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On Monday 4th May 2009 at 2h16 was born:
Emma Leonie Gijsje Bos
She is 50 centimeters tall and weighs 3.675 kg (8 lb 1oz). Her first name is a common name in both Dutch and English, while her second name is after her maternal grandmother (Leonie Frances Walmsley) and her third name is after her paternal grandmother (Gijsberta Hermina Smeitink).
After a day walking around in Kew gardens, Sarah went into labour around 22h on Sunday 3rd May. At 23h the first midwife was called who arrived at midnight. Soon after the second midwife arrived, Sarah went into the pool and her waters broke. After 11 minutes second stage labour (as opposed to 2 hours with Piet), Emma was born outside the pool. The midwife in charge did not want to take the chance of another baby with big shoulders (when a child is born under water, the midwife needs to take a passive approach and cannot touch it or gently pull it, as it might start to breath).
At 4h15 we were all back in bed, except Piet who had slept through the whole episode and was still in his cot. We were surprised and relieved it all went so quickly.
For home births in the UK, one is entitled to two midwives. The first will stay with you during the whole labour, while the second is called up for the moment supreme. Our midwives were Debra (r) and Constance (l), who are sitting next to Sarah in the pool. This is Emma's first recorded look into this world. She was quick to open her eyes and start crying. This was Emma's first family cuddle. You can see her greasy face. Note the mouth piece for the gas-and-air pain relief; this time, Sarah did not even use a single canister as opposed to six for the first labour. Here is another greasy look, but without flash. We did not know her weight straight away as scales had not made it to our apartment, but we found her really tiny compared to Piet. According to Debra, she was solid and estimated at 3.8 kg using our bathroom scales. Twelve hours later, her weight was measured at 3.675 kg, so that first estimate must have been spot on. Here Emma is wearing her sleeping hat and gets a cuddle from grandma Leonie, who attended the full labour and brought Sarah water and mints. Dad was tasked with inflating and filling the pool and at the end also emptying it. The inflatable pool is the most practical option for home births: where would you store a rented, non-inflatable pool for the period in which a baby could be born? And we managed to use our pool twice. The next morning we introduced Emma to her big brother Piet.
Over the next few days, life got slowly back to 'normal'. Mother recovered relatively quickly. On her second day, Emma was examined by a doctor at home, who could not detect anything abnormal, which was supervised by Piet. Grandma was proud. Emma got her own 'box' (Dutch for a playpen which normally has an adjustable floor) to keep her out of reach of her brother, which works well. Aunt Pen and uncle Andrew came to visit Emma. As siblings we enjoyed some time on daddy's and mummy's lap. And see these videos of us:
As parent, you cannot stop comparing your second child with the first. Apart from the speedy delivery, what struck us a lot was how featherlight Emma felt. While she was half a kilo lighter at birth, most of this impression probably comes from being used to carry a 12kg toddler around. Even the initial nappy chanching was very different, as Piet managed to get rid of all his meconium in the pool. Breast feeding is easier, partly because Emma seems to have a lower palate. Nights are tougher, as Emma seems to be most hungry in the early hours of the night.
On Friday, oma Bep paid a lightning visit, flying in for the day from Eindhoven, just to hold Emma in her arms. Obviously, we also served her lunch and she had time to sit down with Piet on his return from nursery. But what we will especially remember from her visit is a very precious gift, a little family bible and psalmbook. It has been in the family for over a century.
Piet got more used to Emma, although he also has his grumpy moments - in this case because he was not allowed to take his bucket of "sticky bricks" downstairs. Mum got some Emma time.
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