The Hand Pollinating Experts!

Early on Thursday morning, while I was still playing with Michael,

(it is almost impossible to get out of bed 

and start the day, when you wake up next to this beautiful, little miracle)

CJ and Heidi-Mari was busy in the vegetable garden, hand-pollinating our first butternut blossoms! 

For weeks, Heidi-Mari and I were closely watching our butternuts and squash for female blossoms.  We only had male blossoms and were very worried that we will not have ANY butternuts, due to a lack of female blossoms.  We are nursing these butternut and squash plants like little babies (Okay not quite like baby Michael, but almost!) 

We’re currently picking tomatoes, peas, lettuce and herbs from our garden for salad,

but I want to pick ‘real’ vegetables like butternuts, squash and carrots.

Our carrot harvest came to a mere 3 miss-formed carrots!

The only explanation I have, is that our soil weren’t properly decomposed, since we only used horse manure in our new vegetable beds and didn’t have the right soil. Carrots don’t like clay soil!

Back to our butternuts - on Monday night we assign CJ to search the web and find us some answers on our dilemma of NO female butternut and squash blossoms.   Within minutes he came to Heidi-Mari and me, where we were busy making cards, with a big grin on his face!  It seems like we aren’t the only ones worried about the ratio of male and female blossoms on our butternut- and squash plants! According to his research:  “A lot of people had the same questions and concerns we had!  It is normal for butternut and squash to have only male blossoms for a start and only later grow the female blossoms. So we didn’t to need to worry, there will be male AND female blossoms. We just need to practice patience and since we don’t know if we have enough insects to pollinate the blossoms, he’ll study the web on how to hand pollinate the blossoms.”

On Tuesday morning Heidi-Mari excitedly announced she spotted a female blossom on the butternuts. 

She estimated that it would be ready for hand pollination on Thursday morning. It is very important not to use the blossom prematurely, since it will simply abort. You will recognize a mature blossom when the blossom "yellow up" the day before, and in a few varieties "yellow up"  only the night before. 

So on Wednesday evening the two of them, went to the butternut bed to implement the knowledge CJ gained from his research.  Firstly they had to make sure the male and female blossoms opened the same time.  

CJ used masking tape to shut three male and the one female blossom, due to open the next morning.

The female blossom will only open between dawn and about 10h00, so 7h00 Thursday morning they were outside.  CJ carefully took off the tape from the male and female blossoms, he then took off all the petals from the male blossom, leaving just a stem and the stamen (male part of the flower) covered with mature pollen.

CJ then used the stamen, attached to the stem, like a paint brush to coat the pistol, of the previously sealed female blossom, 

leaving as much pollen on the female blossom as possible.

After this he resealed the female blossom using fresh masking tape.  You’ll know that the hand  pollination worked, when you see the immature butternut, at the bottom of the female flower, starting to grow.

The two of them are now eagerly waiting for squash female blossoms!

The rest of our garden has its ups and downs. 

Heidi-Mari is mainly responsible for our vegetable garden.  Here are the rainbow corn she planted a few weeks ago.

The lettuce is growing beautifully too.

Our first batch of tomatoes is now almost finished.  We got red spider mite in January, but Christo spray them diligently with a mixture of Ludwig’s organic spray (25ml), our organic Orange dishwashing liquid (5ml), bicarbonate of soda (10ml), a few yarrow leafs cooked in a tea, 1 cup of strained Bokashi liquid fertilizer and worm tea if we had, on 5l of water.

They recovered well and gave us a great harvest.  There are still a few tomatoes that have to ripen and then we will take it out to make space for new seedlings.

Our bush beans are also growing well!  But not nearly enough though!  We plan to sow a lot of seeds this weekend.

We were pleasantly surprised by our purple podded peas!  They gave us an abundant harvest!  We’re going to plant much more peas for the winter. 

We also managed to get a few spring onions going.

And best of all, our strawberry plants have started producing runners! We can’t wait to grow more strawberries to have a big enough harvest for the 8 Lues children!

This weekend Heidi-Mari and I will sow peas, beans, broccoli and lettuce.  We will try carrots too, but we first need to tend to the soil.

And we will play with little Michael...

Michael’s First Bath

We don’t bath our newborns very often in the beginning.  Since they are born in water, their first bath won’t be before they are 5 - 6 days old.  All the vernix that cover the skin and which is the best ‘cream’ you will ever find, can then been absorbed and prevents a dry skin.

On Wednesday night 22h00 we gave Michael his first bath.  The house was quiet and peaceful, we dimmed the lights and introduced him to his first bath.  Since our 3rd baby, Josua, our newborn babies bath with either me or Christo in the big bath.  They don’t get a fright of being all alone in the water and it is a special time of bonding between baby and especially dad, who is working all day and only have a little time with our newborn baby!

We don’t wash them with all kinds of baby shampoo’s and baby lotions.  We only use a white unscented  tea tree soap, to wash their bodies and hair.  With the first bath we don’t even wash them with soap, we just let them get used to the water and being without clothes.  We also dissolve 2 cups of Epson salts in the bath.  It is excellent to sooth the muscles (and for us woman an amazing tonic for the hair, leaving your hair bouncy and shiny) You will most probably still remember how newborns, when they are in the water with nothing to cover their body, throw their arms in the air and start crying because of the ‘unsafe emptiness’ which they are not used too. So I wrapped Michael in a cloth nappy 

and put him in his Dad’s arms, who carefully emerged him into the water.  While I gave him to his dad in the bath, I gave him my pinkie finger, to suck on.  Your pinkie finger is an excellent dummy! (Make sure your nail is trimmed short) Not one of my babies ever had a dummy, their dummy is either my breast or my pinkie.  This keeps me attached to my baby and I save myself the trouble to get them off a dummy sometime in the future.

Michael enjoyed his first bath soooo much! He didn’t even cry once! He just laid in his daddy’s safe arms and almost fell asleep of the warm, soothing water.  Just before we took him out of the water, we slowly let the cloth nappy drop from his body in the water and then I wrapped him in his towel, as Daddy hands him over to me. 

My babies normally don’t want to get out of the water and only then start to cry.  Then my pinkie finger is ready again to sooth him.

This is how we bath our newborns!  No pain, no fuss.

Michael Jonathan's Birth Story

As you may know by now, I had a show on Thursday morning and started having stronger, regular contractions during the day.  I started taking certain remedies to strengthen the uterus and pelvic muscles, to ensure, if it was real labour and prevent the contractions from stopping, like Raspberry Leaf tea. 

During the morning CJ and I worked in the vegetable garden.  Our first batch of beans was finished and we took out the remainder of it.  We replanted some of our herbs and prepared the soil of this second bed for the Rainbow Corn Heidi-Mari sowed in seedling trays a few weeks ago.  She sowed it in seedling trays, since we did not have space in the beds at that time.  I enjoyed the time in the vegetable garden with CJ so much, although I couldn’t actually bend forward or sit down or reach the ground, anymore!  CJ was such a star, knowing his mom needed the distraction and activity to get the contractions going, while he did everything I asked him to do.

By 11h00 we went into the house and every child started with his/her maths for the day.  During this half an hour the contractions got closer, about 6min apart and more intense.  Christo was at work and I had to keep him up to date by the hour.  

By 14h00 Christo came to fetch CJ for a horse riding lesson and since my contractions was rhythmic every 5-7 minutes and longer than 60 seconds, he decided not to go back to work but came home to keep an eye me.  We even went for a half an hour nap together, while the little ones were having their nap.

The rest of the afternoon I kept myself busy with doing laundry, cleaning bathrooms, putting away stuff scattered around the house. I also took care of our organic fruit and vegetables which we receive every Thursday at Eirene Health Shop

and prepared dinner.  During dinner I realized that the contractions were not as rhythmic and strong as earlier the afternoon.  There were even periods of 15min with NO contractions.  I know from experience I have to focus when I am in labour.  My contractions can stop very easily, when there are too much distractions.  Feeding and bathing little ones fit the criteria to distract my focus from labour.  So Christo and I went for a walk at 19h00.  CJ, Heidi-Mari and Josua would clean up the dinner-table and kitchen, Danika would keep Andrew and David busy and Christo put Daniel in the ergo on his back so he could be with us.

We took a brisk 30min walk around the neighborhood and although there were a few strong contractions, they were not as strong as I would expect after 13 hours in labour.  But then they got stronger again and Christo and CJ started filling the birth pool.  

The birth pool takes 2 full geysers and they wanted to play safe to make sure they got it filled in time.  I was only 3cm dilated, but had a few very strong contractions 3min apart and I called the midwife to warn her that she’s possibly going to catch a baby sometime during the night.  Christo and the children were watching a DVD - “Wall E” while I took short naps between contractions, until I got one very strong one, that got me wide awake!

At 20h30 we put the little ones to bed and I put Daniel on my breast to enhance the labour.  During the 15min he was on my breast I had 5 VERY strong contractions and actually started panicking for the intensity and length of the contractions.  We called the midwife and she arrived at 21h30.  Again my contractions become irregular and the intensity and length was less.  I paced the house, became extremely tired and decided to lay down for a while, while Christo and Jenny sat chatting in the living room.

About an hour later a very strong contraction woke me up,  they were rhythmic and strong again.  By now I was 7cm dilated and quite excited.  I was ready to get into the bath and from previous experience, I expected baby to be born in the next 90min, possibly before midnight!

As I got into the bath, I again couldn’t believe the relieve of the pain I experienced from the warm water and effect it had on my tense muscles.  And then... the contractions stoped again!  I even fell asleep at one stage only to wake up and see it was midnight and I still didn’t have strong enough contractions to indicate baby will be born soon.  

By now Christo was giving me Caulophyllum and Cimicifuga every 10 minutes. You can read about the remedies during birth on his blog. Somewhere during this time I got a terrible pain on the left side of my back.  This immediately added to my stress of not being fully in labour.  With the little knowledge I have of labour it reminded me that back pain during labour, could be due to an incorrect birth position of baby. At 00h30 the midwife gave me a choice:  We could either let the process go on naturally, leaving me with another few hours of labour, or we could break my waters and speed up the process.  With all my water births the midwife broke my water at some stage, so without hesitation we decided to break my waters.  At this stage my body was in total shock with all the pain, especially the back pain, but Jenny kept reminding me baby was in the right birth position and I needed to ‘relax’ and trust the Lord.  I knew I had to trust the Lord and took all the mental strength I had left, to get myself focused on the Lord. The whole time while I was in labour we played Michael W Smith’s Worship DVDs and I took especially courage in his reading Ps 139 and his song “Everywhere I go I see You”! Christo also gave me some rescue drops, cell food and opened up a Coral 8 capsule and put the powder in my mouth.  Baby’s heart beat was high and my pulse was high too.

The back pain was so bad, that I could hardly feel the contractions.  When thinking back now, I think this was the worse part of the labour.  With contractions you have a rhythm, the contraction comes, works itself up to a climax and gives you a few seconds of relief before the next contraction comes.  With the intense back pain, there weren’t any moments of relief.  It was a constant pain, with contractions in between.  

Half an hour later there was still no progress.  I could see Jenny was becoming worried about baby and me, but baby’s heart beat was back to normal again and my pulse too.  It was 01h20 and I was still only 7cm dilated and my cervix wasn’t softened out and baby’s head still needed to move down about 3 cm. I was exhausted and panicking - how was I going to get this baby out?

It was then that Jenny suggested that with the next contraction, she’s going to manipulate the cervix to see if it will help baby’s head coming down.  She put on one glove and with the next contraction was ready. Christo was supporting me from outside the pool.  I’ve also decided that with every contraction, I would just push this baby down.  I remember Jenny asking, “Do you feel like pushing or are you just pushing?”  I was just pushing.  Within seconds I felt baby’s head crowning.  The moment Jenny pushed the cervix back, baby’s head had enough space and came down!  There wasn’t even time for Jenny to put on another glove, baby was ready to be born!  As I was pushing, I could feel baby coming out, but then we got stuck!  There was no contraction, but I heard Jenny and Christo urging me to push. I didn’t know it then, but baby’s shoulder was stuck!  Christo afterwards said, he could see Jenny’s muscles bulge as she literally had to pull Michael out. After what felt like hours (according to Christo about 2min) and with the help of another contraction, I felt the amazing relief of baby being born under the water! This was the most amazing moment of my life!  The next moment Jenny lifted our little baby out of the water, and with great curiosity checked if it was a boy or a girl!  Praise the Lord, our perfect little boy was safely in my arms!

  

For the next ten minutes I could only cry out in relief to my Lord and Savior for the amazing thing He had done!

Right through the delivery all the children were fast asleep!  The children were a huge concern of mine. Daniel is cutting molars and he woke up every night during the past two weeks, before Michael’s birth, between 03h00 and 05h00. We had a plan for the older children on what to do if he woke up, but it wouldn’t be without Daniel crying and he would be totally out of his sleeping routine.  I have the custom to fast coffee the last 40 days of every pregnancy and lay before the Lord all my fears and concerns.  Some of my concerns that I put before the Lord were the timing of the day that would make it the easiest on the little ones, the fear for the pain, a safe delivery and a healthy mother and baby.  The Lord was so faithful, as usual.  After we praised the Lord and where sure baby was okay, Christo went to call CJ, Josua, Heidi-Mari and Danika.  

CJ, who’s room is at the total opposite side of the house, said he woke up at 01h20 and couldn’t go back to sleep. This was the exact time when Jenny decided to give a hand with the cervix.  I also heard from two other close friends, how they woke up at exactly 01h20 and where prompted to pray for us.  Danika, who is sharing a room with Heidi-Mari, right next to our room, said she heard baby’s first cry and was just waiting for Daddy to come and call her to meet her new brother/sister!

It was so special to see their faces of adoration when they first laid eyes on their newborn baby brother!  

Then they quietly went back to their beds.  The little ones didn’t have an idea want happened and slept until 07h00 the morning!

As soon as Heidi-Mari could get CJ out of his bed, she bombarded him to help her put up the ‘It’s a Boy’-banner she’d made to let the neighbours know baby has arrived. 

They are so proud to tell the world they got another brother!

This was my most difficult birth yet! Even with my recovery taking longer, looking back I just realized again - It is such a miracle and I will do it again!  Without my loving husband’s constant encouragement and support, 

my competent midwife and the Helping Right Hand of the Lord, I could never have done it!

Praise the Lord!

Fallen In Love

We’re all just falling in love with little Michael! 

Everyone wants to hold him, touch him, kiss him, adore him!

With the privilege of Daddy being at home over the weekend, taking responsibility for everything that still needs to happen, although we have a new baby, I’ve just stayed in bed,

with Michael in my arms.

Recovering from the birth 

and getting to know Michael.  

With all the little ones, our home is quite busy and noisy and I need a quiet and calm atmosphere, to get to know this new little addition to our family! Today, Monday, daddy was off to work again. I had to know this new person and need to be ready to take on the challenge of being a mother of eight precious children.

There is a raging storm around the world, regarding families who choose for God to determine the size of their family!  Just check out the news articles on the Duggar family and all the comments on this family’s walk in faith, comments on Generation Cedar’s blog postings on pro life v.s. pro choice. Even a negative comment on a local blog, where handing over the size of your family to God, is compared to ‘becoming like animals” and ‘we should rather add to God’s spiritual family, and stop making babies who we can’t afford to look after!’

The enemy of our souls, who knows that we are living in the end times, is doing everything in his power to blind people to the truth of God’s Word on Children!  We need Godly people in every walk of live, every career in the world, every influence sphere in the community.  We need an army of Godly warriors.  God need families who will make themselves available to Him to raise as many Godly warriors as He chooses and needs for His End Time Army.  

I’m sure you all know the song ‘I surrender all’. What a privilege to get to the point of ‘I Surrender all’ - also my womb.  Michael’s birth was a very long, painful experience (more later) and with every birth I’m taking longer to recover, but this is my reasonable service to my Savior!  

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”

Rom 12:1

And here are some photos on this precious family the Lord entrusted to Christo and I.

Proud Daddy with his sixth Son!  

“Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,

So are the children of one’s youth.

Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them;

They shall not be ashamed,

But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.”

Ps 127:4-5

CJ and his little baby brother.  He was so proud to announce the arrival of Michael at the horse riding school!

Heidi-Mari and Michael. She’s so proud, she’d already did more postings on Michael than I did!

Josua and Michael.  This time he is much more involved with the baby, since his older.

Danika and Michael. She’s taking great delight in being Heidi-Mari’s helping hand when taking care of their little brother.
   

Andrew and his little brother.  He just wants to hold Michael all the time!

David and Michael.  He adores Michael for hours touching the little toes and fingers!

Daniel, the bigger baby, who can’t believe there is a baby in the house.  His mission is to announce to anyone he meets:  “Baba!”

Little Michael, we love you sooo much and you don’t even know it, yet!