First.

First.

(dictionary.com) coming before all others in time or order; earliest; 1st

The most coveted position one can hold... in a job or a contest.

It's what happens 'before'... the beginning.

What has to happen... in order for anything else to happen.

First.

My babies have First Moms.

Women who's position I will never be able to fill.

Women who came before me.

Women who had to be first... so I could be next.

They were First.

I have referred to my babies' 'birth moms' as their 'First Moms' since the birth of this blog....

I am not, and will never be, a 'birth mom', but that term has always hurt my heart for those who hold it's title...

but it didn't occur to me until recently that maybe 'First Mom' hurts them, too?

Because at the end of the day, who wants their name to have a qualifier?!

But this one.... 'First Mom'... it's so special to me. It comes from a place in my heart that uses the term *almost* reverently...

because my babies First Moms?!

They did not just give birth.

The first people on the face of the Earth who knew about our precious babies' existence...

the first one's who loved them...

the first one's who cared for them and sacrificed for them...

they were first.

They chose life... they sustained life... they changed their life for those precious lives... 

they were our babies' Moms... First.

In today's society, 'First' is something we desire in our daily lives... being the first one in line, the first to be promoted, the first to the finish line, the first to order...

Please hear me...

I didn't carry 2 of my precious babies... I didn't see those 2 pink lines.... I didn't hear their heartbeats.... I didn't feel them move inside of me... I didn't struggle to bring them into the world or hear their first cry... I didn't witness their first breath and I wasn't the first to hold them....

but I will never spend one minute wishing that I had been first.

There are 2 women in this world who came first.... and they deserve to be first. 

Those memories? Theirs. The feelings? Theirs. The moments? Theirs.

And I can't imagine any 2 women who are more deserving of those memories and feelings and moments....

My babies have First Moms, not birth moms...

Because they came first.