I saw some of the previous sheep photos uploaded by @anna834 and this reminds of a book named “The Alchemist”. Intro. Part of that book is quite similar as shown in the photos and yeah thanks for uploading 
Now It’s easy to visualize every sheep scenarios …
1 Like
I am being helpful 
4 Likes
Love that book! 
And even so, the sheep stay the night in fences and I drive back to the farm, Paulo Coelho captures the feeling of being a shepherd very well. 
Oh, thank you! 
Now I finally know how to lift a lamb!
1 Like
Really? I don’t. It’s the only one by the author that I’ve read. And it gave me the impression I don’t want to read anything else by him. What I didn’t like about the book was that it’s every sentence sounds like a motto. But you (or I) can’t read a book that consists of mottos!
I think it’s even more efficient if you want to fall asleep than a traditional way with sheep.
1 Like
Hm, don’t remember this that way. But it was a long time ago.
Also red 11 minutes and Veronica want to day and loved them too.
For sure 
1 Like
Right. It was long ago and Coehlo was very popular those days. So I bought ‘The Alchemist’ somewhere in a railway station to read it during my vacations. Now I don’t even remember the plot. Only thing I remember is that the author wanted to sound very wise in an every single sentence. Which looked very artificial.
1 Like
That’s really sweet!
Sorry for responding with not only likes that late:grin:
i loved everything you let us know about sheep! All interesting 
1 Like
A bit early, I know. But congrats!
Oh, nothing early there.
Thank you! 
My book is out. It’s just that all the book fairs, presentations and readings are cancelled for obvious reasons. All book stores are closed too.
But you can order it and it seems to go good so far. At least my publisher started to talk today, when to get the second book. 
4 Likes
It was a sarcastic way to say I am tooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo late. It’s a common way to talk in my country 
I don’t get it. You mean he/she asked you for a second book?
2 Likes
oh! I should have noticed
Yeah. It is a first of a trilogy. And I have the second finished so far. Till now, she has just the first under contract.
1 Like
Cool! Good luck on it.
1 Like
Yes congratulations on achieving this milestone!! 
In which stores is it available? Also, I really hope you get the chance to attend those events in the near future, I can imagine that will greatly benefit the promotion of the book.
1 Like
Hey! Thank you!
It can be ordered directly with the publisher, on Amazon or in the book store in your town, if it’s open again. If a book store will put it on the shelf, it’s the store decision and probably depends on the demand.
2 Likes
Today, 15 years ago
Birth of a child
This baby was really late. The first date of birth we passed at 15th of March.
A week later we did a new reckoning of the date and settled for the 21th, but this passed too.
We all got inpatient.
At Easter Sunday I had 5 weeks preliminary contractions, something I didn’t know from before. With my son, two weeks before the birth date contractions started and he came.
Not this baby. Three times already I was totally sure: “Now! It starts!” and no, the labour stopped again.
Despite that, I was sure, my baby was well. That confirmed the ultrasound (the first since the 10th pregnancy week) my midwife send me to at 22th of March. She wasn’t totally sure, the baby had turned into the right direction. For me, that was really frightening, even so everything turned out fine.
Easter Sunday we had a beautiful day.
The next night, at four in the morning, I woke up in need for the loo. I still was laying there, trying to find the strength to lift me up, as I felt something wet leaving.
My first thought: The water broke!
The secend: Don’t get your hopes up!
I visited the restroom and there it was, a spoon of some strange fluid in my underpants.
My water broke!!
28th of March, what a beautiful date, and Easter Monday!!
With a birth information book I went to bed again to read some confirmation.
There wasn’t more water and the book didn’t help neither. But I felt small contractions and knew somehow, this were for real.
I woke my husband and whispered, he should cuddle to me, today we would get our baby.
Our three year old son slept with us in the 2,80 family bed. Normally nothing could get him aware, but now he woke up too.
We cuddled for another half hour, hoped he would fall asleep again. But he was wide awake.
I knew from experience, that he would never doze off, when I’m on all edges. And I just couldn’t work the contractions any longer, had to get up.
My husband already put the heating on full power. We all together changed the livingroom into a birth room. My husband put a sling into a hook in the ceiling and put cover sheet into the old winepool, we got from a wine grower. It was already filled with cushions.
I lightened candles and our son put away play blocks. Meanwhile he did sing a song for the baby. One time, he looked out the window and stated that the night sky was already totally different, a real baby sky.
Warm water started pulling into the pool and my husband and son left for my mother in law. We lived in the extension of her hous.
I was on the couch, sinking into myself. During contractions I knelt there, grabbed the rest.
At six I phoned the midwife, told her, that this would be the day and that I already had strong labour.
Now I changed the couch for a big gymnastic ball, supporting my body by hanging in the sling. As music I had “Buena Vista Social Club”, listened to the CD four times.
I sunk deep into myself, circled my hips, breathed into the contractions, let the air into the pain, tried to stay relaxed, to open up. Between contractions, I drowsed off.
My husband was very busy heating water in huge pots on some big camping gas stove, to fill it also in the pool.
My son and mother in law came visiting, but I was not really realising.
At some point, I started freezing.
The heater did broke!
Now it got taxing. Oh may! Labour, cold, broken heating, Easter Monday, half past seven, how to get a plumber?
My husband came the idea to get the camp gas stove into the living room. So the temperature was soon tropical. I really loved it, walked a little up and down the room, breathing the contractions. Then turned back to the ball.
Of the devastating efforts to get someone for the heater, I didn’t notice much.
From a neighbouring plumber of a friend of my mother in law they learned that the heater has a priority switch. It turns off the heating if you take to much hot water.
With this, we knew, that the heating would work again, as soon as the pool was filled.
What flurry!
By now, the whole neighbourhood knew that we were getting a baby at home and the first nosey people dropped in with my mother in law.
My husband put a sign on our door: “NO DISTURBANCE!! (besides you are a birth delivery helper)” and turned the phone off. My mother in law rescheduled the family Easter party to her daughters.
At nine a.m. the pool was full enough, I could enter. So my husband called the midwife again, asked that she came. He didn’t want me without supervising in the water and he had still pots to heat.
(At my sons birth, in the hospital delivery pool, I fell asleep during contraction breaks.)
So I entered the pool.
Oh, it was awesome!
My body floating, so warm!
No new contractions and I relaxed fully.
After a quarter of an hour the labour returned and hit like a hammer.
It was half past nine, the midwife was there and I found everything totally horrible.
I didn’t know how to keep me up, how to manage the pain, wanted to leave, escape.
The midwife said, that I had to go through with it!
But how?
Between contractions I had a lot of time. And I remembered that the last time to the end of the opening phase it just was minutes break. So, I was really afraid, that I still had to go a long while.
But I also was to scared to ask the midwife to check. If she would say, the cervix is at 8 cm (you need 10), all good and fine. But what, if it’s just 5? It wouldn’t help at all.
I squirmed and hated that my husband and the midwife just set there, starred at me. I said so and both left for the kitchen.
The midwife said before: “Everything you can do now, is breathing.”
This was help!
Breathing!
That at least, I could do!
In this heavy contractions I just focused on my breathing, deep into the pain, open up, stay relaxed. In the still long breaks, probably 3 to 5 minutes, I nearly fell asleep.
The midwife returned, set beside the pool, didn’t bother me any more.
At ten I felt nausea during contractions.
After, the midwife stated, that was the transition phase.
She not only kept protocol, she also checked in on the heartbeat of the baby.
I asked her later, how she new with so little checking, if everything was going fine. And she replied, she can hear it in the sounds I made.
And I know, she is right, I can hear and see it with birthing sheep too.
At quarter past ten I felt the first pressing contractions.
There! The pressing already started!
I could feel the child inside of me, moving position. Between every contraction, I felt for the head, told how far along it was.
While pressing I growled like a animal, once I roared: “I am a wild bear!”
At one point, my husband asked, if it was okay, if our son came visiting. But I was in middle of a contraction and didn’t wanted nothing. So he send him and my mother in law for a walk, they should be back at half past eleven, then the baby would come. With this, my son missed the actual birth and I wasn’t sure if this was right.
In the breaks the baby slided back up again. I was laying nearly on my side. I knew somehow, that if I did get up, the baby would come to fast, tear me apart.
Finally the head came to a stand still. The midwife called my husband and with the next contraction the head appeared.
Totally crazy! I could touch my kid!
What a feeling!
The next contraction would bring it to me!
My baby was more inpatient. It started struggling. Oh, that did hurt, I talked to it, to be a little more patient.
The next contraction, and my child slided into the water. Just the legs, those were still inside of me. I wanted to get it, but the midwife said, I should wait for the next contraction.
Again, the baby started struggling, I yelled in pain: “It has to come out now!”
The midwife wanted to take it, but I pushed her hands aside: “No! I want this!” And took my kid, pulled it out of me.
MY BABY!!!
There it was, grey, wet, full of vernix caseosa, sucking in his first air, wonderful, heart sweeping!
I could feel it, touch, cuddle, stare at it.
At some point, I had to know, I lifted it: What are you?
A girl!
I had a daughter!!!
She sucked on her hands, grumbled, did get colour.
Another pressure, a contraction and the afterbirth came.
Again a push of happyness.
My husband cut the umbilical cord and I wanted to leave the water.
The midwife took my daughter and I climbed out of the pool, got dryed and moved to the couch. There I got my baby back on my tummy and we were wrapped in a lot of blankets. I just stared at my daughter.
After some time, my son and mother in law arrived. My mother in law was totally excited, my son shy, wanted to leave soon.
My baby yammerd and squeaked a little, till I offered her my breast to nurse on.
At the 28th of March 2005 at 10:42 a.m. I had given birth to my daughter!
Happy birthday!
@anomalia
@anngelenee
@lpaniist
@lpfan61
@Lilyope
@theearlywalker
@IronSoldier16
@Linkineli
@intheend
@framos1792 didn’t tag you to the last story, wasn’t expecting your return 
Corona makes things happen 
17 Likes
4 Likes
1 Like
Dammit. The background is not transparent. Anyway, happy birthday to your little girl. May we all have cake.
2 Likes
Awww! Happy birthday to your daughter!! 
1 Like
Wauw. I like how you are so open. And share so much. It’s lovely to read it. You are a good writer.
Happy birthday to your daughter. She has a awesome mom! 
I wished i know this topic before. Thanks for tagging me. Enjoy your day with your daughter. I know you will spoiler her. 
Make the best of it, in these days.
3 Likes