Today is the anniversary of when I went into labor with you. Last year I stared up at the moon and asked you to make your appearance. As I walked inside, my water broke. On the day you were born I sat on stairs outside of the hospital with a friend who had come to visit; I had left you with my mom inside and for the first time since I had discovered I was pregnant, I was alone. Valparaiso smoldered around us – the fire that had started the day prior was the largest in the city’s history and I was a new mother, heavy with the realization that I would never really be alone again.
Read Morebaby
Equinox /
I raced home quickly today to write this down. Usually my runs turn into walks by the end but today I felt like I had uncorked something and the sentences wouldn’t stop flowing. By the time I reached my computer though, a slamming door waking the baby and my worn-out mind threatened my writing aspirations and as per usual, the ‘genius’ I felt running to my mix of Rihanna and Coldplay fell flat.
Read MoreThe End (A Beginning) /
I've wanted to write so many times over the past couple of months but have had neither the time nor the energy. I honestly can’t find time to do the dishes (ah, how I long for a dishwasher) so blogging has fallen way down on my list of priorities, right below ‘keeping up personal appearance’ and ‘maintaining contact with other humans.' Anyways, I’ve always tried to use this blog as a space to be honest about our lives here and I haven’t wanted to be a phony by writing half-truths, so I decided to keep quiet on all subjects until some decisions had been officially made.
Read MoreThe Story /
We all piled into my midwife’s car and my husband followed in ours. I was basically 10 cm at this point, having intense, almost pushing contractions, speeding down miles of incredibly bumpy dirt roads. When we finally got into Valparaiso I remember looking at all of the college students coming out of the clubs and bars on Errazuriz street, feeling very strange that something so life-changing was happening to me while these kids stood five feet away, going about the very normal business of having a good time. It was surreal because I knew I most likely wouldn’t be them ever again, at least not in the same way.
Read MoreSuerte /
The pregnancy wasn't a surprise but I think that even when you're trying it takes awhile for the reality of the situation to sink in. Like, we're actually going to be responsible for another human being in 5 short months. Someone I can't just put out on the porch when they are misbehaving. It's completely surreal and I imagine it will be until he or she is actually here with us. We keep talking about how lucky our kid will be too; having two passports and so many different possibilities as a bilingual (I hope) Chilean-American growing up in the beachy countryside.Most of all I'm just trying to enjoy this time in my life, even when that entails falling asleep at 9:00 and accomplishing only one of the 15 things on my to-do list for the day.
Read More