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| One of my favorite photos of all time. I love these wild boys of mine. |
We've had a lot of visitors. It was soooo nice to have family around. I felt pretty bad for all of our guests though. It was SO HOT and without AC I think everyone was kind of miserable at our place. At the beginning of February Miles and Bre came to stay at our house for three weeks. We had a lot of fun with them. They were able to go and do some fun things for their honeymoon while they were here too.
Later in February Nana and Grandpa came to visit. Anything that could be done in Samoa, we did while they were here. We hiked Aunuu, snorkeled, walked the blow holes, went swimming, hiked Matafau, went to every museum, hiked some more, cooked in our neighbors Umu and had family over for dinner, celebrated Des' second birthday (Auntie Bre made his birthday cake and we decorated it with fish stencils). Did I mention we did a lot of hiking? We took a trip to Apia for three days with them too. Nathan and I hadn't been over to Upolu for five years and we had never taken the kids. I think To Sua Ocean trench was one of everyones favorite things. Moses wasn't too excited about jumping in but once he was in the water he did pretty well. Des, on the other hand, will jump into any body of water we come across and LOVE it. The water temperature doesn't matter to him! Haha
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| Sliding Rock |
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| To Sua Ocean Trench- one of our favorite place on Upolu. |
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| Papapapaitai Falls |
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| Togitogiga Falls. We swam here to get the salt water off after swimming at To Sua. So refreshing! |
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| Happy 2nd Birthday Des! Such a ham! |
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| Visiting Great Grandma Siasaga Afualo's grave in Mesepa |
At the end of April Mopa, Gabby, and Uncle Teesh came to Samoa for a week. We did a lot of fun things during there visit but I think we all agreed that our favorite part of their visit was hiking and snorkeling Aunuu. We just happened to time the trip perfectly. By the time we took the boat over and hiked to the beach by the arch on the northeast side it was noon. The sun was out so the water was crystal clear and it was high tide. The reef just off of the beach there is pretty untouched so we saw some beautiful coral and some crazy fish that even Nathan and I had never seen. I think we all liked hiking the blow holes too. It was high tide when we went and the blow holes were shooting higher than we'd ever seen! Gabby got some really cool slow mo videos of MoPa standing next to one of the blow holes exploding.
After their visit Gabby, MoPa, Asher, and I went to Australia! It was a much needed getaway from Samoa- I hadn't left since we moved here. I'm not going to lie- it was a pretty nice break from the kiddos too. Aaaaaaaaaaah- ZEN. Haha On the flight from Apia to Brisbane there was a little girl in the seat directly behind me. She was screaming for at least half of the flight. It didn't bother one bit. Why? Not mine! Haha I did feel bad for the man she was traveling with though. Besides being a nice break, Australia was an amazing adventure.
We spent the first three days in Queensland. The first day was birding. I might sound like a nerd, but it was so fun! The birds were unreal and I think we'll be quoting our guide for the rest of our lives. He was hilarious.
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| Our birding guide "Chook" |
The second day we took a chopper out to the great barrier reef. It was pretty amazing to see it from the air before going snorkeling/diving. Right when we landed on the helipad that was floating on the reef the motion sickness hit me. BAD. I couldn't take any medication since I was pregnant so I spent a good portion of the day laying down with a towel over my head. I forced myself to get in the water and snorkel, of course! I couldn't miss out on seeing the Great Barrier Reef with my own eyes. It was an experience I won't forget.
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| Taking a helicopter tour over the Great Barrier Reef before getting dropped off for a day of snorkeling and diving. Nice face Dad! Haha |
The third day in Queensland was spent taking the tram to Kuranda, doing some tourist shopping, and taking the train back down.
We spent one day visiting Uluru. The highlight was waking up early to watch the sunrise over the rock. WOW.
We spent one day visiting Uluru. The highlight was waking up early to watch the sunrise over the rock. WOW.
Our last two days were in Sydney. Of all of the cities I've visited/ lived in Sydney may be my very favorite. It's so beautiful and clean, the shopping is awesome, the food is delicious, and it's so well planned (running/walking trails everywhere, beautiful parks, etc.) I think we all gained a good 20 pounds in the two days we spent there. So many good restaurants! On our first night we went to the Symphony at the Sydney Opera House. I'm not sure what happened but with about thirty minutes left in the performance my whole family lost it. Like, LOST IT. We could not stop laughing. I'm blaming it on the jet lag- we were all completely thrown off time wise so it was way past our bed time. We were out of control! Hahaha I felt really bad for the people sitting around us trying to enjoy a sophisticated evening at the symphony. But we couldn't stop. When it ended everyone stood up and started cheering for an encore. We just looked at each other and headed straight to the door. No way any of us were lasting through more classical music. Sorry Beethoven- I guess it's just not a Jackman thing!
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| Asked someone to take our picture with the Opera House in the background. Ummm... Thanks? |
What I really want to write down, before I forget details, is Walter's birth story. He was born a few days ago on Sunday, June 19- Happy Father's Day to Nathan!
The whole pregnancy was pretty intense- by far the hardest I've had. Between being sicker than I've ever been in my first trimester, being on the opposite side of the world from family and friends (on a teeny tiny island with no amenities, and none of the foods to feed my pregnancy cravings, mind you) Zika virus breaking out on island, no air conditioning through the hottest Samoan summer in years, moving twice, and learning that there's no pain medication for giving birth on island, I had some rough days.
Without getting all sappy and going into too much detail, in the end I know that Heavenly Father knows me, loves me, and has a plan better than my own. The whole experience was a humbling reminder that faith is a requirement in order to feel happiness. I just don't have all the answers! Try as I might to micromanage EVERYTHING, ultimately I'm not in charge. And I'm so glad. After being pregnant and giving birth here, I feel like there are a lot of things I can do that I didn't think I could before.
After a long nine months I woke up feeling contractions around 4 am on Saturday, June 18. They were 20 to 30 minutes apart and they stayed that way for a good portion of the day. I wasn't sure if I was going to go into active labor so I stayed home and made cookies for the Relief Society Father's Day gift that was being handed out the following day. Nathan took the boys to the beach to swim. As the day progressed so did the severity and consistency of the contractions. By late afternoon my contractions were pretty painful and about 15 minutes apart- still not close enough to be considered active labor so I went to the church to help package the cookies since Father's Day was the next day. I'm so glad I did because it kept my mind off of the pain I was having. Shortly after I got home, around 8 pm, I was struggling to stand. The contraction were getting closer and closer (about 5 minutes apart,) lasting about 50-60 seconds each, and strong enough to take my breath away. Ouch. I DID NOT want to go to the hospital and have them tell me I wasn't progressing or that I was being whimpy so I kept waiting. I took a shower while Nathan put the boys down for bed. Then Nathan took a shower while I walked back and forth from the kitchen to our bedroom, leaning up against whatever I was closest to when the contractions hit. Nathan finally called our friends, the Bigelow's , to come over around 11 pm.
I tried to have Nathan apply some counter pressure to my back while we waited but it made it worse because I couldn't move around freely like I wanted. So I scratched the idea of having anyone touching me (or talking to me. I think no matter what Nathan said, I would just get mad. Haha) Nathan knows me well- he told me after he knew the best support he could provide was to stand next to me silently. Thank you! Perfect reaction to my crazy, laboring attitude.
By the time our friend Shadie got to our house I could not think straight. I remember telling her to "just feed the boys candy if they cry for me." Oops!
The drive to the hospital was interesting. I couldn't sit down at all. I just knelt down backwards in the passenger seat and reached my hands back to the back seat. I talked myself through the contractions... out loud. So basically, I just sounded like a crazy person. At that point the contractions were so close together and painful that I lost track. They pretty much felt right on top of each other. I remember thinking that if I got to the hospital and they told me I wasn't far along that I might die. We parked the car, Nathan grabbed the bags, and we walked in.... VERY SLOWLY. I couldn't really walk so I was just hobbling and stopping every three steps to get through the contractions. Finally, we made it to the labor room and the nurse came in and checked me. I was dilated to 9 1/2 cm. She said "You got here late! Are you feeling the urge to push? It's time to have your baby!" Even though I still had to push the baby out, I felt so relieved knowing that it was almost over. I got up, walked to the delivery room (how I walked, I'll never know!), pushed through the first contraction and my water broke. Two contractions later, and some seriously painful pushing and baby Walter was in my arms. I couldn't believe it. We arrived at the hospital at 12:15 am and he was born at 12:40. No tearing. My lightest baby at 7 lbs 8 oz! Perfect little boy! Prayers = answered. We left the hospital 17 hours later- didn't even stay the night! We had heard some scary stories about giving birth in American Samoa so we were pleasantly surprised by the sweet nurses, the cleanliness of the maternity ward, and some of the supplies they provided. I had heard they didn't provide any diapers so we were happy when they gave us a handful of them- although, they were size 3. Size 3 for a newborn? Haha, how big are these Samoan babies?! Regardless, the experience was great because we had expected the very worst. We felt really blessed leaving the hospital with a healthy baby!
A few other details I don't want to forget:
- I remember getting really annoyed because the nurse and the CNA were cracking jokes the entire time I was in the delivery room. They both started cracking up when my water broke- very different from my experience in the states. I'm glad someone was enjoying their night while I was trying to push a baby out!
- Dr. Zutu, from the Solomon Islands, delivered Walter.
He's been a dream of a baby this week. I'm crossing my fingers he stays like this!
