Quinta das Abelhas

Phew, what a day! I am exhausted after staying up with Aliss all night, and then talking her through the last 7 hours of the birth.
It was a long slow birth, with the first 12 hours only pushing Afonso back into place, not down, and her cervix only opening 6cm.
At that point Aliss had been up for 26 hours, and was exhausted. “I cant do this Dad”, “can’t you just take him out somehow?”. Pacing up and down with the contractions, which were actually very short and far between, but still it seemed like too much for my little girl.
“OK, listen, I said. Every time you tense up you are slowing down the baby. Concentrate on your breathing, not the pain. Use me, hug me, break my fingers if you need to. Do whatever you need to do to allow these contractions to work. Put yourself in whatever position works best. But we are gonna get this baby out of you, and you are gonna help.”

From that point on I didnt leave her. Every contraction had her screaming, but with Henrique her partner and baby’s father on one side, and me on the other, continually talking her through the contractions, telling her how strong she is, how beautiful, helping her to stay as calm as she could, telling her what is happening and that its all normal, after some long long hours she started to feel like she needed a poo, and now it was time to stop the breathing exercises, and start pushing properly.

From time to time Antonio the midwife (thank you Antonio for everything) would check the baby’s heart rate - all perfect every time, its seems Afonso wasnt in any hurry to come out, and had no idea of the stress going on around him.

Finally Aliss is sat on the birthing stool, pushing down with all her might. Dad beside her willing her one final burst of energy, me on the other doing the same. Strangely Aliss seemed to lose contractions here, and just a feeling of needing to push every few minutes. The head was showing, but it still took over an hour, with Antonio helping to guide Afonso’s massive head out, and the 3 of us all screaming together as Aliss pushed.

And then he was here. All in a rush, baby in arms, placenta to follow, and all that pain and effort was miraculously forgotten about. Smiles and relief all round - we did it!

What a miracle childbirth is. I’ve attended the three births of my children, but none were such work as this the birth of my grandson.

And then he is wrapped up. A very happy and relieved mum and dad, with their brand new little one.

And later on I get my chance to give my little grandson a cuddle. Exhausted from talking Aliss through the labour, but very very happy that we did it, and Aliss didn’t go to hospital, where I think she would have lost control of the situation. Anyone who didn’t know Aliss may well of believed her when she screamed she couldn’t do it anymore. But we all knew she didnt want any interventions, and that just with a bit of calm, support and love this birth could and would just happen here.

All of our gratitude goes out to Antonio the midwife, for being here, for staying hands-off and letting us get on with it, and for listening to me whan I explained that Aliss is prone to over react and doesnt mean it when she screams for an epidural. And finally for stepping in at the end and doing all the midwife stuff, including a few stitches that were needed. I would thoroughly recommend Antonio as midwife to anyone giving birth in central portugal.

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been hearing cuckoos for the last week, at first a welcome sound of the arrival of spring that soon drives me mad and i just wish they’d shut the hell up!

the valley is looking lovely in shades of green and yellow as all the mimosa is in bloom.

yesterday and today step-son and i have been adding more stones to the wall and we’ve completed another step up the ski slope. have reached the mid-point now. so progress is slowly being made. also i’ve at long-last started on the mosaic around the office doorway. so far i’ve done just one side (it makes my arms ache) and i’m pleased with the result although in hindsight it would have been better if i’d been energetic enough to go into town for black grout instead of using the grey we already had. still, looks pretty good though, and has turned out to be a kind of an art deco style - pale cream, blue & grey with a little slate and some big red glass circles.

i also cemented in the mimosa poles next to the doorstep that i put my wellies on, and stuck some nice pebbles into the cement that i’d found lying around, and i’m pleased with this too.

with a bucketful of left-over cement i had a go at fixing the wobbly gate post but forgot to tell anyone i’d done it and not to open the gate until it had set, so that hasn’t really worked …

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I’m staying with a really lovely couple Andy and Sophie and their 2 boys -12yrs and 15yrs - both mad on skate-boarding. They have a small holding in the hills not far from Coimbra.
The olives and grapes are on terraces below the buildings and a man leads a herd of sheep and goats with bells on through to graze - they follow his call. The place I sleep is a canvas and pole yurt - kindof chest height igloo from Mongolia with a litle wood burner in it. However have not had much success with fires.-

There´s not much in the way of plumbing- one tap attached to the outside wall, 4 acres to pee in, a bath on one of the terraces that is warmed by a fire underneath and a plastic toilet seat on a wooden crate over a hole for serious business. All with a view over olives, pine forest, distant houses and the Portuguese Mountains.!! Very panoramic once you get over stage fright. There are 3 cats that sneak in and sleep on my bed and 2 dogs.

I trried to get the bath fire going the other day and had to
first clear the firepit as it was full of water - eventually
I got some wet wood burning and noticed the plug was leaking
underneath so pushed it in a bit harder and it went right
through and the bath water put the fire out again. I
persevered and got a fire going after 3 attempts but the sun
was setting and getting cooler so decideded to jump in the
bath while the fire was still heating it and nearly
asphyxiated on smoke!!. Think I was a bit cleaner after a
quick plunge in tepid water.

The food here is fantastic, plenty to eat and delicious thanks to Andy!
The wwoofing work is really fun and big variety of things to do.
I´ve been doing mosaic tiling and limestone painting a room here and now on to the olive harvesting.

It,s gone from freezing cold in the pouring rain, mist that hangs low over the valley and snow on those beautiful mountain ranges!! And along with these days there,s been beautiful clear sky and sunshine like today when its so good to be alive… I´ve just come up from trying out my limited Portuguese on the Shepherd grazing his herds of sheep and goats while I pick olives. That warm Portuguese sun and the tinkle of bells made up for any lack of words.

This has been an experience I wont ever forget from adjusting to the lack of amenities but mostly because of the warmth and generosity of Andy and Sophie with their totally relaxed attitude and encouragement to try new skills and welcome for strangers.

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bath garden

James (the wwoofer) and I moved the outside bath from beside the path through the gardens (not a very private spot) to a more secluded place at the end of my garden terrace. James dug a fire pit and then put the bath on bricks above it. A hot bath in winter - oooh!

We’re going to sculpt around the brick base with either cob or adobe - see the cob builder’s handbook online at www.weblife.org/cob

I started making a winding woven screen from thin young mimosa poles. Inside this alfresco bathroom I’m going to create a ‘bath garden’ with scented and medicinal herbs to pick and put in the bath, including soapwort for washing.

Some recipes from the bath garden:

Troubled Skin Bath
1/4 cup thyme
1/4 cup calendula blossoms

Deodorizing Bath
1/4 cup thyme
1/4 cup lavender buds
1/4 cup rosemary

Fragrant Bath
1/4 cup sweet marjoram
2 tablespoons lavender buds
2 tablespoons peppermint

Relaxation Bath
1/2 cup lemon balm
1/2 cup chamomile blossoms

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