To my midwife:

Thank you. 

More than once, you have reached into my body and changed the course of my life. Or rather, you’ve allowed the course of my life to keep moving, keep unfolding, unspooling through all of its messy complicated beautiful peaks and valleys. When you removed my IUD so that I could get pregnant and have my son (my moon and stars). When you provided the abortion care I needed–when you counseled me, examined me, showed me tenderness and respect and love–you protected my health, my safety, my joy, my little family. 

As I sit here now, cradling my heating pad, tears drying into salt on my tired face, medications blurring the sharp edges of my pain, I am watching my baby play in his nursery–sunlight streaming down on his sweet little body as he bangs together pots and pans, clatter clamor ding ding ding. He laughs and laughs. You made this happen. You made this life possible for him, and you empowered me to become his mother, the mother he needs. 

You are and will forever be a crucial, beloved, sacred member of our village, the village helping me to raise him. 

Thank you for him. Thank you for me. 

And thank you for telling me about your children, your abortion, the long winding history of your body and heart and life. Thank you for sharing our workplace, moving through it alongside of me with such honesty and collaboration and kindness. For sharing your family, your wisdom, your love. 

Thank you for my abortions. Thank you for my motherhood. Thank you for my freedom. Thank you for my world. 

Forever grateful,

Your patient and colleague and friend for life,

Hannah