Catherine Pickford attended all our Lent days, except for the last one, by which time she had given birth to her daughter Freya. She writes of waiting patiently at Shepherds Dene.
"Pineapple, raspberry leaf tea, rhubarb, there are as many theories on how to bring on a baby who has gone past its due date as there are people to give advice. Both my sons were nearly two weeks late so I have tried them all, with little success. My chiropractor, who had been treating pregnant women for many years has a theory of her own. She says that the onset of labour depends on a subtle interaction between mother and child, something along the lines of ‘I want to come out now Mum’, ‘OK, I’m ready’. Her theory is that for some mothers, especially busy ones, they needed to achieve a certain level of stillness and openness to listen to their baby enough for the process of labour to start without drugs. I love the idea that I can have any influence at all on when my babies choose to arrive so I received the theory with enthusiasm.
For baby number three, I was determined that I was going to relax sufficiently to listen to the baby during my last weeks of pregnancy. With two little children already, that was not going to be an easy feat. The baby was due at the end of March so I was delighted to find that Shepherds Dene offered quiet days on five of the Thursdays in Lent, the perfect opportunity to enter into stillness and listen to God and my baby. Appropriately enough, the theme of the quiet day scheduled for the day after my due date was kairos, waiting for the right moment. I listened avidly as Revd Canon Robert Lawrence talked about the wisdom of waiting for things to happen in God’s good time.
Whether the listening to your baby thing is just another old wives tale I will never know, but I heartily recommend both the atmosphere of Shepherds Dene and the Lenten quiet days as a great space to encourage stillness and openness to God as well as any babies who might be due to arrive. "
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