Pregnancy and Birth I

I decided to tell Boeboe's complete story. Starting at pregnancy and birth. I'm going to post it over the next few weeks.

I’ve always wanted children. More specific…babies. When I was about 5 or 6, I asked my mom why we can’t have a baby brother or sister. I was very sad when she said she can’t have any more babies. Three of my friends’ mothers had babies in the next 10 years, and I was just soooo jealous. I wanted one, and I wanted it now. Not waiting 20 years.

I see the same yearning in my daughter. She talks about it constantly. She even prayed for twin girls a few nights ago. She is mother-instinct personified. Fortunately for her, she has a baby brother to dote on…:-) But she keeps on asking for a baby sister. Unfortunately for her, we’re done with having babies. She’ll have to be patient and have her own one day. (Edit to add in 2013 - she got her wish!! We decided on one last baby, and it was a little girl. A little sister for Boeboe. The best give we could ever give her.)

Not only did I want children, I wanted a little girl. I wanted to dress her prettily, and wanted to have a friend in her, and I wanted her to be a mini-me. So when I fell pregnant for the second time (having had a little boy first time round), I really wanted it to be a little girl. When I was about 2 months pregnant, I had a dream. I dreamed that my daughter was sitting on her haunches, looking at me. She was about 2 years old, and had dark curls, with big dark eyes, long black eyelashes and a very small face. I dreamed that she was a dark-haired version of how Annie Malan looked in Fiela’s child, the movie. I dreamed that she was small, tiny with soft round cheeks.

Two and a half years later, this was exactly how my then 2-year old daughter looked. Since that dream, I knew I was going to have a little girl. The third month of her pregnancy passed by in a haze of nausea. Then, on the morning I had a checkup with the gynae for my 13th week, I stood up and noticed blood.

To be continued…