us. This surely explains why many women find this time so complicated and tricky. But whether we recognize it or not, these last days of pregnancy are a distinct biologic and psychological event, essential to the birth of a mother.”
Check out this article about the last days of pregnancy.
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