A Life's Work: On Becoming a Mother

Abstract

its birth, and now feel like a proud father carrying it out the world for all see. Twice Alive celebrates the majesty of birth and the developing child. Chapter by chapter, it travels with the mother through each trimester of pregnancy, the sometimes-experienced overdue phase, birth, and the chiid's first year. Each chapter begins by describing the particular gifts and challenges of each stage, followed by journal entries from the time when Osnes was pregnant with her daughter, Melisande, and ends with a suggested do list that both inspirational and practical, and includes designing your own birthing celebration, organizing meals be brought after the birth, and forming a mothers' group. This less a to book than a companion that shares with its readers the intimate experience of mothering that seldom talked about but deeply felt. Not limited a particular faith, this book roots itself in the soul-harvest that reaped through the process of becoming a mother. Discoveries abound ofthe mother-like qualities ofGod andvisa-versa. As any mother can testify, new motherhood extraordinary and, if attended with a listening spirit, can be a time ofgreat spiritual awakening for a woman. As Osnes says, a new mother is in such close proximity the ultimate creative spirit that she can feel its hot breath on the backofher neck. Osnes reminds us prioritize the importance of early motherhood by pushing away the invasive business of the world, by lying on our backs in the grass with our babes on our chests, and by letting the warm blessings of the sun spill over us. I grew profoundly nostalgic whiie reading this book, particularly when I realized that the precious lessons and gifts of that insular time are no longer fresh in my memory. Osnes reminds me of how far I have traveled, what I have endured, and how much wiser I am now that I am a mother. As she explains: Now you have twice a stake in the future. You have twice the reason care about the legacy our generation handing down the next and twice the strength make a difference. You have twice the accomplishments cheer, twice-the obstacles conquer, twice the shoes tie, twice the laughter and tears. Ifyou feel twice as deeply and soar twice as high then, indeed, you must be twice alive.

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