A home birth in Jamaica

It’s a week since my baby girl Julia landed, and I wanted to share how and why I choose to birth at home here in Jamaica. It’s an unusual choice here, in Kingston anyway… I’m sure country mamas are popping out pickneys at home in the Jamaican countryside every day! It’s definitely disapproved of by obstetricians. But, once I’d made up my mind it’s what I wanted, somehow all the details fell into place.  Two good previous deliveries plus two years of teaching and practicing HypnoBirthing certainly helped give me the confidence I needed to go ahead. I had fantastic support, and I’m delighted to say the birth went perfectly.

Babygroup

After 2 years of co-ordingating ‘Babygroup’, I was delighted to have the best turn-out ever for my last week of orgnanising it.

A Noisy Kind of HypnoBirth

You’d have thought a certified HypnoBirthing Instructor would have the perfect, calm gentle birth… Well, the birth of my second child, was fantastically quick, but I have to confess I yelled ‘F*@K!’ as Daisy shot into the world…

Travelling with a Baby

At the age of one, my baby has done 6 Transatlantic flights between Jamaica and England and a handful of short European ones.  It’s been some journey. If only it wasn’t so lovely to see friends and family, no sane mummy would do it ever again! Here’s what I’ve learnt.

A Pentecostal Service in Downtown Kingston!

Took my baby to a Pentecostal service today at the Antioch Assembly of God on Winard Road, Downtown Kingston. And, Sweet Jesus, do Jamaicans know how to pray! Did I ever get a healing..

Picture courtesy of today’s Gleaner article: ‘Evangelicals Rise Sharply’

Things that go bump in the night

 2.30 am and I wake up sweltering and thirsty (one too many Red Stripes may have had something to do with that!) I stumble off down the stairs in the dark to go and get a drink of water, when BANG! scuttle, scuttle, something leaps out of my way and hits the glass door hard.

Home is where the heart is

Our first 6 months had flown here in Jamaica, and as the Caribbean summer starts to swelter, many of the expat wives take off for the cooler climes of home. Suddenly, it was our turn, I packed up my baby boy and set off for the airport…

On one of my frequent trips to the supermarket, I had to stop myself from buying a fighter fish in a jar. For sale, bizarrely, at the pharmacy counter; these beautiful purple fish with long fins and tails, are living in small jars, gazing out at the world, or more likely their own reflection. I asked the lady behind the counter if they’d need a bigger tank, or would they be happy to keep living in a jar, and she just shrugged and said they live fine in a jar. Am beginning to know how that feels!

Flying to Jamaica

I imagined there’d be a mix of Jamaicans and holidaying Brits on the plane. I was wrong! I think I counted about 3 other white faces in total on our Virgin Atlantic flight from Gatwick to Kingston.