Erdrich, Louise - Louise Erdrich (Essay Date 1995)
LOUISE ERDRICH (ESSAY DATE 1995)
SOURCE: Erdrich, Louise. “Women’s Work.” In The Blue Jay’s Dance: A Birth Year, pp. 42-7. New York: Harper Perennial, 1995.
In the following essay, originally published in Harper’s magazine, Erdrich describes the experience of labor and birth.
Rocking, breathing, groaning, mouthing circles of distress, laughing, whistling, pounding, wavering, digging, pulling, pushing—labor is the most involuntary work we do. My body gallops to these rhythms. I’m along for the ride, at times in some control and at others dragged along as if foot-caught in a stirrup. I don’t have much to do at first but breathe, accept ice chips, make jokes—in fear and pain my family makes jokes, that’s how we deal with what we can’t change, how we show our courage.
Even though I am a writer and have practiced my craft for years, and have experienced two natural...
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