Elias Rides A Two Wheel Bike!

On Thursday I bought Elias a bike. He has been asking for one since we first got here. Today, at the central park in Jinotega, Nicaragua, Elias learned to ride a bike without training wheels. He is just four years old. I know that all the balancing practice he got this past summer riding the no pedal bike the Kaisers lent us (thanks, Christina!) and the bike with training wheels from Grandmom & Grandad really made him ready to ride!



And a few minutes later....

How To Cope When Your Children Won't Go To Sleep And Your Spouse Is In A Different Country

Gin.
Rum.
Sugar.
Chocolate.
That's all I have to say about that.

Grandmom and Grandad's Visit -- We're Not In Canada Anymore

My parents arrived in Managua on January 26, and I took the bus down to meet them and bring them to Jinotega on Wednesday, January 27. They just left this morning, and we really enjoyed their visit.

They brought a TON of awesome presents for the kids with them, mostly Melissa & Doug wooden toys, which is one of the safest, non-toxic toy brands on the market. Lots of puzzles, lacing toys, and some trucks for Elias. We celebrated Elias' birthday on Thursday, and wow, did he ever get showered with presents! The final present my parents brought out was a big plastic bulldozer from my grandma in Ottawa, which makes an engine noise and sparks on the wheels, and that was the best grand finale Elias could have ever hoped for. He loves that truck, and wheels it around bulldozing blocks and other living room paraphernalia.

For Elias' birthday he and I made a no sugar carrot cake, involving honey and pineapple, which was very yummy. Us making it together was part of his birthday present. He also had a pinata, in the shape of a rooster, which he had lots of fun trying to bang apart. Eowyn took a few turns too, and it was all somewhat dangerous as they were swinging around the long broom handle. I guess that's what makes it so exciting! Eventually we ended up smashing it on the floor, as it was a very slow process trying to smash it while is swinging from the ceiling.

My parents also brought a lot of books, including some books I had ordered on Amazon and had sent to their house. I can read again! It's fun to have lots of new stories, and I especially love the children's book I Love You Because You're You. They also brought books I had ordered to give to Juana's kids and to Heilym, and presents from them for everyone as well.

And, maple syrup for me (I mean for the whole family...)! And sunflower seed butter! And brown rice! I'm going to make rice for Amadeus as his first food, when Eric gets back from Costa Rica.

Yes, Eric is in Costa Rica again. We have been thinking that we would like to experience what living in Costa Rica is like, so Eric went there on Saturday to look for a rental house. So far he is not finding anything suitable, so we will probably just stay in Jinotega. We would need a furnished house with at least three bedrooms, which is hard to find in the area we want (Grecia).

We went to Selva Negra with my parents, and Elias and Eowyn both went on a little horse ride. We also went to the mercado with my parents, which even on a Sunday is incredibly busy, noisy, smelly, and colourful. Juana's kids came over for a visit, and we went out to visit Heilym's mom and little brother in the country (about 20 minutes drive from our house). It was really interesting to see how their family lives.

They own a lot of land and cattle, but their house has a concrete/dirt floor, and wooden plank walls with a lot of gaps where wind and dust can get in. They have no running water at their house, and have to haul it from a tap at the end of the long lane that leads to the main road. Their stove is made of clay and burns wood, and their bathroom is an outhouse up high on cement blocks. The shower is outside too, and is just an enclosure where someone can take a bucket of water with a bowl and dump it on themselves. There is a front room, a kitchen, and a bedroom in the house, and all the beds are in the one bedroom. We pass these wooden houses along the road all the time when we are traveling by bus, so it was really interesting to see inside one. The countryside where her family lives is very peaceful and pretty, and they have mango, orange, and another kind of fruit tree I don't remember the name of in their yard.

Her little brother, Sayid, has a shiny new bike with training wheels, and Elias, Sayid, and Eowyn had fun riding on it, with one person riding behind, around the little dirt yard.

I took lots of photos on my mom's camera, but wasn't able to put any of them on my computer (incompatible memory card), so I'll have to get them later.

The kids had a great time with their Grandmom and Grandad, with lots of playtime, story time, walk time, and snuggle time. We walked them to the bus this morning, and waved goodbye as the bus left for Managua. On the way back home we met a girl who lives a half a block from us who was holding two baby bunnies! I stopped to look at them and pet them, and Eowyn and Elias had a chance to hold them and pet them. All day Elias kept asking if we could go back and visit the bunnies, so after dinner we walked to her house, which is also a little store. She was just coming into the house when we got there, and I asked if it would be okay if the kids could hold the bunnies (conejitos). We sat outside on their bench, and Emily gave each of them a bunny on their lap. The bunnies are so soft and cute! We talked a little with the kids who were there, and their father (I think) who spoke a little English.

A bizarre event in the middle of this was that the mother of one of the boys who was with us, who is probably about ten years old, came and dragged him off the step and started beating him on the shoulder with a belt she'd wound around her hand. Apparently she just wanted him to come home, because he'd been out of the house for too long. He was cowering and covering his head as she hauled him away, hitting him the whole time. Heilym saw him later when she went out to meet a friend, and he told her that his mother had given him a beating. She told him she was sorry that that happened. I asked Heilym if this is common, and she said yes. I don't think everyone approves, but no one interferes. I'm still trying to understand parenting in this culture, but one thing I know for sure--we're not in Canada anymore.

Adventures ~ Las Penitas

This past Thursday morning Heilym, Amadeus, and I caught the 7:30 am bus to Managua. We arrived at immigracion around 10 am, and an hour later I walked out with renewed visas for Amadeus, Eowyn, and myself for another 90 days in Nicaragua. The process was fairly painless, actually, and cost us approximately $33 each. After a quick stop at the supermarket La Colonia for snacks, we hopped on a bus to Leon, and then from Leon on a bus to the beach, Las Penitas.

On the bus to Leon I met a couple and their four year old girl from Dawson City in the Yukon! They are living in San Juan del Sur, pretty much doing the same thing we are--escaping winter. That was pretty neat, and just goes to show how adventurous Yukoners really are.

This was Heilym's first time ever going to the beach, and she was quite excited to see the ocean! We checked into Playa Roca and while we were waiting for our room to be ready ordered fresh juice made from banana, pineapple, and orange juice. Delicious! It was so relaxing to watch the waves roll in, feel the warm breeze, and sip my cold drink.


I went in swimming a little while later, but the water is very strong and there is a danger of an undertow, so I mostly just waded up to my calves. I sat with Amadeus for a few minutes, but the splashing water was a bit scary. We went for dinner to a different hotel, Hotelito Oasis, and had pan fried fish. The fish was good, but the rice tasted dusty and crunchy.

The next morning I woke up and thought I might go in for a morning swim. Unfortunately, before I had even had breakfast, I had an onset of severely painful cramps, so painful that I would say it was worse than labour pain. They just went on and on, and I did my best to breathe and tried singing. Heilym took Amadeus and went in search of a pharmacy for ibuprofen, but he started crying so she brought him back. I delayed nursing him as I knew breastfeeding would make the pain worse, and eventually the cramps lessened a little and I couldn't stand to hear him crying anymore, so I breastfed him lying down and did a lot of slow breathing and yoga relaxation. We fell asleep, and then Heilym came back with the ibuprofen, which I gratefully took and went back to sleep. The ibuprofen cost 10 cordobas ($0.50) for 4 pills, for those who are interested.

When I woke up for the second time that morning I felt much better. I had breakfast, and then we walked along the beach to Hotel Olazul, to see if it would be a good place to stay if we came to the beach with my parents during their visit. It's a nice property and they have a pool, but the cabins each have only one bed, which doesn't work for our family. We had lunch, shrimp cocktail and fruit crepes, and juice. I also enjoyed a strawberry margarita, and it was very relaxing to sit in the shade and look out on the sunbaked sand as the waves rolled in and out. Amadeus crawled around on the patio floor quite happily for a while.

Since we had walked along the beach, Heilym didn't wear shoes. I was wearing my flip flops, but carried them most of the way. As we went up the beach to the entrance to the restaurant the sand got hotter and hotter, and I burned my feet! Ouchy! I put on my sandals but of course Heilym had no shoes. I thought I could throw her my shoes, but it was too far. So I asked a muchacho in the restaurant if he had a pair of flip flops we could borrow! He did, and Heilym made it up the beach without burnt feet. We enquired about buying the sandals, but they were not for sale as they were his only pair. So she put them back on to make it down to the water, and then I carried them back up.

Heilym got her first swimming lesson that afternoon from a twenty year old muchacho at our hotel, Patricio (Patrick). Apparently he is somewhat like a son to the owners, and not exactly an employee. He was sweet and cute, and I think made her beach experience that much more fun! That evening we had lobster for dinner, a great deal at $10 each! I think the lobster I had in PEI a few summers ago was better, but it was nice to eat it again.

The next morning we left the beach and stopped in Leon on our way home. It was hot and humid at 38 degrees celsius, and we were both sweating profusely. I was so sticky. Leon is very pleasant though, in terms of architecture and feel. We stopped in to the cathedral, which is the largest in Central America. I'm never quite sure what to look at in cathedrals--well, there it is, yep, it's big, look at those arches, okay let's go. Plus, there was a mass going on and it seemed like we were interrupting just by being there, wandering around.

In Managua we caught a taxi from one bus station to the other, and shared our taxi with a chicken! A man had a chicken in a rice bag (a large woven plastic bag), with a hole for the chicken's head. The chicken made the occasional comment on the journey, but didn't seem too perturbed. I asked the man, "Esta gallina es para huevos or para comer?" He assured me the chicken was for huevos (eggs), which was perhaps why the chicken was so content with her lot.

After six hours of bus travel (that's twelve hours within the course of three days!) we made it back home. I had hoped that the beach would be closer so we could go with my parents when they visit, but decided it was really too long of a bus ride for the kids, considering their ages and the amount of actual fun they'd get out of it. I'm glad I got to experience the beach though! A nice change, that's for sure.

Adventures ~ Esteli

I went to Esteli for two nights with Eowyn, Amadeus, and Heilym while Eric was in Costa Rica. I quite liked the city and the area in general. The climate is similar to here. The BEST part about Esteli, though, was Cafe Luz. The food there is organic, and so, so yummy. I had humus, lasagna, roasted eggplant with vegetables and mozarella, chicken fajitas, pancakes, whole wheat toast, a BLT with roast chicken breast on whole wheat bread, amazingly delicious large cut french fries (papas fritas), and juice, juice, juice. I love the juice. Whole banana, pineapple, papaya blended with other flavours like ginger and orange juice, all from fresh fruit! Juices cost about $1.50 to $2 each, and meals ranged from $3 to $7 each.

We stayed our two nights at Cafe Luz in their room with two double beds, and they very accommodatingly brought in another single for Eowyn. The room would have cost $20 per night with the two double beds, but it was $24 a night with the extra bed. I also had to pay for towels, about $1.10 per towel.

The owner is British and has a three year old daughter, and Eowyn had fun playing with water in the central courtyard with her when we first got there. The women were cleaning with brooms and water from a hose, so I just took off all of Eowyn's clothes and they gave her a bucket and a brush. She loved it!

I decided it would be good to go see something in the area, so we went out to the Estanzuela waterfall. I hired a taxi to take us there, and we agreed on a price of 500 cordobas for 3 hours, pretty steep at $25 but I decided it was worth it. The road was very rough and it took us about half an hour to get to the top of the trail. I hadn't realized that we would need to walk a ways to access the waterfall, and when the taxi driver told me it was 5 km I just about had a heart attack. No way we were going to be able to walk that and not be totally exhausted with a baby and a 22 month old. I felt pretty disappointed, and it was hot out. The people collecting our 10 cordobas for entry told us it was about a 20 minute walk, which did not equate to 5 km. So I decided we would walk for 20 minutes and if we weren't anywhere we would turn back. The road down to the waterfall was very rocky and steep in areas, and you would need a four wheel drive to go down it. Or a horse. Within twenty minutes I heard the falls, and we came upon a rocky shore with a shady pool and a very pretty waterfall tumbling into it. I changed into shorts and a tank top I had bought that morning, took off Eowyn's clothes, and we went in for a dip while Heilym held Amadeus. The water was cool, and after a few minutes of twirling Eowyn in the water and splashing she was covered in goose bumps, had blue lips, and was shivering. I got her dressed, dressed myself, and then dipped the baby's feet in. We then had a great snack of bananas, chocolate, and oranges. I don't have any pictures because Eric had the camera in Costa Rica, but Heilym took a few photos on her cell phone. When she puts them on the internet then maybe I can get them and post them here.

The taxi driver hung out and smoked a cigarette on the far side of the pool. Nice paid holiday for him! I was actually a bit nervous about him accompanying us, but another group of people ended up walking down the trail with us as well, so I didn't ask him to go back. There were two funny things that happened on the way back with the taxi driver. First, Eowyn had been eating a banana and she decided she was all done, but there was still half a banana left. I didn't want to throw it away, and I thought it would be funny if I offered it to the taxi driver. To my surprise, he took it and ate it, even though Eowyn had had her hands all over it! The taxi driver offered to carry a bag, so I handed him the bag of garbage. After a while he asked Heilym what it was. As soon as she replied, "Basura," he flung it up into the grass and bushes in the embankment above us. And I wonder why there is garbage littered everywhere! We instantly exclaimed that he couldn't do that, and I asked him to go get it. He protested, saying that everyone does that, it's no big deal. I insisted. He scrambled up the embankment and retrieved the bag, which I then gave to Eowyn to carry. She did a much better job.

I was thinking of going to visit CoolTop, a ranch that the guy behind Nicaliving.com owns, but the road was worse than the road to the waterfall, and I didn't think we would have enough time. So we went back to Cafe Luz and had a great dinner!

The next day I checked out the Casa Cultura, which is a center for artists in Esteli. I saw some neat paintings, one of which I quite liked but he was asking $250! I was hoping to find something for $50. Also, the artist was not very friendly. Maybe that shouldn't be a requirement for buying a painting, but, whatever. On the opposite corner from the Casa Cultura was a store that sells items made by craftspeople and artisans. There's nothing similar in Jinotega, so I bought a few stone carvings, wood jars, shirts, and the like. Cafe Luz also had handmade soap, notecards, and journals, so I bought a few of those. I didn't find Bioland products at the supermarket, but I have heard they are available in Esteli, maybe at a natural food or medicine store.

We were going to eat at La Casita for lunch before taking the bus home, a restaurant that apparently has amazing bread and cheese and natural foods, but after we got out of the taxi and it drove away we discovered they were closed until 2pm. We took a taxi back into town and ate at Cafe Luz, and then caught the bus for home.

Photo

I don't have my camera at the moment as Eric has it in Costa Rica. For those of you wondering why I didn't take a photo when I first got my hair cut. I do have a webcam that takes pictures, but it has no flash and it was dark by the time I finished my appointment.

Today I got my hair styled, and here is a photo with my webcam camera, taken on my upstairs balcony/hallway (the one where my little black cat friend makes an appearance). I couldn't figure out how to look at the camera; I was trying to look right at it but it still looks like I'm looking somewhere else.

I realized that this hair cut is essentially the same hair cut I had in second year university, when I was 19. I always thought that was my best looking year, and I've tried to get the same haircut but have never succeeded. I remember I would put a few minutes into styling it, which probably also made a difference. This hair cut I have now, if I let it air dry I do slightly resemble a shaggy dog. But I love it when it's styled!

And a picture of Eowyn and me--we've spent some pretty solid time together these past two weeks, but haven't had a camera to record any of it!

Amadeus' Birth Story

Amadeus was conceived when my second child, Eowyn, was only seven months old. Because I was pregnant so close to a previous birth, my body didn’t have time to fully recover. I found being pregnant in the winter with a baby who wasn’t yet walking very difficult, especially as when I lifted Eowyn I would strain my belly, which was very painful. I hired someone to help me so I could take the kids on walks without having to push the stroller or pull the sled, which also strained my belly. As the snow melted and Eowyn learned to walk, things were improving, but then at 31 weeks pregnancy I started having regular, mildly painful contractions. This was a concern, as I did not want the baby to born too early. I really cut back on my activity, and Eric was able to take holidays starting at the end of May. I continued to have mildly painful, regular contractions once or twice a week. My midwife, Christina, provided a number of suggestions and remedies, including taking a bath, rubbing essential oils on my belly to help slow down the contractions, and taking magnesium. The magnesium seemed to help the most. My cervix did not actually appear to be dilating because of the contractions, which was also a good sign. So at 37 weeks, when we were in the all clear for a home birth, I was ready to have the baby! But, the baby was not ready to be born. I continued to have regular, mildly painful contractions here and there, but they did not develop into labour.
On Monday, July 13, 2009 I woke up at 4:30am and noticed I was having some mildly painful contractions. I got up to go pee, and dozed until 5:30am, having noticed four contractions during that time. It was difficult to go back to sleep at 5:30am, but I think I eventually did. When I woke up later I was still having the same type of contractions every 10-15 minutes, but they felt slightly different to me than all the other contractions I had had during this pregnancy. They felt like they were actually doing something to my cervix—I could feel them in a deeper way. I called Christina around 10 or 11am to let her know that “I might be having a baby today!” We were scheduled to have an appointment at my house at 7pm, and I said I would call her at 5pm to let her know what was happening. I also called my sister Annie at work (I had to track her down through a friend’s cell phone) to let her know that I might be needing her.
The contractions continued into the afternoon, and I felt irritable and moody. A few hours later things were still the same, and I was getting impatient. I either wanted labour to start or I wanted the contractions to go away. I was curious to see if natural methods of labour augmentation would have any effect, so at around 3:30pm natural prostaglandins and oxytocin were employed. At around 4:30pm my contractions began to pick up, and by 5pm they were every 5 minutes.
I called Christina and let her know that things seemed to be happening, but I wasn’t sure if this was really it. She said that it sounded promising, but that it could still stop, which I was aware of, so I wasn’t really convinced that I was going to have the baby soon. She asked if I wanted her to come over, and I said no, I was fine, and she should just come for our appointment at 7pm. We pulled the already blown up birthing tub out of the downstairs office and into the rec room (we learned from Eowyn’s birth not to leave blowing up the tub to the last minute!) and added a few last minute bits of air to make sure it was nice and firm.
I started to feel chilled, so even though I had had visions of myself laboring in something really nice looking, for the video and pictures I wanted, I ended up in my old but warm sweat pants and a shirt that didn’t match. I wanted to look sexy, because for one thing feeling beautiful is great and for the other thing birth is a totally sexual event (just remember how the baby got in there to begin with and that the baby comes out through the vagina!). But I always end up naked anyway, so I suppose in the end it doesn't matter what I'm wearing. I also turned on the space heater and it started to warm up the room nicely.
I called my sister, Annie, and she came over and arrived around 5pm. I was downstairs and sitting on the birthing ball, breathing through my contractions when she arrived. Eowyn and Elias came downstairs too. I started singing the worship song “All Who Are Thirsty”* through my contractions, and it really helped. Eowyn was acting quite clingy, and wanted to sit on my lap on the birthing ball. I tried to hold her on my lap, but when I had a contraction it was too much for me to hold her and sing through the contraction. I tried to get Annie to help me hold Eowyn on the ball while I had a contraction, but it didn’t work too well. She started crying when she couldn’t be on my lap, and so Annie & Eric took her upstairs. My singing carried through the house, and unfortunately every time I started singing Eowyn would start crying.
Annie and Eric divided up looking after the kids and making dinner, and I sat on the birthing ball downstairs by myself. I rocked on the birthing ball, singing every time I had a contraction. I called Christina again at 6pm, and by this time my contractions were about three minutes apart and I definitely could not walk or talk through them. I still wasn’t totally convinced I was in labour, as I had not seen a mucuous plug or bloody show, and I also didn’t think I’d seen enough mucous discharge over the previous few weeks to add up to a whole mucous plug. I had noticed an increase in discharge, but it just wasn’t very much at one time. I told Christina this, and she said that I had probably lost the mucous plug a long time ago, as I’d been having all those contractions for so long. I now finally believed that the baby would be born soon! Christina asked if I wanted her to come right away, but I said she should just come for 7pm, but come prepared for the birth.
By the time Christina arrived at 7pm I was really glad she was there! I had been looking at the clock from about 6:45pm on thinking that I was glad she was going to be there soon. She took a bit of video, and asked if I would like her to start filling up the birthing tub, and I said yes. The water was starting to sound really, really good.
I was wondering how dilated I was, because I was wondering how much longer the labour might go on. I was already having quite intense contractions, and I had only been in active labour for about two and half hours. I didn’t want to count on another fast labour like Eowyn’s. I asked Christina if she could check my cervical dilation, something I had deliberately decided against during my labour with Eowyn, as it can be uncomfortable and slow labour down, and it doesn’t change anything for the better in terms of how long you will be in labour, and it’s not a good indicator of how much longer it will be. But. Christina knew how I had felt about cervical checks before, as she was my midwife with Eowyn, and asked if that’s what I really wanted. She said that she could do it, but asked if I thought I might regret it later. She also said that she was quite happy with my progression, and that she felt no need to do a check. I thought about it, and thought that I might end up regretting it later, and that the labour was going to go how it was going to go. Christina also said that she thought it would be a good idea if Annie and the kids were close by and didn’t go too far on a walk, so this also gave me confidence that I probably wouldn’t be in labour that much longer. I decided against the cervical check.
I got up off the birthing ball to go the bathroom, and had another contraction right on top of the one I had just had because of the walking. I held onto the bathroom sink and sang through it. Then I went pee, and as I was getting up I had another contraction and held onto the bathroom sink again and sang through it before shuffling back over the birthing ball. The contractions were getting more intense, and I found the singing really amazing. When the intensity of the feelings deepened and my cervix was really opening I just sang more passionately.
When the tub was ready I took off my clothes as fast as I could and got into the hot water, which felt absolutely wonderful. I tried squatting on my heels, but found that I was most comfortable kneeling in the water with my head resting on the inflated side of the tub while I was having a contraction. I had to pee, but I didn’t want to get out of the tub because walking made me have contractions one on top of the other. Christina brought me a bucket to pee in, but that wasn’t working either, so she said it was okay if I just peed in the tub. It felt a bit strange to do that, but at the same time it made sense. Urine in a healthy person does not have any bacteria, plus there was a lot of water to dilute the urine. And I knew I’d poop in the tub later during the pushing, and that wasn’t a big deal, even though there’s bacteria in it.
Eric joined us, and he put his hand on my back through some of the contractions, which felt good, until at one point I didn’t want to be touched anymore. A warm, wet towel on the part of my back that was out of the water felt really good. The sensations got more intense and I just kept singing through it all, and I started to feel like pushing. I hadn’t had a feeling like I couldn’t do it or that it was too hard or that I was losing control, and I found transition was very manageable with the singing.
My water had not broken, and Christina said that if I stood up the water might break from the pressure and the pushing, if I wanted to do that. I didn’t feel that I needed the water to break, and I was fine with the way things were progressing, so I just stayed kneeling. I hadn’t felt the baby move in a while, so Christina asked if she could listen with the fetoscope. That didn’t work too well, probably because the baby was so far down, so she asked if she could listen with the Doppler and I said yes. I stood up out of the water and we got a nice, strong heartbeat. Standing up felt good, so I stayed there for a few contractions, holding onto Eric and moving my hips, while singing through them. My water didn’t break. Then I knelt back down in the tub again.
The urge to push was getting stronger, and I was really groaning and bearing down into them. All of a sudden I felt a great gush and surge of fluid as my water broke. Suddenly the intensity of the pushing contractions became almost overwhelming, and I felt like I was floundering and drowning. There was so much pressure, and I couldn’t tell if I was having a contraction or not, and I couldn’t sing anymore, and I could hardly even breathe. I said, “I think I’m losing it,” and Christina said, “Losing what?” and I said, “My ability to cope.” I felt annoyed that she asked me that—wasn’t it obvious? But then I thought that she was just making sure she knew what I was talking about. She affirmed me and said I was doing great, and Eric said so too. Christina also said that the pressure would be very intense right now because the baby’s head was starting to move through the birth canal. It felt like that moment went on forever. But I managed to catch my breath, and even though the pressure of the baby’s head was very, very intense, I took deep, slow breaths again.
The next contraction I pushed deeply and I reached down and could feel the baby’s head. I felt like I wasn’t out of control anymore. I was kneeling with my arms resting on the side of the tub. I pushed the baby’s head part way out, and then my contraction stopped so I stopped pushing. We rested like that for what seemed like a few minutes, and Christina pushed the skin of my vagina over the baby’s head a bit so I wouldn’t feel such a burning sensation. On the next contraction I pushed the baby’s head out and paused again as the contraction stopped. We rested. With the next contraction I tried not to push too much so that I wouldn’t tear, and I could feel his long body slide right out of me. A wonderful feeling of relief washed through me. The pregnancy was over! Eric caught the baby in the water, and Christina quickly unlooped the cord that was around the baby’s neck so there would be enough length for the baby to come to my chest. I turned over from kneeling and sat down, and there was my baby on my chest! I felt ecstatic, and cried, “Oh baby, oh baby!” He was born at 8:32 pm.
Elias came over and stood by the tub. Eric wanted to see if the baby was a boy or a girl, but I was just happy that the baby was born! We looked, and sure enough we had a boy! I said, “I knew you were a boy!” Eric invited Elias into the water, and he came in and stroked the baby’s head. I noticed Elias’ hands were cold, so I asked him to warm them in the water. My sister, Annie, came down the stairs with Eowyn just as we discovered that our baby was a boy. Eowyn immediately started crying, and then Amadeus cried too. Eric and Annie took Eowyn’s diaper off and got her into the tub, and she cried for a bit then settled down and stroked the baby. I felt bad that Amadeus’ first moments after being born were filled with chaos and crying, but at least it was the sounds of family. We found out the next day that Eowyn was getting sick and that was why she had been so clingy and had been crying so much. She had a fever the day after Amadeus was born and slept a lot of the day, poor girl.
After Eowyn stopped crying we had a good family time with the baby in the tub. I held Amadeus upright on my chest, and not too long after being born he started leaning to the right. I supported his neck and let him lean over and find my nipple. He mouthed it a bit, and then latched on.
The funniest moment was when Elias noticed there was blood in the water, and tried to get over to the other side of me to get away from it. This didn’t work too well for me as the baby was nursing on that side. Eric thought fast and told Elias that there was more blood on that side of the tub! So Elias went back to the other side.
I birthed the placenta in the tub, and then got out, with the placenta in a bucket and the cord still attached to the baby. We lay down in bed, with Amadeus still nursing. About an hour after he was born Eric cut the cord. We got settled and then Eric finally put Elias and Eowyn to bed at about 11 pm. Annie’s friend Harrison came to pick her up and drive her home, and he said hi quickly and peeked at the baby. Christina cleaned everything up and went home, after giving Eric and I instructions on what to do if I started hemorrhaging. They helped me upstairs, and since I was sleeping in a different room than Eric, Christina suggested I have a whistle handy in case I started bleeding and needed help. I had no complications though and everything was fine.
After such a difficult pregnancy with so much worry, the birth was very easy and Amadeus was perfectly healthy. What a relief! I am so thankful I had another amazing homebirth, and I feel very empowered by the experience.

*All Who Are Thirsty (lyrics)
All who are thirsty
All who are weak
Come to the fountain
Dip your heart in the stream of life
Let the pain and the sorrow
Be washed away
In the waves of his mercy
As deep cries out to deep
We sing,
Come, Lord Jesus, come
Come, Lord Jesus, come