A waiting room in winter
Expectant mothers leaf through parenting magazines
Babytalk and American Baby
Admiring glossed over photos
Of babies giggling in strollers
Of babies taking their first spoonfuls of mushed peas
Of babies on hands and knees
Crawling to a new mother’s bright face
And then of babies graduating to two legs
Evidence of babies completing all their first steps
Round and round the carousel
Going down the checklist
To ensure they’re allowed to grow up

In the springtime
Where winter’s flood has cleansed and shifted
And made way for new life
An expecting mother births a boy to an anxious, checklist world
She continues to read
And watch closely
And “Thank God!” for each sign of normality