Barselgruppe

Today was the first meeting of my 'barselgruppe', which is a group of 6 or 7 mothers who live in the same area and have just had babies around the same time. 'Barsel' means the time period for the mother and baby when the baby is newborn, and 'gruppe' means group. The groups and the first two meetings are organized by the local 'helsestasjon' (Health Station) and after that it is up to the group members to arrange their own meetings. It's such a good idea! I have been trying to learn more Norwegian so that I could maybe understand or speak a little bit with my barselgruppe, but I have a long way to go yet.

Anyway, today was the first meeting. There were 7 of us - 4 with baby girls and 3 with baby boys; for 4 of us this is the 2nd baby and the other 3 this is their first. There is one woman who seems quite young - maybe 20 years old, and there are two women who are in their late 30s or even early 40s, the rest of us in the middle somewhere (we didn't discuss our own ages!). Actually, one of the older ladies is an opera singer who lived in the US for a long time and is now back to her native land. I talked to her a bit (in English) afterwards. It was quite an interesting meeting, though it is exhausting to concentrate so hard on following what people are saying. I was able to say a little bit, but I couldn't contribute to the conversations about nursing, sleeping, or eating. Maybe next time...