Our second child, a daughter, Jasmin, sister to Jonathan
is born on exactly the 4-th week of the pregnancy! Timing is everything! And it
looks from the very start that Jasmin will be a master in timing.
Big brother and little sister :-)
Jasmin is a result of insemination treatment, thus we knew
exactly what her due date was supposed to be. She was due at the beginning of
February. As Jonathan was only a day early and both pregnancies were rather
similar, I was expecting to see the pregnancy through. Jasmin thus surprised me
when I began to get some serious cramps two days before Christmas. I lay awake
the whole night in much pain, but labor did not develop and the cramps stopped.
I drank a lot and rested the following weekend and things went back to normal.
On the evening before the due date, we went to visit a small
German community about 30 minutes drive from our home. We completed the visit
as planned and returned home. The evening routine was also fulfilled with no
problem and Jonathan took a bath, ate his dinner and went to bed. Mommy read
his a bedtime story and he fell asleep as always at around 21.00. I went into
the kitchen to wash some dishes, happy that the evening went well and the boy
was asleep – at that exact moment – when all duties had been completed, the
water broke! Jasmin’s excellent timing was demonstrated for the first time.
When I brought Jasmin home, she slept the whole day quietly
and I was able to tidy up the house and put up the baby bed that my parents had
brought for her. Once all the preparations were completed and only then, did
Jasmin wake up to demand her dinner. Once again, excellent timing.
Jonathan is not so good with timing. On the first night of
my return home with Jasmin, he woke up in the middle of the night is hysterics,
exactly when I was breast feeding the baby. I had no free hands to help him or hug
him and his father’s attentions unfortunately did not help calm him down,
although my husband was helpful getting the crying boy to the toilet. We think
his feet must have somehow become numb in his sleep and he woke up in pain from
this numbness. My mother was there to stay the night and help, she was able to
indeed help as eventually she managed to calm Jonathan down by rubbing his
legs, and he fell asleep shortly afterwards, leaving me feeling hopeless, as I
could not assist him.
Parents must be expert jugglers of time if they are to make
it through the first years of raising kids. We are getting used to managing two
children and so we are always late…
Jasmin also has a sense of humor when it comes to timing,
she starts pooing exactly when the diaper has been changed, or exactly when I
open the diaper in order to change it. The first causes a waste of a diaper
because of the short term use; the second just causes a big mess…
Jasmin was born exactly on the week that Jonathan was
learning about family in kindergarten (because of mother’s day – or family day
as it is now called). The timing could not be more perfect, Jonathan was
totally mentally prepared to accept his sister because he had been learning
about siblings in kindergarten. In fact, in a way, we brought him his sister as
a gift for family day… he loves her! He always wants to have her in his
vicinity. In the first days after her birth he insisted n having her laid in
his bed when he heard his bedtime story. He hugs and kisses her at every
opportunity and also would carry her around the house to keep her near him, if
we had permitted it… when she cries he goes to her to explain to her that mommy
will be coming any minute, and then he
announces to her that she should not worry, after all Jonathan is here! It is
hoped that this harmony between our two children will continue…
