It never ceases to amaze me how animals interact. In my life, I've witnessed many women giving birth. As I approach the last days of my own pregnancy I have witnessed several births, not of human mothers birthing babies, but of cows. Six calves have been born in the past two weeks, and many more are to come within the next few weeks. Some due before me, some after, but all are sharing in this miracle of life.
As I talk to other human mothers-to-be, we discuss what our plans for birth and the hours and days following will be like in our minds. We formulate plans of visitors, birthing assistants, support groups, or how some plan on doing this alone, with minimal assistance, perhaps with drugs to ease the pain, or perhaps with breathing techniques, water emersion, or the many thousands of avenues we have.
The similarities in our own choices and the choices of these six new four-legged mothers are astounding! One mother-to-be wants to try hypno-birth, alone with her doula and her husband. Afterward, once she and her baby have some time to bond, she will allow her mother and her mother-in-law to come and visit the baby once they are home and settled. Now, granted cows don't have the bull next to them, breathing with them, but they do have a community of other mothers there. And they have a choice as to how they will birth. The first cow-mom I watched, cow #50, seemed as though she was in a trance, breathing in a certain pattern, off by herself, save one other mom-to-be, breathing with her, much like a human mother practicing hypno-birth with her doula. When her baby emerged, she was alone. She and her little bundle of joy bonded for hours by themselves before the rest of her family came, one by one, to introduce themselves.
Another mother wishes to try a home birth surrounded by empowered women, who have been through this before and will be her support. She wants to be surrounded by friends and family, sharing in the joy and spiritual growth of having a baby. Just as her wishes are, so was the wish of cow #46, the 6th cow to give birth this season. She surrounded herself by the five mothers and their babies as she labored and delivered her little one this morning. Empowered by the strength of the cow-mothers around her, she brought her first baby into this world, and shared in the joy of cleaning the baby with a few of the other cow-mothers.
There are moms who birth in their own homes, with their family pets close by, walking in and out, similarly to cow #26 birthing outside my unborn child's window and she allowed me to watch very close to her as she pushed her baby into this world and to greet her calf, once she cleaned her and allowed her to eat.
There are women who want to birth in a dark room, with no one around, except those that absolutely must be there, and even they seem like intruders, much the way #49 gave birth after midnight, all alone. There are women who want only one other person around, much like cow #44, who stood beside #50 and birthed her 5th baby. And so on and so on...
But the similarities don't end there. As I watched the "babysitters" and calves playing, a group of turkey buzzards came down and began to fight over the after-birth, still warm from #46's birth earlier this morning. (Cows tend to leave all the calves in one area for an hour or so with one or two other cows watching over them, only to return to feed and switch "babysitters" with the other mothers. It's a great way of keeping tabs on the curious calves without wearing yourself out.) The group of birds grew in number and the calves became frightened, cowering in the corner of the field, separated from their mothers who were roughly 12acres away, grazing. As the "babysitter" cows protected the calves and sheparded them away from the hungry birds the mothers who were off grazing came barrelling down the path, mooing loudly and rushing at the birds. My heart swelled with joy as I witnessed the maternal instict of protection take over these docile mothers as they charged at the birds, intent on hurting anyone who stood between their babies and themselves, much the same as any mother would do if someone were to come too close to our own children.
So, you see, despite how different we may be from these furry four-legged cud-chewers, we have so much in common with them as well!
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