On Sunday I decided that I wanted to get my body back in shape for the hard work ahead of it. We walked into town, something I hadn’t done in weeks, to buy the last few items we needed for the new baby’s arrival. The most exciting purchase we made was a bike seat and helmet for James so he could zip around easily with Jonathan while I was in the hospital.  (James now LOVES bike rides!) After not walking hardly anywhere for 2-3 weeks, I was pretty proud of myself for the 6 hours spent on my feet. We returned home that night feeling tired, but with our mission accomplished. On the walk home, Jonathan felt the Holy Spirit say that the baby would indeed come the following day. We did our best to hold onto this in faith, though we knew in the natural it likely didn’t really matter if the baby came that day or later.

That night we decided we wanted to make our little son feel special and spent time welcoming him into the world and telling him we loved him. We encouraged our son to be brave, to be at peace and happy to come out and meet us. We kept telling him we loved him and that we’d take care of him in the outside world. We have read that birth can be a traumatizing event for babies, so we felt this was important to do. Then we spent time praying over my body and the work it had ahead of it. Finally Jonathan prayed that the right hormones would begin to be released to prepare my body for labour and that I would sleep the night thru without any pains or weird feelings. – I did wake up several times for my usual pee schedule through the night, and found  finding myself thinking “Omigosh, I’m probably having a baby tomorrow!”

Monday morning I woke up not feeling anything particular, but I do remember feeling quite well. No pain or anything, and I remember noticing the little babe wasn’t doing his usually morning stretches inside me but was quiet and still. Jonathan and James left on their first bike ride together to the park. After about 20 minutes I called Jonathan to tell him I was having strange cramps but I didn’t  identify them as contractions. A few minutes later I called him back to say maybe they were contractions because of their regular intervals, and that we should notify our friends Marcus and Jacoba to head over to our house to watch James. Then I told Jonathan I didn’t want to talk to him because I was having one at the moment and hung up the phone. – Well my lovely concerned supportive husband notified our friends and headed straight home because he thought my contractions were so strong that I couldn’t speak when I was having one. The truth was I just didn’t feel like chit chatting to him on the phone.

I set about cleaning the house and doing dishes, not getting very far, pausing every 10 minutes to clutch my stomach, not so much from pain as from the strange feeling. Jonathan returned home and finished packing the last minute items into my hospital bag and tried to keep James occupied. The contractions moved from 10 minutes apart to 5 minutes apart within a half hour span. (At this point I still wasn’t convinced they were contractions because they felt different than last time.) As soon as Marcus arrived we called the taxi because I figured if they were contractions, I’d rather be at the hospital when they start hurting than at home with James competing for my attention. – Love that little boy but there are some times I don’t want him jumping on my belly.

After a pleasant taxi ride (we managed to not scare the driver this time) we arrived at the hospital at 11:30am. Still fearing I was about to be sent home and reprimanded for wasting their time, I climbed up on the examination table. Turns out I was 7cm dilated and they confirmed that I was indeed in labour. Our little boy was coming, he’d listened to us and he was excited to meet us! I shed a few tears of joy and reassured the nurse that they were happy tears and I still wasn’t actually in any pain.

So we went straight into a delivery room (the last one, as apparently all the others were full) and spent the next hour waiting out the contractions  (waiting for the pushing stage) and trying different little things to cope with the newly arrived pain. I didn’t want to take any drugs so we tried massage, cold compress, sitting on an exercise ball and swaying back and forth together like an awkward grade 8 couple at a school dance – yes that was us cracking jokes and pretending to be in grade 8 while I was in labour.

Around 12:30pm my body was ready for the next stage. At first I was quite shy about pushing and did little pushes trying to keep my face from going red and trying not to pee! – Maybe labour is not the time to try to be calm, cool and collected  The midwives encouraged me to just push without caring about anything else. After one or two solid pushes, my water broke in a sudden intense push and rocketed fluids across the room, soaking the end of the bed and the floor. Both midwives let out healthy bursts of laughter, and while my charming husband did his best not to even react, he told me later it was just about the funniest thing he’d ever seen.

3 contractions later (or so) and the intense work began.  With a few more pushes the top half of his head came poking out. That was pretty much the climax pain wise, the next minute or two waiting for the next contraction felt like an eternity! With the next contraction the rest of his head came out, and saw dark brown hair. One more contraction and the rest of Ruuben was born, and after Jonathan cut the cord, he was put into my arms.

The next little bit was a blur as we got acquainted with our little guy. I do remember feeling happy that I didn’t need any stitches though. I chose the names this time and announced them to Jonathan. Ruuben (Finnish spelling, pronounced just like the Hebrew Reuben) Levi (Hebrew name) Eelis (Finnish derivative of Eli). Ruuben was born at 1:09pm, weighing 2.96kg and was 48 cm. He was slightly bigger than James was, although born two weeks earlier – I bet it has to do with all the chocolate I ate this time.

The rest of the afternoon/ evening flew by as we held our son, fed him, rested and called family with the news. As soon as we were ready I sent Jonathan downstairs to buy some celebratory ice creams and chocolate bars. We thanked God for this amazing blessing and I marvelled at how well I felt, with no aches or pains, basically ready for running and jumping and excited to sleep on my stomach! The only annoying part was the after birth contractions which have been very painful but are doing a good job of contracting my uterus, I’m told.

Now I’m writing this relaxing in our hospital room with a beautiful sleeping Ruuben beside me. I’m so happy for a few days to rest and get to know him before returning home to my nemesis: house work. This is like a little holiday.  Now I guess I’ll grab some sleep although, I’ll be up again in a few hours to feed my boy – life with a new born begins again.
To Ruuben,
You did amazing today! Thank you for being brave! We love you so much! We hope to be the best parents for you that we can be – hopefully you think so. We look forward to all the adventures together.
Love, Mommy and Daddy.

Discipline feels like the word for this fall as we’ve set some goals for ourselves. Besides planning to spend loads of quality family time, re-establish our dating life, and hanging out with new friends and old friends who have moved closer, we’re on a mission to have a productive next few months. I’m working on my thesis, and working on spending less money so Jonathan can buy me more presents… that part sounds strange but it is a goal and he’s the one who wants to buy me more. I think that’ll keep me busy enough. Jonathan goal other than the one I just revealed would revolve djing and getting in shape, and spending time with James so I have more free time. He probably has more but those come to mind first. James is working on learning to crawl, he’s quite frustrated at himself at times as he gets on his hands and knees and just rocks back and forth. His frustration though produces quite a lot of strength as he slides all around the room seeking mischief. I think walking isn’t too far off his radar either. If you put him on his feet his is more than eager to take off running although we hold him up as he has no idea what balance is yet.
In my effort to get organized I finally started to do things I’ve been meaning to for awhile such as make a stamp of James’ hand and foot prints. Ok so I decided it would be too creepish for him to wake up to me putting ink all over his hands and feet in order to get a clear print. So instead we did it together and the result is bubbling with his personality. He tried to grab the paper as I tried to stamp his hand on it. He loves paper and tries to eat it. I’m determined to not be the mother of the boy who eats paper at the back of the school bus (flashback) so I spend large portions of the day taking it out of his mouth or covering his mouth when he raises it to his lips. Ok, back to what I was saying. You’ll see our son has a lovely footprint of 6+ toes. He stops dancing for no one so ink print had no chance. Voila, very unique 7 month prints of James’ hands and feet. Love that munchkin!

I can not believe our little guy is turning 6 months in less than a week. That is CRAZY! Its like we’ve jumped into some time portal or something. Its been amazing though to watch James learn how to sleep through the night (which he learned at 2 months – Thank God!), smile, chitter chatter, play with his toys, eat mushed foods and roll over (that one was in the last week.) Things have changed after becoming a mommy that’s for sure. I find myself thinking about James all the time subconsciously – what is he wearing, is he warm enough? is he hungry? is he tired? Getting ready to go out now takes half an hour to get ready which has been a big lesson for Jonathan who was accustomed to just putting his coat on the moment we walk out the door.
Happy to report that James has gotten used to us as we have to him. Geez, thank goodness, I wouldn’t know what to do if he hadn’t. He doesn’t know any different after all. The little munchkin seems to enjoy watching his dad play video games and joining in the trance jam sessions. He seems to be fine with my daily escapades and meeting new friends.
This summer everything seems new and exciting as we watch James eagerly exploring his new world. (You should see some of his concentrated stares – no blinking for over 5 minutes straight!) We are happy to have so much family and friends coming to see our side of the world and no doubt meet the new family member. Sigh… wish summer would last forever

James’ best friend (for now) video:

Looking back I guess I’ve learned alot in 5 weeks with the help of  parenting guides, knowlegable friends and good ole faithful google.  I was so nervous before James was born I watched countless youtube videos on how to  breastfeed, change diapers, bathe newborns and even how to give newborns massages. I still feel like a new parent who needs to get advice on everything new that I’m unsure about, but its just because I want the best for our boy. But I do have to laugh at myself looking back to those first days, you live and learn.  I was so unsure about breastfeeding at first that I didn’t want to do it unless I had to So I let James sleep as long as he wanted the first two nights. Big mistake, he didn’t wake up when he was hungry and by the time he did, he was too weak to eat.

And then there was diaper changing. It wasn’t until the third night I realized his diaper should be changed at night as well as during the day. Embarrassingly it was day 3 of James life, and I still hadn’t changed his diaper myself. So my first diaper change was in the middle of night. I couldn’t clean all of the poo off James, as I was so worried about hurting him. I just put a clean diaper over his messy bum praying the mess would solve itself. In the morning I complained to a nurse that I couldn’t get all the poo off of him, so she (probably humouring me) took my child and cleaned him off. Despite my first failed attempt, I’ve actually grown to enjoy changing diapers. (I know this is probably a premature notion as the novelty might just wear off soon.) I get the same satisfication for changing diapers as I get from throwing trash out, or doing a pile of dirty dishes. James loves having his diaper changed as well. He becomes quite peaceful and relaxed, even though I’m sure he is looking forward to the clean feeling I think he’s really after the milk. We have a routine of diaper change first, and milk after.

So we are both surviving as new parents and even enjoying ourselves. We are tired as most parents of a newborn are. Each night is worthy of a new story, as we wake up to find ourselves  burping or cuddling our pillows  or talking to James in our sleep. Despite our zombie-like state we love being parents and love our son.