title: Birth in an ordinary instant.
abstract: Our daily lives are a series of ordinary moments and unnoticed thresholds-times that define us in ways we often do not give much attention. While we consider childbirth to be one of life's extra-ordinary events, the hours of labor and birth need not be dramatic (or traumatic) ones. I describe a quiet, well-supported birth in the Netherlands that is cause for celebration of the beauty of an ordinary instant that can define and enrich the human experience.
authors.affiliation: CHARLOTTE DE VRIES is a writer and musician and lives with her husband Raymond in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She has three grown children and one wonderful grandchild and is co-author with Judith Lothian of The Official Lamaze Guide: Giving Birth with Confidence.
authors.forename: Charlotte
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: De Vries