Welcome little brother. May 20, 2009

The new Smith baby is finally here!  What a crazy, unusual month it has been…

At 03:00 on Sunday, May 10 (Mother’s Day, Wesak weekend, and a day after dad’s birthday!), Mom woke up with pains deep in her tummy, and by 07:00 we were speeding to the hospital.  After a relatively quick delivery, at 09:13 little Calvin James Smith emerged into the world.  Though total labor time was much less than with Madeline (hers was about 13 hours of agonizing contractions), it was tougher this time for mom because things weren’t lined up quite right.  The baby’s head was slightly off-kilter from the space through which it had to travel.  In fact, it became such a problem that in the end, the doctor had to use a vacuum to get him out.  Mom never really felt like she was in the right position the whole time – and once again, she had a natural birth, no epidural, only a local anesthetic.  She is one very, very tough woman.

We were a bit surprised that Calvin came when he did, as he was almost a week early and even the night before Mom was showing no signs of anything imminent. It all happened so fast – though we were grateful not to be losing an entire night’s sleep in the process.  We were home by 19:00 on Sunday evening.  Less than 12 hours in the hospital…. and mom’s health is jut fine (though still a bit sore).

Joseph Fraser was a great place to give birth, and though it was a bit old fashioned in terms of facilities, everything was completely adequate.  Dr Samaranayake and the nurses were all very competent and professional.

And what about dear Madeline?  When it became obvious at 06:00 that we had better get to the hospital as soon as possible, we called our friends Geoff and Zehra, who had agreed previously to come over at any hour, any time, just for this circumstance.  They were over in 15 minutes and Rani got to the house at around 09:00 – so Maddie was entertained all morning by some of her favorite people until early afternoon when they came down to the hospital to meet Calvin for the first time.  What a cute entourage – they arrived with flowers and a special card they had made to welcome Calvin into our family.

 Immediately, Madeline took a real liking to Calvin (she loves babies as all little girls do).  However, it took some time before she accepted that this baby is a permanent addition to the family.  In fact, for a few days she kept calling him “Baby James” – James is the 3 month-old baby that lives down the street, the son of Eric and Ava, who we see occasionally.  Even after seeing the two of them together, side by side, she still insisted on calling him “Baby James”.  Very cute indeed, and not entirely inaccurate, as James is Calvin’s middle name.

Time for some major adjustments all around.

Madeline has had some difficulties adjusting to her new roommate.  She has started displaying behavior that is completely out of the ordinary for her – intense, appalling temper tantrums that are stressing mom and dad out.  We don’t know how long this behavior will last, but apparently it’s quite normal for this to occur. The good news is that she is very sweet and loving to Calvin (even routinely sharing her beloved blanket with him!), so her frustration at her world being tipped upside down is manifesting itself away from Calvin as a person.

So now we are just in “cruising” mode with things.  Mom ended up getting a week of maternity leave before the birth and doesn’t go back to work until October.  Dad has just about taken all of his paternity leave, back to work in a few days – but as the school year is so close to being finished, there isn’t too much school to go back to.  The whole family will be heading back to the USA in a month.  Dad has also forgotten how upside down one’s world becomes with a newborn in the house.  No regular hours for anything and routines pretty much thrown out the window.  Even this blog will change!

Mom and baby are doing just fine.  Calvin had a bit of jaundice for the first 4-5 days (common, we have been told) that went away with the merconium.  He had an easy and natural time breastfeeding from the beginning, and Amy’s milk has come in just fine at this point.  But perhaps the most notable thing about Calvin is how much he sleeps (up to 20 hours a day – unbelievable!)  and how much milk he drinks (he’s an eating machine.)  Certainly we will not have to worry much about his weight or him getting enough sleep the way we did with Madeline.  So far, he is just about as different from Madeline as one can imagine… I wonder if this chilled-out behavior will last?

To add to the craziness of the month of May, the Sri Lankan government just declared the 26 year-old civil war to be over.  This is great news here in Sri Lanka.  But what it means is more time away from work, as Tuesday this week the school was closed for ‘security reasons’ and Wednesday was declared a national holiday.  The month of May has been a wash from a working point of view.  Not such a bad thing, is it?

May Day. May 2, 2009

Maddie in charge

Well, the calendar has FINALLY turned and we are now into Paco’s birthday month!  (Who is “Paco”?  Our endearing name for our new little bundle of joy that will be popping out into the world any time now.  Madeline was also Paco in utero…)   Still hard to believe.  He’s getting full and tight in Mom’s belly and can’t be very comfortable at the moment.  As mom has not put on much weight during this pregnancy (noticeably less than will Maddie), her belly is ridiculously accentuated like a basketball of epic proportions!  Not only that, you can actually look at her belly and see many of Paco’s limbs and body parts.  This is especially neat when they are moving around… which is happening pretty much constantly, all the time.  Will he be like this when he gets out?  No one knows.

Today we have another appointment with Dr. Samaranayake, now a weekly occurrence.  Last weekend Paco was not yet in any position to come out or even think about starting to do so, thank goodness!  On the one hand, we’d love for him to come out a little early as we really want to meet him (and get his passport in order so he can become “legal” for travel). Not to mention mom’s deteriorating comfort level.  But on the other hand, we are in no rush to have fewer nights of sleep.   Fortunately we have no control over these natural proceedings and it’s a bit pointless to speculate, since he’ll come out when he is good and ready.

A nightly ritual!

Mom’s last day of work was this past Thursday (Friday was the near-universal May Day Holiday, except of course in the USA).  That day was a big deal!  Mom got gifts and flowers and her little grade 5 kiddoes organizes and gave her a great baby shower/going away party.   She was very happy.  Unfortunately, her replacement teacher didn’t arrive in Colombo until Friday, so she had to go into work a bit then to meet with him.  But she’s in the clear now, and won’t return to work until mid-October.

Madeline is doing just fine.  She’s excited right now about 2 things – and one of them is NOT Paco’s arrival (not to worry; her world will be rocked to its foundations when he comes out). She’s obsessed with getting on an airplane (loves them!) and getting her kitchen on Sunday.  We are buying a kitchen set from a departing family and they are bringing it over on Sunday… it’s practically all she can think about.  Her requests to get on an airplane are starting to drive mom and dad a bit bonkers.  She made 2 new(ish) friends yesterday, 2 little girls aged 1 and 3, daughters of some Canadian friends of ours here in Colombo.  The 3 year-old bosses Maddie around (very good for her, as she does this to other kids!) and the 1 year-old looks up to Maddie as a big sister.  So this is ideal for Maddie’s psyche, just the right blend for her.  We hadd been meaning to get together with them for a long time and are glad that we finally did, and will be having many more play dates for sure.

Maddie's new "frog cage"

We brought them to the club, which is  kids hotspot on holiday/weekend afternoons.  In the pool we also played with Amy and Sonia, and Maddie saw some of her friends from school there.  Madeline is very peculiar about seeing her school friends away from school.  Some of them she runs up to and hugs while others she acts as if she doesn’t know them at all.  I guess that’s not unlike some adults!

One night last week an itty bitty frog appeared in our living room (not an uncommon occurrence).  We put it in a glass jar for Maddie to see in the morning – she loved it and even had breakfast with it.  However, in it’s best interest, we let it go afterwards.  But right then and there Maddie and dad both decided that we would catch another one and have a proper house made for it beforehand.  So yesterday we built a “frog cage” together and now we are all ready to go!  Just looking for a cooperative frog now…..

The weather continues to be HOT HOT HOT.  Over the past week it has rained a bit (mostly in the mornings) but has not been stormy.  Then the sun comes out and the rest of the day is miserably hot and humid.  Historically the monsoons come around now and cool things off a bit.  Waiting, waiting, waiting…. poor pregnant mom!