By Ryan Hyatt
I am in hell.
Women’s screams ring through the maternity ward.
After thirty-six hours of labor, the doctors decide to cut.
They huddle around your anaesthetized mom, tie her stomach, and point to what we’ve won.
Under the glow of heat lamps, a pinkish doll.
Your blue eyes burn me, and your wail, light and comical, starts a lifetime of inside jokes.
As you clasp my pinky, I’m overwhelmed.
It’s like standing in a field of lilacs.
“Is that perfume?”
“No,” the nurse says, taking a whiff. “That’s how they smell when they’re born. One-hundred percent natural.”
I am in heaven.
It’s all perspective. Great story.
You’ve captured how parents feel during childbirth very accurately. Good stuff.
Made me mile
Takes you right back to that moment in time…
Perfectly formed and lovely.
What a great read! So vivid! I love this!!
Beautifully said. You described the experience perfectly. I felt I was there. Loved it.
I’m glad it wasn’t longer because it was getting harder and harder to read with all the tears welling up in my eyes. So so nice to get a father’s perspective spelled out poetically with a few facts I didn’t know before.
Thank you for reading and commenting. I’m glad you enjoyed the story, and I appreciate your insights. My daughter’s birth was one of the most vivid experiences in my life — and her smell — pungent and amazing, lasted for months. Sometimes I take a whiff of her when she’s passing, and you know what? She still smells so fresh, but I can’t tell if it’s her, or her shampoo. Oh, well, she’ll always be my greatest joy.
Delightful ?
Beautiful birth of prose.