Visiting a Baby

Today the boys and I set out on a local adventure without Matt, since that’s the culturally appropriate way to handle this. One of my friend’s younger sisters had her first child, a daughter, 10 days ago. She hadn’t gotten the chance to go visit so asked if I could help out. Ladies, especially with their firstborn, stay with their parents after giving birth so they can be taken care of and rest. Quite the system if you ask me!

Since the ladies rest, only close male family members are allowed, plus other women. Hence Matt not going. So Michael, Samuel, my friend, and I loaded up in the car with gifts (and an empty liter jar since my friend’s parents are our source for local milk…2 birds, 1 stone!) and picked up her mom and daughter along the way. I got complimented on my language ability (this was while having my friend re-say everything her mom said so that I could understand it) and played the creation story in their language in the background.

The house is just outside of town, so it’s not easy for my friend to get out there. Thus us having a vehicle is a bonus for her. And her parents are great! So it’s a pleasure to take the boys out there for an hour or so to visit.

The visit was mostly just sitting around while talking went on around us, especially since her parents and older brother were getting ready to go to a funeral a little over 2 hours away. But the highlights included Michael eating salt milk tea with butter, yogurt, and fried eggs (the only local foods he likes, and it was his first time trying the milk tea) and him getting to play with and watch a plethora of animals, including a kitten, rabbits, cows, goats, a turkey, and a renegade dog (Michael wasn’t afraid, but my friend was for him!). The lowlight was when Michael stepped on the 10-day-old girl. Yowsers! Talk about me panicking! They were super gracious and didn’t seem upset by it at all, and even invited us to come back again, but man, did I feel horrible!

So that was our outing! I told my friend on the way back about a difference between our cultures. In America, it’s not uncommon for someone visiting a new baby to hold the baby. But she didn’t hold her sister’s baby, and that’s not the first time I’ve seen the sister not hold the newborn. She said she didn’t know why it’s like that, but that if she finds out she’ll tell me. She then said that she’s afraid of holding the baby because she’s so small (I’m guessing this is the common reason, but that’s just a guess).

Oh, and I forgot my camera, though don't know if they would have been comfortable with me taking pictures anyway. And since my phone is a dumb phone, there wasn't even that for a backup. Oh well, maybe some other time.

 

Welcome Thumperl!

Um, wow...delay in blogging? Yes, this definitely falls in that category.

A lot has happened since October, and yet not much has happened all at the same time. We took a 3 week vacation to visit Matt's parents in Zambia (and my old stompin' ground after college). Then we went to a meeting in Turkey, where a doctor from the US was concerned about me going into labor early. So we ended up not going back to our country (well, Matt went for 3 days and was able to get some things in order) awaiting the arrival of Thumper.

So now we have another child. Very strange since we left the US 2 1/2 years ago as a couple, and now we  have two little boys. But we'll be back on that side of the ocean later this year to do introductions, and we're really looking forward to that!

"Every birth is different, or so I've been told. And this definitely seems to be the case. When hearing stories of other ladies who have given birth in Turkey, I had my hopes for a speedy, starting-on-its-own delivery."

 This quote is how I started the blog about Michael's delivery. Um, this is exactly what happened this time. And I didn't even remember writing this! Funny how Dad works. He did give me the desires of my heart...15 1/2 months later! :)

Thumper was due March 7. I had been going to checkups every 10 days because of the US doctor's concern about early delivery. At first my doctor didn't see these things, but she kept a close eye on me and did tell me when she saw things that could indicate an early delivery. So I tried to take it easy (between a fabulous husband and an excellent family we were sharing an apartment with, this actually was able to happen most of the time!). On Feb. 17, a Monday, I went in for a checkup. At this point I was past the concern mark and a delivery at any point would be fine and Thumper wouldn't have to go to NICU. My doctor said I wouldn't be making it to 40 weeks, so sometime in the next 2 weeks we would get to meet our 2nd child.

Stereotype? You betcha!

We then headed to the mall as a family of 3 (after going on a hunt for Coldstone Creamery near where we were staying...sadly, it hadn't opened up yet). We walked through the mall after grabbing lunch at the food court (hooray for Arby's!) where I even told Matt that I wasn't mentally prepped for having 2 kids yet. I know, 8 1/2 months of prep time and I hadn't gotten there. Just call me slow.

When going to bed that night, I told Matt that I thought something might be different. There was some mild pain in my lower belly, and it felt different than it had other nights. So I let the flatmates know (by this time there were two other families in the apartment...each family had a bedroom) and promptly fell asleep at 10:30. This was strange because for several nights prior I couldn't fall asleep until sometime after 11.

At 2 I made a bathroom run, then laid in bed for the next 30 minutes rocking myself through pains (at which point you say "Why didn't you call the doctor?" Again...slow.) I wasn't convinced they were real contractions instead of Braxton Hicks. So from 2:30-4:30am, I googled the differences online, timed them, and wrote a couple e-mails. At 4:30 I finally woke up Matt to ask about the cell phone. After a brief moment of tears brought on by nerves, I talked to my doctor who said to go to the hospital and have them check me out. We woke up a flatmate to ask her to keep Michael, and out the door we went (after fumbling around packing the hospital bag in the dark while trying not to wake up Michael...theme of the post: slow.)

She called ahead and apparently told the nurse she expected it to be false labor. After all, she had just seen me less than 24 hours ago! My final words before walking through the hospital doors were to tell Matt that I wanted an epidural. But when the nurse checks you at 5:20 and you're already at 8cm, that goes out the window really quickly.

My doctor got there at 5:40, found me at 9 cm, and broke my water to help hurry things up. Fine by me! Don't know when the pushing started, but it was less than 30 minutes. I kept digging my nails into Matt's hand saying "I don't like this! It hurts!" But at 6:18am, our newest addition completely arrived. Another boy! Matt was pumped because he and one of our flatmates were the only people throughout the entire pregnancy to guess boy. And it made my heart happy to know that Michael would be growing up with a brother close in age to play with.

Helloooooo Samuel!

That said, may we introduce you to Samuel Slayton Mitchell. He was born at 2.805 kg and 50 cm (that's 6 lbs. 3ish oz and about 19.7 in.). And for those of you wondering, Michael made the adjustment quite well and either ignores or tries to care for his younger brother. Couldn't have imagined that going as smoothly as it has.

Pardon Matt's crazy eyes...trying to keep a wiggly newly-walking little boy still for the self-photo was a real trick!

My heart melts every time looking at this picture.