On Tuesday, I couldn’t decide if I was experiencing real labour pangs or not, so I sent David to bed and said I’d let him know in a couple of hours.

Sure enough, at 11 pm I woke David to say we had to go in to hospital. We got there before midnight, but Calista didn’t make her own arrival until 1.30 the next afternoon (Wednesday, 26 March).

The labour was long, but not too difficult. I stayed at the same point for at least 6 hours (very frustrating to be told I hadn’t progressed), but then everything started to move. We were both tired by that afternoon.

A friend — L — looked after the girls until Mel arrived down from the Sunshine Coast to take over. Thanks so much for helping out — we would have been stuck without your help! I owe you heaps.

During labour, I was blessed by discovering the two midwives in attendence were both believers. And one was the sister of a lady I know from my playgroup! (How’s that for a random connection?!)

Lauren, Calista, Aïcha + Brioni, 27 March 2008
The girls were pleased to finally meet their new sister.

In the hospital, when Brioni heard another baby crying in a nearby room, she pointed to the door and said “More Calistas.” Aïcha’s reaction to my feeding was “When I’m a lady, I’ll have milk-breasts, and I’ll feed Calista.”

Aïcha and Brioni were very gentle and wanted to take turns “holding” her in their laps. Brioni enjoys it for about 2 seconds then pushes Calista away. Aïcha lasts longer, kissing Calista’s head and snuggling her close.

Brioni, 19 months old, Calista, 2 days, Aisha, 3yo, March 2008
Aisha started singing "Rock-a-bye, baby" (see the arms in action) to Calista.

Now that we’re home, we’ll try to establish a routine in the Babywise fashion that has been successful for us with both other girls. I’ll let you know how it goes!

L’s notes from March 26 are as follows:

Brioni was up at 6 am, and Aïcha was up a little after 7. Both girls had ceral for breakfast and fruit for morning tea. We have spent time swinging, playing and reading books (tonnes of books).

Aïcha’s pyjamas are folded in her bed and Brioni’s sleepsuit is on her bookshelf — I wasn’t sure if you wanted to re-use them tonight.

The only small problem we had was that Aïcha pushed Brioni when I was speaking on the phone and then pinched her arm when I was in the toilet. I asked her to apologise — which she did — but I wasn’t sure what you would want me to do (time out, etc.) so we just talked about it not being nice and the Brioni was hurt and it isn’t nice.