Average

The three boys in the next room slept through it all,
Until Joe’s first cry. Then Abraham awoke.
Phil took him downstairs, to the room right below,
Where his parents had also slept through it all.

For years I felt like a superior woman,
Giving birth so quietly the sleepers around me slept
Undisturbed. Until a midwife said, “That’s common.
During a homebirth, everyone is the best they can be,
As they welcome the new life. So some sleep deeper,
If that’s what’s needed.”

With those few words,
I am relegated again to just an average woman.