Ashland Birth Center Delivery :: Nori
That June morning, Josh wore the right baseball cap. Embroidered in grayish letters on faded, gray denim the hat read “PUSH INCORPORATED.” He claims the choice was unintentional, a choice as simple as grabbing a hat to put on his head but Esme teased him all the same. In any case, it was the right hat on the right day and it stayed on his head until Nori made her grand entrance into the world.
Josh and Esme have animals. Not just the usual menagerie; you know, the dog, the cat, and maybe a hamster. They have real animals: pigs, geese, and other legit farm animals. And as Esme exhaled through the regular contractions I learned about their farm, their crazy dog, Ella; in essence, their life together. As a girl who grew up on a hobby farm and one who still loves the familiar, nostalgic smell of a barn and farm animals, I’ve observed that animal people–people who have real animals” — are almost without exception, good people. Real people. And this is Esme and Josh to a proverbial “T:” they’re good, real people.
In his PUSH INCORPORATED hat, Josh supported Esme during the entire labor. With his hands. With his words. With his presence. With his love. Women do the hard, hard physical work of labor, but a friend and a lover to share the work makes the excruciating pain somehow less. As Esme worked to bring Nori to earth, Josh leaned over her protectively–one hand on her back, the other waving a ridiculously fancy fan {made all the more ridiculous-looking by his large hands} and fanned her face. He whispered fiercely, gently to Esme: “Push, push, push, push.” And she did.
Esme and Josh: Thank you, thank you, thank you for trusting me to witness and to document the day Nori Mae was born. It was an honor.
