joshua's birth story: part one

I've gone back and forth about whether to type up Joshua's birth story, since I know that not everyone (actually, probably hardly anyone) would be interested in reading it. And some people (*ahem* my brothers) would be downright uncomfortable with it. But I've heard that it can be very cathartic to write it out... and I'm already forgetting many of the details from that day, so writing them down may help to preserve the memory a little.

Needless to say, if reading a birth story is not your cup of tea, feel free to completely ignore this post. In fact, here's a funny video to view instead. 

Friday, October 5th:

I was already two days overdue, feeling massive and quite miserable. I was preparing to attend a rehearsal dinner for a wedding I hadn't expected to attend. My dear friend Christi was getting married and had asked me to a bridesmaid many months prior. Since the wedding was falling so close to my due date, we decided it would be best for me to function as an "honorary" bridesmaid and not stand in the wedding. And well, here I was, waddling into the church building.

I tried to forget about how uncomfortable I was and enjoy spending time with these people, since I was not sure I'd be able to see them at the wedding the next day. I was emotionally torn between desperately wanting to see my friend get married... and desperately hoping I would be in the hospital having a baby instead.

Saturday, October 6th:

The night passed without any hint of labor, and I headed for a chiropractor appointment in the morning. I was looking forward to the adjustment since I was so uncomfortable. I had been seeing this chiropractor regularly for about two years at this point, as often as twice a week during the later stages of pregnancy, so I knew she was anxiously awaiting my labor and delivery, too! She mentioned during the adjustment that a visit to the chiropractor has been to known to "jump-start" labor, so not to be surprised if I had the baby in the next few days. I hoped that would work, but made an appointment for the following Tuesday just in case. After all, I hadn't had any hint of labor (besides a few Braxton-Hicks contractions) up to this point, so I didn't think it would happen soon.

Brett had come with me to the chiropractor and decided to stop for an oil change on our way home. It seemed like a good idea to get that out of the way since the next few weeks might be a little chaotic. :) The shop had a cafe attached (I've always thought that was weird), so I ordered a chai latte (of course) and sat down on a comfy couch with a book. A few minutes later I felt a strange gush and decided to head to the bathroom to check if my water had broken... or if I had just peed my pants. (That's normal, right? ...Back me up, fellow mamas!) I struggled to stand up off the couch and waddled over the bathroom. Thankfully, I hadn't peed my pants... but it also wasn't my water breaking either. It was, ahem, just the "beginnings" of labor. Since I had been scouring the internet and pregnancy books for early labor signs, I knew that this sign didn't necessarily mean labor would start any time soon.

So, we headed home for a quick lunch, I squeezed myself into the only dress that (barely) fit over my giant belly, and went to the wedding.

The next few hours are are quite a blur in my mind. The ceremony and reception were absolutely beautiful (as was the bride, of course!) but I was pretty miserable. I was huge and uncomfortable, and I found myself running to the bathroom every few minutes. I was pretty sure that labor would be starting soon, so I tried to enjoy myself as much as I could. I knew this might be the last time I would be able to have grown-up conversation for awhile. :)

Sunday, October 7th:
I woke up around 1:30am feeling some pain in my abdomen. I rolled out of bed and waddled to the bathroom... Were these contractions? They felt similar to the Braxton-Hicks - muscles tightening around my belly, a little pain in my lower back, and just general achey-ness - but I didn't want to get my hopes up. I got back in bed (very un-gracefully) and tried to fall back asleep.

It seemed like every time I was just about asleep, the pain in my abdomen would wake me up. Yup, probably contractions. I decided to time them (since I was a nervous first-time mom)... about eight minutes apart, 30 seconds long. While the pain wasn't too bad, I knew I probably wouldn't be getting much more sleep, so I went out to the living room couch. I figured that lying on my side supported by the back of the couch might be more comfortable. I think I dozed for a few minutes here and there the rest of the night. 

Brett had no idea I'd even left the bed, so when he woke up I filled him in on what was going on. [Side note: Brett had been saying throughout the pregnancy that his "ideal" labor scenario involved him waking up one morning to find out that I'd been having contractions all night and it was time to go to the hospital - so that he would have had a full night's sleep before the big show. So this was basically his dream come true.]

Today would be an especially complicated day to go into labor. It was my grandma's 90th birthday (woo hoo!) and my family was throwing a surprise party for her, complete with surprise guests (some of her family that had flown in from Italy for the party). It was a pretty significant day that I didn't want to miss unless it really was labor. On the plus side, my grandma had been hoping that Joshua would be born on her birthday. :)

We decided to time the contractions once more... now they were about 3-4 minutes apart, and closer to 60 seconds long. They still weren't terribly painful, but we decided to call the doctor just to be sure. He said that it didn't sound like I was very far in labor, but since I was past my due date I should come in to be checked.

So we ate a quick breakfast, grabbed our bags, and headed to the hospital.

Click here to read Part Two and Part Three.

a few photos from joshua's birthday party

The weekend after Joshua's birthday, we invited a few friends over to celebrate with us. Here are a few photos...

Brett helped entertain Joshua in the morning while I prepared the food and put up some decorations.

 We had a Dinosaur theme (of course), complete with a Dinosaur Cake! (For anyone interested, I followed this tutorial with just a few adjustments.)

Getting ready to enjoy his cake.

At first, he was more excited about all the people there than actually eating his cake.

And then he preferred to eat with a spoon rather than his hands.

 I put together a little banner that had a few pictures of Joshua from the past year. 

 

And this is from the next day... still enjoying his balloons.

on stray chickens and making a fool of myself

We mentioned in our October update (if you aren't receiving our email updates, and would like to be, let me know!) that we have stray chickens on the island:

"The island is overridden by wild chickens. We don't know where they come from; multiple people have told us they were released from a chicken farm by Hurricane Ivan in 2004, while others insist this is just a natural outcome of a Caymanian tradition of keeping "yard fowl" for meat and eggs. The roosters crow all day and night (though particularly at dawn); it was a nuisance at first, but we're getting used to them." 

To elaborate, here is a short video of what our side yard looks (and sounds) like at 8am on any given morning.

We have actually gotten fairly used to the noise, and I hardly notice it anymore. The novelty has not yet warn off on Joshua, though, who loves to point, wave, and squeal at any chicken he sees. (This also applies to iguanas).

I've been told that you can usually identify a tourist (or a newbie) from a local based on their reaction to the chickens. I've been trying pretty hard to avoid the tell-tale "new to the island" giveaways, but I'm sure I'm outing myself by pointing out to Joshua every chicken in the grocery store parking lot. I just love seeing him so excited! I guess that's probably just part of motherhood - making a fool of yourself for the sake of a one-year-old - right?

joshua's first birthday!

I know it's so cliche... but I seriously can't believe Joshua is already one year old! It's been a year filled with a lot less sleep but a lot more joy. So thankful for this baby!

Since Brett has Mondays off, we were able to spend the day together as a family. We decided to take advantage of the fact that we live on an island... and went to the beach for a little while after Joshua woke up from his morning nap.

Joshua loves the ocean! I guess it shouldn't come as much of a surprise--he loves baths and at this time of the year, the ocean feels pretty much like bathwater. :) We found a little baby floatie on a craigslist-type site in Cayman, and were excited to see that Joshua liked the independence of floating around (rather than being held by Mom or Dad). He liked to reach over the side and splash in the water, but he mostly enjoyed watching all the other beach-goers! There was a family nearby with a young boy (maybe 9 or 10?) that Joshua watched almost the whole time. (I guess babies don't realize it's impolite to stare). 

After the beach we went home, scarfed down a quick lunch, and got Joshua down for his afternoon nap. When he woke from that, we got him ready for his one-year Pediatrician check-up. (Hopefully he won't remember that we made him get shots on his first birthday!) He actually did really well with the whole appointment (including the shots) and we finished wayyy earlier than we expected. We walked around the book store (one of Brett's favorite spots on the island), and ran a few errands on our way home.

We had a few small presents for Joshua, and a dear friend from the island dropped off a gift for him, too, so we helped him open the gifts. I started to make dinner while Brett read Joshua some of his new books. We were eager to get dinner made and eaten because at 6:00 we were going to have a group video chat (Google Hangouts, holla!) with our families! My dad was on a business trip in Brazil, so we even had three countries represented! 

I know Joshua won't remember any of it... but I'm so thankful we had such a good time celebrating his birthday. I was a little nervous about how I would feel about having his first birthday soon after we moved away from all of our family, so it was such a blessing to be able to "see" many of our family members.

Happy birthday, Joshua!

an introductory post

The morning of August 16th, Brett, Joshua, and I boarded a plan to Grand Cayman. We have unpacked our suitcases, opened a local bank account, and gotten local drivers licenses. While we settle into life here, we want to give our friends and family (both near and far) a window into our daily life. This will include lots of pictures, updates on what Joshua is currently learning, updates on how Brett and I are doing, stories, probably some recipes and crafts... hopefully creating a glimpse of what our normal, day-to-day life is like. I can't promise you it will be exciting (actually, I can almost guarantee it won't be), but at least there will be pictures of a cute baby.

Here's one now...

Joshua at 11 months.