Bedtime

“Mommy, when de baby is weady to be borned will it cwawl out of you?”

I’m tucking Little in for the night.

“No honey, I will need to push it out, and it will come out between my legs like this.”

I gesture appropriately. Her eyes get bigger, if that’s even possible.

“Oh! Why will it come out der?”

“Well, because the baby is growing in my uterus and the way out of my uterus is through my vagina.”

“Oh. How will it come out?”

“The baby’s head will be down, like this,” I show her where, “And then my uterus will start squeezing like this and pushing the baby down farther.”

My hand are now forming a pretend uterus, finger tips pointing downward to show where the cervix is.

“When it squeezes down the opening, called a cervix, starts to spread wider and wider until it’s big enough for the baby’s head to fit through. Then I will need to push and the baby’s head will come down out of my vagina and in between my legs.”

“Oh,” she says, weighing this information while regarding me seriously.

“But do you know what?” I ask, smiling.

She grins in return. “What?”

“When you were born you did help me, did you know that?”

“No!” She laughs.

“You did. Every time my uterus squeezed down you pushed and kicked with your little feet against it and helped push your head down farther. I could feel your feet up here,” I point at my ribs, “pushing hard against me so that your head could come out.”

She smiles at me, delighted with this story.

“So you helped yourself to be born! You helped mommy push you out.”

“Mommy!” she blurts out in excitement. “When, when, when de baby is borned I think we should name de baby Flower Jellybean, if it’s a girl and I want it to be a girl.”