We started the month off with a
bang! Caedmon and Whitman each attended
their last day of school for the year on Thursday the 2nd. Then we all, along with our sponsor, traveled
the hour south to the immigration office to apply for the last extension of our
social-cultural visas. After which our
family traveled on to the big city to await the birth of our daughter. We spent Friday the 3rd relaxing
and fellowshipping with friends. That
night I was checked by the doctor only to be told there were not any signs of
labor approaching. So we prepared to
wait, my due date was the 10th after all.
About 1am the next morning I woke
up with some bleeding (probably caused by the doctor visit) and very irregular
contractions. Eventually I went back to
bed, only to be woken up again at 5am by my water breaking. John, Caedmon, Whitman, and I piled into a
taxi and headed to the hospital.
Contractions began again, but never became very regular. By 8am the doctor ordered labor to be
induced. Regular contractions began at
8:15 and by 9:42 am on June 4th Evangeline Aleta was born. Overall giving birth overseas was a good
experience with just a few noticeable cultural differences. The most notable were, I was able to eat
whatever I wanted right up until I gave birth.
When I was fully dilated, the nurses delivered Evangeline right away,
they didn’t even try to have me wait until the doctor arrived. The nurses, and doctors for that matter, were
very hands off, rarely checking my vitals or the progress of my labor that
morning. Lastly, we had to tell the
nurses to throw away my placenta as they were preparing to package it up for us
to take home.
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| Healthy and whole! |
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| Proud Daddy |
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| Whitman is a big brother now! |
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| Caedmon holds his sister quite often! |
We both were able to leave the hospital the following day, on Sunday. We took it easy on Monday, then on Tuesday Evangeline took her first plane ride to a neighboring island to visit the US consulate. The plane ride required a doctor’s note as the airlines prefer infants under a month not to fly. At the consulate we reported her ‘birth-abroad’ which formalized her US citizenship and then applied for her passport and social security card. By the following Saturday, the 11th, we returned home to Barat. Within that week, we also received notice from our agent in the capital city that the work visa is finished and ready to be picked up.
Two weeks after applying for Evangeline's passport, we now have it in hand. We all are now ready to travel out of the country on the 13th of July to pick up the work visa.
Two weeks after applying for Evangeline's passport, we now have it in hand. We all are now ready to travel out of the country on the 13th of July to pick up the work visa.
More than anything we are praising the Father that Evangeline was born whole and healthy and that I didn’t have any bleeding problems. Now we are continuing to adjust to having an infant. Caedmon is very interested and helpful with Evangeline. Whitman is loving, but much less interested, and probably noticing the birth order change more. I am trying to consistently nap and though still adjusting to nursing every three hours, my body has healed much quicker than with either Caedmon or Whitman’s births.
