Archive for March 4th, 2010

Yesterday Simon was 2 weeks here already! At 1 week he was up to 7lb 3 oz, just,  and ounce shy of hannah’s birth weight.  Yesterday he weighted in at 7 # 12 oz.  I am impressed and proud especially  considering his milk comes from good timor food.  No pizza milk, steak milk or icecream milk for him! 

The past two weeks have been the expected rollercoaster of emotions.  And, I have experienced minor setbacks physically as I haven’t followed my own good advice that I give to all my new moms in Duluth – rest, rest, rest that first week!  Get someone besides your husband to help you that first week.  Anyway, I am on the mend and laying around far more than I want to.

Did I mention dipers?  We used disposables (even found huggies in dili at the sky high price of 14$ for 44, completely too expensive for most folks here) for the first week.  But in the first week babies hardly pee or poop.  My baby is I think, unusualy hydrated for Timor.  I can qualify this as I have checked a lot of urine here in the clinic, as wel as asking patients about bathroom habit, and I would say that everyone is rather dehydrated.  When we began using cloth diapers at one wek, it took us about 5 hours to feel like the diper system used by locals is less than ideal.  People use these bib-like little units that actually do a good job of catching the poop but get soaked as soon as the baby pees.  Blankets also get soaked quickley and parents peed on alot.  Tom soon reminded me that Timor women who have babies stay at home, so getting peed on constantly is not a big deal.

But Tom and I are both going to be working again soon.  We don’t want to walk around with wet spots all over our clothes really.  I put out a desperate call to Libby on the first night of cloth dipering and have texted Deb and the Grandma’s hoping that we can soon get some hand down diper covers (mom already sent some dipers).

Now use your imagination for this one: buckets of dirty dipers, Tom washing off the poop by candlelight at 9pm after cooking dinner, cleaning up the kitchen and putting hannah to bed, and setting me up in bed with Simon.

Its march 2 and if the one computer in Timor telecom works and we’re able to get there hopefully we can post this this week.  Martin, we still need some advice on why our laptop won’t work here.  All the pc’s do!! I love to hear from you all and appreciate the prayers and thoughts.  Keep it up!!  Monica

To all of you friends, family and other interested readers who share this blog, THANK YOU for all your prayers , positive thoughts and energy, and well wishes for me during my pregnancy here in East Timor, and for the birth of baby Liddle.  I do believe God heard all the prayers, and Simon Walter Liddle was born just as he was meant to be born.

In a nutshell, his birth was speedy, safe, and perfect, with the right people here at the right time.

The stats:

Born Feb.  15, 2010 about 1a.m. Timor time

3kg/6 lb 10 oz (big by Timor standards)

Full head of brown hair

Born at home in Lospalos with Daddy catching and Clinic Immanuel nurse Delfin assisting.

(and for you birth junkies in Duluth: about 4 and a half hours labor, with just an hour of hard active and about 15 minuts second stage. Born in the caul with a nuchal arm)

WHat Was It Like Having A Baby in East Timor?

Well…it was very peaceful. Very quiet as it was nighttime, except for me whispering an assortment of affirmations to myself to cope with labor. The electricity went out as usual at midnite, but I never noticed because I wanted candles for light anyway and already had them burning.  Though we live in one of the mosth undeveloped countries in asia, we don’t live in a grass hut with a dirt floor. We are fortunate to have a bathroom attached to our bedroom.  And, all the squating I did during my pregnancy and labor while using squat toilets was certainly helpful preparing me for birh.  And, our tanki was full, so there was plenty of water for all our needs after teh birth, though we have no running waterh most hours of the day and nite. (after 6 months, I find my new normal quite comfortable)

As with Hannah’s birth, I feel extraordinarily fortunate to have had the people attend me for Simon’s birth here in Lospalos that I trust the most.  I work with Delfin every day, an he is a very skilled and intelligent nurse.  His bedside manner is also excellent.  Tom called him as the baby was coming faster than it would take to get to the hospital at that point, and he arrived in, literally, a minute (he lives across the street at the clinic). Pastor Duarte and his wife Mery arrived minutes later, and held baby Simon, brought hot water for a bath, and talked with Hannah while Delfin, Tom and I took care of cord cutting, placenta, and baby exam details. When Simon and I were cleaned up and resting, Pastor Duarte said a prayer for us.  This is our community, and we are so blessed.