Lucky Me!

Look what I got in the mail yesterday! A lovely Fiber Art Postcard, from Quilt Pixie in Canada! And it was posted on 20th of February, & arrived 27th, so that was quite good.

It is the first time I have ever seen one of these cards, & it is lovely. I was so intrigued to see one in 'real life'. I have been reading about them on lots of blog sites, but this is my first!

It has been very damp here the last few days, & in fact was raining early yesterday, but the card seems in perfect condition to me, so your experiment with the podge worked. I think it has travelled amazingly well.

A BIG Thank You, Donna, for such a lovely gift, & lovely thought.

I treated myself to a bit of fabric yesterday, but have still not got the one I want, so I might have to go back to the fabric shop today.. sigh, sob...oh boo hoo what a pity, haha.

I am planning on making a quilt that Joyce has been featuring on her site, & need to get a good black fabric. I cant believe that I came home yesterday without one! I got a bit carried away with the specials that I found.

It was SB's birthday yesterday, & it brought back the memory of when he was born, as I am sure every mother remembers on her child's birthday, no matter how old the 'child' is!

He was born on Tuesday, and on the Monday evening I could feel the contractions slowly & painlessly beginning, & they were so regular, I had no doubt that he would be born next day.

I had a visit from the MIL during the evening, but didnt say anything to her, not wishing her to 'get in on the act' as it were. I did tell GOM, who was HYH, (Happy Young Husband) & he didnt seem overly impressed. I am sure he thought I was imagining it.

So off I went to bed, labouring away all night, with the contractions increasing in intensity, as the night wore on. About 5am I woke HYH & told him I was definitely in labour. "Oh yes?" he muttered & rolled over & went back to sleep. So caring!!

So I walked about a bit, sat a little, walked some more, then finally went out & got down on my hands & knees & scrubbed the kitchen floor! To this day, I dont really know why I did that, but I think it somehow eased the increasing pain in my back.

Finally about 6.30 am, I woke the sleeping HYH, not feeling very kindly disposed to him by then! I really felt like slapping him awake, to share some of my pain, but I restrained myself. I might have sounded a little shrill, by then.

So off we went to the Hospital, where they pronounced that yes, indeed I was in labour & proceeded to perform all the indignities upon my person, that were routinely done in those days.

HYH had scarpered the minute he heard discussions & plans for the indignities. Perish the thought that he might have to witness any of said indignities, or, have more than a vague knowledge of any details. Off he went to work, to await the call telling him he had a son- although in those days, we didnt have a clue as to the sex of the child, & just had to 'wait-&-see'.

I had wonderful staff attending me, & they were very kind, sitting with me, rubbing my back, & generally trying to make me feel comfortable. Finally at 3.04pm, our son was born, & he was perfect. He had really long eyelashes, & all the nurses oohed & ahed over his lovely eyelashes bemoaning the fact that the girl babies rarely seemed to be blessed with those eyelashes.

I had once read that when little Pisces babies are born, the little bumps where their wings were attached, are still visible. It could have been true of our son, he was extremely fair of face, & everyone remarked on what a beautiful baby he was.

While I had been giving birth to him, I could hear another poor soul giving birth, & she was very vocal, & there seemed to be a lot of drama involved, with nurses rushing about, & Doctors flying along the corridor. I later saw the baby who was born to that poor woman. It was a Girl, & she weighed 14 pounds!! No one could quite believe that the woman had given birth naturally, & the baby looked about 3 months old, compared to our, smaller, 'normal' sized babies. SB was 7lb 3oz, which seemed quite big enough to me!

Of course, then began the wrestling with the breast feeding, the colic he developed, the interference & confidance-robbing 'advice' from the MIL.


The ghastly, ancient, Plunket Nurse, who came to visit & told me horror stories of babies dying in overseas countries, of the mother who drowned her baby. What she was trying to achieve, who knew! I used to take SB for long walks in the park which was close to where we lived, just to try to avoid the MIL. But she would just wait until I had to return. I had to endure her every Saturday afternoon. How I missed having my own mother close in those days.

I am glad my daughter has more 'guts' than I did, & she wont stand to be dictated to, or critcised by inlaws. She stands up for herself, & I feel very proud of her.
And our children were & are worth all the heartaches, for all the joy they give us!