From a mother's perspective.

It's been a while since I have written a blog but life has been full of such precious moments lately that I couldn't help but share a few.

We have settled into Darwin very quickly which has had a lot to do with the generosity of our friends here who have warmly welcomed us back as well as helped us out practically with bits and pieces for our place.  Our little unit is only a street back from the foreshore in our favourite suburb (where we were last time) and Eden and I have been enjoying many walks to and from the pool along the Darwin coastline.  Check out the view!

Speaking of Eden... she has been filling our life with delight just as her name suggests.  She has recently learnt to roll from her tummy to her back as well as her back to her tummy and she wriggles and moves around with incredible determination.  You don't want to stand too close when she is exercising her legs or you just might cop a foot in the ribs!

    READY
              SET

ROLL

 
She has also become quite the chatter.  In the morning she will happily sit in her rocker in our little courtyard (my new favourite place) and listen to the birds and chat away like they are old friends.  I love watching her explore the world with her senses as she learns and absorbs from the environment around her.  It's amazing to watch and wonder what is ticking over in that little mind of hers.  She has been sleeping really well, which has meant that JR and I have also been able to get plenty of sleep.  Her smiles are absolutely contagious and she is a much loved little bundle of joy. And you should hear her sing ;)

But my favourite thing of all is that she has started giggling!  She had had one or two chuckles before but a few weeks ago she found her chuckling momentum.  It all started when my Nan and Aunty Kathy were visiting and Nan asked Eden if she would like a cup of tea.  Eden fixed her gaze on Nan and then laughed at her.  Of course I went running for the camera and everytime Nan asked her again, "Would you like a cup of tea?" she just gazed at Nan and chuckled.  Absolutely adorable!  Needless to say, even in Nan's absence, if ever we are trying to get a chuckle from Eden we'll kindly offer her a cup of tea - in a happy-Nanny-kinda-voice.

I managed to catch one on the camera the other day so you can see for yourself...

I had my first mother's day a few weeks ago!  I headed off to church early to play in the band and when JR and Eden arrived Eden was holding in her tight little hand a mother's day gift card for me. I couldn't squeeeeze her tightly enough!  God has filled JR and I with an incredible love for this little girl and I felt so honoured to be her mummy on such a special day.  The gift was accompanied with a power point of photos that 'she' had put together with cute little captions matching her abundance of expressions!  Thanks Eden/JR.  To top it all off we had a musician by the name of Steve Grace visiting at church and he made a very special presentation to Eden of two of his albums so that she can grow up listening to hymns.  As Steve shared I realised that the story of his mum was much like the story of my mum and so not only did I feel honoured as a mum but it was a day for me to honour my mum and the incredible example she set for me.

I had my first day back at work last week and will continue to be available for relief teaching just one day a week, which means JR and Eden can have some special Daddy-Daughter time together.  I had not realised how hard it would be to say goodbye to my little girl for just 7 hours!  After all, I have spent almost every waking moment with her for the last 3 and a half months.  Thankfully when I got to school and was welcomed by kids running up to me, hugging me and excitedly welcoming me back, I was soon able to get on with the task and enjoy the day.  I recognise that we are very blessed to have the option of having JR stay home for a day to spend with his daughter while I go back to work. 

I think I've said enough.  I trust you are well and enjoying life in your corner of the world.

Much love from JR, Eden and I.



P.S. I couldn't resist adding a few recent photos of our precious little Eden Leonie!

P.P.S. For privacy reasons if you could please direct people to this blog to show videos rather than sharing the links that would much be appreciated.

Parting is such sweet sorrow

So we've left Melbourne.

And actually, seeing as it's taken me so long to get around to writing this, we've now arrived in Darwin.  Our new home for the next season in our lives.

Sleeping Angels

It's been an interesting journey because I didn't think that moving cities would present as many challenges or opportunities for thought as I had initially anticipated.  Having a child probably changes that I guess, given that we didn't have one when we came down to Melbourne with the commitment to return to Darwin.

As just about everybody knows, family is a huge part of having one yourself.  I.e., starting your own family can be quite difficult when the one you grew up with isn't around.  Having close friends is one thing, but being able to call upon them in the middle of the night to look after the kids while you take your wife to hospital is another (not that I've done that yet - don't panic mum!!).  Family members expect that sort of thing, and (thankfully) most of the time are ready to assist in extreme circumstances.

Tasty Fist!

Which brings me back to wondering why we've relocated ourselves to Darwin.  Yes, we prefer Darwin to Melbourne, but don't have any family here.  Also, if we were to pick any place in the country to live (and we've seen a lot of it now!), it would probably be the Sunshine Coast or Broome (Mine and Robyn's first preferences respectively ;).  We love it here, but it's not the weather or crocs that bring us back.  We feel like God's bringing us back here for a reason and we've followed Him on that.

And considering that we're only relocating our family to the other side of the country (something plenty of people do), where we (mostly) still speak the same language and have the same passport, I now have a renewed appreciation for those that follow God's call to the other side of the globe.  My friends Arthur and Tamie have just done that.  It's pretty incredible when you think about it that they would turn their worlds upside down to serve God wherever He leads them.  Must be worth it.

Too cute

As for us, it's still possible that we'll end up in a different country.  But for now, we'll enjoy the Top End while we can!

Many loves,

J.

P.S.  If you could please direct people to this blog to show videos rather than sharing the links, we'd appreciate it.  Thanks!

The Story of Eden

Since marrying a Rayment, I've realised that some people in this world love to know the details.  So for those people, this is how it all went. For everyone else, I'd scroll to the summary at the end...

Sunday, Feb 10
3:00am
Robyn starts the show and has her first minor contractions.  Drifts off to sleep at 5, can't hold it in and wakes me at 7 to share the exciting news that we'll be having a baby soon!!

The rest of the day
Catching up for brunch with Kadji and Andy, church, Japfest at the Docklands with LJ and Marion, home.  Fairly strong contractions, 4-5 an hour.

6:30ish pm
Stronger contractions lasting about 30 seconds every 10 minutes.  Robyn has her last supper (shoulda had more carbs!).

8pm
JR starts online work from home.

9:30pm
Contractions every 6-7 minutes, Robyn calls the hospital.  They say to wait till contractions are about a minute-minute and a half each.

Monday, Feb 11
12:00am
Contractions long and strong by now.  JR logs off work, we get in the car and drive in.

1:00am
Arrive at Royal Women's, wait, get assessed, wait for a bed.  All the while having contractions every 5 minutes or so.  Robyn is now 4cm.

3:30am
After waiting in the Emergency rooms, get admitted into one of the birthing rooms.  A lovely midwife named Heather looks after us.  Robyn, intent on delivering without the need for pain relief, labours away naturally.  Contractions every 3-4 minutes lasting at least a minute each.

6:30am
Robyn is assessed, 7cm.  3cm to go.  Should be fully dilated in 3 hours.  Everything going along smoothly.  JR takes a 10 minute nap.

9:30am
Reassessed.  8cm.  Not much progress.  Waters are manually broken, a bit of "encouragement" and the next assessment slated for midday.  Robyn is very tired and sore.

11:00am
The poor girl is basically spent.  We agree to stick it out till midday and hope and pray that she'll be ready by then.  Robyn starts to exhibit feverish symptoms from the punishing her body is taking and the now 30 odd hours of no sleep as well as virtually no food for the last 17 hours.  Very weak, hardly present, will broken.  And if you know Robyn, it takes a lot to get her to this point!

12:00pm
Robyn loves her showers at the best of times.  So during labour, they can work wonders!  It's basically what got her through the last hour.  Another assessment, and...  still 8cm.  There's a little bit of cervix still blocking the way.  Robyn's got nothing left in the tank.  Syntocinon is administered to speed up the contractions and the painkiller options are assessed.

2:00pm
Gas is useless, Pethidine is helping take the edge off (she almost falls asleep between each contraction).  There's still hope!  Obstetrician assesses..  Still a cm off.  Robyn is too tense and because the baby has her head slightly tilted, that bit of cervix won't move.  The only way to get it to move is for her to relax her muscles.  The only way for her muscles to relax is with...  an epidural.

3:30pm
Somehow we ended up with a few newbies doing things for us.  The girl who did the epidural wasn't exactly new, but had a big wig overseeing her and took about 40 minutes for the whole thing to happen.  Thankfully there are no problems or side-effects, and the Epidural works wonders.  Robyn relaxes, has a rest, waits for some hopefully good news.  JR sleeps for about 45 minutes.

4:00pm
Lisa (Robyn's sister) and Luke (Robyn's brother) come in to see how the old girl's going.  It was a real boost for Robyn and a wonderful moment for us all to share!  Especially because Lisa had been at the hospital since 9am (not to mention messaging virtually ever hour from 2am!) and Luke from early arvo!

5:15pm
Doc reassesses, baby's moved and we're ready to launch...  Let the Pushing Games begin!

6:15pm
Lovely Irish Doctor Patrick comes in concerned about Eden's heart rate variability.  Basically, it's not changing as much as it should.  Meaning she might not be getting enough Oxygen and needs to come out fast.  Hints at potentially performing a C-section, but we're not really sure because he's Irish and speaks quickly.  We both think, "After all this?!?!?!"  He checks, can see Eden's head and decides that we should be able to get it out without using a knife.  Robyn pushes like she's never pushed before.

6:20pm
Doc starts setting up.  We're still not really sure what's happening...  Stirrups go up, he does a bit of a clean, they do some other strange setuppy things and I can see on his table a couple of massive steel salad-server looking things.

6:30pm
Before we know it, the forceps have Eden's head, the Doc says, "Next push and she'll be out" and Robyn goes for one last big one!

6:31pm
With a little splutter, a tiny cry and a big pull from Patrick, Eden emerges and is laid upon Robyn's chest.  JR bawls and is overwhelmed with joy, Robyn is relieved and Eden just takes it all in without a sound.  Eyes open, mouth smiling and everything!  A new life begins for all 3 of us...


So 40 hours after her initial sign, 36 hours of no sleep, 24 hours of no food (except for 2 lollies and a piece of dried mango), some serious pain and an emotional roller-coaster of a day, our gorgeous girl arrived.  She was a blessing in so many ways.  Robyn's mother Leonie, who passed away when she was 12, had 3 C-sections and Robyn is the first to have a child out of her blood siblings.  It was a cloud hanging over us.  Had we not gone ahead with the Epidural, it would've been a virtual certainty that she would've had one as well.  We were so thankful for the abundance of medical options we had and continue to be amazed and thankful at how good we have it in our country.

Mostly, we're thankful to our God for bringing our treasure to us safely, soundly, healthily.  He heard our prayers and was gracious in giving us a natural birth.  Eden - meaning delight (which she truly is!) and Leonie, named after her Grandmother.

And now...  the star of the show!

Literally MINUTES after birth... All eyes and smiles!

Love this family!

Dad and Eden share a moment. She's still covered in cottage cheese.

This is a very special moment

One happy Grandad!

The one on the left is still available!  So's the one in the middle, but if you're reading this then you're ineligible. 

That is a genuine smile, ladies and gentlemen

Robyn spreads the good news!

A New Year, new things... new blogs! And new baby... eventually.

So here we are in the new year.  It was actually my New Year's resolution to keep this blog up to date and update it once a week.  I am now 5 weeks behind on that so probably not the best of starts.  But as they say...  It's not how you start but how you finish!

Actually, the craziest thing about writing blogs is that the writing part is fairly easy...  it's the sorting out of photos that's a killer!  But now that I'm all over Google Picasa that process should be a whole lot easier (had the program for years but never realised how easy it makes the process of photo-sorting!  Been missing out...).  :)

So yeah.  With the bubs due on Thursday and a whole new adventure ahead of us, I'm hoping this will be a really good way for our friends and family to keep in touch with where we're at, our thoughts, challenges, triumphs, etc...  And hey, given that we'll probably have a few sleepless nights here and there, I'm sure there'll be plenty of time to keep it updated!  Hahahaha...  *nervous laughter*.

And for our Melbourne (and other) friends who are unaware, Robyn and I will be driving back to Darwin in mid-March to live.  Meaning we'll be leaving in mid-March and arriving in mid-April *Hahahahaha more nervous laughter*.  If you're on the east coast or in central Queensland, give us a holler and we'll swing past on our way through!  Introduce you to our offspring.  ;)

For now, that is all...  other than a link to the photo album of our trip back down south from Darwin!

Much love to all.

J.


Click here for photos (in case you missed the link above):
https://plus.google.com/photos/103934382355501475312/albums/5841338522555911249?authkey=CPWytfL5s-a0fw