B.A.B.E. Week 16: Raising a baby in the Bahamas

Right after Wilson moved here to the Bahamas, we found out that we were going to have a baby.  And we thought perfect!  Having a baby in paradise should be paradise…right?   Well it hasn’t quite turned out that way.  The first drawback was our time apart.  We were apart for much of the pregnancy because at I was working from DC.  And then after that I had to be in the US while we waited for Elle’s arrival.  Finally, we were apart for 10 or so days after Elle was a month old when Wilson was back to the Bahamas but I remained in the US waiting for Elle’s passport to come through and for both of us to be medically cleared.   Even now that we are finally here in the Bahamas, it has not yet been the idyllic experience that I thought it would be.

That said, Elle seems to be thriving as she would thrive anywhere in the U.S.  She is jabbering, reaching, exploring the world around her from the cool wall by her changing table to tugging on my hair.   She also really enjoys having a blanket on her face (sounds freaky I know) but she also laughs when she pulls the blanket off her face herself.  It is fun to see the motor skills get better and better.

And yes in addition to Elle's thriving, there are wonderful aspects of being here.  For instance, the fact that I work from home and have childcare in my house is pretty great.   And the fact that we have a pool across the street and can walk 500 feet to the beach is also very nice.  However, we are now in hurricane season in another country away from our global community of friends and family.

Hurricane Season

Hurricane season means scary storms (obviously), power outages, and heat.  I will skip talking about scary storms because it scares me to think about it and move right on to the other annoyances that occur even without the hurricane--power outages and heat.  The power goes out frequently here.  Luckily for me, these power outages have not been very long yet...but you can go days without power.  And this past week I spent an hour  trying to get our generator working in the middle of my work day.  Thus, no wifi, no air conditioning and no juice for my laptop and phone without the generator.  So I tried to get the generator going -- filled it with gas, read the directions, moved it to a safe location outside the garage (this thing puts out a lot of fumes) -- and it went for about 5 minutes before it stopped and wouldn't start again -- out of oil.   After I discovered it was out of oil, luckily, the power came back on and "crisis" was averted.  

This past week's power outage has taught me to keep my computer/phone charged (something I struggle with as Wilson blogged about in Daddy ABC's) and to keep the air conditioning going.  I have a habit of turning of the A/C for a while letting the house heat up and then turning it back on.  I just don't prefer the constant cool temp that A/C provides and I can't spend so much time outside either because I am working or with Elle.  So now with the threat of power outages, just got to keep the A/C going so we don't end up in a situation where the power has gone out but the house is already hot because I turned of the A/C.

This brings me to the other point about Hurricane season -- the heat.   It is hot in the Islands and we have been experiencing exceptionally high temperatures for the last couple of weeks.  Not a huge surprise since, with climate change, 2015 is slated to be the hottest year yet.  But the heat is a pain for Elle because she is very sensitive to its effects.  She really hates being hot.  

Having Elle in hot places, first Tennessee and now here, has made me think about the babies in Madagascar.  I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Madagascar for two years and I think about the heat that those babies endure  No wonder that infant mortality is so high there and beyond for many of the world's poorest billion who live on less than a $1.25 per day in mostly really hot places.  I feel so fortunate to have the lifestyle that we have with Elle (even in the A/C), but it is the pits to spend so little time outside because of her sensitivity to the heat.   Babies in Madagascar have to endure the heat but Elle doesn't and so I am going to accept that gift and know that recycled air from air conditioning is better than having ill effects from the heat.

Community

Adding to the aggravation of spending a lot of time inside because of the heat is the fact that I am still trying to build a community here as well as often missing my global community.  Don't get me wrong, the embassy community here in Nassau has been wonderful -- welcoming, social, everything you could ask for.  In fact, we hosted a BBQ at our house on Sunday of 20 or so people and 10 kids.  But the community here is not our family and friends back home.  Also, I am struggling to tap into a community of mom and babies.   I have taken some steps to find the mom/baby community both here and with friends and family in our global community.  Part of that BBQ on Sunday was to meet moms with babies and I am also trying to stay connected via technology to my loved ones who are also moms (and dads).  (And of course, still love childless friends too... :) )

However, staying connected via technology isn't quite the same as having that day to day contact.   But to be honest, even if we hadn't decided on this foreign service lifestyle, we couldn't have that day to day contact with the majority of our loved ones -- so many of you are spread throughout many of the States (or at least most of the Eastern and Western ones) and around the world.  

I think the struggle of being apart from loved ones is common to almost all of us whether you are in the foreign service or not.   But as the cliche goes -- absence makes the heart grow fonder.  Well, maybe in today's world of long distances, we are all thinking more fondly of the near and dear far away.   I know that I treasure and look forward to the times that I get to be with loved ones in person.  And even saying goodbye isn't so bad when I think of the Dr. Seuss saying -- don't cry because it is over, smile because it happened.  Or maybe the quote is actually from Gabriel García Márquez:  "No llores porque ya se terminó, sonríe porque sucedió."  Either way, I am smiling.