graham's birth

One of my first assignments in my master's program was to basically write my life story. It just so happened that right at the beginning of my master's program, I gave birth to Graham, so I had to add a section about his birth to my story. 

That was four years ago. 


This is what I wrote.

Her face was blurry, but her voice was clear. "Pretend you are about to go under water. "Take a deep breath, and then push!" 

I hadn't taken a single pain-relieving drug, not even a Tylenol, but I felt what I would imagine to be doped up. I was in a clear state of panic, about to hyperventilate from breathing so quickly and so deeply. I took the nurse's advice and breathed in a deep gulp of air and gave it my all when the next contraction arrived.  It was amazing how much better that worked than breathing in and out very quickly. I wanted to thank the nurse for her advice, but the words just wouldn't come to me. 

"Good," the nurse exclaimed. "Do that again with the next contraction." 

I didn't want any more contractions!

I dreaded the next contraction as I reveled in the relaxation during the in-between-contractions period. These short minutes of relaxation felt incredible. Although I felt dopey, I also felt more focused and dedicated than I ever had in my life. I looked up at my Tony, who was with my midwife, Pauline, waiting to help catch the baby. He glanced at me adoringly and simply mouthed the words, "I love you." I could see the tears he was shedding for me, and I knew he was engaged in this labor almost as much as I was. 

The pain began to shoot up my back once again. It felt like a personality shift as I found myself screaming in agony. I could sort of hear Pauline saying, "There's the head. It's almost here." I was suddenly reminded of the time I had chosen to run a marathon and I was at mile 20. Everyone shouted, "You're almost there!" But I knew I still had 6.2 grueling miles ahead of me. I really hoped this wasn't like mile 20, with 6 more to go. I hoped it was true, that I was really almost there. 

As these thoughts raced through my head, I heard myself screaming, "Don't tease me!" I looked at Tony again to get his opinion on the matter, and he confirmed what Pauline was saying. It was close. 

The baby was right there, ready to enter this crazy world. 

The contraction ended, and I fell into blissful relaxation. Sleep was all I wanted to do, but just as I was drifting away, the pain started again. This was going to be the last contraction. I just new it. I buckled down and pushed with all my might. I heard Pauline telling Tony to get ready, because it was almost out. The pain grew stronger and stronger as I pushed even harder. Every muscle in my body was engaged in pushing. I couldn't believe my own strength. I was doing it! I was giving birth! 

Suddenly, everything stopped hurting. I didn't want to push anymore. 

Relief. 

The biggest relief I had ever felt. 

The baby had entered the world. I looked up to see his umbilical cord and his little penis. I was the very fist person in this world to know he was a boy. The nurses laid him on my belly and he gazed up at me with his deep, pure blue eyes. 

There it was. 

Right there in my arms, Light, Love, God, Life.

quick update

I've got a few precious moments with the internet over here in Sicily, so I thought I'd let you know that all is well. James Bond is working and Graham and I are relaxing.

You'll also be happy to know that even though I left my camera on a chair at a cafe, you will still get to see pictures of this lovely place, because it was still there when we went back to retrieve it today!

There are still good people in the world!

So, check back in a couple of days for some stories and pictures.

peace,
Katherine

chiuso il martedi

Translation: "Closed on Tuesdays."


Flexibility is the word I'd choose to describe our time with our pal, Cooper (Coop for short).

When it's only the Ramblin' Fam going on trips and seeing sights, I don't notice just how often we change our minds or decide things at the last minute and just sort of fly by the seat of our pants most of the time. One minute, we say we're spending the weekend close to home due to Tony's job, and the next minute we're parking our car to go hike through the towns of Cinque Terre.




Then, all of a sudden we're looking at the leaning tower of Pisa. 


 

I also don't notice how we tend to just go with the flow and don't let things like rain storms stop us from riding bikes through Tuscan town, Lucca.



Or, how sometimes, we're exhausted and sweaty and hungry after hiking to the top of a steep town to find a particular restaurant only to be told, "You missed your reservation. You do not have time to eat here."


Nor do we allow closed museums and churches to ruin our Tuesday in Napoli. Instead, we just followed a tour guide into the abyss underneath the city. When asked to describe this polo-and-khaki- lacking tour guide to someone who has never been to Naples, Cooper said, "He looks the way I would look if I just rolled out of bed and were showing someone my apartment. Not an official guide to the underground of Naples."

Luckily for us, Cooper is as flexible as they come and fit right in with the Ramblin' Fam. He never complained and always seemed to be enjoying himself, even after we drove up to a restaurant with perfect views of the area only to be met with a sign that said, "chiuso il martedi."

 

What I'm most grateful for, though, was the way he took to Graham. Coop is a young bachelor with little experience around 3 year olds asking him questions and demanding his attention, but he just rolled with it. By the end of his trip, he and Graham were best buds.



If we were the type of people who planned and called ahead to make sure things are open, rushed to make reservations, checked the weather forecast, or made sure to change the really old battery in our car so that it doesn't break down in the parking garage at Herculanaem and we don't have to send our friend off on the train to find the museum he wanted to see and then find his way back to our house while we wait for a mechanic, well, then, we probably wouldn't have as much fun.

I like the way we travel, and I think Cooper did, too.

At least, I hope he did...

for the grandparents

While I'm working on a post about our time with our friend in town and simultaneously cleaning the house, planning a birthday bash for Graham, and getting ready for our impending trip to Sicily (we're going to Sicily on Saturday and staying for a week), I thought I'd appease the biggest supports of my blog, the grandparents.

So, for you, here are some pictures of your grandson.

Thanks for continuing to encourage me to write and create this blog.

We miss you like crazy and Graham talks about at least one of you every single day.

a different blog

Well, I'm still a little busy showing my friend around, but I didn't want to leave you without some good reading material.

Here is a link my friend just sent me. It pretty much sums up what we've been doing since we got back from Tuscany on Monday.

Click here to read it.

I'll get back to doing my own blogging here in a couple of days as long as you're still willing to read it.

peace,

Katherine

Since we're on the topic of emails,

I just received this one from my beloved, who is currently at work and discovered that he does not have to go the the Vice President thing tomorrow.

It said:

"Let's go here tomorrow: http://www.lecinqueterre.org/eng/trekking/manario.php."

We love having a friend in town. Not only for the company, but also because it gives us a good reason to take a road trip to Tuscany, stay in the town of Pisa, and check out Cinque Terre.

Pardon me for the abrupt ending, but I need to go load up the car!

Arrivederci.

an email to my mom

I was thinking about what to blog about today, June 2nd, Festa della Repubblica, a national holiday for Italy celebrating the day in 1946 that Italians voted in favor of the republican form of government, and realized that I just wrote everything I'd like to blog in a quick email to my mom.

So, I'm doing something a little different today and blogging the email I just wrote...

It went a little something like this:

Hey Mama,
How are you feeling? I tried calling you on Monday. Did you get my message? All of a sudden it is Thursday, now, and I haven't talked to you in awhile. Time is just flying. I mean, it's already been one year since we left Oklahoma. Crazy.

We have a friend, who happens to be an (online) ordained minister coming into town today. He'll be here for a week. I need to start cleaning the house!

We were planning to take our friend to Tuscany over the weekend, but Vice President Biden is coming to Naples for a day (not really sure why, exactly), so Tony might have to go into work on Saturday to listen to him speak. Kind of cool, but also pretty annoying, because a one hour speech is ruining our whole weekend. Tony is going to figure out just how mandatory it is that he attend the speech.

I went ceramic shopping in Veitri yesterday, which is on the Amalfi Coast. Then, I went to a "girl's night" at a wine bar. It's pretty crazy that this is my life. I'm just living it up. I'm doing it for you!

 

I hope to hear good news from you. I hope that some of your pain is going away. Tell the boys to take good care of you. Let's try to talk soon. I love you and miss you and think about you every single time I do something cool over here, which is rather frequently.

peace,
Katherine

*For those who don't know, my mom recently had an emergency surgery on her colon. The surgery went well and she is home recovering, now. Please send some positive vibes and prayers her way.*