Tag Archives: huntress
The Birth of our Son.
10 JanTaos Gibson MacTavish Huntress.
Born on January 8, 2012 at 11:11 am.
7 lbs, 7 ounces, 20 inches long.
- Taos @ 6 hours old.
Taos was born at home, in an unassisted waterbirth. Johanna began having contractions on my birthday, Saturday night, around 10 pm. After five hours, the contractions stopped completely, so we slept for a few hours. In the early morning, they began again, growing in intensity but decreasing in frequency. The pace of the contractions became wildly irregular, from 6-10 minutes apart, when Johanna got in the bathtub. This was traditionally the simple method, during all of her pregnancies, to slow contractions and take a break.
Then, her water broke, and three contractions later, the baby was born in the warm water.
I had the privilege of playing midwife, lifting my son out of the water and placing him onto his mothers breast, where he has remained for most of the time since that moment. He is a champion nurser.
He has big, dark eyes, pools of deep blue so dark that we think they will change to brown in a few months. He doesn’t cry very much, but regards the world curiously and calmly. When trying to get his digestive system in working order (a new experience for all babies) he clenches his fists and his face, letting out a long growl that sounds like he is wrestling a bear.
Johanna is well, in good spirits, with no complications. We have seen the doctor, filed for his birth certificate, and begun the process to file for dual citizenship.
Our Costa Rican adventure has reached its culmination: our son is here.
If you like this, or have something to say, I’d love to see your comments below.
The Baby is Imminent.
26 DecAfter waiting for nine months, we are ready for the baby.
Any day now.
The holidays are done, the cradle is set up next to the bed, we have a supply of diapers and blankets; now we are just making minor tweaks to our plans.
I love this baby.
This is our third child. After going through two labor experiences, we have a good idea of what to expect. During the birth of your first child, everything is new, and a little scary. The second time, it is familiar and exciting. This third time, I’m expecting a fast, easy labor with lots of strong pushing and gentle music, warm baths and candlelight, and a trance-like state that comes from being completely in tune with the heroic changes that a human body can only make a few times in its life. (And only a female human body, at that.)
Although it has been my habit to work in the city ten minutes away, it is too far; now I work from an office just down the mountain from our house, so I am on call at any hour to jump to my wife’s side and keep her hydrated and calm.
Our other two children were born in the afternoon, with contractions starting in the middle of the night. Will it be the same this time?
One thing we are all sure of, is the labor this time will be fast. A woman’s third child usually comes out faster than her other two. Zaden was born in 6-7 hours, and Indilea’s labor was four days long.
Johanna’s sister, who was the third child, was born very rapidly.
22 minutes.
Start to finish, that’s how short it took. With this spice in our gene pool, we’re expecting a fast, easy delivery.
The baby is big, which means we will have a healthy boy that doesn’t get sick. Living in the tropics, we don’t have to worry about colds and flu. Our small house is cozy, clean, and ready to accept the baby into it.
Our whole lives seem set up for this moment. Johanna’s parents spend hours with us every day, tending the house and the children. The weather is bright and cheery. Little Taos will be here any day now.
We are asking for our friends and family to help us aid his transition into the world, by being there in spirit.
Please click on the picture above if you would like to receive a phone call when labor starts. (I will also be crowing it through my social media profiles – connect with me on the sidebar if you haven’t already.)
When you get the call, light a candle and pray for a safe, healthy birth.
Surprise Baby Shower!
19 Dec
'0' Birthday for Baby Taos
This weekend Heather Gamewell (Indilea’s ballet teacher) and I put together a surprise baby shower for Johanna.
The cover story:
I told Johanna I was being interviewed by a reporter from El Financiero, the Costa Rica’s version of the Business Journal. I left in the morning to set up the party, and called her an hour before party time with the message:
He’s got a photographer with him, and when I told him about you, and the kids, and about Summerland, he got all excited! He wants to do a photo shoot at the pool with the whole family. Can you put on some makeup and be ready in an hour?
(This was Cherie’s idea. I never would have thought about how ladies don’t like to show up to their own surprise parties looking frumpy – a lesson I should have learned for Johanna’s 28th birthday, when I took her to a Nia class, and we returned home to a dozen unexpected friends, and we were all sweaty and red-faced.)
Anyway.
Johanna was not thrilled. AND she knew something was up. She played along, and was really happy that she did, when we got to a pool festooned with balloons, and 3 friends ready for a party!
(Everyone else showed up half an hour late. It IS Costa Rica, after all.)
Although she knew SOMETHING was up, she did not expect a big event like this. When I told her there were flyers, and a secret Facebook event, she was very happy we had gone to so much trouble for an amazing, wonderful, nurturing mother like her.
It was apparent during the party: everyone loves Johanna.
Some photos from the day:
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- ’0′ Birthday for Baby Taos
The potluck was Dairy Free AND gluten free. (Its Johannas party, I told everybody, she should be able to eat anything she wants to.
The pool was a big hit with the kids, and kids and adults played some really fun games, hosted by Heather and Zane. We stuffed ballons in big t-shirts (to empathize with the pregnant lady), had a sack race, and played a really cool game where everybody had a balloon tied around their ankle. By stomping everyone else’s ballon in a chaotic heel-thrusting crowd, the last one with a balloon was the winner.
After the party, we went back to the house, had a quiet family dinner, and the kids and I played games and cleaned while Johanna took a bath. It was a wonderful day; the kind of day we see a lot here, in Costa Rica.
Bachelor Name
20 Jan
‘MacTavish’ is a right noble name. It’s got the clout of a HIghland clan, and the stoutness that comes with healthy peasant genes. I gave this name up to take the name ‘Huntress,’ which is being daughtered out.
See, my fair wife comes from a clan that has lots of daughters. The Huntress clan, it should be noted, ruled the Isle of Mann as a matriarchy for 300 years. So matrilinealism is not foreign to the name.
Not having a strong connection to my own side of the family, after Indilea was born, I decided to pass the Huntress name on to them. After a year, I found myself faced with creating the complications of a two surname household.
A simple solution would have been to hyphenate. But I’ll be honest, I think hyphenated last names are tacky.
So I opted to be secure enough in my own masculinity to take my wife’s last name.
(Women, by the way, think this is incredibly cool of me. Men sometimes think I’m a douche. But few of those men have the balls to leap off a three story building, and none of them have the privilege of going home to a wife as hot as mine. So there.)
I kept MacTavish as a middle name, and when it crops up on documents or old profiles, whenever I am asked about it, I refer to it as my ‘bachelor’ name. The male’s equivalent of the ‘maiden name,’ the name I had before I married into another clan.
This will cause further complications when I go to Costa Rica, where two last names are, ironically, the norm. From what I understand, your mother’s surname and your father’s surname, in that order, make your own last name…sometimes. Some systems catalogue people by their first last name, and others by their last last name. So it seems I will not end up being free of the complication, after all.
My own children will endure more confusion in their records, since their names are reversed. (They each have MacTavish as a middle name, and Huntress as a last name, opposite of Tico custom.)
My wife is amazing.
22 Dec
One of the recurring joys of my life is falling in love with my wife all over.
Last night my wife told me a story that threw me head over heels again. This story illustrates how beautiful she is as a human being, and I feel so lucky and privileged that I get to spend my life with this amazing woman. (more…)
I’m Caelan.
Father of 3. Digital producer of websites, videos, and content marketing campaigns that help businesses connect dramatically with their audience. My office is my laptop in Costa Rica.
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