My sister, Alexia, helped me to birth a baby tonight. Fancy her a new age midwife. As I recall our lengthy, beautiful conversation today, I am reminded of how necessary it was for me to have someone in the birthing room with me when I had my children. Giving birth can be such an intense, emotional, painful, traumatic experience. You need to have someone there, when during a brief moment of delirium, you feel like kicking the shit out of your doctor when a contraction hits. You need to have someone that understands the pain that you're going through and coax you through it. When I had my son at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C., my friend Corey was with me. I had a really hard time delivering Brandon. He was so big (9 lbs., 3 oz), and he kept backing up into my chest. I got to about six centimeters dilated and he just refused to budge. I had to have an emergency C-Section. Corey kept me sane throughout the whole process. I was in so much pain, I couldn't speak. I couldn't get comfortable. I was throwing up. Thank God for anesthesia. Who invented it? Where does he or she live because I have an overdue thank you card that I need to send to them. Such good dope. I mean GOOOOOODDDDD Dope. I can truly understand why people escape with drugs. Cause I was so grateful for that pain to go away. They pulled Brandon out and I didn't hear him cry. Even though I was doped up and high as hell, I did not hear my baby cry. I must have said something out loud and I remember I started to cry. I remember Corey whispering in my ear, "He's okay, Bridgette." I needed that reassurance. I needed her at that precise moment and time in the delivery process to let me know that my worst fears were unfounded and that everything would be alright.

Alexia did for me today what Corey did for me 18 years ago. At one point in our conversation, we both were boo-hoo crying. I mean a good and bad cry. A sobbing, snot dripping, deep chest cry. And it felt so good. I felt so connected with her in that moment. I felt like she had wrapped her arms around me all the way from New York City. I felt like I was at 10 centimeters dialated, tired, worn out, in pain and she came along and stood behind me, just when I thought I didn't have anything left in me. Just as I was beginning to feel like I would be pregnant forever and the pain would never stop. She picked up the phone today and her arms reached all the way from her dorm room in NYC and helped me to push through the pain that I was going through today.





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