One Year

Memorial Day, in pictures

Holding out hope

Update for those who don't know: despite lots of support and fundraising, we came up short. Today (May 31) is the last day of OB at BHMH.


I'm at a loss. The OB Department at the hospital where Catherine was born is in trouble. If they can't raise $600,000 by March 10, they will close the doors. The community will suffer a horrible loss if women can no longer birth their babies under that roof. For a small hospital in a rural area, BHMH offers great obstetric care in a loving environment. They have just three (!) beautiful rooms for labor, delivery and postpartum - you don't have to move. There's a gorgeous, spacious tub room with a tropically themed mural. And best of all is a staff and facility philosophy that pregnancy is not a disease. Labor and birth are not medical conditions. They believe in the power of women and their bodies, and allow women the choice of birthing as they see fit. After a traumatic experience with Elizabeth's birth, the staff at Blue Hill went out of their way to provide me with the experience I craved. Even when I ended up with another c-section, the mood was celebratory - a baby was being born. I wasn't separated from Catherine for more than a few minutes, and went right back to my room as soon as they had me put back together.

The nurses and doctors at Blue Hill want the best for mothers and babies and their families - many of them have been there for decades. Rose and Retta and Dr. Walker are institutions and have caught countless babies. I would pray that women in the area could continue to have access to good obstetric care in a loving family environment. I have a knot in my stomach at the thought of losing this wonderful place.

If you live locally, Saturday, February 28 is Bellies for Bellies, a fund-raiser to save Blue Hill Memorial Hospital OB Department, starting at noon at the Blue Hill Consolidated School featuring a bellydance jam, belly art, street performers and silent auction. Saturday, March
7 is a Massage-a-Thon, held at the Maine Grind coffee shop in downtown Ellsworth.

If you feel like making a donation to help the cause, contributions can be mailed to Blue Hill Memorial Hospital, c/o Henrietta Clews, P.O. Box 1653, Blue Hill 04614. Checks should be made out to BHMH-OB, and the check or an accompanying note should designate that the contribution is for the Save the OB campaign.

Second Child Syndrome

So, Catherine is our second born. All that birth order material out there talks about the second born growing up in the shadow of the first born, leading them to being more boisterous and even resorting to naughtiness in order to get attention. I have seen this happen with my students at school, but I cannot imagine why it would apply already?


Catherine has been like this from Day One. She is not one to hide her feelings. As anyone who has spent any time with Catherine can fully attest, she is very, well, open.* She takes life full on and whatever emotion she is currently experiencing is shared with everyone in range of her amazingly piercing well-projected voice.



She wasn't the baby who when upset would hiccup then wind up to a snuffle, gradually intensifying into a whimper and finally into a cry. No, not Catherine. She is the queen of efficiency. Why waste all that time, effort, and energy? She would grab the bull by the horns (or is that grab the bullhorn?) and let loose. No cutesy little newborn cries for Catherine. She had a full-on 6 month old wail the day she arrived. Of course, perhaps being born at approximately the size of an average 3-month old had something to do with that!

As far as relegating her accomplishments to 'been there done that' status, no way. We were marveling at her hitting physical milestones, in most instances, months before Elizabeth had. Catherine is also very verbal for her age, just like her big sister was and is!

Anyway, Catherine seems to be fitting into the profile of a second born well before the environmental factors causing it have been applied. But that's ok with us. Nothing wrong with a little self-expression. We're just thankful that she expresses her joy just as exuberantly.


*Using parent-teacher conference speak here, as in that child who bounces off the walls and the teacher resists the daily urge to grab the duct tape and bungee cords is described as "energetic."

Snow!

We had some good old-fashioned playing in the snow time this afternoon while Catherine was napping. Andrew had taken the extra effort to push snow into a bank on the side of the house where our best sliding hill is. It made us have an extra high starting ramp to gain some speed to make it across our back yard, which is usually just wide enough that you get stuck before the second hill. The new ramp works! Here are some views from the day:

Rock Star

A picture speaks a thousand words.

Age(s) of Wonder

Both of the girls are at ages where they do something new and interesting every day. Catherine is in the midst of the "language explosion", where she's combining words and learning them so quickly we can't keep up. Elizabeth is really into her imagination. She's got the creepy elaborate imaginary friend, inventive games, and is constantly making up new words to songs.

Saturday, Grampy, aka my wonderful father-in-law, came to visit. While she was using the toy animals, Elizabeth set up this elaborate zoo enclosure.

As she was playing she told FIL that certain animals had to go certain places:
"Seals go with penguins, and so do hippos and crocodiles, because they live in the water."
"Polar bears go alone, because they might eat some animals."
"The elephants need water to drink. The baby can't reach, so she needs a stool." (the doll shoe?)

Elizabeth is a little sponge for taking in information, especially about animals. Perhaps we have a future vet or zookeeper on our hands?

Catherine is just plain goofy sometimes. She loves to dance, and has started singing songs. Her favorites are "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and "Moon, Moon, Moon" (Laurie Berkner). One of the lines she really likes is "Click! Turn it on!" from 'Moon.'




Now if she can overcome the distraction of play animals and pretzels, she might have a career.

Long time coming.

So, I've made two previous posts to this little blog, but never published them for anyone but myself to read. I'm always one of the mid-to-late people to jump on the bandwagon of something new, so I guess I wanted to keep the tradition. But here I am, entering officially into the world of blogging.

I've had a lot of things going on in my life, and perhaps writing it and sharing will help me vent and learn. I've always been one to learn through reflection. I guess this will just be reflection through a one-way mirror for a change!

So I'll be around. I can't promise regular posts, but certainly frequently enough.

Thanks for joining me on the journey.