Beatty Third Birth Awards Banquet


Anne Lamott said that after she gave birth she wanted to throw an awards banquet for her body. When I mentioned this to my brother Mike he said that he got images of spaghetti to feed the masses and St. Gregory's social hall. What I think of is the Nanao Sakkaki poem where he looks in the mirror and looks at his aged self with a lot of gentle forgiveness and humor. Besides the obvious parts, the MVP might go to my nose and lungs. I know that sounds strange but before Clara Margot's birth, I did not know how to breathe with my nose. From yoga, I learned how to breathe deeply like that for the whole hour. I feel like it was one of my most efficient strategies. Also, my hips win a nod for responding to Geoff Beatty's counter-pressure. After Benici's birth, I said that my body and I were friends again. After Clara Margot's I feel like we are Swift Boat buddies. I feel like I could go a marathon with her. My midwife told me just after she said I was 10cm dilated to just listen to my body. When I did, my bod did not let me down. She was assuring and determined like Maverick in Top Gun, "Stay on my wing. I'll take you all the way in."
There are countless other props and shout outs: to the Queen Lane Reservoir for a two hour stream of hot water, to Alice Maunz for pinch hitting as a dutiful doula and all-around Mary Poppins to my sons, to Meeshee Sanchez for holding my head for the third time and NOT laughing at me even once in labor, to Adri Legaspi for calling it the "most amazing but grossest thing I've ever seen," to Valley Birthplace midwives, Barbara and Lauren who had complete confidence in the nature and design of childbirth. Also Juan Sanchez for being on the scene, for oj for all and Clara's first bouquet of flowers. To my parents for arriving when they did and for staying on to parent us after the birth. To Manny and Benici, my spitfires, bouys to this ship. Of course, the most robust thanks to Geoffrey Beatty who threaded a garden hose through our upstairs windows, who held me up for two hours with the shower spraying him in the face while calmly and rationally calling our midwives 5 times in 45 minutes. For making this life with me, leading us all through adventures with unbelievable kindness and brilliance. For giving our third birth everything he had and for giving me the daughter I have always wanted.