Golden Hour

The beautiful sigh of relief as a mother holds her newborn baby. The pure joy in her eyes as she stares at the life that was just inside her. There is no vigorous rubbing, no bath, no eye ointment, just mother and baby being held together in the space that immediately follows birth.

So much about birth has been taken. We have removed women from their bodies and told them they don’t know what’s best. We have disconnected the pregnancy from the birth. We have told her that her body doesn’t know how to keep her baby safe.

But not this. This moment of new life, of mother seeing her precious baby for the first time, we will fight to keep.

We need to be intentional to sit and pause in birth, but especially in this moment.

There are so many things we could do right after birth, but all we need to do is be. We need to protect this sacred moment by choosing to just be. We get the beautiful opportunity to sit with women as they bask in the thick air of new life.

This 30 minutes to an hour after birth is sometimes called the golden hour. I can understand the name, as the air is heavy and thick, almost as if it is laced with gold. The sight of new life takes your breath away with just how raw it all is.

I have gotten to witness a handful of births and at every single one the sensation of tears threatens to overcome my eyes. My heart swells with gratitude for this amazing gift of life we as humans have been given. There is a new soul that has just entered the world and I got the privilege to witness it.

What a beautiful gift to get to sit at the feet of birth. What a beautiful gift is each and every soul on this planet. Our lives in this world are so short but we have been given so much to experience.

Birth is an excellent teacher. You can rush it, try to control it and attempt to shove it into a nice and neat box; but it rarely complies without a fight. It is only when we sit, pause and surrender to birth, that we get to see the absolute magnificent beauty that is so entwined in the whole process. The beauty is so raw and thick that it even seems to invade the air.