The Magic of Childbirth

It’s not the gentle flight of a stork 

through the glimmering sunshine of new day.

It’s new life knit from blood and sinew in the darkness of a womb,

a potentially dangerous craft of rearranged organs 

that can leave behind chimeric kisses.

 

Nutrients are borrowed (sometimes stolen) 

to support the rapidly sprouting growth.

There’s fluttering of a nascent heartbeat,

And a tickle of intrauterine butterflies, 

as it takes away your breath, displacing everything.

 

Then the new life is brought blinking into a brightly fluorescent world,

through the sacrificial effort of sweat and blood and tears,

ushered on and completed by a glowing rush of oxytocin.

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Michelle Arnold is member of the The University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix, Class of 2022. She received her Bachelor’s degrees in Biochemistry and Spanish from Arizona State University in 2015 and a Master’s degree in Applied Ethics and the Professions (Biomedical and Health Ethics) also from Arizona State University in 2017. She has interests in medical humanities, patient-provider relationships, and improving healthcare for underserved communities.