Antepartum 1-26-16
18 hours in the waiting room—
minutes are hours.
Miraculously the TV remains off.
Its black eye reflects neon light.
IT’S THE LAW!
ES LA LEY!
IF YOU HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY
OR ARE IN LABOR
Framed newborn faces with knitted caps array the wall.
Swollen moms sway in, families carrying bags and bundles.
Jess is prepped in her inn. Daniel rubs and messages.
Jamie coaches and cheerleads. Grandpa contracts his leaking tear ducts, vainly.
Grandma feels her labor years ago, embedded as splinters in muscles.
From hundreds of choir and congregational voices,
Agnus Dei chants in upper lofts of my mind:
sins mer-
takest the of the have cy up-
God, away world, on
of us…
O Lamb that
YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO RECEIVE
WITHIN THE CAPABILITIES OF THIS HOSPITAL’S STAFF
We visit her inn—Emma’s heart monitor beats
in crescendo and decrescendo with each contraction
and we must soon exit
so grandpa paces… pees… ponders… prays… paces… Emma descending so slowly…
sins mer-
takest the of the have cy up-
God, away world, on
of us…
O Lamb that
Abba: you were there epochs ago
as teenage Mary contracted and contracted in waves
amid sheep and goats on a straw bed and wadded cloth pillow…
—Spirit became flesh—and Joseph ushered wet Jesus
into Rome’s iron world.
Yet it was you who took me from the womb; you kept me safe on my mother’s breast.
On you I was cast from my birth, and since my mother bore me you have been my God. *
YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO RECEIVE
NECESSARY STABILIZING TREATMENT
(INCLUDING TREATMENT FOR AN UNBORN CHILD)
“God, deliver Emma, as you did Lord Jesus.”
My daughter: you shall survive—our God shall deliver
with your midwife’s skilled hands, as your mother birthed you
33 years ago, our DNA spiraling inside each cell.
Jesus too stood near, as Mary birthed
His younger brothers and sisters
until his testament began in the Jorden River.
sins
takest the of the
God, away world, us
of Thy
O Lamb that grant peace.
Postpartum
Daniel bursts into the waiting room,
everyone applauding! We soar into the inn
at 11:50 PM, where 6.3 lb. Emma rests on Jess’s chest,
eyes peeking into worldly light
as did baby Jesus
when Spirit became flesh
so flesh can become Spirit
and Emma can rise.
*Ps 22:9-10
Peter C. Venable 