Last night I watched the rerun of the sea­son finale of “Glee.” Yes, we are gleeks at my house and I missed the finale the first time around. One of the char­ac­ters gave birth in last night’s episode, to the music of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhap­sody.” I love that song but never before asso­ci­ated it with birth. Tonight I think I get it: the the­atri­cal­ity … the inten­sity … the soar­ing feel­ing … the sweet ending.

The other day I was talk­ing with a new mom. She was still on her high after giv­ing birth two days before. Her eyes sparkled as she described push­ing her baby into the world. She was proud — and rightly so. Her hus­band was in awe of what she had done and she was prac­ti­cally glow­ing. Her amaze­ment at her own strength reminded me of why I do what I do.

Birth is dra­matic. (more…)