Transition

Between contractions,
Hospital bag packed
I checked  LaMaze list.
Tennis balls for back labor,
hard candy, God's eye for focus,
phone numbers, birth announcements.

Careful, I eased full body to floor,
 opened child birth book last time,
 read one page. Most intense stage
of labor is transition. When you think
you can't stand any more,  you likely
will  kiss you baby in twenty minutes

Next morning, I labored, nauseus,
screamed  I can't stand this anymore.
Out of nowhere, question, surfaced.
Am I in transition?Affirmative answer.
 I can do anything for twenty minutes.
Held our new daughter to breast.

When you lay dying, exhausted,
 I helped you move up in the bed.
You screamed in pain,  I wept.
Familiar words seared my brain.
I can't stand this anymore.
And I remembered transition.

The worst came before the peace,
and in the end you were not afraid.
In the end you opened your eyes
and saw me smile oe last time,
and your breathig stopped and I
held you pain free, finally again.