In August, Simona came out to visit Taya Samara in the womb-without-a-view and to put her design skills to work preparing our townhouse for Taya's arrival. The 4 of us went to Sasamat Lake, and Taya had a nice sunbathe, albeit sheltered by Mommy's belly.
Simona consulted, designed, organized, and painted. We couldn't keep up with her torrid pace!
I tried to reward Simona with a hike up Lynn Peak (unfortunately without Ljuba and Taya)--of course my own desire for a hike had nothing to do with it!
Taya grew and grew ...
And in a precocious display of telekinetic powers, she signalled to us through the womb.
A taste of the products of Simona's redecorating prowess (no, the 'before' pictures are not for public consumption!).
Here's the crib, all ready for Taya to sleep peacefully beside us (wishful thinking!).
Look at Taya's size in late August!
Taya's Babica (Slovenian for 'grandmother', Ljuba's mother Frances) arrived in early September. Here she is with Ljuba and Taya on the way to Bowen Island.
On the same trip, here's Ljuba, Taya, and Rose, our much anticipated visitor from Switzerland.
Babica enjoyed some fresh BC berries, which she promptly turned into cobblers and other desserts.
After Taya's due date (Sept 15), the waiting game began. On Sept 16, Ljuba had a bout of contractions (that felt different from the Braxton-Hicks contractions she'd had so many of), so we figured Taya would arrive that night. She didn't, but the next day Ljuba was 3-cm dilated, so the midwives were confident Taya would come soon. That night, Ljuba had another bout of contractions, so we felt sure that Taya would arrive imminently. Two days later, Lj had *another* bout of contactions, and we were *convinced* that Taya would arrive any moment. Many bouts of contractions later, and many feelings of imminent arrival later, we all stopped predicting.
That is, until Friday, when--after a walk in the endowment lands, Lj & Kai independently felt certain--for real this time! :)--that real labour was going to begin late that night. Down in Portland, Kai's mum (Penny/Nanna) had the same feeling that Taya would be born on Saturday. It must have been the added weight of Nanna's spiritual nature (her great aunt is a medium) that made the predicted event finally happen.
The labour was long, arduous, and complicated--a separate story we can send to those interested--but Ljuba endured like a marathoner and pushed like a madwoman. Our midwife (Candace) and the attending nurse noted well before Taya arrived that she had a head full of hair (just like her Daddy did)--they styled it well before Taya was out. At 1742 on Saturday September 27, out popped Taya Samara Kovacic Chan, weighing 3.795 kg (8 lbs, 6 oz).
She also had her daddy's lungs and her mommy's joie de vivre (here she is screaming like a banshee and kicking like a bronco). Fortunately, this first (unpleasant) experience with Daddy didn't interfere with our bonding.
Here I am trying to make it up to her, with some skin-to-skin to keep her warm. Of course, she was disappointed when she found my non-functional nibs-for-nipples.
Mommy reported the good news to Babica, who had been anxiously waiting at home all day.
Candace gave us a tour of Taya's home for 9 months: here's the amniotic sac and the placenta.
Babica was instantly in love. :) The feeling was mutual.
After her first bath, Daddy danced with Taya to placate her, and even his off-tune badly mangled singing didn't put her off. Ah, babies. :)
After the bath, Taya was finally clean and dressed in her first outfit--pirates--thanks to Terre!
We managed a few phone calls in those first days, here to Simona. "Guess what happened to me on Saturday?" (Yes, the memory of the pain dulls quickly!)
A successful feed!
And here's Taya at home for the first time, too tired to do it again.
A taste of the products of Simona's redecorating prowess (no, the 'before' pictures are not for public consumption!).
