Sharing Our Exciting News!!!

Elayna and I are feeling quite grateful today, for obvious reasons. Recently we welcomed our little boy Lennon (Lenny) Foster Whitelum into this world and we wanted to share him with you. Weighing in at 3.3kg (approx 7lb 4.4oz) 

He’s perfect. We flew home to Australia to have him where we could have the support from our family and friends.

We have shared a few photos in our little new born bubble have which have been full of love. There’s also been a lot of time for reflection. To think of all that’s happened in the past 4 years since Riley and I first met in the Greek Islands and set off on our big adventure, it really blows my mind. You were also a part of our journey for a lot of it and we wanted to say thank you for following along and for any kind of support you’ve given us over the years. We couldn’t have done it without you. 

The birth was very very difficult. I’m proud of Elayna for sticking with it for so long trying to follow her birth plan but eventually she and the midwifes decided the time had come to move her on and Lennon was born healthy and happy in the hospital. Post birth discussions revealed it felt like two different labour’s for Elayna and that she wouldn’t change a thing. There was 25 hours of intense contractions with 19 hours before that of less intense. Elayna was unable to sleep for those 44 hours. Lennon’s head (mellon) was cocked to the side and at various stages he was facing either up or down as we pulled different sorts of positions to slide him back out of the birth canal and then back into it re-engaging him. Elayna was of-course exhausted, I mean I was exhausted and I had had a few sleeps, especially on the first night. We went into the pool and out of the pool, rolled her onto her side, moved her bum into the air, climbed stairs whilst rotating the pelvis, listened to meditation music, listened to not meditation music. We pulled every trick in the midwifery handbook but eventually called an ambulance. A ventouse (suction thing) was used to roll his head whilst Elayna pushed him out and finally it was done. Elayna lost quite a bit of blood and we are all staying in the hospital for a couple of days observation but this is just a precaution.

Anyone that has had a child knows that all the letters in the alphabet in all of their infinite potential arrangements couldn’t construct a sentence that comes close to the feeling of looking at your child for the first time. We are happy, proud and all of us are healthy.

Now for our next big adventure… raising a baby on the ocean. Stay tuned. Any tips are encouraged.

Love from Riley, Elayna and Lennon