I feel like a walking national geographic program. I have learned how to give in to the forces of life. My body is taking complete control of the whole birthing preparation process. I mostly just sit back in amazement. I am not only a national geographic phenomenon, I’m also a walking chef, making colostrum (that will be served in a magnificent dish, by the way they are expanding).
Admittedly some things are becoming a bit of a challenge to do – such as putting on panties (who needs them anyway?) and shaving. It is not the action of shaving in itself that is so difficult, but more the combination of shaving and a mushy brain – I got out of the bath this morning looking like a run away shrub in a fancy English country home garden – ie lopsidedly trimmed. The big weight issue is not much of an issue. I’m amazed at how I can sometimes see my tummy grow. Ok, not really, but I swear, some days it just blows up like a balloon. I’m not quite on the Schalk Burger scale (although sometimes I feel as goofy as he looks), but I’m giving Habana a run for his kilos (Joost’s kilos are SO yesterday). Someone asked me the other day if I would miss being pregnant. I hope I have time to miss it!! But I must say, so far, I’ve really enjoyed this (unexpected) journey. From the first flutter in the tummy, to the growing bump, to feeling Tito’s bum, to the sore pelvic bones… and every now and again I find myself sitting back in amazement and just staring at the veins on my tummy, wondering what’s going on inside there. I had the odd scary moment too (“oh my word, Tito must come OUT!!”), but they are fleeting and most of the times helped me to get my mind around to thinking what is happening and what is about to happen. Oh, and the moments of amazement when some people still ask me: are you pregnant? That at 30 weeks of pregnancy (see photo above). I mean, really. The other day, when an American woman asked me that, I just replied: no, I'm just fat...stupid questions begs for stupid answers...(I think most people are a bit surprised that I'm not as big as an elephant (ie that I'm "national geographic" and not "animal planet"), seeing that I'm not exactly Tinkerbell in my non-pregnant state. But my answer to that surprise? There's a lot of places to store a baby in my body...). another strange question that people keep on asking me is, on a 38 degree February day in Stellenbosch: "oh, you must be hot?" erm, JA. And then, they look at my feet...by now I figured out they want to see if it is swollen. Mostly they are then too polite to ask, so I just reply: "oh, no, they? They've always been huge like that..." And the other day a woman, 8 weeks pregnant and puking, said to me: "you young people have pregnancy so easy". She's 3 years older than me. With the second child. But the pricewinning response so far was the silent stares of the first years' moms and dads when they came to drop their kids of and saw me waggling around campus (first glimpsing at the belly, then, without looking, quickly glimpse to see if I have a wedding ring, then seeing the non-bling-bling ring, looking even more puzzled as to my marital status). Their panicky looks say "please let that not be my child in 2 years".
I am now just looking forward to the day that I will meet this little creature that is kicking and mooning me when I sit and type / read, although I’m sure that there will be days where I would just like to push it back again… The plan is still to have a home birth with our midwife (although I’m not supposed to tell it to people, because you will now all come up with some or other horrible story about how it is a crap idea), but if things so turn out, we will go to Vergelegen hospital in Somerset West. We is not only Der Heiko and me (and Tito, of course), but also the grandparents. I figure the jollier the birth, the jollier the baby. I hope to do it without (chemical) drugs, and I have started explaining Tito what will happen soon, so that we can work together. When we drove in the car yesterday, I told Heiko, people always think: poor woman, the baby must come out of THAT hole, but nobody every mentions the baby that must come through it. So, I’m sure it will be a dramatic experience for both of us, but letting Tito know that I am here to work with him/her and that there is light at the end of the tunnel… I think we’ll be just fine.
Dad is also very much looking forward to Tito. I think as the bump grew, so did his excitement. He speaks German to Tito already – mostly about how Borussia is doing in the German Bundesliga (soccer). Remarkably, when I go to German class, Tito cannot stop moving and kicking when (s)he hears German. I find that very cute, although I must admit that sitting in a class with a bunch of skimpy dressed 20 year olds with a wobbly tummy does make me things sehr interessant.
Other than that our nanny is organised. Judith, from Kayamandi. Judith will teach Tito Xhosa. She has two kids of her own – a five year old and one in high school. Last Friday Judith went to the five year old’s school, because he refused to go to school because he said the teachers hit him on the head when he didn’t understand what they were saying in Afrikaans to him. He goes to the convent pre-school. Then Judith promised him that she will go and talk to them (and teach him a few Afrikaans phrases), and asked him: which one is it. The boy looked at her, benoud, and said “I don’t know mom, the one that looks like Jesus”. So Judith marched to the convent to go and as Jesus to stop hitting her boy on the head.
With me, as a human being separate from Tito (well, as separate as can be), it is also going well. I finished the doctorate, did the oral, and are now officially a Dr, although I can only change my bankcards after the 18th of March (graduation). Presently I am doing a post-doc at the same Research Chair.
Heiko is also settled in quite well. It is amazing to have him here, knowing that he is not going to get onto a plane soon. Of course we had the usual settling-in earthquakes, but overall I’m very surprised at how smooth it all went. Especially with the loaded hormones on my side (although I must admit, I think I’ve been quite the pleasant pregnant companion). He decided to also do his doctorate in law (I made it look like a breeeeeze ☺ ), while working as a researcher at the Uni. He will focus on the interaction between democratic participation, human dignity and environmental law.
Other than that I have not much to tell. Or I do have, it’s just not going to make sense to spill them all out here. I can say that there is a little creature that is new in the family – Basjan the Boerboel, succeeding old Hendrik that exchanged the temporary for the eternal… Heiko is so in love with the dog (we all are, but H takes it to new hights), that I am wondering how he will love Tito once Tito is here. Although they do say it is possible to love two children the same… speaking of which, I also got my own baby – the MacBook, which also made me question the human ability to love two things with the same intensity… Then I still have a December holiday story, for instance, but somehow I find that my brain is occupied with so many things, big and small, that to put something coherent together is just not priority right now. In the lazy moments, I prefer to sit outside on the chair, stare the leaves of the big oak and pine trees opposite the road, and just be for now, in the moment. Because I know, in the words of Schopenhauer, that “the worst is yet to come”…
Admittedly some things are becoming a bit of a challenge to do – such as putting on panties (who needs them anyway?) and shaving. It is not the action of shaving in itself that is so difficult, but more the combination of shaving and a mushy brain – I got out of the bath this morning looking like a run away shrub in a fancy English country home garden – ie lopsidedly trimmed. The big weight issue is not much of an issue. I’m amazed at how I can sometimes see my tummy grow. Ok, not really, but I swear, some days it just blows up like a balloon. I’m not quite on the Schalk Burger scale (although sometimes I feel as goofy as he looks), but I’m giving Habana a run for his kilos (Joost’s kilos are SO yesterday). Someone asked me the other day if I would miss being pregnant. I hope I have time to miss it!! But I must say, so far, I’ve really enjoyed this (unexpected) journey. From the first flutter in the tummy, to the growing bump, to feeling Tito’s bum, to the sore pelvic bones… and every now and again I find myself sitting back in amazement and just staring at the veins on my tummy, wondering what’s going on inside there. I had the odd scary moment too (“oh my word, Tito must come OUT!!”), but they are fleeting and most of the times helped me to get my mind around to thinking what is happening and what is about to happen. Oh, and the moments of amazement when some people still ask me: are you pregnant? That at 30 weeks of pregnancy (see photo above). I mean, really. The other day, when an American woman asked me that, I just replied: no, I'm just fat...stupid questions begs for stupid answers...(I think most people are a bit surprised that I'm not as big as an elephant (ie that I'm "national geographic" and not "animal planet"), seeing that I'm not exactly Tinkerbell in my non-pregnant state. But my answer to that surprise? There's a lot of places to store a baby in my body...). another strange question that people keep on asking me is, on a 38 degree February day in Stellenbosch: "oh, you must be hot?" erm, JA. And then, they look at my feet...by now I figured out they want to see if it is swollen. Mostly they are then too polite to ask, so I just reply: "oh, no, they? They've always been huge like that..." And the other day a woman, 8 weeks pregnant and puking, said to me: "you young people have pregnancy so easy". She's 3 years older than me. With the second child. But the pricewinning response so far was the silent stares of the first years' moms and dads when they came to drop their kids of and saw me waggling around campus (first glimpsing at the belly, then, without looking, quickly glimpse to see if I have a wedding ring, then seeing the non-bling-bling ring, looking even more puzzled as to my marital status). Their panicky looks say "please let that not be my child in 2 years".
I am now just looking forward to the day that I will meet this little creature that is kicking and mooning me when I sit and type / read, although I’m sure that there will be days where I would just like to push it back again… The plan is still to have a home birth with our midwife (although I’m not supposed to tell it to people, because you will now all come up with some or other horrible story about how it is a crap idea), but if things so turn out, we will go to Vergelegen hospital in Somerset West. We is not only Der Heiko and me (and Tito, of course), but also the grandparents. I figure the jollier the birth, the jollier the baby. I hope to do it without (chemical) drugs, and I have started explaining Tito what will happen soon, so that we can work together. When we drove in the car yesterday, I told Heiko, people always think: poor woman, the baby must come out of THAT hole, but nobody every mentions the baby that must come through it. So, I’m sure it will be a dramatic experience for both of us, but letting Tito know that I am here to work with him/her and that there is light at the end of the tunnel… I think we’ll be just fine.
Dad is also very much looking forward to Tito. I think as the bump grew, so did his excitement. He speaks German to Tito already – mostly about how Borussia is doing in the German Bundesliga (soccer). Remarkably, when I go to German class, Tito cannot stop moving and kicking when (s)he hears German. I find that very cute, although I must admit that sitting in a class with a bunch of skimpy dressed 20 year olds with a wobbly tummy does make me things sehr interessant.
Other than that our nanny is organised. Judith, from Kayamandi. Judith will teach Tito Xhosa. She has two kids of her own – a five year old and one in high school. Last Friday Judith went to the five year old’s school, because he refused to go to school because he said the teachers hit him on the head when he didn’t understand what they were saying in Afrikaans to him. He goes to the convent pre-school. Then Judith promised him that she will go and talk to them (and teach him a few Afrikaans phrases), and asked him: which one is it. The boy looked at her, benoud, and said “I don’t know mom, the one that looks like Jesus”. So Judith marched to the convent to go and as Jesus to stop hitting her boy on the head.
With me, as a human being separate from Tito (well, as separate as can be), it is also going well. I finished the doctorate, did the oral, and are now officially a Dr, although I can only change my bankcards after the 18th of March (graduation). Presently I am doing a post-doc at the same Research Chair.
Heiko is also settled in quite well. It is amazing to have him here, knowing that he is not going to get onto a plane soon. Of course we had the usual settling-in earthquakes, but overall I’m very surprised at how smooth it all went. Especially with the loaded hormones on my side (although I must admit, I think I’ve been quite the pleasant pregnant companion). He decided to also do his doctorate in law (I made it look like a breeeeeze ☺ ), while working as a researcher at the Uni. He will focus on the interaction between democratic participation, human dignity and environmental law.
Other than that I have not much to tell. Or I do have, it’s just not going to make sense to spill them all out here. I can say that there is a little creature that is new in the family – Basjan the Boerboel, succeeding old Hendrik that exchanged the temporary for the eternal… Heiko is so in love with the dog (we all are, but H takes it to new hights), that I am wondering how he will love Tito once Tito is here. Although they do say it is possible to love two children the same… speaking of which, I also got my own baby – the MacBook, which also made me question the human ability to love two things with the same intensity… Then I still have a December holiday story, for instance, but somehow I find that my brain is occupied with so many things, big and small, that to put something coherent together is just not priority right now. In the lazy moments, I prefer to sit outside on the chair, stare the leaves of the big oak and pine trees opposite the road, and just be for now, in the moment. Because I know, in the words of Schopenhauer, that “the worst is yet to come”…
Ps. We are planning our South African wedding for the 31st of December 2009 – so for all of you that are still looking for a New Year’s party, make sure the tickets are booked for down south then. I promise the wedding will not be postponed due to another due date again ☺ in the words of Tito "bottoms up"!
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