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On Friday 13th December 2013 at 22.03pm was born:
We will use the Dutch pronounciation of her name: yuu lee AAH naah. First contractions started after Piet and Emma had been put to bed. Juliana was born at home in the same birthing pool as Piet and Emma an hour after Sarah's waters broke. The second midwife, who was only intended to attend the birth itself, arrived half an hour after birth. Mum and daughter had a quick sip after all hard work, while dad and grannybunts had focussed on the pool and mum's catering. Juliana weighs 4.37 kg (that's 9 lbs 9 oz) and is 53cm tall. Her hair reminds us of Will - he had a lot too - while in most other appearances she reminds us of Piet and Emma when they were young
Piet woke the next morning at his usual time (6am) and was very curious. "I suppose it is going to stay alive" was one of his first comments. Emma woke half an hour later and was introduced to Juliana by her brother. We had breakfast upstairs, touched our little sister and had a family pic.
The name Juliana
We liked the name Juliana, partly because it is a name of a former queen, linking her to her big sister Emma. However, while Emma is still the most popular girls name in the Netherlands (and the names Sarah, Sara and Saar each appear in the top 20), Juliana is not. Only 9 girls were given this name as a first name in 2012 in the Netherlands. However, related names are more common: for example, Julia was the third most popular name, while Roos (the Dutch spelling of the flower Rose) was also in the
top 20. We have avoided the Dutch spelling as it is the short form of kangaroos in Australian English. No girl got Katerina as a first name, although other spellings are more common, Caterina and Katherina occured a few times, while the name Catharina was given to one in 1300 girls. While Juliana is still little, say the first two years, we might also call her Juultje. As she goes to school, we are aware we will not stop her being called Jules (djools) or Julie (djoolee).
Piet and Emma are keen to hold Juliana. Piet is really careful. We take turns. Uncle Paul came over for a tea - he was working in Sydney.
Big sister
Aunt Annigje sent Emma a dress with
big sister in big letters on the back (in Dutch). Emma wore it proudly. Piet was less interested in his shirt with big brother on the back - no novelty in that.
Grannybunts helps out with holding Juliana or holds her herself. As she was a little jaundiced from birth, like her big sister, Juliana took a sunbath. We practice holding up our arms and feet, but most of the time - more than mum and dad recall from Piet and Emma - we sleep. Not that anybody complains.
Most pictures above are also in this:
Christmas
On christmas eve, Piet and Emma strew reindeer food on the lawn at the back and
nature strip at the front. They recognised it as oats and decided to have a bowl of oats before going to bed - Piet asks for this often, sometimes after going to bed, but for Emma it is not so common. This time, she did not finish her bowl.
The feeding must have worked, as Piet found lots of presents 'under' the tree. He was very happy with his chest of drawers decorated with a giraffe for his room and a remote controlled car. He boasted about being the best remote controller in the house. Emma was very pleased with her new, bigger bike. We had a ride, a play, lunch and a gingerbread house as toetje. Dad took Piet and Emma swimming at Shelly Beach in the rain.
In the meantime, Juliana is waking a bit more.
Bath
Juliana had her first
bath. Siblings helped
wash and Juliana seemed to
enjoy it; at least she did
not complain. Piet and Emma still do not tire
holding her and enjoy pulling
faces. Piet discovered Juliana can
suck his finger very strongly. It helps with feeding.
Updated 26th December 2013.
P.S. A paragraph on Juliana's name has been added above.
P.S.2 We have uploaded videos of Juliana moving her arms (181) and Piet unwrapping his main present (184), see
videos (opens a new page).
