Summer this year seems to be trying a little too hard—even the Olympians in Paris struggled to cope—but for women about to give birth, the heat can make even an easy day a burden. My mom had two August babies. I was one of them. And I know for sure she didn’t have many easy days.
In search of an unusual way to open the memoir I’m writing, I tried imagining what it might have been like in my mother’s much-frequented womb. (I was the sixth child to join the clan.)
This was not likely a time in my mother’s life when the news of a new baby would bring joyful anticipation. She had five children already—surviving on leftovers and hand-me-downs—a husband who was, well, less than supportive, and an old-school Irish mother who was more inclined to point out her daughter’s mistakes than lend a helping hand.
What, I wondered, was it like for mother and child to have such an inauspicious start together? A time of worry and dread? Maybe. A time to curse the fates and give up on happy outcomes? Maybe not.
For a look at how things might have been, here’s “Early Signs of Life,” published in the journal Ellipsis: https://www.ellipsiszine.com/early-signs-of-life-by-mary-ann-mcguigan/
By the way, in case you’re under seventy, here’s the George M. Cohan song: https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=9JdQDff4QcE
And here’s Brad Mehldau’s version of the Beatles’ “Your Mother Should Know,” a perfect fit, I think: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgJPmMOWPU4
