There I stood.
Despite the education received in the Personal Growth class from my Catholic High School;
Despite the admonishments from my father concerning becoming “whipped”;
Despite the late bloom I would realize when it came to experiences with the opposite sex;
There I stood.
One month removed from my twenty-first birthday;
Six months away from gaining a four-year college degree in three years;
Ten months after having moved in with my first college girlfriend;
There I stood.
After crying when she first told me;
After attending every doctor’s visit with her along the way;
After months of empathy breathing in weekly Lamaze classes;
There I stood.
Having just seen the X-rays of a fetus in the breech position;
Having just called the doctor to announce her water had broke;
Having just gotten lost on the way to the hospital;
There I stood.
In a hospital cap and gown;
In a maternity surgery room;
In a state of unencumbered fear and anticipation;
There I stood.
Ready or not …
There I stood.
.
.
.
And now, thirty-five years later, I still stand here in love with the daughter they gave me to hold back then, when I knew not … where I stood.
Categories:
lamaze, life,
Form: Free verse
Her belly is swollen with our future heir
when the bed sheets become all wet;
It’s off to the hospital to do the Lamaze
that for weeks we have practiced.
Excited fear is in the air
as I carefully help her into the car;
Seatbelt extensions are required
and I know just where they are.
Even at three o’clock in the morning
a maternity ward is wide awake;
Family members that I have called
arrive in the waiting room to wait.
The miracle of birth is a wonderful thing
when you are the spectator, expectant Dad;
The fact that I cannot feel the pain for her
makes me feel awfully bad.
I see the head begin to present
and my knees get wobbly and weak;
Before I faint in the busy room
I look for an empty chair to take a seat.
The piercing cries of our newborn child
produces renewed energy inside of me;
The exhausted smile on my wife’s face,
I am so happy to see.
We have a brand new girl, without a name -
we haven’t decided on one we both do like;
For as long as I live the rest of my life,
I’ll never forget this wonderful night.
Categories:
lamaze, life,
Form: Rhyme
The blizzard was at its peak;
Snow drifts all covered the street;
Our blazing fireplace provided the heat,
When my full term wife’s water decided to leak.
Our first baby’s time to arrive had come;
Outside visibility was close to none;
About birthing babies I had no clue;
We weren’t sure what we should do.
No one answered our 9-1-1 phone calls;
The Lamaze breathing we tried to recall,
As outside the snow continued to fall ;
This miraculous event was being no fun at all.
I pounded on my neighbor’s door,
Then we ran and got five neighbors more;
One had a snow mobile we drove down the street,
To the highway with hopes a plow driver we'd meet.
We waved down a city snow plow,
Who made it up our street some how;
In his cab my wife and I rode,
As I coached her how to pant and blow.
She was crowning as we finally arrived;
The doctors rushed her quickly inside;
I thanked the driver of that truck called Snow Wizard,
And that’s how my daughter acquired the name Blizzard.
Categories:
lamaze, lifesnow, snow,
Form: Rhyme
Heather, at the bookstore, told her this would be hard
The ladies in Lamaze, all delivered safely before her, said it was a snap
Sweat didn't even form on her face
Contractions fast, pushing hard and
Now she has her baby
Categories:
lamaze, life
Form: I do not know?
impromptu Lamaze
pants are what great pain puts you
through when in a pinch.
Categories:
lamaze, imagination, introspection, life,
Form: Senryu