A New Life

by Martha Vanceburg

Overview

A New Life is a celebration of the miracle of pregnancy. As a mother to be, your entire body and soul are changing dramatically. From the joys of hearing you baby’s heartbeat and feeling the first flutters of movement within to the inevitable anxieties of impending parenthood, this daily reader will help reassure you through your pregnancy’s ups and downs.

This daily companion guides you through the entire growth process from concept to due date–with a section on how to manage if you are overdue–and helps you embrace the coming months with grace and serenity. The practical suggestions and words of wisdom in A New Life help you to accept your feelings, let go your worries and fears, and learn to trust your inner voice. Each day you will find an affirmation to comfort you and to strengthen your spirit, as well as a space each month to record your feelings and physical changes. The emphasis is on you emotional well-being and on understanding the transformation taking place within you so that when your newborn makes his or her appearance, you will be ready for your new life together.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780553348828
Publisher:	Random House Publishing Group
Publication date:	05/28/1990
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

A graduate of the University of Chicago, Martha Vanceburg is the co-author of Family Feelings and The Promise of a New Day. The mother of three, she lives in Minneapolis with her husband.

Read an Excerpt

Day 1

He embraced me and now I am someone else; someone else in the pulse that repeats in the pulse of my own veins and in the breath that mingles with my breath. Now my belly is as noble as my heart.—GABRIELA MISTRAL

This is the day on which your life begins to change, as profoundly as possible. All your life, you have been one person, now you're going to be two. If you find this an odd, wonderful, disconcerting feeling–joyful yet a little frightening at the same time–you can rest assured that most women do.

As people have no doubt already told you, ambivalence is perfectly normal. You may feel like an empress one moment and like a character in a horror movie the next. Even with this ambivalence, many women feel a new sense of spiritual connection at this time–a deep, warm bond with the source of all love and healing.

Whatever you are feeling, it's bound to be new and strange. Many books, relatives, friends, and your doctor or other birth advisors can give you factual information, but you may feel the need to renew your spiritual consciousness. These pages will accompany you on the journey you've begun, with running commentary on the emotional, as well as physical changes you'll be going through; your body isn't the only aspect of you that's undergoing profound changes.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY: Whatever I'm feeling, I was meant to feel it. I'm right on track, and so is my baby, for our great adventure.

Day 2

Let the soul be a swimming animal.
Let it scrape the bottom. Breathe Water until it grows gills.…FRANCES MAYES

Perhaps if we lived in a culture that focused more attention on women and children, birthing and growing, the subtle signs of this new life's progress would be more intelligible. But our world doesn't make much room for pregnancy and birth, so each pregnant woman must make her own.

Today the embryo's cells continue to double every few hours–thirty-two; sixty-four; a hundred and twenty-eight. Probably the little clump of cells has made its way through one of your tubes toward your uterus. You'll never know which side it chose. The new life already has its directions programmed inside, just as a flower seed knows to send its roots down and its stalk up.

Remember that you have company on this journey. Not only the unknown friend suspended deep inside you; you also have a spiritual guide, the source of your most powerful longings and rewards. The path to motherhood–from being one fertile body to being two separate people–is a proud and well-traveled one, yet each mother makes her journey alone. What will yours hold? After the birth your body will gradually return to what it was, but an expanded spirit can be yours forever.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY: No matter what cultural messages I receive, I am proud and honored to be pregnant.

Day 3

Love set you going, like a fat gold watch.—SYLVIA PLATH

It would be nice to think that you and your partner made love with the baby in mind, and your love for each other deepened when you realized you could be making a new life. But its growth will proceed with no conscious help from you–without your knowledge or maybe even awareness.

Today may be the day your embryo attaches itself to the wall of your uterus, like a small mammal beginning hibernation. Your body will gradually stretch to accommodate it, and so will your spirit. It will grow as a bud grows, first small and secretly and then more openly–disclosing new richness.

Whether you made your baby deliberately or not, its growth is part of your body now. You are both your own old self and a new one, a watch-pocket, a secret holder for a precious new design.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY: I feel blessed with the secret knowledge of what's budding inside me, and I'll pray for patience during the long months before my pocket opens.