Image of the Week: Pregnant Sleep
© D. Yael Bernhard
Here's a painting I did during the final week of my last pregnancy. This was one of the longest weeks of my life, as I was past my due date, quite uncomfortable, and impatient for labor to begin. My midwife came to visit several times. What sparked the image was her seeming ability to "see" my daughter with her hands, as if she had x-ray vision. "Yup, there's the ribs," she'd say, while what I felt was so amorphous, it made me wonder if I had a baby seal inside me and not a human fetus. So active was my daughter in utero that I nicknamed her "Selkie" after the mythic creatures of the Irish seacoast that are half woman, half seal.
Long before a child is born, his or her presence is palpably felt outside the womb. Beyond the mother's growing belly, an awareness of the new life fills the home – and with it, the mystery of creation and the birth of hope. For a pregnant couple, this feeling is nothing less than euphoric. Every birth is a miracle, both ordinary and unique.
As a pregnant woman lies still at night, her unborn baby typically becomes more active. Newborn infants need passive movement in order to regulate and sooth their immature nervous systems. Craving this pacification, they start wiggling and kicking like little fish, just when mother is most in need of sleep. Perhaps this is practice for the sleepless nights that lie ahead. It's also an opportunity for the father-to-be to tune into his child, who is also capable of hearing and recognizing voices.
Thus we were a threesome, long before our daughter saw the light of her first day. Three bodies overlapping, transparently interacting. It's a simple image and a small painting, but the original sold quickly, and over the years I've received countless responses to it.
Perhaps, in the end, I did "see" my daughter in a way not unlike my midwife, for my depiction of her was uncannily accurate. Sage was born with dark brown hair, straight as her father's, thick as her mother's, much to her chagrin. Is there a girl on earth who doesn't complain about her hair?
Personally, I think she's perfect.
This image is available as a poster or a greeting card from my webstore.
A good week to all!
D Yael Bernhard