BY SALLY GRACIE
Covered as they are in heavy clothing, when young and pregnant valley women carry their babies through the winter, I’ve often been surprised to see their infant progeny when spring comes.
I happened to know that Heidi Bard was pregnant this last winter because I frequent the pub, and she waited tables there through her developing pregnancy.
It was obvious that the baby had been born when Heidi came to my table at the pub last Saturday afternoon.
Baby Uli will always have a wonderful tale to tell of his birthday, and I thank Heidi for sharing it with me and my readers.
Heidi and Eric Bard’s oldest son, 9-year-old Owen, loves soccer. Knowing that Penticton has an indoor soccer field, the Bards decided to take an early February break to British Columbia. Owen thrived at the public soccer facilities, and 6-year-old Jasper learned to swim at the public indoor pool. Heidi, who home-schools her two boys, was delighted with the whole thing.
As her due date approached, Heidi and Eric had to make a decision as to the place for their third baby’s birth.
Blue Bradley is Heidi’s midwife, but Blue’s baby was due on Feb. 26; Heidi’s, on the 27th. So they had to find another midwife as well. Wenatchee might have been the logical choice, if Heidi hadn’t actually talked to midwives in Penticton.
Their decision was, to me, a no-brainer. Penticton is, according to Heidi, the “sunniest place in Canada” at that time of year. The snow would be gone. She and the kids could continue their soccer and swimming, and Jasper could learn to ride his bike. And they had found a midwife as well as a rentable house for the home delivery of their child, with a hospital five minutes away.
The Bards rented the house in Penticton for six weeks and, while Eric commuted to continue his teaching at Omak and Methow Valley Elementary, the other three Twisp River Bards settled in to wait for the new baby in B. C.
Of course, Uli Carru arrived late, on March 6, but Eric was there, the boys were there, and the senior Bards (Molly and Bud from Seattle) were there for the home birth.
Uli was already a month old when I talked with Heidi at the pub this weekend.
Uli is “just the sweetest, mellowest ball of love. We are all enraptured by him!” Heidi reported on her Facebook page. “We are filled with such gratitude and love to have another little baby [boy] in our life.”
The Bard family is back at their home on Twisp River. On Monday, Heidi’s parents, Ron and Sigrid Hobbs, were enjoying their visit with Heidi, Eric and their three beautiful grandsons. Congratulations to the entire family.
The big event for next weekend is Methow Minds at the Methow Valley Community Center, Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. (doors open at 6 p.m.). According to the center’s Kirsten Ostlie, all the speakers are new – different from last year’s. More minds. New minds. This place continues to amaze.
