Well, this is up quicker than I expected but the first family’s round has been completed, this time using Babs and Big Fong.
I don’t know if maybe I actually learned something from my first try at this challenge back in August, but this round was unbelievably smooth, I almost lost Babs to heatstroke once (she had overheated while sleeping) but she managed to not miscarry and quickly took a cool down and all was well in the world.
To start the season off, it took an amazing amount of time to get Babs pregnant, she and Big were trying nearly twice a day for three days, but we quickly planted some tomatoes and went fishing where it was soon discovered that Babs is a much better fisher(wo)man than her husband. She still caught more fish in the first three days (and sporadically after that) than Big did the entire week.
I had only one fire scare, and learned from it very quickly. I know now to always make sure that the oven is clean before trying to burn any trash.
I’m not quite sure when this happened, but at some point in between days two and three, their sleep schedule got weird, with Babs being awake most of the night and a little bit of the morning and Big being awake most of the day and a little bit at night. While this made it a little awkward for trying to have kids, it certainly made tending the garden and fishing much easier.
Finally though, after days of trying and enduring Babs tears and worries that motherhood would never happen, the much anticipated (by both Babs and I) baby bump finally appeared! I was then very careful to make sure she never overheated and tried to keep her busy in the house, I was not going to have a repeat of poor River and her miscarriage and eventual heatstroke death all those months back.
The next three days were pretty mundane: fishing, cooking (although neither Babs nor Big burned their next meals which was impressive), gardening, and lots and lots of cool showers. Until the big day…
When the Babs went into labour I was crossing my fingers and hoping and praying for a boy this time, I still remember my over abundance of female children from my first try and was quickly given a surprise…
It was twins! After all those days of depression, Babs finally had the child she dreamed of, times two! A second later they probably heard the sound of a great thump as I smacked my head into my desk upon the realization that not only were they twins, but twin girls! I could have sworn I had a picture, but apparently at some point during the period of pushing out the second child (Melody), Big had gone back to bed, apparently his wife giving birth to his own children lost its sparkle after the first girl (River).
It was a good day soon after the birth, the tomatoes were ready to be harvested and were sold off at $110 per plant, thankfully giving the family some desperately needed money to pay for their caveman bills.
The last day was a fierce thunderstorm that kept the now four member Fong family inside most of the day, dealing with the two newborn girls. At least four separate trees caught on fire during this period (at least the strawberry plants were getting lots of water).
It seemed that Big was eager to protect his family, as he left the cave near the end of the storm to freak out about a tree that had caught fire behind the cave, but was over his fear quickly as he decided after the fire was dealt with that now was the perfect time for some fishing. It took me a few moments to realize what he was doing but just before he could enter the safety of the stone cave, disaster struck!
Thankfully it stopped raining not long afterwards, so he was able to shower without fearing another blast and he was none worse for the wear.
With that, morning came and my round with this family came to an end. All in all, it was a good round, no one died, two baby girls were born, they were able to harvest their crop, and heatstroke only happened once.
Results:
Family: Big, Babs, Melody, RIver
Funds: $695