The arrival of Laura Yvonne Jago

Written 30.3.12

My mum’s eighth pregnancy appeared to fly by; the birth to creep upon us. One minute there were three months to go, the next, this new addition could make an appearance any day!

We washed, dried, and folded seemingly mounds of baby clothing – could anyone possibly be small enough to fit it? A car seat was organised, meals arrived for the freezer, and midwife visits became more frequent. People began asking whether we had news yet. My parents leafed through baby names books. Finally, we were ready, and were left to wait.

Thursday night/Friday morning of the following week, Mum thought things may have begun. Everything stopped, however, and our day continued as normal.

Mid-morning on Saturday of the following week, things started again. Despite a promising start, they slowed down, but did not stop entirely. Danielle and Diana attended a birthday party from mid-afternoon ‘til early evening, hopeful that they would have a new sibling when they arrived home. Chores were done, and our day continued.

My uncle took my siblings and me to church on Sunday morning, and the midwife (Mrs. Vivian) arrived at our place soon after our departure.

After lunch, my siblings went to my cousins’ place, and Uncle Pete and I did the dishes and made a roast dinner.

At one point, my dad thought the baby might not be far away. After assuring my uncle that there wouldn’t be anything to hear during the birth, he refrained from using his earphones, but was still adamant that he would put them to use if even the slightest hint of noise reached us.

Then, at 4:22pm, Sunday March 18th, Laura Yvonne made an appearance. She measured 54cm long and weighed 8lb 12oz - the heaviest of us all. Almost unbelievably, her arrival occurred on big sister Maria’s second birthday! Laura’s middle name, Yvonne, is after our aunty- Yvonne de Bruin.

Laura had many brothers and sisters eager to hold her, or simply be with her, when they arrived home about an hour later.

Uncle Pete took most of us to the evening church service, leaving mother and baby to sleep, and Dad to have a somewhat needed rest.

Eltham - Day 3 - Sunday December 25th

Written December 27th

Uncle Bill's present (from Uncle Mike).
Just as well he loves looking at
Uncle Mike every hour of the day...hehe!

On Sunday morning, I slept in (and yay I wasn’t the only one! lol), missed breakfast (oops..), then grabbed my gifts and camera as it had been decided to do give the Jago presents. I received $10 from Nana (yay I can go shopping now! Lol), a Pandora bracelet (I think that’s what it’s called?) from Uncle Mike and Aunty Sonia, and Uncle Marty and Aunty Denise, and Uncle Bill and Aunty Melissa did family presents. Uncle Marty and Aunty Denise gave us a portable dvd player, and Uncle Bill and Aunty Melissa gave us a chocolate fondue fountain (let’s have another Bible Study breakup shall we?! Lol!), a tub of chalk, and a ‘boyfriend.’ Explanation: ‘Boyfriend’ is the Tupperware© term for a small square piece of rubber, used to open jars and things. =)

Mum thought that would be a good time to listen to a sermon, so we went back to our room, sang, prayed, and played the CD containing the sermon. We didn’t get to finish it though, I think the CD must have been scratched as it stopped before it finished.

Pork, anyone?

Dad then came and announced that the spit was taking longer than had been expected, and the pig wouldn’t be ready for a while longer, so all were having filled rolls to tide them through until lunch was ready, and we should come down and have some too. Kaiser rolls are SO much nicer than the Tom Thumbs we always buy in Auckland! Thanks Uncle Mike and Aunty Sonia =)


I helped prepare some of the desserts before lunch was ready. We then consumed a LOT of food! =) Namely, ham, chicken, multiple salads (thanks Aunty Denise!), breads, and stuffing. Out of the 35 people in attendance, there were comparatively few hands which had not entered the stuffing during the long preparation!




The designated group-meals table



After a very filling lunch, some of the others went down to the creak, and, yes, they came back soaked! I prefer something not quite so wet, however, and I sat down to read a bit more in Ruth: Her story for today by Keith M Watkins, which was a gift to me from our minister, Mr Smith (Officially: Rev. Jett Smith).

Finally everyone was ready for dessert, so we consumed a lot more food, yet, in proportion to the total amount, it really wasn’t that much! After the dishes and stuff were done we just sat around talking.

26th --Boxing Day--

On Boxing Day, Dad went to the zoo with Uncle Bill, Aunty Melissa, Olivia, Harry, Aunty Sonia and Lucus.
Since it was a Sunday, Mum played a sermon on tape, and we basically did church at 'home' - the lounge in the backpacker hostel.

This isn't a particularly great picture of the lounge, but its
about the best I've got, there are more couches and chairs to
the left.

After lunch Mum decided we should go for a walk through the bush, to which there was an entry about 200m from the windows you can see in the above photo.

The walk turned into a run for some of the children, as they tried to find the best spot for a photo of them.

Just as we were leaving the bush, Dad arrived back.
Dad said we would go to Uncle Mike and Aunty Sonia's for dinner, along with the rest of the extended family.
So Mum organised afternoon tea and we got ready to go.

For dinner and dessert we had a bbq, leftovers from the day before, and someone had made a couple of jellies.
We all talked late that night, and were quite tired when we got back to the campground.

Ok, I can't seem to upload any more photos at the moment, but keep an eye out cos I will put some on when I can.
Bee