Written by Georg’ann Cattelona

photo by Joy Jones

Joy suggested that I write something for Labor Day– maybe something on birth, since you know, we in the birth world can’t hear the word “labor” without thinking of, you know, LABOR (and by the way, in the early days of being a doula I would tell people I did “labor support” and truly, people did assume I worked with labor unions!)

I have to say, it’s been a demanding week and my brain refused to settle on a profound or even particularly interesting topic. But I have been feeling creative….and those of you who are my Facebook friends, know that I am a poetry fan. So, what the heck, I thought? Why not try my hand at a little poetry writing in honor of Labor Day and all the women who have labored to give birth…

so, *ahem*, I humbly submit to you, dear blog readers, my poem, “I hear birthing women singing” (with apologies to Walt Whitman and even bigger apologies to our readers and clients who really are poets and writers.)

I Hear Birthing Women Singing

I hear birthing women singing, their varied birth songs they croon,
Those of the early laboring woman, celebrating the beginning of her journey,
The actively laboring woman as she finds her rhythm and her ritual,
The woman in transition to pushing as her throaty moans rise to the surface, opening her voice into a channel for a new life,
The birthing woman who yodels and yells, who warbles and trembles, the ecstatic, the painful – rise across the globe into a chorus of life.
No less the one who whispers, the one who sinks into whatever relief she can find
No less the one who weeps as she struggles, the one who travels this journey in silence.
Each woman finds her song.
Each woman sings what is her experience and hers alone.
Can we do less than listen?
Can we do less than honor?
We stand humbled before your voices, mothers.
We welcome your song.

And just for fun, I included three allusions to birth videos that we birth-y people know well…and if you have taken our childbirth classes, you may recognize as well.  let me know if you figure them out!

Happy Labor Day, everyone!