born 2-22-2008
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TALULA!
Sweet Little One! How
fast you have grown! A full year has passed since we first looked upon your
dear face. You have taught us so much. You are so LOVED! You have been such a
sweet baby - PEACE - full and HAPPY most of the time. Your SMILE is so
BEAUTY-full and your song is soooo sweet!
Our little baby is growing so fast and so
strong! Talula is walking (almost running), talking (she says: "mama, dada,
bubba, baba, booba, (c)at, dah(g), up, (st)eps,
dis?," and "dat"), and loves to play with the big kids! She can't wait to catch
up to her big brother, Izaya!
Talula's wonderful in every way! She's had a
sweet disposition from day one and she's silly and happy too! She will go
through a laundry basket (about once a day!) and take each item out and put it
on her head and do it again and again and again.. . ..! Cutie! She lavishes
us all with the biggest smiles (she has 8 teeth and more on the way!) and laughs
easily. She plays silly games with Izaya where they both hug and kiss and
giggle and stick out their tounges a lot. :p She loves animals, babies, her
family, her Oma, and all her aunties and uncles (but especially the aunties),
cookies, apples, rice, bathtime, and the outdoors. She loves to give big
snuggly hugs!!!!!
She is very curious and slightly mischevious . .
. she wants everything that she shouldn't have, she will put ANYTHING and every
thing in her mouth, she loves to climb the stairs, and pull the kitty's tail;O
And she certainly has us all "wrapped around her (precious little sweetie)
finger".
Here are some significant events of Talula's
first year:
8 days old - first road trip
10 days old - passed through a hole in a
stone
12 days old - first time at the beach
(FL)
2 months old - first Naraya
2 1/2 months - first Beltane
3 months old - sat up by herself
4 months old - started crawling
41/2 months old - first teeth
41/2 months old - first food
(watermelon)
5 months old - first swim in river
(AR)
5 months old - first Rainbow Gathering
(MO)
8 months old - first horseback ride
(AR)
9 months old - stood by herself
91/2 months old - first word
("dahg")
10 months old - first airplane ride
10 months old - first
time up & down steps
10 months old - first Christmas
(PA)
101/2 months old - first steps
click on the pictures to goto our photo album and see lots more of Talula
behold! the miracle of
life!!!! . . . and the power of intention. . .
somehow, during my
pregnancy with Talula (my 2nd baby), fear came a-creepin up into my mind. we'd
been so blessed at our son Izaya's birth. would this time be like that? how
would Izaya react to seeing his sibling's birth? would my body be able to
perform such a crazy feat again? would i have to go to the hospital? would i
die? would i be a good mother to 2 children? would we have enough? would we
still love each other? (wow! talk about an emotional roller
coaster!)
regardless of the
whirlpool of negative and fear based thinking i kept finding myself in, at every
oppurtunity i SPOKE my TRUE intentions for a healthy baby, a smooth delivery,
and loving relations between ALL my family. "do you want a boy or a girl?" "i
want a healthy baby!"
it was a long long winter pregnant in
pittsburgh. Sol had been ready to get on the road for months. we thought for
sure this baby would come early too, but the weeks just kept ticking by. when i
hit my "due date" we knew it was time for some gentel prompting. . . i went to
see the midwife on 2/21 and she "swept the membranes" for me (rubbing a finger
around thr inside of the cervix), which is supposed to help bring on labor. i
took goldenseal extract 4x before going to bed and was sure i'd wake up with
contractions. the night passed uneventfully and i woke in the morning and took
more goldenseal and decided to do an enema (i'd read that this can bring on
labor and gives mom more room to push). it went well, and really helped me to
feel like i was taking matters in my own hands. at around 11am, dancing and
giggling it was clear that i was having contractions. today was the
day!!!
(at this point in my writing, i remember that
Sol has already written an account of the birth and my intention was only to
embellish!) when we arrived at the Midwife Center it was FULL on! Talula was
born a mere hour after we arrived. the women were wonderful. the midwife saw
me coming in spinning and immediately placed her finger on my third eye and sent
me some powerful centering energy. there were 2 other women with her (i'd met
all 3 only once before) and they were so beauty-full too - they talked real nice
and rubbed my back.
i had previously entertained ideas of laboring
in the whirlpool tub or birthing on the nifty birthing rocking chair (with
removable panel), but it was all i couId manage to get myself up on the bed! i
found myself in transition surrounded by smiling faces and welcome arms - and i
was scared. i felt just like a little child - helpless. this crazy thing was
happening to my body (again!) and it was hurty and i had no control at all! then
i looked at Sol. he was beside me. he was smiling. in his eyes i saw the
beauty of our love. i rembered to breathe. i started praying (again). "Mama!
Mama! Mama!" i called out - letting my voice ring out as loud as it wanted. (my
birth mother was in the next room and she knew it wasn't her i was calling!) And
she came to me. she came in the form of my own resolve. in laughter, in
whispers, in the grace of feeling ready.
the three women at the receiving end were
maiden, mother, and crone. they didn't know me but they knew Her. the miracle
of birth had played out before them many times. two had seen the miracle come
through them. they directed my focus in the most gentel way. i made a low
growling sound deep down, deep, deep down in my belly. i felt like i was
growing a tail! an enormous thick kangaroo tail that went down into the center
of the earth. the women held up a mirror. i could see i was making progress.
how sweet! how empowering!
i had struggled with the idea of having my
mother present at the birth as we'd just undergone some trying communication.
with the intention of healing our relationship, i invited her to be present -
and was very glad i did! my mom and Izaya have the most beauty-full
relationship - they're crazy about each other! Izaya calls her his "friend Oma"
and he couldn't possibly have had better support that night. (Thanks mom!) i
had also been nervous about Izaya's involvment in the labor/delivery. it worked
out so perfectly! we were the only ones in the birthing center that night, so we
left the door open to our room. Izaya and Oma played so joyfully together (even
though it was nearly midnight). His sweet laughter echoing through the old
building really helped me through some tough spots! The two of them came into
the room just as Talula came out! Izaya was the first to speak "she came out!"
she was perfect- all pink and crying, covered
with thick vernix. it took us all awhile before we even looked to see her sex.
we were a delighted to have a little girl! Izaya went home with Oma, the nurses
cleaned up :) and we stayed and slept through the nght with our pretty baby
girl.
WE LOVE YOU TALULA!!!!!!
WE LOVE YOU TALULA!!!!!!
a funny story:
upon leaving the Center the next day, we were
halfway up the hill and remembered that we'd forgotten our placenta (which i
intended to eat). we went back and picked it up. upon reacing home, Oma
dropped us off and was halfway to her home before realizing the placenta was
still in the car. she brought it back to us. hours later when we recieved a
call saying there had been a "mix-up", we understood what all the blocked flow
had been about and had a good laugh!
in case you're wondering, yes. i did finally
get around to eating my placenta. when we got the right one it was 4 days
post-partum. i was started to feel blue - having regrets about labor/delivery,
and other generally negative thoughts. Sol cooked up about 1/2 of the placenta
with garlic and put it in lasagna for me. YUMMY! (he says the secret is to cut
off any "membranous" or "sinewy" pieces - we dehydrated those and crushed it to
use in capsules lateer on) no kidding, an hour later all my cramps were gone and
i was laughing so hard i cried - what a miracle! i continued to take the
encapsulated placenta throughout the postpartum period whenever i felt overly
emotional or stressed and i would strongly recommend it!
Rae began laboring with Talula around 11 am on 2/22. I called the midwife at six and asked if we could come into the birthing center. She told us they were probably false contractions and for Rae to take a bath and get some rest. We called our friend Sunny and asked her to attend the labor. After she showed up I decided to run to the store for diapers and enough food to last a few days. When I returned it appeared to me that Rae was experiencing contractions 2-3 minutes long and 2-3 minutes apart.
It was snowing with freezing rain and it began to look to me like we would be delivering at home. Rae's mom showed up and began a concerted effort to get us to the midwife center. We were in communications with them - but now the roads were really bad and I didn't feel it was worth the risk to transport her in her present condition. But Rae was not comfortable at home with her mom stressin and our hosts not fully receptive to our having a baby there. So at 10:30 we packed the 4x4 with all our gear, Izaya, Sunny, Oma, and Rae curled in a ball in the back seat and headed to downtown Pittsburgh. We were only a ten minute drive away in good weather - and due to road conditions it took about twenty minutes.
The midwife and delivery team were waiting for us on arrival to the center and sprung right into action. They went through standard procedures but realized soon that there wasn't a whole lot of time to bother with urine samples, blood pressure and whatnot because Rae was about to deliver. I sat behind her on the bed and held her tight as she nestled against my chest with Sunny encouraging her at her side. Oma and Izaya were in the other room and Izaya was running up annd down the hall laughing hysterically at the game they were playing - it was beautiful music to birth to.
As my first daughter Lily was born on 11/11/1999 we weren't too suprised that Talula waited til 2/22/2008 to emerge. At 11:50 however I figured it wasn't going to happen today. But then the crowning started, the water broke, and a few pushes later Talula was in her mama's arms at 11:55. She was covered in white vernix which we rubbed into her little pink body and had about and inch of brown hair. She immediately scored high on her APGAR and within an hour everything was cleaned up - mama was well, and we all went to sleep.
In the morning we started talking about names because we couldn't find one we both liked a lot. I wanted to name her Sadina which meant princess of the sun or Aradia. Rae liked a couple others, but wanted to be sure it meant something to do with water - because she had intuitions and signs of flowing water during the pregnancy. Back at home I was searching online for words that sounded like talula - kalula because Izaya had been singing these syllables days before the birth. When I found out that Talula means princess in Gaelic, and jumping waters in Choctaw we knew we had found a match. Rae's great Aunt who had lived the life of a saint had just passed and we wanted to honor her but didn't like the name Virginia. However, Aunt Ginny always prayed for roses as a sign and received rose signs often, so we chose the middle name of Rose to honor Aunt Ginny.
Talula is now five moons old and guess what? She has slept through the night every night since her birth. Yes it is a miracle - Izaya and Lily never did that. In fact, they were both quite colic and we are so blessed to have a baby who is so happy and healthy. We still do a family bed and so Izaya snuggles with me now and Talula and Rae are attached at the breast.
Izaya is a great big brother... sometimes his excitement to play with Talula overrides his ability to reason and he tries to jump on her or climb in the stroller with her or pick her up on his own. But generally he is very sweet with her and can't wait till she can
run and play with him. Talula is rolling over, grabbing and holding things, can hold herself standing by my beard braids, has tried bananas and some other fruit, likes to gnaw on cucumbers and celery, is starting to teeth, and is a dear little sweetie pie in all ways.
Since birth she is growing fast and is strong and healthy. We DO NOT believe in vaccinations and if you want some reasons contact us and we'll tell you why... better yet do your own research. Basically big Pharma companies have fearmongered the population into poisoning their healthy children at a volatile age in the name of safety... after all - you don't want your baby to die, right?
Did you know that it is illegal to sue a vaccine manufacturer if your child dies, loses ability to speak, develops autism or some other disease after immunizations? Did you know that all of the outbreaks of measels, mumps and rubella in the past fifty years were in populations that were 95% vaccinated? And if you do get one of these diseases having been vaccinated then you will be far more sick than if you were not vaccinated. Did you know that governements have often tested some or all of their populations with unknown chemicals used in vaccinations? And that some people have drawn the conclusion that AIDS was spread throughout Africa though the smallpox vaccination?
Down from the soapbox - and back to Talula. Since naming her we've found out that Talula Bankhead was a huge star in the eary to mid 20th century. She was outlandish, smoked like a chimney, drank like a fish, had a suitcase full of pills, was outspokenly bisexual and had a tendency to end up naked at parties - when noone else at the time would dream of such a thing.
Quite a scandal... we are pleased to know our little sweetie has such a illustrious namesake.
