This is something that I posted to Facebook for a 9 day period while I enjoyed this bouquet and thought about how birthing women bloom when the time is right. I promised a long time ago to make the photos into a blog post, so here it is. Gloria
A bouquet of tightly closed lilies was purchased in the morning. The birth attendant left them alone for the day. No checks, no blood pressures, no heart tones were taken. One over-achiever dilated to fully with no coaching or support. A few of the others are dilated a fingertip (failure to progress after 12 hours), some are “unfavorable” and may never dilate. They certainly aren’t following the normal curve. We’ll wring our hands and wait to see how things look in the morning. 🙂
First day, one fully dilated
DAY 2 Two more have gone into the blooming process and have now dilated to 5 cms. Some signs of early ripening and an improved Bishop’s score for some of the others.
Day 2, slight progress
DAY 3 Stragglers and over achievers, all hanging out together.
Each in her own time
DAY 4 I noticed on this day that the water level in the vase had gone down. . these flowers know how to self-hydrate
Day 4 of the blooming process
DAY 5 There are 5 closed buds amongst all the exuberant fully opened flowers. They stand straight and unconcerned, knowing the Universe will open them when the time is right.
There are 5 closed buds
DAY 6
Only two remain undilated. The other ones that were closed yesterday are 5 cms, 3 cms, and fully dilated.
Only two remain undilated.
DAY 7 Another one opened overnight, only one left to dilate. The very first one that opened immediately on Day 1 is at the bottom of the bouquet and she’s looking a bit depressed now.
It was all I could do to hold myself back from interfering. . . I wanted to trim the stems, add clear cold water, fluff them up, trim off the stamens. Every time I went to do it, I could hear the women on Facebook, who were following the daily progress reports, shouting “Hands off!”
DAY 8 One lily remains closed but there is an almost imperceptible change going on if you compare to yesterday’s photo.
One lily remains closed
DAY 9 WooHoooo! The very last one is dilated to 7 cms! Can you see the last one at the very top of the bouquet?
They’ve all dilated!
Yes, they had an unassisted birth . . .even though they were cut off from their roots and photographed with a flash camera every day. . . . despite that, they dilated without fuss, muss or shenanigans.
I love the analogy Glo, and how they are likened to the blossoming process. So true and perfect in their, so called, imperfect time lines. When asked why I was comfortable waiting with ruptured membranes, “I’ve never met a women that wanted to stay pregnant for longer.” the OB said. I replied, “because I surely won’t be the first person that has stayed pregnant forever.”
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Love this analogy, only wish more care providers saw labor as a beautiful process best left alone.
Each in her own time.