Evie.  My second baby made a quick arrival into the world.  I woke up the morning on November 19th having contractions about every 10 minutes or so.  Somehow I knew it was ‘the’ day, despite having had regular contractions in the evenings for a week or so before.  I gently woke up MrB to let him know today was the day and he ‘hmmpffed’ and rolled over.  I got up and starting puttering around, cleaning things up, packing a small bag for MissL, threw together a suitcase for myself.  MrB and MissL woke up a few hours later, likely around 10am or so.  We all watched tv, and just hung out the three of us.  At around 3pm my contractions we about 5 minutes apart and we now painful.  We decided to go to the hospital to see where things were when I could no longer walk through them, and hand to basically drop to all 4′s to get through them. 

We got to the hospital at around 3.30pm.  I was checked by the midwife that came down from the maternity ward (her collegues were all buzy birthing babies at that moment), and said to be at a 3-4.  We had MissL with us still as my sister in law was on her way but from Paris it was kind of a drive and there were a lot of people on the road that day.  She told my husband that she thought I’d have the baby at some point in the evening/that night.  MrB headed off with MissL to take  her home and meet my sister in law.  Less then 5 minutes after he left, my water broke in a giant splash all over the pre-birthing room, on the bed, the floor, all over.  All of a sudden the pain was way more intense.  I pushed the call button frantically until someone came in to check on  me.  The water was clear, but the pain was strong.  The midwife came to take me to a birthing room, and asked if I wanted an epidural.  I said I did, even though I wanted to birth this baby with no pain medication, and it was clear why I said yes just a few minutes later…  I started feeling like I had to push, and I was having a hard time getting up on the bed.  When I finally got up, she checked me again, and, yes, I was having the baby!  No time for an epidural, the midwife was running around trying to get her gloves on etc.  I had someone call MrB. who didn’t answer to tell him to get over there now.  And all of a sudden the midwife was telling me to push when I felt the need…

MrB literally showed up for the push that brought out Evie’s head.  One more big push later and her body slipped right out, and she was placed on my chest.   I seriously couldn’t believe it.  It was a lot of work, but not as bad as I thought.  We both stared at our second girl (tears of joy when MrB checked and told me it was a girl!), while I got cleaned up and a few stitches (though no muscle or skin tears, thankfully- the stitches were internal).  Evie was weighed, 3.665 kilos, almost the same as her sister.  The most unpleasant experience was when the midwife had to do an ‘uterine revision’ as my placenta came out no problem, but some membranes wouldn’t detach.  Since I didn’t have any pain medication, and have a scarred uterus from my C Section with MissL, it was important that she get the membranes out soon, so, that wasn’t fun, but it wasn’t that bad either.  I’d do it again any day over a C Section.

Evie was born at 4:55pm.  MissL was watched by the midwife from the maternity ward, who felt bad for telling us we had more time then we did.  MrB took MissL out for dinner while Evie and I got taken up to our room.  Everything went the best it possibly could.  With MissL I felt like my body had betrayed me, let me down.  Breastfeeding was really, really difficult, and a lot of work.  Everything this time around was about as perfect as it could have been.  If I had the assurance that all my future births would be that easy, and the follow up just as good, I think that I would have half a dozen kids.  it was really healing for me compared to the first time around.

Anyone considering a VBAC I would highly, highly encourage it, if all factors point towards things being possible.  I ended up having a scan done of my pelvis to see if baby would fit (according to the head of the OBGYN/Maternity dept I have an ‘excellent’ pelvis for having babies), a 4th ultrasound, I spend an overnight in the hospital to watch my high blood pressure (pregnancy induced, isolated high blood pressure), and a nice 8 lb baby, but I was able to have my baby via a VBAC.  Any future kids we have, I hope things go as well as Evie’s birth!

We are moving!

MrB got an offer he can’t refuse, so we are packing up from the Ile de France and heading over to Metz.  We went this past weekend to look at a few rentals for the time being while we sell our place, and to check out the town since I’ve certainly never been and MrB either.  We ended up signing to rent a house, with 3 bedrooms and a small yard at the end of an impasse.  The yard kind of gives on a parking lot for the halte garderie, but we can put up some wooden panels to block the view if we want.  At the end of the day we are hoping this is temporary, with a little luck in 18 months time our place will be sold and we’ll have found what we want over there so it will hopefully be short lived.  (Plus not to mention that both our house payment and renting is pricey, but we don’t want to split up!)  Looking at all those rentals made me realize just how lucky we are to have our current house, and how much we’ll miss it despite its shortcomings and the fact that we’ll have basically outgrown it in 6 months time.

We made it back on Wednesday and I am really glad we foud and signed for a place, since I don’t think I’ll be making many more trips until this new babe is born.  Because, yes, in the midst of all of this we are also having a baby at the end of November.  We signed for our new place from December 1st, and are thinking we’ll move sometime between the 8th and the 15th of December…  Thankfully his new job is paying for movers so we don’t even have to pack boxes, I think they are doing it all for us.  With a new baby, and my toddler I just don’t know how we could have done it all!  That said it looks like MrB will be ‘mise au jardin*’ from the 15th of November, so he’ll be around to help out!

I am also worried about another breech baby.  MissL was breech which ended up in a CSection for me.  With all that we have going on, and just because I hated having a CSection, I am really hoping for a head down baby this time around, and a successful vaginal birth.  Plus we’d like to have 3-4 kiddos we think (though maybe this will change once we have 2!) so, if I can avoid a CSection it’d be great.  I’ve gone to the osteopath, and I have the name of an acupuncturist in Paris that I’ll go to if baby is breech at my next appointment.  So, things are, well, really busy, but looking good.  I am a little nervous about leaving here and moving on to something else, but our quality of life should increase, and, you don’t know if you don’t try!

New life is growing inside me, which also makes me tired and sometimes grumpy…  MissL will have a little brother or sister for the end of November.  MrB will be facing some decisions at work that are going to force us to evaluate our decisions as a family…  We’re hoping for the best, and worst comes to worst, we maintain our status quo, which isn’t so bad either.

MissL is turning into a little girl before our very eyes.  She still dosen’t say much, at least that we get, but she does have a few sentences that we hear often.  Papa has turned into her absolute favorite person.  In the evenings while she waits for him to come home, any sound causes her to point to her ear, and say in her little voice “C’est qui ca?” When it is her Papa opening the gate, we stand together and watch him back his car into the driveway, and once the brake is pulled her rolly little legs run towards the car to jump into his arms.  It reminds me of when I was little and we were waiting for my Dad to come home.  To this day, my Dad is my hero, and I hope the same for MissL.  I wouldn’t want to miss that coming home moment for the world.

So, we have gone and returned from the US.  The plane trip was fine, AirFrance gave us a cute little mini row of two seats so MissL had her ‘own’ seat.  We made it to the states and spent a few days just hanging at home, my parents were in a small accident with their only car that seats more then two, so we had no car to start with…  Then, MissL and I were hit with the flu.  Hard.  After almost a week of not feeling great at all, numerous internal debates about whether or not I should take her to a Doctor, we started feeling better.  And that was about 6 days before we flew out.  So, all of our usual activities had to be condensed down into a few days!  We still had fun though!  I only took ONE picture my entire time there!!  Being really sick threw off all my reflexes…

Easter!  I can’t wait this year!!  My Mom is sending lots of plastic eggs, egg dying kits, all kinds of fun goodies so that we can have a big egg hunt in our yard for all of our friends kids!

The assistante maternelle idea is still in the works.  We’ve more or less come to the conclusion that we need to have a bigger house for this.  So, the old debate between adding on or moving is back on the table.  Sigh.  Since we are in the country, I think the people from the PMI like for the kids to be in homes with lots of space and big yards.  Though the yard part we have…

So lots of the same from here.  Enjoying life with MissL.  She is really fantastic, and I am so happy to spend my days with her!  Especially since her Papa tends to work a lot, so I get lots of time with my sidekick.

I am still avoiding the job like the plague.  My most recent idea, which is what earns me the blog title above, is to become a nounou.  I really like kids.  Always have.  And, it seems to be mutual.  At parties the little kids flock to me, because I can’t help but play with them.  This, coupled with my total lack of desire to go back to my soul sucking job, has led me to the conclusion that I should maybe consider doing the nounou thing.  Plus, and I am not sure if French people would consider this an atout or not, but I could speak English to the little ones, ensuring at least some exposure, and if I had them until they went to school they might even have some basics in English.  I am not sure if this is crazy or not, but it is a way that I could stay at home, be here for my kids, be here for other kids, and also make a little money.

In between researching that, I am trying so hard to finish Fall of Giants, by Ken Follet.  I generally love all of his stuff and this seems to be no exception, though I am waiting to see how it all ties together in the end!!

I also worked in our yard some this weekend.  And, suprise, suprise, I really liked it.  I seem to forget that every year.  I also re-learnt, like every year, that I trim things like my Dad.  Basically, I cut it all back to a few sticks poking out of the ground.  Oops.  Here is to hoping that it all grows back fine…  I left MissL in the house with her Papa, while I tromped around in the yard some.  It was so cute, she waited for me, standing at the big glass door for the whole time I was gone.  Every time I walked by she raised her little hand to wave to me.  I think my heart melted about a thousand times.

When it is not raining, we have been going for walks.  The stoller I leave at home now, MissL likes to strike out on her own, and check things out.  And there are tons of things to look at on our walks.  Dogs, dirt, mud, leaves, fences, plants…  Her favorite is when we walk by the neighbors house.  His dogs are really friendly, and Bandit likes to slip in their yard and run wild with his retrievers for a few minutes before popping back over to our side.  It is pretty comical to see, and MissL loves to stand on the road side of the fence and watch, giggling the whole time.

We’ve got a girl trip to the US planned for a few weeks.  I have to start getting all my stuff together.  I’ve got a few things I promised to take here and there that I have to locate and start piling up, otherwise I am planning on going over more or less ‘empty’, I have a feeling I am going to leave with MissL clothed for a good year again, among other goodies.

We are also still hemming and hawing about our add on possibilities.  It would be nice to do that before starting the nounou business if I wanted to go that route.  MissL’s room is currently off of my office, her room could become the nap room, the office could become a playroom…  We could add on a big kitchen/dining room, with two bedrooms upstairs (yay for us all being on the same floor!), and we’d still have our old kitchen downstairs as a boudoir/guest room.  That said, we are talking about a TON of work.  I think we have about 70% of the cash needed, but we really don’t want to take out another loan to do any work.  So, who knows.  The interim solution is to move the office out to the workshop, and have that be a play/nap room.  That would also mean that the workshop would be redone (though likely a cheap-ish job – insulation, tile flooring, and a wee tiny wood burning stove, a new door and one window would do the job, most of which we could do ourselves).  I think that this may be the best solution.  It would also mean that if we do the house work, the office could stay outside and away, nice for when MrB has to work at home if I am wrastling kiddos all day.  And if we decide to move and NOT do the work, it is an additional room for buyers.  It’d work well for a profession liberale.

If you got through all that, thanks, not that exciting really, just lots of thoughts about this and that!  A few photos as a ‘thank you’!

All smiles! This girl is my sunshine.

On the go!!

For my one closet, alone, I have two bags to give away, and two bags of trash.  And this is only one side of my closet.  At some point I am going to have to attack the other side.  Maybe once my eyes get over the dust from the first side…

It feels really good though, to get rid of what we don’t need.  Pass along what is still ‘good’ to others, chuck out all the mismatched socks, holed sweaters and anything that hasn’t been worn in the past 3 years.  (I gave myself the 3 year time frame because I was pregnant, had a baby and all, so my clothing choices were kind of limited.

At any rate it feels so nice to start the new(ish) year with a clean home, and much less stuff.  Here is to hoping the trend continues, it makes our house feel much bigger!

I am trying to stick to my goals to be a more local gal this year.  I stopped at a local farm to pick up some food for dinner tonight, but I think the person that runs the store part was out somewhere else on the farm, because after standing around for a good 15 minutes, I finally left!  I will go back though, the odors from the store were divine,  and I am hungry just thinking about it.  Now that I have found the ‘store’ part of the farm, which was not an easy feat, I think that we will go back this weekend maybe.  I spied, while there, some ‘American’ bacon in the window, and I have been thinking about it ever since.

MissL and I have been throughly enjoying each other.  She is hitting a phase that is slightly frustrating.  Now that she has walking with objects in her hands down, all day is a game of re-direction.  I am trying to not say “No!” so much because I feel like that is all I say somedays, and she is mainly a really good kid.  Even if she tries my patience a lot lately!  Last night, in the bathtub she was laughing, and that toddler laugh is so soul fulfilling, I wish I could bottle it up for those times when I feel like I am close to the end of my rope!  Speaking of bellies, she has the greatest little toddler belly, ever.  Perfect for holding onto, it fits perfectly in my hand.

This girl was made to make her Mama happy.

As usual, we are waiting for some things to ‘happen’ or not, before making some big choices this year.  It seems fitting for the month of January, of new beginnings, to potentially have some in store for us.

For 2011 I wish for more of the same.  Maybe another baby for this family, more creativity, more afternoon walks in the sun, more photography, more knitting and hopefully some sewing.**

Of course there have been stressful moments, ones where I wonder where I am going, what I am doing, and most of all why, but the good this year far, far outweighs the bad, and I am trying to concentrate on the good in this new year of 2011.

*How I wish we were chatting over a cup of tea or coffee, instead of using the internet, but such is the life of the expat I guess.

**If I can find a machine.  I was hoping to buy a used one, but haven’t found one yet.  Anyone know of a website, or store in the greater Paris area?

I think that I am more excited about Christmas this year then I have been in years.  Amazing what having a child will do to you!  And it looks like we will be getting snow in our area, which will be a treat, I don’t think that I have ever had a ‘white Christmas’.

I am now thinking…  2 days until Papa is off.  2 days and 7 hours until we can each open up a Christmas eve gift.  And in 3 days it will all be wrapping up.  Until we leave for my in-laws to have a mini celebration with them, in 4 days.

Whew, that is a lot of counting.  I am going to go lay down and recover!

Smoked salmon, and foie gras/fig little toasts

Roasted Boar in cider and chestnuts

Mashed potatoes

Green beans wrapped in a piece of bacon

and then the usual cheese platter, salad, and…

dessert, which will be little chocolate cakes and a few scoops of ice cream…

At any rate, I am glad that the shopping part is over, the store was a madhouse of people pushing and shoving!  (And I am hoping that my meal comes out, it is fairly ambitious for me!)