Before the Breath - the Memoirs of a Newborn

Before the first breath –

the Memoirs of a newborn

"Before the First Breath - the memoirs of a newborn"

From the very first moment that I held my newborn daughter - I was convinced that she had something to say.

I was excited!

Wow! This was a first!

A newborn who wanted to talk - she must be brilliant - I thought.

And, why not?

She was my daughter after all.

OK - I am not brilliant. But I do talk a lot.

With pride in my voice I conveyed the news to my husband.

He was pensively calculating how he was going to get his sleep that night between changing diapers and following my nonstop instructions - and as I made this announcement - the look of intense concentration on his face morphed into one of dread.

The look he gave me said it all. It said - “Oh dear! Now a mad wife - to add to the chaos.”

“Go to sleep. You must be really tired - go to sleep” was all he finally managed to say.

The implied message however was loud and clear.

I looked at my baby - I was certain she looked indignant too.

“Yes Mamma” she seemed to be saying “of course I have something to say”

Not one to give up easily on conversations -especially when they smelt promising - I mulled over what this hour old creature could possibly have - to say.

“Hmmmmmmmmmm…………. there was no way I was giving up on this one”

Through sleepless days and nights of exhaustedly and yet proudly feeding and changing my new possession - I mulled and mulled over this mystery.

And one fine day when I was sufficiently sleep deprived - it hit me.

This baby that I thought was just a few days old - was in fact just as old as me.

She was that one cell who had made it from the ovary to my arms when so many others hadn’t and as a cell she had been born as soon as I was born.

What adventures she must have had! No wonder she looked like she had so much to share!

It must have been so tough for her - a little cell in an obscure corner of my body - with such a big dream!

I was certain hers was a story worth chronicling and I determined that I would do it.

But how would I know what she had to say?

Hmmmmmm……… it would have to be my Embryology and Obstetrics textbooks to the rescue.

It was such an important story - I could not possibly be technically inaccurate.

Between being Mom, doctor, wife and myself (where my procrastinating self has certainly been at the forefront) - this book has taken me a while to write - but at last it is done.

It tells the story of a cell in the left ovary who suffers with fortitude through her boring uneventful childhood - survives the trials and tribulations of her Moms teen years - and hopes and prays to meet her Prince charming - and one day finally does.

Marital bliss with her Prince charming morphs into an exercise in cell resource management and meeting of deadlines - as she hurtles towards her dream of being born a little baby and making it to her Mom’s arms.

After several - “Will I make its?” and “How will I make that happen?” she finally realizes her dream.

Read about it in my book

"Before the First Breath - the memoirs of a newborn"

Find out all that happens before you finally get to hold your little one.