Tromsø 1984
In August, 1984, we moved to Tromsø, Norway. A small town north of the Arctic Circle.
I was 7 1/2 months pregnant with my third baby. Anyone who had been through a summer heavily pregnant knows how miserable it can be.
I was really looking forward to enjoying the cool Arctic weather in my pregnant state.
We decided to take the two days trip north on the coastal steamer, the hurgrirouten. We had a cabin with bunk beds that we shared with our 6 year old and our 3 year old.
Inside that cabin was hot! At least it seemed too hot for pregnant me. So I spent the two night on the boat sleeping in a deck chair on deck, feeling like a beached whale!
Getting to our house was wonderful! It’s a beautiful house with a view of the fjord we came up on. But, characteristically, Tromsø was having a “heat wave” in the 70s. The house has huge windows that afford the view, but they also produce a lot of solar heat. And they don’t open!
Somehow we managed to get through it.
The baby was “due” September 15th, so we called my mother and told her I really needed her to come and help me.
On August 31st I went into labor- my mom was not there yet. We didn’t know a soul. I sat in the tub crying and wishing for the labor to wait to my mother.
Nature has a way of doing what it wants. On August 31, 1984 I gave birth to a 9lb 9oz baby boy. I guess my dates were wrong!
After that day the heat dissipated and there were no more heatwaves north of the Arctic Circle. (but oh the winters! That’s another story)
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