What is the most amazing thing you have ever seen, heard, or experienced.

That’s so easy. I wouldn’t have been able to answer this question before – not easily anyway – but now there can only be one answer.

The experience of childbirth was like nothing I have ever experienced in my life. It was painful as hell and so, so long. 35 hours of pain and screaming and thrashing gave me two beautiful boys.

I was lying on the operating table (I had a cesarean) and my mum was beside me. Since the pain was over I was able to talk to her quite calmly and I remember asking her how it was going. Pretty damn well from the looks and sounds of it all, but of course with a big green sheet up I couldn’t see what they were up to. Which, in hindsight, is a good thing.

Then I heard crying. It wasn’t me, it wasn’t mum. It certainly wasn’t the massive collection of doctors gathered around me so I could only be one thing. It felt like hours before I was able to see the source of those cries. The doctor held up a screaming, squirming, wriggling red thing with masses of dark, black hair. My first son. Then they took him away, cleaned him up and passed him to mum who then put him on my chest.

I got to look into his eyes for the first time and that was a special moment. In fact special isn’t a big enough word. I don’t have words big enough. I looked at him, he looked at me, all weary and befuddled by the light and the noise and I felt, in that moment, a massive rush of something that was the most beautiful thing I have ever felt. Instant unconditional love.

I’ve heard stories about it. People talk about it and many of the books I’ve read actually say that one shouldn’t be surprised if they don’t experience that feeling. But I did. I still do. I look at Michael- hell I look at Leon as well, and feel my heart twist and my eyes fill up.

The absolute beauty of it all is that this is a feeling that won’t go away. I’ll get to feel this way each and every time I look at my boys, or hear them speak, or when I look at Dave who gave them to me. Is there really anything more incredible than that?

My 80 Post Challenge is brought to you with help from Tom Slatin’s 80 Journal Writing Prompts.