UNKNOWN SIBLING

MH said she wanted to look at the baby book last night before bed, and I assumed she meant the photo album of her as a baby. She actually meant a book that documents a baby's development throughout pregnancy. The photos in this book, A Child is Born, by Lennart Nilsson, are real and amazing and sometimes disturbing. Think Close Encounters.

So we looked at the photos of what our baby looks like right now, and she loved it and asked a million questions which I was only able to answer with the help of the captions. When I closed the book, even though she has just seen her future sibling with a tail; a giant, veiny head; and a furry face; she kissed my belly and said, "Good night."

Sibling In Photos

Cells divide and multiply, tail shrinks into
strung-pearl spine, your baby brother or sister
is a long way from home. Is faceless, nameless.

You love this unborn. Want to see dark
pits fill and cover with lids, ears bloom,
and bones grow visible under translucent skin.

Surely, this is where all movie alien inspiration
comes from. Undaunted, you chart progression:
hands paddle, then mittened, then perfect and floating.

They find each other, become a first taste,
first comfort, as this book comforts you,
let's you feel you know the unknown.

~jb