gratitude

For a day that started off terribly... it was a really good one.

I'm not sure how I functioned on three hours of sleep (guess the insomnia of years best trained me well), but I did. I kept trying to get Caroline to lie down with me and nap/nurse... finally an hour or so before we needed to get ready to go she did. So we got another hour of rest. I wouldn't call it sleep exactly, but rest. And then... the day began. Well, really the day began before that. She was so awake that she played while I started my translation task for the day. I got just a bit of that done before we crashed together. But I did get a bit done.

And while getting ready to go I straightened up the living room substantially (just one of the household things I really wanted to get accomplished) and repacked the diaper bag and changed the babe and gathered my supplies for my appointment at school and ordered thai food for lunch with a new friend. I felt very proud of myself for having accomplished a bit of German translation, lots of baby care, and all of that, on three hours of sleep, by 10:30 a.m.

Caroline was very cooperative in the transition out of the house. She was a bit cranky on the drive to pick up lunch, but fell asleep on the short jaunt to the friend's house.

This friend... we had never met in person before. She is a nurse midwife who teaches midwifery at my university. A friend of an acquaintance of mine is her student and this friend of the acquaintance connected me to her last summer when I was seeking a home birth midwife. She too was pregnant last summer, due in late October. And she too was planning a home birth. A VBAC even, and she had a midwife willing to work with her on that. We had a good talk one summer afternoon while I was buried in a difficult French translation, anxiously anticipating my rapidly approaching French exam (plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose! um... that wasn't the difficult translation, that is just a thought in French related to the fact that I am now buried in a difficult German translation, rapidly approaching my German exam!) She gave me several names and I began my search. I made LOTS of calls and received more referrals before finally finding a midwife team that was available, but she got me started. She too was in the midst of a move when we talked. We had a lot in common. But she has a toddler. And she was more pregnant when she moved. She deserves greater sympathy. Anyhow, out of the blue several weeks ago she left me a voice mail saying she'd been going through old e-mails and realized she never followed up with me and wondered how things turned out for me. It was an incredibly sweet voice mail. I was very touched that this virtual stranger would follow-up like that. Before I got a chance to call her back she friended me on facebook. And I believe I followed up with her there. We've chatted a lot on facebook in the past few weeks. And it was she who really calmed me down when Caroline was so distressed the other night. She helped me make a plan of action. And we made a plan to get together. And today was the day. It was supposed to be for tea, but my schedule got shifted, I went later and brought lunch. She recommended the place. FINALLY, A GOOD THAI PLACE HERE! HOORAY! Our time together was wonderful. We shared bits and pieces of our birth stories, and she shared very helpful parenting wisdom. And our girls... they only had a bit of time together as hers was sleeping most of the time, but they LOVED each other. They are just over a month apart in age. I don't think Caroline has ever been around a baby so close to her age before. They munched on each others hands and feet and just grinned, grinned, grinned at each other. We have a standing invitation to their place and they to ours. A NEW FRIEND! Alleluia! And she isn't in my program... which is great, really! She feels like just the fellow mom friend, nearby, that I've been needing!

Caroline was very cranky when we left there, but fell asleep on the short drive to school. She woke up shortly after I got into my appointment, but nursed quietly and fell back asleep. She woke up exactly as we were wrapping up.

And then we picked up the sitter at school and she took Caroline for a walk on which Caroline slept a bit more and I got a blissfully quiet house in which to focus on my German.

She kept Caroline busy for the better part of 2 hours while I translated.

And bedtime was SMOOTH tonight. She was asleep by 6:15. Stayed asleep until nearly 8:45. Nursed peacefully on and off for about half an hour, and is back asleep now... has been for over an hour. She cried out shortly after going back down, but I waited to see if she'd make any more noise. And no! She settled herself back down.

And perhaps the best news of all is that I kept chipping away at my translating tonight and I accomplished my goal for the day- a goal that seemed impossibly large given my exhaustion and the busyness of the day! Hooray!

So, now bed. And may all three of us sleep long and well tonight. Amen.