On Friday, November 15th, at 4:30PM, the godparents of Ksenia (our six year old daughter) came to visit us in Oshkosh. We were staying at my parents house there because we were planning to have a home birth. Our son Frederic, who just turned two, was our first home birth.
Since we live in a very rural area in northern Wisconsin, we knew that it would be smarter to be in Oshkosh. We also have a basement apartment at my parents house with our own kitchen, bathroom, two bedrooms, and playroom. Back in 2022, everything went amazing for Frederic’s birth.
Anyways, so there we were with our friends. Calena’s due date had already passed two days earlier but we weren’t concerned. As we visited with our friends, Calena left the room a few times to check on Frederic in the play room. I didn’t think anything of it. Although if I would have reflected more I would have thought it odd of her to check on Frederic in the playroom when he was happy and with all the older kids. We had a great time catching up with our friends and joking around. They left us just before 6:00PM.
As they pulled out of the driveway, Calena dropped the bomb. “I’m in labor right now,” she said with a smile. “It started an hour before our friends came.” Wow! It made sense now about checking on Frederic. She was hiding the contractions. She had been researching birth plans and came across the advice to remain calm and try to ignore the labor until it became too hard to ignore. She really took the advice. Now the contractions were coming. We got the midwives on the phone. They said they would come soon. The next contraction was a big one. We called them back and said you need to come ASAP. Their main office is in Appleton, about a 30 minute drive to Oshkosh. My parents had just left to go to a restaurant to have Friday night fish. I called them quick and said, “I hope you didn’t order your food yet. You gotta come back home quick, the baby is coming soon!”
Meanwhile the contractions kept coming. I needed to get our two year old Frederic away from mommy. I left Blaise downstairs with Calena in the birthing bedroom. Upstairs I was setting up a movie with our three younger children. All of a sudden Blaise ran up yelling, “Her water broke!” I ran downstairs. Calena was talking to one of the midwives on the phone. I took over and they made me confirm that the amniotic fluid (water breaking) looked healthy. I went back upstairs to check on the kids and then came back again as Calena was having another intense contraction with Blaise by her side. After it passed she said, “Go back up and make sure the midwife knows where to go.”
Since we were in the basement this made sense. I sprinted back up the steps. The midwives arrived at the same time as my parents. I showed them how to get to the basement and checked on Calena. I told Blaise he could now go upstairs to watch the movie. He had been a good help for a 9-year-old boy. Then my parents arrived to help the kids upstairs. They played the classical musical called “Music Man” with popcorn.
The next midwife arrived and I ran back up to make sure she knew where to go. As they got settled in I went back upstairs once more to check on everyone else. Frederic, Fabian, Ksenia, and Blaise were all content munching on popcorn and watching the movie with my parents. I wolfed down a few bites of popcorn and went to the bathroom. I went back downstairs. I heard a noise I didn’t expect. Crying. A baby crying. Mariella had come! All was well. She was healthy and so was Calena. It had been a whirlwind of up and down the steps for me. It had been a smooth and successful birth for Calena. She had done amazing. And Mariella was beautiful! We were so thankful.
I went upstairs (yet again) to announce the good news. Everyone was excited. Frederic wanted mommy. I tried to sit by him to help him focus on the movie but he still wanted mommy. So I brought him downstairs. I held him as we entered the bedroom. His response to Mariella was very sweet. We had been telling him about the baby in Mommy’s belly. Now he could see her. He was calm so I let him sit on the bed near Calena and his new sister. He rubbed her head gently and kept saying “baby” with a smile. What a great moment!
Soon all the kids got a turn to hold the baby. They were all excited. Of course Ksenia was very happy to now have not only three brothers but also a brand new little sister.
Mariella Eileen is named after Mary the Mother of God and St. Elizabeth. In one sense, Mariella is our reminder of the second joyful mystery, the Visitation – when Mary made haste to visit her cousin Elizabeth after the Annunciation. The greeting of Mary caused John the Baptist to leap with joy within the womb of Elizabeth. Mariella is already bring great joy to her parents and siblings. He middle name Eileen is in honor of Calena’s Grandma who died in 2018.
All has gone well in building up the ice for our 40×70 ft ice rink. We have had to rebuild the ice just a bit just twice since creating it. I have especially enjoyed playing 2 v 2 hockey games with Blaise, Ksenia, and Fabian. They have all made improvements in their skating, stopping, passing, and shooting.
Calena has occasionally come out to join us. Just this week her and I took on the three older kids in a game.
Frederic is usually out there with us. He is able to stand on his skates and can move slowly.
My new song for you to check out is called Slave to the Screen. I produced the song 100% on my own, from songwriting, instrumentation, all the way to production.
This song is reminding us to practice temperance in screen time. It is meant for everyone old and young, parents and children. We must be careful to not make technology an idol in our lives.
As we begin to approach the Lenten Season, I challenge us all (including myself) to eliminate unnecessary and excessive screen time in our lives. Perhaps make a sacrifice to take a break from social media, movies, video games, or even watching sports. Can we increase our prayer, reading, outdoor time, being face to face to our loved ones?
As a family, two years ago we decided to sell our Nintendo Switch. We had only been playing it about once a week for 1-3 hours each time we played. We played it as a family and did have fun but every time we stopped our kids got really sad. They wanted to play it more and more. As a father, I decided to get rid of it from our family. With the money saved, we bought some amazing strategy board games.
In the past twenty years, the board game industry has made remarkable progress. There are many new gaming publishers and game designers creating games with beautiful artwork/components, unique themes, and interesting mechanics.
Our children have grown smarter from playing these games, many of which involve many rules, critical thinking, and lots of mental math. As a family, we have had awesome moments of fun together face to face through playing our board games.
For me personally, I have decided to reduce my media time involving sports. This fall and into winter, I realized I was getting sucked into not only watching a lot of football and basketball, but also spending too much time listening to podcasts and facebook/X posts related to sports commentary. So far, I have noticed a a little bit more of a sense of peace and a bit stronger connection to God and my family. I’ve also been increasing my reading time.
