can't wait to meet this little guy.

So, I am so excited to say that I am going to be an aunt to Ashton Reid Parker, who I am already convinced is the cutest thing I have ever seen. My sister Mary Beth is expecting her first baby at the end of January. She found out that he's a boy this week and sent me the ultrasound pictures. Unfortunately, the pdf is too big of a file and I can't post it here. The pictures are amazing. I was in awe of his legs and hands and beautiful tiny body. It's hard to believe there is a whole person living inside my amazing sister. I just think pregnancy is so miraculous.

I am lucky to have a friend, Alakecree, who is training to become a doula. Basically, that means she will be similar to a midwife, in that she helps women through pregnancy and birth. She provides non-medical emotional and physical support through the process. Alakecree's occasional e-mails and links to videos and articles, remind me how truly incredible our bodies are. It makes me sad that most of what we hear about is how scary and painful giving birth is. A while back Alakecree showed me this video of a woman singing during the early stages of labor:



Isn't that lovely? Here, birth in an opportunity for peace, for celebration, and for worship. Instead of thinking of it being painful or gross, this video helped open my eyes to how beautiful the process really is. How in birth we experience an act of creation, and the wonder of our own life giving abilities. I am so excited for my sister and all she is experiencing, and all that she will experience in the coming months. I know pregnancy isn't all peace and singing, but I can say thank goodness women don't have to be the Betty Drapers of the 1960s anymore. [For those of you who don't watch Madmen, in last week's episode the character Betty Draper went through a horrifying birth. She was forcibly restrained and screaming for her husband (who was happily drinking and smoking in the waiting room), then she was given an enema and Demerol and had frightening and bloody fever induced dreams. And finally, she woke up in a drugged haze with a baby in her arms to whom she had no recollection of actually giving birth to. I could have a whole rant about the way men have made women feel ashamed of their bodies through the medical establishment, but I'll save it for another blog.] Anyway, YAY! Birth doesn't have to be like that. It is a beautiful celebration of life giving us more life.

Don't worry, I don't have baby fever. I don't intend to have any of my own anytime soon. I'm just so excited that my sister is going to bring a little person into the world, and just amazed at the miracle of life --- it is truly miraculous. Also, it means I get to be an aunt and have a little cutie pie to spoil and love (and give back to his parents). Ashton, I can't wait to meet you and welcome you to the world.