Homecoming

Yesterday we arrived back in Rurutu in the middle of a torrential rainstorm, with squalls which lasted most of the evening and through the night. It was definitely a wintry reminder that we're back in the Australs, compared to the sticky humidity of Tahiti. I'm glad to be back, and ready for the onslaught of guests. My daughter Heimana Hafwen was born on the 12th of July at 19h46, three weeks 'early', just like her sister. But I suspect that's where the similarities end, she's clearly quite a different little character - she's an unbelievably mellow little creature, not to say she doesn't have a good pair of lungs on her, she just prefers to keep quiet or kind of grunts her disapproval rather than full on screaming....
She loves to sit quietly squinting around at her surroundings, just taking it all in, quite a different temperament from her bossy big sister, who was always very ready to make her presence heard!

Here are some pictures from the hospital of Heimana and family.....
The birth ended up happening a bit sooner than 'expected', Viriamu didn't even make it in time. He had decided to stay on in Rurutu for the horse races on july 14th. I had also been hoping to make it over to Moorea for the 13th to see the midwives, obviously Heimana had other plans!
Second time 'round it was a very different experience, partly because I had half of my very well-meaning but noisy clan hanging around the hospital room for most of the day that I was admitted - funnily enough I didn't manage to get labor properly going until they had left (6 hours later!), but from then on it took me less than two hours to get dilated and deliver, talk about speed! Well, they had threatened to induce me if I didn't give birth within 24 hours of my waters breaking, so I had the incentive! But I also had some good advice from 'Birthing from Within' (I recommend it strongly as a great resource for pregnant couples) and unshakable confidence in my own body's ability to perform - which it did. Heimana was born just before 8pm on a sunday evening, just like her sister, weighing about 3kg and at 37 weeks, just like Matotea!