Attending births is like growing roses. You have to marvel at the ones that just open up and bloom at the first kiss of the sun but you wouldn't dream of pulling open the petals of the tightly closed buds and forcing them to blossom to your time line.

Gloria Lemay’s comparison frames birth attendance as a practice of patience and reverence rather than control. Like roses, some labors unfold quickly and beautifully with minimal interference, while others remain “tightly closed” until conditions are right. The image warns that trying to force a natural process—by rushing, coercing, or imposing an external schedule—can damage what is meant to open in its own time. Implicitly, the quote critiques time-driven, intervention-heavy approaches to childbirth and affirms a midwifery ethic of watchful support: protect the environment, respond to genuine need, and trust the body’s timing. The metaphor also highlights humility—attendants can witness and safeguard, but not manufacture the moment of blooming.