Ani DiFranco Says Writing Can Wait, Daughter Can Not

Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images Touring alongside her 20-month-old daughter Petah Lucia is actually easier than staying at home, Ani DiFranco says. "People say it takes a village to raise a child, and I have a little rolling village on the road," the 37-year-old singer and songwriter tells Mindful Mama. "It's really great...she just infuses everything with such joy." Aided by a nanny, Ani is able to hit the stage each and every night knowing full well that "there's all kinds of people around who entertain [Petah] and interact with her" when mother and daughter can't be together. In addition, "the constantly changing landscape" is "very stimulating" for a baby, Ani feels. While the 'singer' section of her resume has been minimally impacted by motherhood, the same cannot be said for her work as a songwriter."Writing necessitates a lot of mental space as well as time, both of which you just don't have so much of in the early days of momhood. I'm just basically trying to not resist that. This is my time with her. And I can get back to writing...Right now, I need to really just be here." The "glorious redundancy" of motherhood caught Ani by surprise, as well as her newfound capacity to love and care for not only her own child -- but children everywhere. Noting that "we're all somebody's baby," Ani says that through Petah she's learned to "transfer that love and respect and caring to everybody's babies." Click 'continue reading' for Ani's thoughts on her homebirth, her greatest wish for Petah, and video footage from the interview.Ani's decision to pursue a homebirth with Petah was rooted not in a desire to "be independent," but was instead rooted in fears that she'd become intimidated in a hospital setting -- something she feels would have been "really counter-productive." To that end, Ani likens a hospital birth with her experiences "making 20 records in awkward situations where I don't feel comfortable, and then [having] to sing." In choosing a homebirth, she says she was
	Published: 2008-09-01 Provider: Celebrity Baby Blog
Keywords: Homebirths, Parenting, Video