Hello and good-bye

This week has been full of extremes. I learned last Saturday during the Day of Remembrance ceremony that a friend from support group lost her second baby, Josephine at 24 weeks. That same evening I also received a call from a Milwaukee area midwife with a patient at 40 weeks that had revealed in her last appointment she'd had a miscarriage before this pregnancy. This woman had not yet grieved the loss of her first baby and needed my support, either via phone or in person.
This brings us to today. Coffee with one of my dearest strong woman friends helped to muster my own strength to head to the funeral of sweet Josephine. She is beautiful and looks so much like her momma. Many of my Rainbow Sisters from group were there and it felt so good to know that this time we could be together. We cried, we shared, we loved. It was beauty and pain all in the same blink. On my way home to meet another amazing woman for a day of downtown shopping, I got an update phone call from birthing mommy. She was in active labor, doing well, and needed very little reassurance from me.
I had a blast shopping, chatting, and feeling the warmth of sunshine and friendship. I literally got home, sat down to eat and got a phone call from my birth client in chaos. She was so strong but not by "getting through" but rather by asking for help. I could tell by her the sound of her vocalizations that she was so close to her baby and yet so scared to succumb to the power of a birth. Within 15 minutes I was there at her shoulder, reminding her what an amazing woman she was. In another 12 minutes a loud, BIG, and gorgeous Hawke was born.