I woke up this morning with the word “Transition” on my mind.
Transition is defined by Merriam-Webster as “passage from one state, stage, subject, or place to another : change; a movement, development, or evolution from one form, stage, or style to another.”
What came to mind for me as I thought of the word was the Transition that occurs during childbirth. Transition “is literally the transition between the first and second stages of labour. Active labour contractions have been dilating the cervix and it’s open and ready for the second stage, when a series of involuntary contractions push baby through the vagina to be born. Transition is often described as the challenging and hardest part of labour. It’s also the shortest and signals to you and your birth team that your baby will be born soon.” https://www.bellybelly.com.au/birth/what-is-transition-in-labour/
The challenging
and
hardest
part…
also the shortest!
This is important to remember! These thoughts GO TOGETHER!!
Most challenging AND shortest!
At Sozo Gym when I was working out there and we had a difficult WOD to do – i would always remind myself during the workout, “I can do anything for 1 minute,” or whatever the time frame might be, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 30 minutes! Because it is true…we can do anything we set our minds to, for however long it takes to get through it, if we choose!
During transition “many women will doubt their ability to go on at this stage, requesting medication or worrying about how much longer it will take. It’s during this stage of labour women tend to become very vulnerable to suggestions and are more likely to accept interventions they previously didn’t want.” https://www.bellybelly.com.au/birth/what-is-transition-in-labour/
We compromise!
When things get tough,
when we are tired,
when the road seems long and painful…
we compromise!
We ALL do it…this is not the space or time to beat yourself up for it, to categorize yourself alone in a corner because you are the suckiest, to slip into that victim mentality of the being the worst…we all do it – we all compromise! The Bible reminds us in Romans 3:23 “..all have sinned and fall short..”
We all fall short!
When things get hard
When things are painful
When we can’t see the end in sight
When the road seems long
When we feel like all we do is go uphill
When all seems lost
We compromise!
But know this sweet friend – relief is coming!
The Most Challenging AND The Shortest!
My last three children were home births and I remember the pain of transition very clearly – it makes the hair on my arms stand up! Literally, when I think about the pain of those moments my body can still remember and feel the intensity of those minutes that felt like forever. I can remember my precious midwife telling me a little secret before I went into labor with my first home birthed baby. She said, “Every woman in transition at some point or another says, ‘Anne, I can’t do this, it’s too much, I am at my limit, I am done!’ and that’s when I know that baby is right there!” The most challenging and shortest!
“Transition is a time of upheaval and big changes. Up to this point, a woman’s body has been flooded with oxytocin and endorphins, likely making her quite sleepy and relaxed… At transition, the mother’s body releases a flood of adrenaline, waking her up so she is alert and lucid. Adrenaline occurs at the most intense point of labour, which is why transition is often a crisis point for most labouring women…. A very common emotional sign of transition is the ‘I’m done/I can’t’ stage. You may suddenly wake up out of the endorphin soaked haze you’ve been in for some time, and just decide you can’t have this baby today. Or you need drugs right now. You might be incredibly irritated by everything and everyone around you. Some women become incredibly focused and almost withdraw into themselves. They may find it difficult to communicate although they will say later they could hear and understand what was being said, they just couldn’t respond. Restlessness is another common emotional sign of transition. Not knowing to put yourself, wanting to be touched then hating it, wanting company then telling everyone to leave.” https://www.bellybelly.com.au/birth/what-is-transition-in-labour/
God knew!! He knew we couldn’t endure the intensity of transition too long – it’s too much, we are too frail, we are weak, our coping mechanisms fail us and we cave in the pressure.
The key to Transition is SURRENDER.
I can remember Anne saying in those desperate moments of exhaustion and feeling so done I just couldn’t go on anymore, I hear her sweet voice whisper in the hushed hours before the dawn, “Melissa, welcome your baby, surrender and welcome your baby!”
Our natural instinct is to fight.
We pull back,
withdraw.
tighten up,
hunker down.
It goes against all natural instincts to let go, open up, and surrender.
It is one the hardest things you will ever do but it makes Transition easier – not EASY – just easier.
All of life is Transition!
We are Transitioning in one way or another all of life!
And we can make our Transitioning easier and less painful by surrendering to the process of Transition because whether you want to birth that baby today or not…it’s coming, there is no stopping it! 
God’s beautiful work in each of us is a new birthing every time!
Body
Soul
Spirit
He is birthing new things in us.
How else can we become more like Christ? We must let the old die, shed dead cells for the new skin to be seen.Steffany Gretzinger speaks about this as “The Undoing.”
All of life is the Undoing – we are in the process of undoing.
Undoing all the stuff that has been placed on us –
the stuff from our ancestors as we break long-standing generational curses,
the garbage from our parents that they didn’t mean to give us but did anyway because they were broken too,
the wounds from best friends and boyfriends deposited into our hungry souls that left us “less than” we were before them,
the untrue beliefs we hold about ourselves,
the dysfunctional ways we have learned to cope,
the stories that hold us hostage to yesterday,
undoing all that has been so that we can TRANSITION and ready for new birth!
Transition is hard, it is! The most challenging time for sure, but remember this – it can also be the shortest! Surrender is key! If you fight it– it will last longer…it will be more painful…but it will NOT keep that baby from coming…the baby is coming regardless of how you embrace the process, that baby is coming! So let it come…Welcome your “new baby”, let it come, surrender to the Transition.
