The other night I had my first four-handed catch, and it was thrilling. I still get a little giddy when I think of it, and I'm looking forward to my first solo catch and how exciting THAT will be. It's like nothing else. To be the first one to have your hands on that new little life. All soft and warm and slimy and lovely. To pass her off to the hands and breasts of her waiting mother. The reward for all of that effort and hard work and pain. Birth is so beautiful. It's messy, true (I ended up somehow squirting blood all up my arm and all over my preceptor when I cut the cord. Oops!), and it involves immense amounts of pain, but it is SO beautiful. And as a student, just starting out on this adventure called midwifery, I'm so grateful to the women and families who help teach me, and welcome me to be a part of their experience - one of the most intimate, personal, beautiful, painful and possibly traumatic, and definitely life-changing experiences that there is. It's amazing that I get to be involved in this on a regular basis. That this is going to be my life work. And every time, the wonder and awe of it all is the same. It is the same as the first time I saw it happen, almost ten years ago now. I hope that never ever lessens, regardless of how many times I see it happen.