BurlingtonVT Moms Blog is partnering with Vermont Midwives Association to bring you our latest series titled “How I Became a Mother” in honor of Mother’s Day.  Each of us has a unique journey on how we got here…here being in this crazy thing called motherhood.  Some of us have grown our families through adoption, some through donor sperm.  Some of us have struggled with infertility while others of us have needed to rely on faith and science.   Bringing a child into this world is no less than miraculous regardless of how it’s done.  These next two weeks we want to share with you the stories of how we became mothers, to let you know that no two families are born the same.  Join us on this journey as we celebrate Moms!

 I Became a Mother One Day

I became a mother one day
when that yellow haired doll was left somewhere
and I didn’t know I loved it so much
until I couldn’t have it.

I became a mother one day
too young
for morning routines, evening meals, fractured family.
Too young
for dependent siblings and hardly
myself
dependable.

I became a mother one day
in front of the tv.
Chinese orphans and a woman saying,
“there are only girls.”
12-year old body not ready
except that part that beats love
for the unloved

I became a mother one day
at the airport.
Wide eyed child in foreign land pulled into arms
that want him
for the first time.
His future changes and mine does too.

I became a mother one day
on the other side of the world
where little girls do the work of mothers
getting paid to feed family.
And that one I can’t forget
working me over
until
I would take her if I could.

I became a mother one day
in a stainless white clinic
with news that began with,
“I’m sorry.”
But not as sorry as I was because by then
I knew
I had already become a mother
just without a child

I became a mother one day
by voicemail.
Hypodermic needles and Petri dishes and rooms of
Women
Wishful
Waylaid.
She speaks short, “Christin, it’s Abigail. Congratulations, you’re pregnant.”
Laughs happy.
I still hear her.

I became a mother one day
undeservedly.
DNA preserved as ice and a heart chilled as well
knowing it couldn’t be so lucky again.
Then she came as one playing catch up
with fire eyes and a
secret
about the victory of existence.

I became a mother one day
in that good old fashioned way.
Sitting on a toilet seat
marvelling
over what a plus sign can do to expectations.
And that low dwelling hope spreads out over a lifetime
of the woman who believes herself
Mother