The birth

Tracy started having medium contractions on Saturday night. This shelved my plans to play on Sunday morning at church, and we waited at home most of the day. During the night it felt like the birth was going to happen any moment, but when morning came, of course, it was not to be yet.

We eventually went to the hospital just after 7 in the evening. Tracy was having really strong contractions at

about 4 minutes apart, but her cervix was slow to open, and the delivery only really started 5.30 on Monday. The pushing stage lasted only about 20 minutes, and did not need any help from the nurses. In fact, through it all Tracy was amazing. She was very calm and relaxed, even in the intense pain of delivery, and the midwife (who was really nice) commented on how well Tracy listened to her, even right at the end.

There were no complications, and Annabel received an Apgar score of 9 - already an overachiever like her mom! Tracy received some second degree tears, and had to be taken to theatre to be sown up, and is currently still a bit sore. She was fine in the hospital, but I think she was running on adrenalin, and coming home has ended all that. No one to ask help now, no one to do the dishes and clean and cook (except me, of course!). The hospital took such good care of us. We were in a room dedicated to us, and ate all our meals over the 3 days there, and had the constant attention of a midwife/nurse specialising in babycare. They helped so much with getting the breastfeeding going and general advice on nappies, washing, sleeping, etc. etc.

Annabel is feeding like her dad - lots, fast and easily. She had a little difficulty to start with, but no problems now. She is also sleeping really well. We have to wake her up for her (now 3 hourly) feeding times, and she has not yet woken us up. She is really calm, and has had a couple of crying sessions because she has been frustrated and over tired, but these have not really lasted longer than 5 minutes.

I am completely overwhelmed by the emotions she awakes in me, I am so proud and humbled, and completely blown away by her.

This last picture is how to dress someone to go out into the Finnish winter. I think her legs end somewhere near the crotch of this suit, but it should last until the end of this winter at least.

Annabel Elize

Annabel Elize was born at 8:30 yesterday

morning. She weighed 3.39 kg and is doing very well. Tracy was very tired, but has rested and is much better. More detailed descriptions to follow, I need to get back to the

hospital.

Cycling in the snow

Winter daylight saving has started, so we woke up an hour later this morning, but it was still dark, and now the sun is down by 5 in the afternoon. The clouds have not cleared in two weeks I think, apart from little glimpses of blue every now and again. We are heading into the extreme winter. It snowed two days about a week ago, and we even woke up to a white neigbourhood one morning. It did not stay long, as it is not yet really cold enough for the snow to freeze properly.

I discovered this when I went cycling to university one afternoon. In January, when we came, it was constantly below -10, and so the snow has this powdery quality, it is not wet at all. Not so when it is above 0. Then snow is wet, and cold. I realised this as I set out, but for some reason obscure to me now, thought that it is not so bad, and I should keep going. Some perverted part of my brain was laughing at me all the way there. My upper legs got completely soaked, and had little bits of ice stuck to them. It took me a good hour or two of practicing for my jeans to dry. Then I had to set out again to get home, and the whole thing repeated itself. Seems even highly educated people are stupid.

Tracy has been like one of those spongey monsters that you throw in water and watch them grow to incredible proportions. She is truly 'vooruitstrewend'. Bubs - as we have taken to calling her - also loves stretching out, which is very uncomfortable, especially when she hits bone or some sensitive organ.

We visited the hospital, they provide a little tour before birth in order for the parents to get accustomed to the place. So we saw the waiting rooms, delivery rooms and the ward where you stay afterwards. The midwife also very patiently explained all that will happen before, during and after. It is really helpful to have some idea at least of where we will be going to when the big day arrives.

Work

I have some great news. I have been awarded a position with the Doctoral School of Art, Music and Theatre. This is an organisation that is funded by the Academy of Finland, and they employ people to do research. So I have a position for two years, and will be recieving a salary, including pension and medical benefits. It also probably means that we will be able to recieve some support for the baby from the Finnish state, as I will be paying tax on the money. This is a great blessing, and we are really grateful for it. There were 44 applicants, and 7 people were awarded positions, so this is a great honour for me.
God has been providing for us amazingly in the time leading up to this, and we continue to be amazed at His bounty and favour towards us. We went to celebrate by buying huge hamburgers (Tracy had a craving for Steers - which is a bit hard to fulfil here...).
Winter has truly arrived, with several nights going below 0 and the day temperatures hovering at around 10. Some sleet even fell the other day. I wake up to darkness these days, and I suspect even daylight saving in a couple of weeks will not change that.

We have a lot of things to get through, so hang on tight, this will be a fast race through the last month or two.

Tracy's parents visited us in the middle of August. We had a fantastic time with them. We went to Porvoo, which is a very quaint little town about an hour's drive from here. The old town is full of cobbled streets and old wooden buildings. We also rented some bikes and cycled about 12 km

out of town. Ann and Brian's bikes (the two of us on really nice bikes discovered afterwards) were horrible, and I am totally amazed that they got home, and still decided to hang out with us afterwards. We then spent three nights in a cottage on a little lake in the national park, Nuuksio. We cautiously got into mushroom picking. I was initially highly resistant to eating these multi-coloured, possibly life-threatening spungiforms. But I was won over, and we had some amazing meals with various mushroom dishes, and brought home bags and bags of shrooms, which have now been dried and frozen. We have a freezer full of berries and mushrooms, all free from Finland. We eat berries each morning with breakfast, and occasionally make some exotic dish. We had biltong and chanterel omelet the other day. In the picture you can see Mustatorvisieni, Herkkutatti, Kantarelli, Suppelivahvero and Rousku.

University has started for me, and has been very busy. I am doing some courses in order to rack up the credits I need. Included are: research ethics, free piano accompaniment, philosophical writing, and library skills.

Tracy is doing very well, as is the little one. We go for regular check-ups, and all the signs are very positive, with normal development. She has been very busy making baby stuff. She has made a diaper bag, some baby sheets, a sleeping bag, and has ordered material to make some fancy cloth diapers. We will try to use those instead of disposables, to save the environment (and our wallets). These diapers have microfleece and microfibre in several layers, together with waterproof outers, and are fitted for minimum leakage. It is very high-tech. She has been researching lots, and I am sure these will be the best diapers ever made.

We have been given two bicycles and I have ridden to university a couple of times, it is not so far, and very pleasant, although it has been raining, and even sleeting this past weekend.

Our bible study group has grown. A campaign was launched to get people to join groups, and we now have 9 people in total. We are studying the letter to the Phillipians, which is quite challenging but very good.

Tracy's birthday was on the 19th of September, and we invited many of our friends around here to pop in for cake and tea. We counted 10 nationalities among our visitors, which was very cool. At one stage we had some Finns, some Chinese, a Kenyan, a Taiwanese, a German, an Austrian, and some South Africans all having melktert together.

We have also had several other visitors. Carol came while Tracy's folks were visiting Sweden, and Bridget visited us just last week. It was really cool to see some South African friends, even though they are both now in England. Keep the visits coming!

To finish with, a photo of the two women in my life...

A very berry week

This past week we have really had many berry moments. We were given about a kilogram of cherries from the church food handout. They were somewhat over-ripe, so we made some jam, which is really delicious. We also went strawberry picking with the Hickey family. It was fun, I applied the biblical instruction to test all things and keep that which is good, so we didn't bring home any berries. We also went camping at Nuuksio, a large national park outside Helsinki, where we spent a whole morning picking blueberries by hand. We got about 5 litres, and have been making more jam, and also froze some for later: blueberry pies, blueberry icecream, blueberry cheesecake....

(The pictures are: blueberries on a bush, me picking, bluberry processing)

We had a friend of Kath Embling stay with us for two nights this last week. Richard is an archictect from East-London, and he really encouraged us. He came to us after a long flight from SA, and was clearly tired, but as we talked God revealed several things to him. This confirmed many things we have been feeling God say to us, and has left us amazed at God's timing and care.

We went for the 22 week checkup this week as well, and everything is going as it should at this stage. Thank you Lord! Tracy is feeling much more relaxed with these checkups, and was not nervous at all for this last one.

We also had my youngest brother, Martin, stay with us for a week on his way back to South Africa after studying one year in the Netherlands. We had a very relaxed time, playing squash, going for picknics and braais, watching rugby and playing Bohnanza. This is a really cool card/strategy/trading game, I am sure we'll teach it to you if you spend any length of time with us in the near future. We hope you find that job soon, Martin.

Our cell group/bible study has grown to 5 regular members, and we are starting to see the beginnings of a little community here. We are hoping the influx of new students in the next 3 weeks will add to our group, both Christians and people who are seeking to know more. We are also teaching a new song every week to the congregation, and some of these are sticking and becoming favorites fast.

It's a Girl!

We went for the 20 week scan yesterday, and the midwife found that everything was in order. All the measurements point to a birth on 20 November, and everything seems to be developing at the right rate. We are so happy!
She also told us that it is a girl, which is a very unusal thing in the Odendaal family. I am not sure that I know what to do with a girl.
She is moving a lot, and the midwife said she is quite an acrobat, with legs going all over the place. Takes after her mom then...
She also has the qutest little 'wipneus' (a nose that goes up at the end) just like her mom.
In the picture on top, you can just see the little fingers, and in the pic below, the lips and nose. The thing that looks like an arm is a leg - don't ask me to explain how that is possible.
If you click on the pictures they will go to full size.