Caliban – Opinion and Righteous Anger

It’s been a busy couple of days, as you might imagine.

Cora, our kraamverzorgster, is a real blessing. She cooks, she cleans, she bathes the baby, she tends to Sarah’s nether regions, she does the laundry, she washes up. There’s not much that she doesn’t do. We love having her around.

We settled on Mr. X’s new name Monday evening. I went down to the stadsdeelkantoor today to register his birth, but soon learned that the burgerzaken department closes at 14:00 on Tuesday. Wednesday is the last day for registration, so I’ll be there in the morning to take care of it. Until that happens, we’re remaining tight-lipped about the name. That also allows us to have a last-minute change of heart. We’ve already had one of those this afternoon, so we don’t expect any more.

Eloïse got to hand out beschuit en muisjes at peuterspeelzaal today. In English, it’s crispbread with tiny little aniseed sweets on top. It’s traditional to have this with either pink or blue aniseed sweets, depending on the gender of the baby. It was good for her to be able to do this, because — in spite our resolve not to neglect her in favour of our new acquisition — the simple fact of the matter is that time spent breastfeeding the baby and changing his nappy is time that is no longer spent with her. Prior to last Sunday, all of our time went to her, so it’s taking a little getting used to; for all of us.

She also got to ring the bell at the end of the day and spend some time sitting on Wanda’s lap, so she came home looking pretty lucky. The mums and dads of the peuterspeelzaal had had a whip round for us and bought Mr. X his first toy, a cuddly red car. They also bought us a puzzle book, which Eloïse loves. She’s already done all of the puzzles in it. This was a really kind gesture and serves yet again to indicate what a special place her play-school is.

Mr. X himself is doing excellently. He sleeps enough for ten men, has taken to the breast like a professional, and cries only when his nappy is being changed; no doubt due to the cold air circulating around his rude bits.

Jackie (the doula) came around Monday afternoon and talked to Sarah about how the labour had gone. This afternoon, Laura (the midwife) came over to see Sarah. We are so impressed with the loving care that Sarah has received from everyone involved during pregnancy and birth. It really couldn’t have been any better.

So it’s all going perfectly, really. No breastfeeding issues, no nothing. The meconium nappies finally passed today, giving way to the instantly familiar scent of breast-milk based poop. It smells identical to my memory of Eloïse’s early nappies.

Check out our gallery for some day two and three snaps.

Today was the day. When the call of nature comes, there’s no stopping it; and I’m not just taking about the need to pee.

Sarah went into full labour on Sunday morning. Aided by me, our doula (Jacky) and our midwife (Laura), she gave birth to a healthy baby boy at 13:31 CEST on 2008-03-30.

The baby was born underwater, using our birthing pool.

It was quite an experience. There was just enough time before the contractions came on really strong to take one last pregnancy photo.

The grandparents will (rightfully) hang me out to dry if I don’t post some photos, so I’ve now taken care of that.

There are lots of photos of the labour, too, but these need to go before the eyes of the maternal censor before they can withstand the scrutiny of the Internet.

Mother and son are in excellent health. Big sister is very happy with her new sibling.

Mr. X doesn’t have a proper name yet, which is why he’s called Mr. X. Until he came out this afternoon, he didn’t even have a gender in our mind, never mind a name. Give us time. In any case, Dutch law requires that we register his birth by Wednesday.

I’m off to bed. The kraamzorg will be here bright and early in the morning.

We’ve just emerged from the coldest Easter in 40 years in this country. And, whilst Easter may have ended, the chilly weather certainly hasn’t.

Today alone, we’ve had snow, sleet and hail. The gardeners continued their work, regardless. It’s basically been snowing here since last Friday. You never get a white Christmas in Amsterdam, but you can have a white Easter.

The traffic jams in the Netherlands were almost at an all-time worst this morning. Only one day in February 1999 had worse traffic jams (measured in total length of all jams across the entire country). I’m glad I don’t commute.

I was the meedraai parent at the peuterspeelzaal today, which meant I got to help out with the afternoon’s activities. It’s its own reward, as you get to see your own child playing and enjoying herself in a wonderfully stimulating environment.

Tomorrow, Sarah hits 38 weeks of pregnancy. If Eloïse is anything to go by, that would put the birth of our next baby just eight days away.

Last Christmas, Eloïse was given a children’s book with a difference by her Uncle Jack. The book in question was Goodbye, Penguins by Greg Stones.

Round at Jack’s house one afternoon, he had the great idea of filming Eloïse’s spirited rendition, as she reads this book with verve. The result is very entertaining, especially if you’ve read the book (which very few people have, since the print run was only 550 copies).

Many thanks to Uncle Jack McKenna for the camera work, editing and playing himself as sofa companion.

We’ve put a copy of this video on our MythTV, where Eloïse likes to watch and read along with herself.