I had dreams of making my new baby a quilt, all by hand, with hand dyed fabrics over the course of my pregnancy. That did not come close to happening, because a) I was working full time b) I have a 4 year old and c) I was nauseous for 7 months. I didn’t even really go outside the whole time. Like my first pregnancy, I watched a lot of television, horizontal. But I was able to get it together and make a baby toque for just after the birth. I picked up some alpaca yarn from our local market, made sure it was the softest they had, and made two similar toques – one for a very wee baby head (above) and one for a larger baby head – just my luck – our baby had a great big head (below).

Annika was 9lbs, 6 ounces and born at home – by accident. The labour went a lot faster than we expected – I was only in active labour for about 2 hours. We didn’t have enough time to call the midwife and necessary people and get our 4 year old ready to go before I could feel her head. It was nutso. When the baby was coming out (without pushing – what?), it was just my little family there, Alnis on the phone with the 911 operator. Shortly after, we had about 12 people in the house (ambulance first responders, our great buddies who were meant to be at the birth, Alnis’s Dad, and the midwives), and the vibe was celebratory. Annika was making so many sweet little noises that the midwives said she would be a singer.