Genevieve Joy Henry

Good evening my dear friends and family. I come to you this evening with a heart so pumped up with love and joy that I can hardly hold it all in. This week Genevieve Joy came out of my womb and into our lives in full form, another little girl! ( pictures @ www.paintedguitar.com) We now have two amazing little females to love and hold for as long as they will let us. Again we have been showered with love by our friends and family both near and far. Phone calls, emails, flowers and gifts poured in from many who could not pop in for a visit. Nourishing meals, gifts, and congratulations were brought by friends and neighbors. All the while we had friends from Sydney here to help out and Mary and Keith to do anything we needed. What more could we desire? Perhaps some quick continental drift to bring us closer to you all in the US, but that may be going too far (:

Genevieve came to us on Monday morning at 11:15am. The date was February 26, which is also her daddy’s birthday. Since it is my nature to give too many details, I must tell you the story of her arrival as it is so fresh in my mind. Sunday morning I awoke feeling a bit queasy, this was the first sign. I had an incredibly lazy day, pretty much consisting of resting, reading stories to Jacinta, sitting in the spa, chatting with Jenny and baby Jonathan and eating big protein heavy meals that Mary prepared. Matt and Ted fenced in the teepee garden (hopefully for the last time) with some heavy duty wire in the hot sun. After a fun night of chatting with Jenny and Ted, joking about what would bring on the labor Matt and I went to sleep at about 11:30. I woke up 15 minutes later for my first contraction. By 1am we were packed up in Keith’s truck with Jacinta and Jenny in the back, all excited and on our way to the hospital in the rain. By 2am we met Trish in the car park and were being escorted to the birthing room with beanbags, toys, suitcases and lots of food in hand. It was a long slow night in and out of the hot shower and bath, bouncing on the birthing ball, sleeping for short spurts in between contractions. It was hard work for everyone. Matt described his job as chasing me from one spot to another to do whatever was needed. Jenny ran and fetched things so Matt could stay by my side like ice cubes, drinks, pillows and eventually cuddled Jacinta to sleep. Trish’s job was keeping Jacinta happy and comfortable, and what better way than unlimited fruit and stories until 3:30am? Luckily Jess did go to sleep freeing Trish to take turns with Matt rubbing my back while the others slept.

By day break the labor starting picking up, and soon it was decided that the baby was posterior, meaning the excruciating pain in my back wasn’t just me whining. This made me feel slightly better, just knowing the reason for the extra pain. I was running very low on energy but couldn’t keep anything in my system. At about 11am, just as I started doubting my ability to go on, my waters broke. We called in our midwife Judy and I desperately asked, “Can I push?” Within five minutes, little Genevieve slid out and joined the family. What a beautiful relief! She weighed 7 pounds and 12 ounces and was 21 inches long. Matt’s mum who was working nearby that day happened to pop in at the exact moment Genevieve was born, motherly instincts I suppose. Jess, Jenny and Trish left the hospital by 1pm to go home and get some sleep. Both Genevieve and I were healthy and recuperated enough to leave the hospital by 7pm, with Matt of course. It was an amazing day to remember having been supported by so many, with Jacinta’s wonder and participation, and with such a lovely finish, a beautiful baby girl to celebrate.

This week we have spent catching up on sleep, learning about life as a family of four, eating tasty food gifts, and visiting with friends. Matt now has three ladies to hang out with and is very pleased. I grew up in a family of four, my dad being the only male so this is very familiar. It is even stranger though that like my mother, I gave birth to two girls at the age of 26 and 29 and that the girls are two and a half years apart. As you can imagine, Jacinta is overjoyed to be a big sister. She runs and fetches us nappies, wipes, changing pads, and the spray bottle. Her favorite part of changing nappies is spraying the cloth to wipe Genevieve’s bum and opening and closing the velcro on the nappy covers. This evening she saw that I was “leaking” as I was feeding the little one and ran to fetch me a “leaky pad” without even asking. She is learning to be gentle, how to hold her little sista’s hand, how to clean her hands and allow Genevieve to suck on the tip of her finger, how to hold her, how to roll up her sleeves, and how to make her smile.

Jacinta is getting extra attention from all. Being relaxed and unable to be my normal overly productive self, I have more time to play, draw and read with her. There may be a baby in my arms but that doesn’t seem to be a problem so far. She has been taken on special outings and this makes her happy. “This is what big girls do,” she’ll gloat. Matt took her out to see a dolphin show with Jenny, Ted and little Jonathan. Upon return she always walks in the door and says, “Where’s my little sista?” In the first few days she had a few extra tantrums, but we’ll never know if it was fatigue, newness, too many visitors, jealousy, or the cold she had. Things have cooled down and life feels lovely as a family of four. Bed time has become even sweeter with our new addition. We all huddle in or around Jacinta’s bed, take turns reading stories, cuddling the baby and singing songs. Jess always sings her song last, this week’s theme has been the rain. Each song she makes up is about a different animal in the rain. One night she said, “This is about a birdie, in the rain,” and sang “Raindrops keep falling on my head.” The songs grow in content as she learns how to tell stories. Tonight’s song went like this, “Little seagull Little seagull in the rain…. Humm humm humm. Mommy seagull looking for worms…little seagull stays there. That’s the end.”

Little Genevieve looks and acts just like her big sister, Matt and I laugh remembering the first few days with Jacinta. We find ourselves trying to wake her so we can play with her and gaze into her beautiful blue-gray eyes. Jacinta and I try to imitate all of the funny faces she makes. We thought Jess resembled a cute little turtle each time she stretched her little neck out and opened her eyes in search of something, and also call Genevieve our little turtle. She hiccups in her sleep and while awake. She spends time on the wooly rug looking around, gazing off in the distance or at our faces up close. She punches her little arms and snorts and snuffs when she is not being held and wants some “mama milk,” as Jess calls it. If she is being held but not feeding and wants to be, she’ll peck at you like a chicken and throw her head dangerously into your shoulder to give you a clue. My mom asked on the phone, “Are her legs as strong as Jacinta’s were?” They sure are, she loves to kick around while being changed and if they were bigger than one inch in diameter, she might actually hurt you! We love dressing her in Jacinta’s old clothes, and now even in her cousin Kai’s clothes that my sister sent. It brings back beautiful memories and starts creating new ones too.

As do all babies, Genevieve loves to be held and needs to be cuddled for at least thirty minutes before she wants to sleep. Matt got his birthday girl and is cherishing this time knowing that one day, too soon, she may be like Jacinta and try to refuse kisses, cuddles and tickles. They sleep together on the hammock (in the house), he wears her around in the carrier, and will even let her sleep for hours on his chest as Jacinta liked to do. Although I had no problems with bleeding this birth, I am still quite sore. As my uterus shrinks back to its normal size, I am having post natal contractions quite intensely in my lower back, right knee and stomach. I do not recall anything like this last time but hear it is normal. I am enjoying the affection of a newborn and will soon have the energy to hold and cuddle her even longer.

On the “home front,” Matt was able to labor a little bit this week. Most importantly, he installed the old pink cast iron bathtub and now, we can bathe in our bathroom! We all celebrated with a bath to christen it and it’s great. He did a few fiddly jobs like filling in cracks and working on drainage. He weed whacked the teepee garden so it is no longer a jungle. I have not been down in the garden for over a week, but feel peaceful about letting it go for a while longer.

In addition to the birth on Monday, we also received wonderful news from our church where Matt was employed back in Michigan. A grant was approved to employ Matt (and family) as an “artist and theologian in residence” at the summer camp in Almont where we met eleven short years ago. We will be in Michigan for all of June and July and able to catch up with friends and family in the weeks before and after summer camp and also on the weekends. I will be freer than Matt for visiting as they don’t expect as much from me having two little girls to occupy. I do hope to do some work in camp gardens, music and perhaps cooking classes. What a blessing to be able to bring our newest family member out so soon to meet you all. I also feel really lucky to be around for my step brother’s wedding and my dad’s 60^th birthday. (Is that right Daddy?) We will be in Michigan for Jacinta’s third birthday. Matt will also have the opportunity to attend a few conferences out West concerning Creation Spirituality Communities on which he has been working over the phone on conference calls for the past year. As travel plans emerge, we will keep you posted.

Although much has happened in the past week, it feels as if time slowed down to allow us enjoy it longer. Spending time with a new little being is magical, it is like stolen time. I used to wonder how the second baby could be anywhere near as amazing as the first. It is, though! Each little movement is incredible. Perhaps it’s the fact that this little being was in my belly, how can that be? It’s nature, yes, we all know how it got in there, but it is also pure magic and I will forever be in awe of these little hands reaching out to feel what air is like.

Here’s to a week full of awe and lovely creatures. Thank you for your love and support, it came in handy this week!

Peace,

Shana and family