24 years ago……

I was nineteen hours into labor and four hours away from meeting my first child. A baby having babies. My son was born 2:10am four days after I turned seventeen. I had read all the books and studied up on pregnancy and birth but nothing had prepared me for this. Contractions started three minutes apart and stayed that way. It was 3 am when I woke in agony, then attempted to go back to sleep only to be woken again. It was 4 am when Andrew, my then partner, attempted to tell me I was in labor. An hour later I finally conceded that maybe he was right. Our midwife (one of the most amazing woman I have ever met) informed us that baby was head down but facing the wrong way and so it begun.

Twenty three hours later I looked and felt like a war victim but there he was. In my arms. My first true love.

Being a mother is one of the most amazing experiences, being a teenage mother is I guess a different amazing experience. In some ways I think it’s easier to have a child when you are young. I  had never worked and the last time I had a structured routine life was five years earlier. So bubs led and I followed. We ate together, slept together & played together regardless of what the time was. Contrary to my labor, motherhood was easy and the little crab and I thrived together.

On our first birthday I wrote this poem

The delicious sweet baby boy
The gurgling laugh for bright new toy
maternal instinct, unconditional love
a miraculous gift from above
the tender touch absolve new tears
rekindling confidence, rejecting fears
silken soft unblemished skin
perfect souls not yet in sin
the magic of those deep blue eyes
so young and clear yet so wise
1000 lessons in each new day
greater understandings in a greater way
the precious son and eager young mother
the wonders of nature the miracle of life
avoidance of danger, deliverance from strife
the tentative first steps come to soon
brought with the energy of cancer moon
talking then leaping and humming along
the lyrical words turn to meaningful song
she begins to dread that fateful day
as babyness is fading away
the invisible bond that holds them together
will remain for ever and ever

And now I have been a mother for twenty four years .

To Be Continued….