Before the Birth of One of Her Children (Jess Walton)

I apologize if I get this totally wrong, I'm not the best at analyzing poetry.

The common theme I pulled from this piece was that with the birth there would be a loss. I thought this could be taken two different ways. First, considering the time period, I thought that she could be preparing for her own death. "How soon, my dear, death may my steps attend". The second way was the death of the bond between mother and child. "That when the knot's untied that made us one" I also thought it was interesting that she took this morbid take on birth. Most would see it as a start of new life and happy, she sees it as a loss, be it her life, or the life of this mother/child bond.