Braid by Joanne Delmonico, instagram: @joannedelart
The materials for this braid represent five generations of women in my family: a doily crocheted by my grandmother, a purple ribbon from my mother’s funeral flowers, a tiny mala beaded by me, a bracelet made by my daughter with embroidery thread, and pink yarn chosen by my granddaughter for a blanket.
My daughter was born in 1987 during a full moon. There were so many women in labor that all of the birthing rooms were full, with overflow in the corridors. After I gave birth, my baby and I were transferred to a hospital room and settled in. The nurses were so busy that they seemed to forget about me. I was too scared to try breast feeding her, so I bottle fed her every few hours and changed every diaper. I don’t think anyone else ever changed her diaper while in the hospital! This first night set the tone for the rest of my postpartum experience! My most vivid memories of the first two months of both my babies’ lives (my son was born in 1990) was the time I spent awake with them in the middle of the night when the rest of the world seemed to be asleep. The house was completely silent and mostly dark. There were no distractions back then… no cell phones or computers or other gadgets. It was just me with the tiny human I birthed, face to face and completely in the moment. There’s nothing better than that satisfied look on a newborn’s face when they’ve had an ounce or two and they completely relax their bodies. I never rushed to put them back in their bassinets so I could go back to sleep. I would just hold them and study everything about them, making lots of promises and vowing to love them forever. And often, I would fall asleep like that until my husband would yell for me to put the baby to bed… that would happen multiple times each night. I don’t remember the early days like I remember the nights because the nights were so intimate and there were no other pressing chores to do. I do remember that when it was time to return to work at 12 week’s postpartum, both of my babies were sleeping through the night. That was helpful. But, I still cried a lot at work after dropping them off with babysitters who were strangers. That was the most stressful and distressful part of the whole experience!