Back Home and Pictures of the Trip

I am back home, since four days ago. Last night I went to bed before 8 p.m. and slept like a log until 12 midnight. Then I dozed off and on until 5:30 a.m. I hope to be back to normal soon.

Tuesday, I saw my client who is due next. She and her family are doing well. In the meantime, I'm studying my plane ticket to Lebanon for February 5. Maybe I should enjoy Christmas first.

This Christmas, we're doing without gifts. It will be the first time in our lives to do this. But with the economy the way it is, and with three children in college, we just don't have money to get gifts. None of us does. I am for one really looking forward to celebrating Christmas this way. It's a little hard on the kids, but I truly believe that it will be good for them, too.

Emily wants us to have doughnuts for Christmas morning, since we won't be busy doing anything else. She offered to help. Okay, doughnuts it is.

But back to international births. I have summarized my thoughts on those. There are two very important things for an international birth. #1. Good prenatal health. It helps if the mother is taking natural prenatal vitamins. Also helpful is prenatal care, either by a local doctor or a midwife. #2. A midwife who is willing to do things differently, and willing to try things she has not tried before. I will not go into details with this one, but suffice it to say that I thought long and hard about things I might have to do in Zanzibar, even though I didn't have to do any of them. It was very sobering.

Following are some pictures that I couldn't share while I was on the island, but I will now.

This is the first glimpse I had on the island.

Gilbert wearing Baba's (Daddy's) hat.
Moanaheri grating fresh coconut. After it is grated, water is added. Then the mixture is strained. The resulting cream of coconut is used to cook with. It is delicious, especially with cassava and sweet potato greens!"Jambo" means hello. Here it is on Bob's cappuccino!
Me at the local beach, about a quarter-mile from Bob and Rachael's house.

The north beach. It was beautiful.

The first picture of Wilberforce Ivan Gwassa!
Rachael and Wilberforce

The Deal

After the Spice Tour two days ago, I was talking to Bob. I said, "When I come back, I want to see you climb a coconut tree." I knew from previous conversations with Rachael that he used to climb coconut trees.

"When you come back??" he responded. "I tell you what. If you come back, I will climb a coconut tree! I will begin to prepare now."

So that's the deal. If I come back, Bob will climb a coconut tree. Good incentive, as if I needed one.

So Long, Zanzibar!

Well, this is my last full day on the island! Part of me is very sad, as it has been a wonderful visit. It is a beautiful island, and Bob and Rachael have been so easy to be with.

Yesterday I went to the beach early by myself. It was low tide, and the mangrove trees were out of the water. There were many shells, and I nabbed all the good ones that I saw. A woman was on the beach when I got there, and after some time, she sidled up close to me. She had been watching me, and as I made eye contact with her, she handed me a couple of shells. I asked her if she spoke English, and she said, "Some small." So we walked and talked and picked up shells and coral. She has two children, a girl and a boy, 3 and 5 years of age, she works in housekeeping at the nearby hotel, and she's Muslim. And her name is Aisha. And she's beautiful. I took our picture on the beach. She left me after we both left the beach. I loved the encounter.

Then Bob took me and Zawadi and Gilbert to a private spice farm. Oh, the spices! I got to see so many different species of flora, it was incredible! And we actually didn't cover that much ground. The tour leader spoke excellent English, and this was the way he led the tour: he described what we were seeing, and then waited to see if we knew the plant. It was so much fun! At the end of the tour he asked me if I was a farmer! I laughed. I can hear Beth laughing, too. No, not a farmer. But I do love the good plants of this Earth. I got to see (big breath; are you ready?) castor, cilantro, aloe, cardamom, pepper, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, vanilla, cocoa, coffee, jack fruit, giant passionfruit, soursop, starfruit, cucumber fruit, bush chili, neem, turmeric, mangosteen, and a man who climbed the coconut tree to throw down some coconuts for us! I will post that video when I get home. Film at eleven.

After the tour, we sat down to eat a meal, included in the priced of the tour. We had rice pilau, two kinds of sauce for it, red and yellow, and barracuda, and cardamom tea. I was hardly hungry, since on the tour, we had jack fruit, soursop, starfruit, and coconut milk and coconut. It was so amazing!

After the meal, I was able to purchase some spices at very reasonable prices. And just when Jackie didn't think I could enjoy anything more on the island....

Then last night we had some company come. They were Hussein and Inez. Hussein is Tanzanian, Inez is from Vienna, Austria. Inez has been living with Hussein on the island for the past five months, volunteering her time at the local hospital. She's an occupational therapist. She left today to go back to Austria, and will be there for at least a year. But of course she is now tied to the island, and said she will return. I was able to pray for her last night. And she is a wonderful person, having given five months of volunteer work to work with disabled children on the island. I really enjoyed meeting her.

I weighed Wilberforce just an hour or so ago. And he's already gained one or two ounces, even though he's just five days old!! He's thriving. Just wanted especially Grandpa and Grandma to know that.

I will leave tomorrow at 2:45 pm. I will fly to Nairobi, Kenya, arriving there about 4 pm. I have a long layover there, not leaving until 10 pm. Then I will arrive in Amsterdam the following morning about 8 am, and will leave there at 12 pm. I will arrive in Dallas on Sunday, Dec 14, at 2 pm, after about 30 hours of travel. Jackie and Emily will meet me to take me home. I know I will be tired, but very glad to see them.

Thank you all for sort of going on this trip with me through the blog. It has been so heartwarming and good. God is good. Please keep praying for Bob and Rachael. Their work is already good. And their God is faithful.

Spice

Well, Jan should be getting to DFW in about 2 hours. She's probably not looking forward to cold weather. She really enjoyed this hot island.

Today we really didn't do anything out of the ordinary. Wilberforce got milk and slept more than he had the previous 12-15 hours. I'm finding that his cord is not drying out as fast in this hot humid weather as I'm used to. But everything is damp here. I love it! My hair doesn't stick straight up in the morning when I get up! Everyone who has seen me as soon as I get up knows how funny I look. And my lips don't get chapped. I've used my chapstick once since I got here 9 days ago. My husband is saying to himself, "Wow!"

Today I just did laundry and helped around the house. I made sure Rachael rested. She's feeling much better today, but is still sleep deprived. So she's gone on to bed already at 9 pm.

Tomorrow Bob has made arrangements for us to take the Spice Tour (not Rachael). Many spices grow on Zanzibar, and I will see some of that. When we went to the north beach on Saturday I noticed a bunch of "something" drying on the road. When I asked Rachael what it was, she said it was cloves! Just out on sacks on the side of the road, drying. Hopefully I will bring some fresh spices home. After the tour, we will try to join a cooking class and then eat our cooking. I'll report later. Anyway, I know I will enjoy it. Bob is a wonderful host. Even with a new baby, and before that, a very pregnant wife, he has tried to make our stay enjoyable. And it has been. Thanks, Bob.

I'm coming home in three days. I am really ready to come home. It has been a nice visit, and I've enjoyed what I do immensely, and still am, but I miss Jackie and Natalie and Emily and Timothy. And all my friends. And I'm wondering how my client due in January is doing.

On to the next thing!

Thoughts

I woke up this morning early and didn't want to wake Jan, so I put the MP3 earphones in my ears and settled down to listen to some music. And on the second song, I began to weep. It's a song called simply "Jesus..." by Rich Mullins. Oh, it touched me so deeply. If you get a chance, find it somewhere and listen. You will be blessed. The heart's deepest desire is to be a part of Jesus' story, and to have Him whisper to us our part in His story, and to know we are His. After this beginning, all the rest of this day can be terrible, and it will still be okay. But it won't be terrible.

Bibi and Zawadi came for a few days. They arrived yesterday on the ferry from Dar es Salaam. "Bibi" is Swahili for grandmother, and she's Florence, Bob's mother. Zawadi is Bob's niece. Her name means "gift." She truly is. She's 8 years old, and she helps out tremendously with Gilbert. She plays with him and entertains him and watches him, a truly priceless gift. She also likes to play with my hair. I'm tickled at feeling a little hand in my hair, on my neck, even in my ears. Jan gave Zawadi a lock of her hair before she left. Bibi is also a precious gift, bringing helping hands with dishes and cooking, and helping to discipline Gilbert.

We said good-bye to Jan several hours ago, as she got on the airplane that was to take her back to Nairobi, Kenya, then to Amsterdam, and finally to Dallas. She loved her time here, and is taking back many pictures and videos of her time in Zanzibar for "my friend Connie." Pray for her to have a safe journey. She was a great assistant at Wilberforce's birth. She found out what Ashlea already knows, that you work hard as a midwife's assistant. And I truly am thankful for our time together. And I think that she encouraged Bob and Rachael with her presence and her laughter and her love.

This morning we all had a time of worship together, something I've been looking forward to, but what with the move, and swimming, and cooking, and the birth, we haven't done. So it was precious. We all shared, we sang some, and we prayed, and we read the Scripture. We shared our hearts, especially Bob and Rachael. It was good.

I just examined Wilberforce and he looks good. He has no signs of jaundice. I took his footprints and rejoiced that I don't have to do a newborn screen on him. This is what used to be called the PKU. It requires a heel stick, and I usually don't like to do it at all. So since we are not in the US, and it's not required, I am glad that I don't have to hurt him. Small blessings. Sigh of contentment.

Welcome, Baby!!!!

Baby Wilberforce Ivan Gwassa arrived very quietly at 7:21 pm in MBwene, Zanzibar Island, Tanzania!!

We rejoice with his coming. Thank you, Lord, for a normal birth. Rachael began her labor this morning at about 10 am. She pushed for 17 minutes, and he was born in the water, all 7 pounds, 13 ounces of him! He is 20 and 1/4 inches long. He has less hair than Gilbert did, and his face is rounder. Gilbert came into the room as soon as his brother was born, and very quietly admired him.

Rachael is recovering now. Please pray for a speedy recovery. We are admiring him as he sucks his thumb. Bob has gone for something to eat, Jan is holding and rocking the baby, and I'm through....

Praise the Lord!!! He is good.

I have tried to post a picture, but am not able. I will try to post a picture on my facebook.

White sands, and maybe later

Yesterday I didn't blog because we spent the day at the beach and on the road, and came in late. I was tired because of little sleep the night before (jet lag), and as soon as the dishes were done I went to bed.



In the morning we went to a beach on the northwestern side of the island. It was very different from the local beach just a quarter of a mile away. We pulled up to the private beach, and a nice man showed us where the restrooms, the bar, the showers, and the beach was. All you have to do to swim there is to buy a drink or some food. We bought both, and enjoyed ourselves. They brought up chaise longues covered with towels and put them under some shades. We went into the slightly cool water with water shoes on because the bottom is both sandy and rocky. It was lovely. Of course it was lovely. I spoke with Jackie last night and he said that it was 25 or 26 degrees in Texas. I'm so sorry. I'm sweating over here. And we enjoyed God's creation of the sand, the sun, the seashells, and the surf yesterday. I really do absorb the beauty and worship the Creator.



I used some sunscreen but still managed to get a little sunburned. But the sea glass, seashells, and coral that I picked up more than made up for it. Let other girls go to the malls. I love the beach.



It was so beautiful to watch Rachael and Gilbert, knowing that soon, perhaps in a day or so, there would be one more in the equation. Happysad.



We showered off on the beach, then headed up to the car. We saw some small monkeys in the trees as we waited for Bob to settle up the bill. I'm not sure if they were watching us more or we were watching them more. We all enjoyed it.



We headed further north, going all the way to the north end of the island. We got stopped by policemen about five times, Bob talking all the time. I think they think he's a guide without the permit. You know, because he's native and we're not. So he's met quite a few of the local policemen.



We stopped several times on the trek, once to see a family with a little 4-year-old girl who was paralyzed shortly after birth by malaria. The mother held her, and Bob asked me my opinion about what might be best for her health, from nutrition to physical therapy. Hmmm. In the meantime, Jan is playing with the group of children that has gathered, and there are happy squeals and dancing and laughter beside us.



We also stop to buy about 20 pineapples. And we eat one in two sittings and make juice out of another one for lunch today. All in all, we stay out all day. It's really hard to believe that you can do that on the island, but I get the feeling we didn't do half of what there is to be done here.



Oh, and Mom, they have okra here. I thought I recognized the plants but was unbelieving of my own eyes until I asked Rachael. And sure enough, it grows here. We had a papaya from the back yard papaya tree for breakfast today. And Bob planted a mango seed today, after we ate the delicious mango.



This morning I head out for a walk by myself. It's the first time I've been out of the house by myself, and I get pictures of the flame tree and the anglican church that's about two blocks away. I'm not afraid, and I really enjoy myself.



When I come in, I meet Rachael. She looks a little...different. She keeps working through the morning and makes us lunch, but right now she's taking a little nap. She may be working real hard later on today. I'll keep you posted.

I tried to upload a picture, and it sure messed with this computer's mind, so I don't know what I'm going to do when I need to show you all a picture of the little one! I'll try to figure it out...

Swimming

Hi all! This morning Rachael wanted exercise...so we walked a quarter of a mile to the beach!!! Gilbert had new flipflops that kept falling off his feet, so Jan finally took them off him and carried him. Fun!

There were two fishermen sitting in their canoe mending their nets. That is age-old, I thought. I took a picture of myself like the teenagers do, just holding the camera out at arm's length and clicking. Not bad, really.

There really is no surf on the west side of the island. The water is warm. Rachael takes off, swimming. I recall how she was a lifeguard for several years as an adolescent. She's already working on teaching Gilbert how to swim. He loves to splash anyone, but has the most fun splashing his Baba, his Daddy.

Jan has fun videotaping the several children that congregate and are playing on the beach. We find two starfish that are already dead and on the sand. I do my usual, looking for seashells, however plain they may be. They are mementos. I love seashells, and take some from every beach I visit. I love the beach. I love the beach.

We see a little jellyfish. And we have to warn Gilbert not to touch it. I'm grateful it doesn't touch me!

Tomorrow Bob's mother and her adopted granddaughter will come from the mainland. It will be good for Gilbert to see his Bibi.

It has rained again today. I learn that we are in the rainy season. It definitely makes sense. It has rained every day we've been here.

I can access my emails now. I have a ticket for Lebanon!!!!! And I can read emails from people I haven't seen or heard from in several years -- James Thompson and Josh and Abigail Ransom. I feel that God loves me. He indeed is full of compassion and lovingkindness. I read this both in Psalm 86 and in Joel 2. That is my Word for today.

Moanaherri, the housegirl for the Gwassa's, has a bad burn on her foot. I take my St. John's Wort oil and put it on the burn. I hope it will help. Bob says he will tell her it is pork oil. Oh boy.

Gilbert said a new word today. He was sitting at the table eating lunch with us, and suddenly said, "Wow!" I know he learned it from me or Jan. That's what Rachael and Bob said. And I think it's probably from Jan...It was so cute.

Love to all.

Just another day

Today we saw some of Stonetown, where we are staying. We visited the Anglican church and saw the old Arab fort, went into a holding cell for slaves, saw the boats and the harbor, and then went out to eat.

I ordered kingfish and plantain, and then shared a dessert with Jan that was a date cake with a wonderful creamy sauce. And fresh pineapple juice. I am enjoying Rachael's cooking, too.

Today Bob went to the market for groceries, carrying home baskets of oranges, coconuts, sweet potato greens, carrots, onions, potatoes that were still damp from just being dug, fresh beef wrapped in newspaper, cabbage, and I'm probably forgetting something. Rachael fixed us cassava and sweet potato greens for lunch. It was so good. Gilbert ate a double portion.

Gilbert played in the water outside today. He got soaking wet, then put some water in a bucket and brought it inside to get the inside of the house wet, too!

Rachael washed all the baby clothes and diapers and wipes that we brought for her. Jan accused her of nesting, but Rachael denied it.

It rained again today. So far it has rained every day that we've been here.

Oh, by the way, if you are emailing me, I cannot seem to get to my email. The server times out. So I apologize, to all of you who are wondering why I'm not responding.

My facial skin is still burning. I don't know what I'm reacting to, but I think I will stop taking the antibiotic I brought against malaria. I may be having an allergic reaction to it.

Looking forward to the baby, but enjoying just being with Bob and Rachael...

Finished the Move

Bob finished moving today. He is tired.

I have had fun with Gilbert. I am learning Swahili. Paca is cat. Moto is hot, or fire. Habarigani means how are you? Mtoto is baby.

I also have developed some burning, stinging skin around my eyes, and have been sneezing and blowing my nose all day. Please pray that I will know what is going on...it may be a reaction to the malaria medicine, or a reaction to some bug spray that was used on the house, or something else.

Love all of you.

I'll check back in later!

We Are in Zanzibar

We got to the island today about 1 pm. It was a long trip, but all the luggage got here. I only had one bottle break on the way, my Rescue Remedy. Praise God!

Rachael didn't have the baby before we got here, either. We have had naps and we're helping them to finalize moving. Tonight is their first night in the new home.

I don't know how often I can blog because they still don't have internet connections at the new house. This time we're at the old house, connecting with you.

Got great pictures of the island on our descent! It's a lovely island, too...

God bless you all, and keep checking the blog!

I Hope I Look this Good Two Days from Now...

I'm off! Jackie and I will be leaving home to go to the airport in about 40 minutes. He and I will pick up Jan and Jim, and then we'll be on our way.

The trip will last two days. After the first 10-hour flight, one of those days will be a twelve-hour layover in Amsterdam, and we're hoping to see some of the city. It will be cold! And possibly rainy, with the high in the 40's.

After that we'll have another night-long flight with a five-hour layover in Nairobi, then a little hop to Zanzibar, where the weather is slightly different than in Amsterdam. At about five degrees south of the Equator, the island is heading into summer. It's very hot and humid.

I will miss you all, friends and family. If you're wondering if this means you, yes it does. I love you all, and will be excitedly waiting to share new experiences with all of you.

Pray for us -- Rachael, Bob, Jan, and me.

Jan and I will get to our destination on December 2. And we'll probably want a shower and a change of clothes.

Catching up...

Well, how to catch up? It's been more than two months since I've blogged. Hmm, I guess that might mean that I'm not a very good blogger. For me it means that I've thought about blogs and thought about posting them, and then the phone rings and it's a friend calling to catch up (thank You, Lord, for friends), or a student comes over for algebra tutoring, or a client calls with a question, or I'm answering an email. And then Jackie comes home and I want to spend time with him, not on the computer.

Since the last blog, I have delivered one baby and paced the hall of the hospital at the birth of another.

The one I delivered was the first home birth for this couple, a waterbirth. Her previous birth had resulted in cutting, tearing, and her tailbone breaking with a posterior presentation of the baby, aka "sunny side up." This birth had none of those things, a true blessing. Little Eliyah was born and welcomed by his two older brothers. And postpartum was much easier than before, thankfully. No mastitis, either. So much to be grateful for. A phone call to 911 and arrival of the paramedics because of a little too much loss of blood and lowering blood pressure and really faint pulse came to "I'm not going in" statements by mom. And she did really well.

The hospital birth went well, too, although the doctor threw me out of the room, so I was not able to witness the birth of the little one. You know, I think that if the shoe were on the other foot, and an OB/GYN were invited to one of the births that I was caregiver for, I would not throw him/her out of the room. But there! My emotions get in the way. And so does my pride. They both get sort of bruised, and it takes time to recover.

Since the last blog, I've also done some canning. The end of the year produce covered the kitchen counter.

I looked at all that clean, fresh produce and groaned. I knew it would mean doing something. Now I have a wonderful heritage from my mom. I grew up in a household where canning and freezing were just a normal everyday occurrence during the spring and summer. And Mom involved all of us in it. We all had peach/pear/apple/you name it juice running down our arms onto a towel placed on the table as we pared, cored and plopped them into the bowl to await further processing. I never really cared for it. But it is valuable. And so Jackie scoured the internet for recipes for green tomatoes for me. Now I don't like sweet relish. Yuck! Just not good. So I skipped all the recipes with sweeteners and stopped at one that didn't have any. Hmm, this one had possibilities, although it called for 2 pounds of green tomatoes, and I had 11 pounds. Oh, boy.

Well, I chopped all morning, and just used the tomatoes and green peppers that I had on hand. I added onions and garlic to ratio, and then started simmering the stuff with vinegar and cumin and salt. After it had all softened, the canning jars were washed in the dishwasher, and I added the jalapenos that I had. Not to ratio. Just all that I had. The result -- ta daa! -- was a wonderful lovely tangy not-too-hot salsa! Not relish! I was so grateful that I had been obedient to use the harvest and not let it go to waste! One of the goals that I had wanted with a garden was to have salsa. And it didn't happen until the end, when the yield was 11 pints and 1 quart of the wonderful food.

And you can tell that Jackie and I like it, because there's only 8 pints left now. Wow.

Another thing I've been doing is getting ready to go to Zanzibar. I leave in a week. It's incredible, but it's happening. I am so grateful to the people who have contributed money so that Bob and Rachael can have their baby at home. If it weren't for you folks, I wouldn't be going. My ticket is paid for, and I have enough to pay for my visa once I get there. Thank you, thank you, thank you! You are true blessings. I invited my good friend Jan Pack to go with me to help with the birth, and she's going! Her ticket is not yet paid for, so if you'd like to help with her expenses, just drop me a line. We are sure that we will be going to encourage Bob and Rachael, and are really looking forward to times of prayer, worship, and love. Other people have purchased gifts for them, and we will be delivering those. Everyone has something coming, and if I wrote about the gifts, it might not be a surprise for Bob and Rachael, so I will leave the gifts a secret for now...

This is my first international birth, and I'm not real sure about anything, except that God is guiding me. And that's all I need to know. I've sorted through supplies, and I know I will sort through them again this week, but please pray that I will take all the right things, and leave all the unnecessary things behind, and that I won't worry about anything. God is going before me and surrounding me, and I don't need anything else.

Speaking of "first international birth," one of the dreams I had way back as a midwifery student was that I would get to deliver babies for m couples. You all know that. And this Zanzibar trip I consider as a first fruit of that dream. But, I have also been in contact with another m couple about being their midwife as well. So plans are underway for me to go to Lebanon in early February 2009. God is good. I'm very excited about this birth as well. And I will ask all of you to be in prayer about this trip. It looks like I will be leaving February 6, and returning sometime at the end of February (after the baby!!!!).

I was at my mom's house earlier this month. While there, she started looking through some stuff of hers, and found some baby booties. These baby booties were old and stained. She fingered them and said, "All of you wore these booties." I have four sisters, and all of us wore those booties. Wow. I hadn't even known of their existence!

Isn't it sweet? Well, I've been crocheting since I was eight years old, and I started looking at that bootie. I asked Mom if I could bring it home to see if I could replicate it. I made a pair last night. Granted they don't look exactly the same, but they are as close to the original as I could make them. And I have the instructions, too. I just have to type them up.

They don't exactly look the same, I know. Different thread, no embroidery on the tops, ribbon instead of more crochet thread for the ties. I may add the other details later. For now, I feel like some history has been preserved. Who knows, I may keep these booties for my grandchildren! That may be a while, too. Nobody's even contemplating marriage yet.

I will try to blog the picture of the Gwassa's baby from Africa. It all depends on the computer they have, and whether I can link my camera to their computer. I'll try!

Getting There

For my three faithful readers, I am writing this to let you know that God is faithful.



I have been putting away money to go to Zanzibar. I will be leaving to go to Zanzibar right after Thanksgiving this year to deliver a baby for some missionary friends. I delivered their first baby on January 1, 2007, and they are expecting another boy. His due date is December 12, 2008. I expect to be there until the middle of December, and then return. I am waiving my usual midwife fee and doing this as a service to them and to God.



And last Friday morning I had $605.



Now the fare to Tanzania is approximately $2000, so I wasn't quite halfway there.



But thanks to the generosity of two friends, on Friday, the amount I had increased by $800! That's an amazing amount to receive in one day...



So now I have $1405 for the trip. I know that God will continue to be faithful to provide everything and everyone I need for this service.



And today I just want to toot God's horn. This morning I had an amazing time just playing and singing praise songs...

Crepe Myrtles

I have been looking at this tree across the street from me for the past two days. It is absolutely amazing, and the picture does not do it credit. It has to be the biggest crepe myrtle in the county! And I've never seen the blooms on it any prettier than they are now. Here it is.

By the way, it's in front of a house, and you really can't see the house for the huge shrub!

But it doesn't smell as pretty as the white crepe myrtles beside my house. I've lived here for 12 years now, and I've never noticed the smell of the crepe myrtles before. They smell like a very faint honeysuckle. It's lovely. I wish I could introduce the smell factor into the blog, but here's a picture of them.

When you walk beside them, the blooms fall down like snow. And there's a constant buzzing in them right now. Bees are everywhere! My shrubs are doing their job for the honey production. If you look real close, you can see a bee in the following picture. Have you ever tried to take a picture of a bee? You just have to point in the general direction and shoot because they don't stay still. I had never tried this before, and wasn't aware of how "busy as a bee" is until today!

The bee is the blur next to the leaves. Uh huh. Right. And you can nearly see the other bee in the picture below, close to the bottom right.

Anyway, even though it's hot out today, there are harbingers of the autumn to come. The light is changing. It's not a summer light anymore. I know, my husband thinks I'm crazy when I say that. Also, the days are getting shorter. It's nearly dark by 8 pm now. And the last sign of autumn are the oxblood lilies coming up. They usually wait until September.

Here's one that's growing in the yard between us and the Mahan's yard next door.

So yay for the flowers, and yay for the fall.

I can't wait until my four o'clock starts flowering, and I have a bunch of little baby limes on my Mexican thornless lime tree...

Good but Hard Good-bye

I want to change gears for this post. I want to become a mother.

This past weekend we took our son Timothy to Le Tourneau University. We got to Longview on Thursday afternoon. His girlfriend Angela also caravanned with us.

As soon as we got there, the two young people checked in, and we parents were channeled in another direction. They received their check-in packets, with registration times for the next day, and a LeTourneau t-shirt. Each student got a shirt as they checked in. The shirts were in many different colors, and each had a number on the back. Timothy's was royal blue and had a 7 on it. Angela's was maroon and had a 4. They were instructed to wear the shirts at a meeting in the chapel later that evening.

We then helped each of them move into their dorms.

When they got to the chapel, they were separated into groups by shirt. Each group has 10-16 members. Each group has a faculty mentor and an upperclassman mentor. These groups will meet twice a week (they will earn 1 credit hour for this) all semester. The class is called "Cornerstones." They will cover very important things such as time management! (This is a really smart university. Who knew that you needed to tell students how to manage their time???)

After the meeting, in which we sang several hymns together, prayed together, and committed ourselves to each other (faculty, students, parents), we went outside. Outside, one member of each group planted an ivy slip, representing their class. When they graduate, they will have an ivy cutting ceremony. Below is a picture of Timothy and Angela in front of the ivy plants representing their class.

The next morning we went to register the two. We had no communication with Timothy because the SIM card on his cell phone was not working, so we just went where he was supposed to be. He wasn't. This isn't the first time we haven't been able to find our son, nor are we the first parents to lose a child, so we kept our calm. We eventually found him an hour and a half later where he was supposed to be. By that time, he and advisor Dr. Juan Castro (Finance teacher from Honduras) had nearly finished a schedule of 17 hours for him. 17 hours!! I tried not to show my surprise, but I don't think I managed it. That's a lot of hours for a freshman to take, but...ok. Angela later registered for 16 hours. They will both be working hard.

We finished registering (with a break for lunch) at about 4 pm. Angela was so relieved and happy to be done with it that she did a little twirl/dance in the hall when she was finally done. I have to admit that she did so at my instigation. Then we got to stand in the very humid heat while Jackie tried to work out with T-Mobile some sort of plan for getting Timothy a new SIM card. It's ridiculous how long those things take.

After that we went to the bookstore, where Angela bought books and Timothy browsed. Hmmm, not going to get any books, son? He explained that he would get books, after he had had his first classes and had figured out which ones he needed books for, and which ones he didn't. That made some sort of sense to me, but I'm in Angela's court. I always wanted to be prepared before class. Somehow we have a son that is not like us; Jackie agrees with me in this case. But I can see his point of view, too, so I allow him the freedom to do as he sees best.

Saturday morning the Cornerstones groups go to do community service projects from 8 to noon. Timothy's group paints a daycare, while Angela's group does landscaping for someone or other. I can't remember now who. Every group is doing something different for the community. Isn't that cool? The parents, meanwhile, are listening to a panel of four professors and two students talk about the LeTourneau experience.

I am so impressed with the faculty and staff at LeTourneau. Each of the ones that I interface with in some way are Christians. I mean really Christians. They let Jesus be a part of their everyday lives. They treasure each of the students and consider them sacred. They begin their talks with us with a devotional on a little-known passage of Scripture; some of them leave me crying, and I'm deeply spiritually touched. This is a really good place for my son. I feel it to be true in my spirit. Each of the teachers that speak leave me knowing that they will push for excellence from each of the students, but help them in every way possible. Could there be any better place for Timothy? I really thank God that He has led us here. He has been so faithful to direct us in directing our children.

Angela had been praying that they would find a house church to attend. At the church fair on Saturday afternoon, they may have found one. There is a small messianic congregation meeting in a house about two blocks from the campus. There are no coincidences, we have decided once again.

We had a few words of wisdom for him in the lobby of his dorm. And then we prayed for him and Angela. We will continue to pray.

Below is a picture of Timothy by a statue of Jesus washing Peter's feet. It is located just outside the main chapel on campus. I think it speaks for itself. Timothy said, "I'm going to like this place." We agree with you, son.

And we miss you.

I'm in Love

Well, from the conversation with Lynet, I know she's in real early labor, and I know that she may quit in the daytime. Oftentimes, the uterus relaxes during the day, and then kicks in again when the sun goes down.

I have a theory about that. I have been taught that two hormones basically have opposing effects on the body. These two are oxytocin and catecholamines, of which adrenaline is one. First of all, oxytocin is not pitocin. Pitocin is a man-made chemical, and the contractions that Pitocin raises are horrible in intensity and length. Oxytocin is actually the hormone that comes around when you're in love. It's a lovely hormone; everything is relaxed and loved. But it gets overridden with adrenaline, which comes with any anxiety or worry, any stress of the day. So in the daytime, there are all kinds of stressors that happen, and oxytocin can't do the job of causing contractions because adrenaline takes over. At night, when everybody is sleeping, the oxytocin can work unimpeded.

Anyway, I get to Lynet's house. I check her on August 6, 2008 at 10:15 a.m. She's one cm. I kind of figured that one. She's only having contractions every 10 minutes or so. I don't consider that labor, but she does. I stay for awhile, seeing if anything will intensify. I take a little nap in Dawna's bed. It's amazing that I can take a nap, because Gary's dad Jimmy is there installing a door into Lynet and Gary's bedroom doorway. It will help with privacy. They're temporarily living with Lynet's mom, my sister Martha. All their belongings are in this one huge room, but there's no door in the doorway. Lynet's in early labor, and Jimmy is installing a door. The noise and activity are probably having a bearing on the labor. Anyway, for a couple of hours, Jimmy has to go get some supplies or something, and there's no noise, so I take a nap. I'm so glad. I wake up around 2 pm when the hammering begins again. Lynet's not doing anything, so I go home.

She calls me a little after midnight to tell me that her labor contractions really got going at about 8 pm, and they're coming every 5 minutes. Would I come check her? I haven't slept yet. Of course I'm awake. I kind of think that this check is premature mainly because it was Lynet who called, not Gary. I know it's time to go to a birth if the lady can't talk anymore.

Anyway, I get there at about 1 am. August 7, 2008. This is going to be Andrew's birthday, but I don't know yet how long a day it will be. I'm still tired from Birch's birth, and here it is an hour past midnight. Lynet's a whopping 2 cm after 15 hours. Oh, boy. This will be long.

Somehow, we make it to daylight. Martha and Billy get up early to milk the cows, so by 5 am or so there's movement in the other end of the house. I check Lynet again at 5:41. 3 cm. She works with her labor, changing positions, walking, resting, drinking. She does very well. I'm not doing as well as she is. I can't believe how s-l-o-w it's going. This is my first time to midwife for a family member. I don't know if that makes me tired, or if it's the hard birth I just came off of. But I feel that this birth is just going to be slow. I hope that pushing goes faster.

At this time her contractions are coming every 3 minutes, lasting 90 seconds. That's hard. Usually moms don't have this type of contractions for very long, but everything about this birth seems to be happening the hard way.

At 10 am we get Lynet to go outside and walk around some. She's now 5 cm. Usually that's more than halfway, because the last 5 cm usually go faster. It won't take much to go faster than the first 5 cm, since they took 24 hours!

Lynet eats lightly throughout the day: toast and jelly, pudding, granola bars. At 1 pm, we notice white floating "things" in the bath water. Hmmm, vernix? Perhaps her water broke without anyone noticing?? Vernix is the white waxy substance that coats the baby's body while in utero, to protect it from the slightly alkaline amniotic fluid. At 1:50 I check her again, and I feel a bulgy bag of waters, so I conclude that only the outer bag is broken. Not everyone knows that there are actually two bags! The outer one is the chorion, and the inner one is the amnion. She's now 6 cm.

She begins to sway and squat during contractions, after Martha encourages her to do so. I agree, saying that it will help her baby come on down. Martha's a go-getter. She's ready to get the show on the road. Lynet complies. She's ready for this to be over, too.

Around 2:30 she cries out, "The contractions never quit!" Honestly.

I call Ashlea to come. She gets there at 3:45. She becomes my caretaker. She can tell I'm exhausted. And she takes over listening to baby heart tones. She tells me to lie down and rest. And she encourages me. This is a new role for Ashlea. She's usually pretty matter-of-fact. Today she must know I need more. And she gives it. Thank you, thank you.

I massage some Evening Primrose Oil on the cervix and try stretching it some. It gives a little bit. Lynet is patient while I'm doing this. She's lunging with one foot on the bed, then the other, at my suggestion. Sometimes this opens up the pelvis, and helps if the baby has his head cocked a little crookedly.

At 4:30 she's 8 cm. Wow. I apply more Evening Primrose Oil. Lynet keeps standing, walking between contractions. She's crying. Everything is so intense.

At 6:14 I rupture the bag of waters. I hope this will make the final dilation go a little faster. At 6:26 she says loudly, "I'm pushing!" So I let her push a little bit. That sometimes helps open up the cervix all the way, and it certainly feels better than just letting the contractions peak while you try to relax.

But when I check her again at 6:38 and 7:55, she still has a "lip" of cervix. Grrr. I hate to do it, but I ask her if I can help her get to complete by pushing the cervix out of the way during a contraction while she's pushing. She agrees to it. She becomes my heroine when I push on the lip and she doesn't scream or kill me. Believe me, the procedure is excruciating. But we get her to complete. I sometimes think we would still be in labor if we hadn't done this. But of course we wouldn't be. It would just have taken longer. If that can be possible.

Anyway, at this point, Andrew's little heart which has held steady all this time, begins to dip somewhat. Not dangerously. But still. So I put the oxygen on Lynet, and it brings up his heart rate. We try pushing McRoberts (see last post) for 15 minutes. Then we try left side-lying for 15 minutes. Again we're trying to find a good position so that Lynet can make good progress. At 9 pm we move her to the birth stool. Then 15 minutes later back to left side-lying. Back to McRoberts 45 minutes later. She's making progress, but everything about this birth is slow. She only does McRoberts for 11 minutes before she tries squatting facing the bed. Oh yes, baby! This is your position, girl!!!!

We start seeing a good wedge of head. It only takes 33 minutes from the beginning of the squat until baby Andrew is born at 10:44!!! I think we all get a prize for this one. Do they give a prize for childbirth? Oh, yes. They do. As I look into Andrew's eyes, I catch my breath. This baby is beautiful. It's probably because he's kin to me. (Groan.) His eyes are just so contemplative, and his mouth is beautifully full and rosy.

He begins to breathe immediately. His cord is so short that Lynet cannot hold him. I place him on the bed in front of her, and she just looks at him. Time just stands still.

As soon as we cut his cord seven minutes later, he's passed around. Daddy Gary gets him first, then he's passed around to Moome (Martha), Elita (Nana), Jimmy (Papa). Somebody calls Wita (great-grandmother) since she's already gone to bed, and she gets in on the love. Grandpops (Billy) also gets in on it, and Dawna. James has already gone to bed, but he's been excited all day, and since he's only 6 years old, he gets to sleep. And Gary makes Aunt Caren hold the baby, too, although it sure makes her nervous. Oh, the love.

And I'm so relieved. My great-nephew has been born. My hands touched him first. Lynet didn't tear, and she didn't bleed. It's all done. And it has only begun. The love.

I leave after 1 am. Caren makes me promise to text her when I get safely home. Boy am I glad my house is only 15 minutes away, but, Oh no! I have to get gas before I go anywhere. I sigh and just go get gas. Then I go home. Caren texts me, worried. I tell her when I get home. Then my beautiful husband turns the light on for me as I come into the house. He gets up and envelops me in a hug. He's never done this before. I usually take a shower after a birth. I don't after this one. I fall into bed. I take off my glasses anywhere, and spend many minutes looking for them when I wake up because I can't remember where I laid them.

When I wake up in the morning, I fall out of bed onto my knees and thank the Almighty that I'm still alive. And that there are three new babies and three new mammas and daddies. I am deeply grateful. He is my strength, my light, and my salvation. And He continues to guide me every step of the way.

The Second Hard Birth

Ok, ok, I've had at least one request that I get on with the job of blogging, so I'm hauling my lazy self out of browsing other people's blogs, and getting on with the job at hand.



The last blog told about the first of three first time moms giving birth in one week. I will now continue the mini-saga.



I had gotten over birth number one. I want that to be a fact. I had rested from birth number one. It usually takes me two nights to recover from a birth. Usually. Sometimes I recover sooner, sometimes later. And since I've been taking Melaleuca brand vitamins, I recover quicker. That's a good thing.



Anyway, #1 had been born at 4:57 a.m. on July 31. Sam* called me at 7 a.m. on August 5. See, I had plenty of time to rest! Daisy* had started having bloody show and seeing her mucus plug the day before. So Sam called the next morning to tell me how she was handling her contractions. It sounded to me like she was doing fine for a first-time mom. Of course, she was fit as a fiddle. She loves to climb mountains (not here in central Texas, of course!), and ride her bicycle, etc. So she was doing well. I called back at 8, and Sam then told me that her water had broken at 2:45 a.m! What! You're supposed to call me immediately when that happens! So I hurry my rear end over to their house, and sure enough, things are very calm. Baby Birch is doing fine, and so is Daisy.



I take vitals on everyone and then settle in. Her contractions are coming regularly. At 1o:30 a.m, she hits a pause on the recliner and gets in a mini-nap. Yay! Even 20 minutes are very welcome, and then her contractions start back in at every 3 to 5 minutes. She's drinking and moving, and generally staying very relaxed with the contractions. She's rented my birth pool, and it's filled and ready to go. So she gets in around noon and relaxes in the warm water. She stays in the water about 2 and 1/2 hours, and gets out around 3 p.m.



I'm observing her, and when she gets out of the tub, her contractions are every 3-4 minutes. When she gets out, they begin to space apart. That can be a sign of complete dilation. So I ask to check her. She's complete. Dilated to a 10. So I watch for signs of an urge to push. I watch and I wait. Hmmm. No urge to push. I'm a pretty patient midwife, but after an hour and a half of watching and waiting, I realize that we need to do something. I check her again to make sure that the baby's position is good, and that she really is complete. Baby is perfect and she really is complete.



So I give her instructions on how to push. Still no urge to push. She begins pushing at a little before 5 p.m. We use different positions to see if one is a better position for making faster progress, and we settle on the McRoberts position -- flat on the back with two people on either side pulling up the legs to get the bottom off the bed. It sounds terrible, but it really works! After an hour of pushing, we start to see Birch's dark, abundant long hair. Her head starts to show between pushing, not just during the big pushing, and that is always so encouraging to me. Birch is big. And she's the first baby that Daisy has ever pushed out. She works so hard with every push. And when I'm seeing a good-sized wedge of head, she declares, "Oh, there's an urge to push!" That's the only urge to push that she ever has during the birth. Anyway, at this point, I ask, "Are you feeling a burn?" When the perineum is being stretched like that, it burns. Kind of like taking your index fingers and putting them in the corners of your mouth and pulling. So when she feels the burn, I ask her to slow down on the pushing. It helps the tissues to s-t-r-e-t-c-h instead of tearing. And she does admirably. Slowly, slowly, Birch is being born.



I ask Ashlea, my assistant, to trade places with Sam so that he can help catch Birch. So Ashlea takes over lifting Daisy's left leg during pushing. And Sam gets himself ready for his baby girl. Oh, what a moment! I call out "full crown!" when the biggest part of the head is out. This is the forehead right before the eyebrows. The head is then born seconds later. I ask Daisy to pause while I check for cord. None. And Sam gets ready to grasp the shoulders as they emerge. Oh. Wait. Birch has a hand up. Hang onto the baby, Sam, while I ease her hand out. Ok, catch the baby! Oh, look at her! And put her onto Daisy's waiting belly. She starts breathing even before she's born. She starts looking around even before she's fully born. And Daisy starts to bleed.



Oh boy. Bleeding is my least favorite complication to handle. I quickly order Ashlea to give her Angelica tincture that will bring the placenta. The bleeding slows. We deliver the placenta as soon as it detaches, and then more bleeding. So we give her two droppersful of Shepherd's Purse and sweep out the blood and any clots that may be filling up the uterus. Thankfully, she stops bleeding after the Shepherd's Purse.



But she's tired and the bleeding really drains her. About 45 minutes after Birch is born and Daisy is nursing her, Daisy faints. We quickly get her lying down and she comes to in probably 5 seconds. Then we give her oxygen until my big tank is empty, and start giving her straight chlorophyll out of the bottle. (It usually tastes terrible, but she's so needy of it that it tastes good to her and she drains 8 oz. readily.) So she doesn't get an herb bath. I don't want her up at all, much less in a warm tub. The herbs are all ready, so we instruct family on how to make up the bath for the next day, when Daisy will feel better.



Birch is born at 6:54 p.m. When I check for tears, I find one. I haven't had to stitch a client in so long that Ashlea doesn't remember where I keep the suturing materials. I have to smile at that. I love what I do, and I'm glad that I can do a good job at keeping women intact. In this case, I blame the little baby's hand. Or something like that. So since Daisy has to lie flat, I go ahead and suture her. She's nearly sleeping while I work. She's so tired.



I leave at about 11 p.m. It's been a long birth. The pushing without an urge is nearly a first for me. I have only had one other birth in which that happened, and it turned out the baby was in a bad position, and we had to go to the hospital to finish the birth. I am very grateful that this one did not turn out that way. I go home, very satisfied with the birth and the beautiful little baby girl that has just made her arrival. Oh, she's not so little; she weighs 9 pounds, 2 ounces!



One thing that happened at this birth is so funny! The UPS man brought a package during the labor, and Sam must have told him that Daisy was having the baby. Sometime in the middle of pushing, the doorbell rang. Sam's mom went to the door. When she came back, she said it was the UPS man wanting to know if the baby had been born! I guess he's into all kinds of deliveries! I've never had that happen before. We laughed a lot.



One more thing. The next morning, as I'm heading to Lynet's temporary home, I get a call. It's raining cats and dogs, and my cell reception is sketchy at best. It's Sam, and I wonder what's going on. He says they're having to evacuate. The rain from Hurricane Edouard has just circled and circled their house, almost stationary. It's not letting up, and they have water in the house. So Sam gathers up all his girls and takes them to his mom's house, which is about an hour's drive away. Talk about a rough postpartum!



Daisy actually gets her herb bath at her mother-in-law's house! They actually remember to take the herbs with them as they're evacuating!



I get a little sleep that night. Emily comes in from Colorado that night at 3:30 a.m., and it wakes me up. I have only gotten two hours' sleep by that point. And then I can't go back to sleep until around 5 a.m. Then Lynet calls me at 8 a.m. telling me that she thinks she's in labor. There's no way that I'm rested. It's about this time that I begin to be grateful that Sam and Daisy didn't call me when her water broke...(to be continued)

*Names have been changed, of course.

The First of Three

Friday morning, August 8, 2008, I fell out of bed and went to my knees to thank God. I was alive. I know that sounds dramatic, but I had just completed one of the hardest weeks of my life, and I was deeply grateful to the Almighty.

I did three births that week. Now that may not sound like much to an OB/GYN, or to a nurse who works in labor and delivery. Or even to another midwife. But the facts are that these three births were all to first-time moms, and they were all hard. And they were all successful home births. Needless to say, the parents and the grandparents and other family who were present were all ecstatic. And we were all also tired. I spoke with one of the grandmothers (my sister) last night about the whole event that she witnessed, and she said she still thinks with fear and trembling about how long and hard her daughter labored. That was the last of the three births. Let me go back to the first...

Oh, and, by the way, I will change the names of the people in the first two births. The last birth happened to my niece, and I have permission to use their real names.

On July 30, I called Babette to reschedule our appointment, as I had a nasty head cold, and I didn't want to give it to her. She told me then that she had had bloody show and mucus plug and some contractions. Well, she wasn't due until August 29, so I told her I would check on her as soon as possible, and to please try and rest and not go to work. I was hoping, as happens often, that her baby had just moved down into the pelvis, causing contractions, and soon they would quit.

The next day I went to her home to check on her. She had had contractions 10 minutes apart all day with an achy back. Uh oh. That sounded like early labor. I went ahead and did a vaginal check...Oh, my goodness. She was 5 cm dilated, completely effaced, and the baby was +2 station (translated that means really low). I gave her some herbs which eased the contractions down considerably, and left her with instructions to take them every 30 minutes until bedtime.

Her husband, Earl, called me at 10 pm to tell me that her water had broken. Well, pooey. No going back. I had estimated the baby's weight at 6 Lbs. 5 Oz. that evening, so I believed that we were okay with going ahead with the home birth, even at 36 weeks. (In Texas, midwives can legally attend births from 36 weeks of gestation forward.)

I arrived at their house a little after midnight on July 31. Since her water was ruptured, I did no vaginal exam. I try to do as few of those as possible under those circumstances, because of the possibility of introducing bacteria into the baby's world. Babette labored well, and soon was completely dilated and ready to push.

Pushing, however, took just as long as dilating -- nearly. We pushed in one position, then shifted to another, then another, then another. She was making progress, slowly, so we kept on going. My assistant asked me later if I had ever given up hope during this stage of this labor. I looked at her blankly, because that thought had never really crossed my mind. Obviously it had hers. But Babette kept going, and we finally began to see more and more head visible.

We did a sort of no-no at this birth. I have a birth stool that I use often to help with pushing, but I seldom use it for the actual birth of the baby because it's harder to keep the mom's tissues from tearing in this position. However, Babette gave birth on the birth stool. She just made wonderful progress there, and really didn't want to move at the end. I don't blame her. Baby Abigail's head came forth. I asked Babette to pause while I checked for cord around the neck. No cord. Okay, Earl, get ready to help me catch your baby! Her shoulders start to come forth with the next push. Oh, hold it, Babette, the baby has a hand up! Hang onto the baby Earl, as I e-a-s-e the baby's hand out while protecting Babette's tissues! Okay, we've got it, here comes the baby! Whew! Over three hours of pushing! Man! All postpartum "stuff" is okay. Oh, and by the way, it's a girl. We didn't know beforehand. I love the surprises...

Abigail is 7 Lbs., 1 Oz. And Babette is intact. Even with birthing on the stool. As evidence of how hard she pushed she's still having some tailbone pain. I suggested that she go see her chiropractor. Her tailbone may be bruised, or fractured. She confessed that she had had a hairline fracture in her tailbone when she was younger. So she might have re-injured it in the process of pushing out Abigail. Did I say she pushed hard?

Babette sure dilates quickly for a first-time mom! And with her next baby, I foretell that pushing won't be quite as hard as it was this time...

Zanzibari's, are you ready? Here I come!

I know, I know, it hasn't been a month since I last posted, but I'm going to again anyway!

Ever since I was a midwife student, one of the things I longed to do was to serve missionaries. I'm a missionary kid, and my parents had four children on the mission field. I was one of those children. So I know the desires of some missionaries to just stay put for the big happening. And I also know that some missionaries just don't have access to good care during labor and delivery. So, one of the goals I have had is to deliver babies for missionaries.

I have that chance this year. Bob and Rachael Gwassa, for whom I delivered their first baby on January 1, 2007, are now missionaries on the island of Zanzibar, off the east coast of Africa. They left to go there in December of 2007. Now they are expecting a second child, and we would all like it if I could be there again for this birth.

I will be leaving for Zanzibar on December 1 or 2 of this year, as Rachael's due date is December 12. I plan to be back home for Christmas!!

I will not be receiving a fee for this service, and I am asking for donations to cover the cost of supplies and the trip to Zanzibar. This will take approximately $2000. If you would like to help with this mission of love, you may send money to: Betsy Robinett, 509 S. Bell St., De Leon, TX 76444. If you would like for your gift to be tax-deductible, you may make your check out to Teach the Children International. If you would like more information, you may contact me at mrsnett@cctc.net.

The Whirlwind

Wow! Time does get away.


Let me catch you up. There has been a lot going on...


The baby we were waiting for did come. And he was worth the wait. His was a very nice birth that had a surprise ending as far as where he was actually born -- not the bedroom but the bathroom. When he was ready to descend, he didn't fool around any at all. There were only three minutes from going to the toilet to the birth. Whew!


Then, Jackie and I went to see the kids. First we went to Lake City, Colorado. Shari and Emily reserved a cabin for us there. Lake City is so nice. It's small; you can walk anywhere in town. The elevation is approximately 8,600 feet. There are legends of cannibal guides, and there are old mines, and there are 5 "14er's" close by. "14er's" are mountains that are above 14,000 feet in elevation. We opted to climb Crystal Mountain, just behind Lake City, with an elevation of 12, 990-something feet. We didn't make it to the crest, or to Crystal Lake, but we had a very strenuous walk. We wobbled back down to our car and went to the local bakery for some much-needed lunch!



We went to the Hard Tack Mine and were led around by the guide. It was very cold and dark, informative and enjoyable.


We also took in a play while we were there. The theater is really small, and the chairs are folding chairs. The play was pretty good; we were definitely entertained. The actors were local, and the playwright for the play ("Anchor Baby") is from Colorado Springs. And the main actor reminded me of my webhost, Fred!! He both looked and acted like him.




We stayed in Lake City for two days, made sure Timothy and Emily are doing well, and then we headed toward Natalie in North Carolina.





Um. That was a long trip. We left at 6 a.m. It took us until 2:30 p.m. to get to the Colorado-Kansas border. Then, oh, Kansas is flat! And the same for hundreds of miles. Every 15 miles or so, you see a town in the distance with a white grain elevator, one or two church spires, some trees, and a water tower. But the state is very neat and clean, I'll give those farmers that. We crossed into Missouri at about 10 p.m., and went halfway through that state before we quit for the night in Columbia.


The next day we went through the rest of Missouri, then cornered through Illinois and Kentucky into Tennessee, stayed there for a while, and finally reached the Smokies. Ah, the Smokies! They hug you to their bosom! They are such welcoming mountains. I love them! With fog curling around every hollow, and trees covering all available space. We crossed over into North Carolina, and went to Natalie's camp, just south of Morganton. There we spent the night.

The next morning we took Natalie and journeyed all the way to the East Coast of North Carolina, a little spot called Swanquarter, where the ferry for Ocracoke Island leaves four times daily during the summer. It's a two-and-a-half hour ferry ride, and we sailed into Silver Lake Harbor on Ocracoke at about 6:30 p.m.



We made camp at the National Park and went out on the sand for a while. Oh that's a lovely island! The crabs scuttled around in the dark, scaring Natalie. We saw the lighthouse from our beach, a neat thing in the dark. We ate lobster and fish, and the next day we jumped the waves and scoured the sand for seashells. Jackie found a big sand dollar! He got the prize. It was a lovely sand dollar, a great memento of our day there.


During the hot part of the day, we went to the village and looked through the biggest part of their shops, got wonderful coffee confections at the coffee shop, and had a picnic where we could see some guys cleaning the catch they had made that day. Then back to the beach, to lay out on the sand after jumping some more waves.


We had to leave really early the next day, as all the ferries but that one were booked. Yes, you have to make reservations for the ferry. So we left at 6 a.m. and we took Natalie back to camp, and then continued on our way home. I felt that we needed to get back by July 14, as I was on call for another midwife who was leaving that day. So we bedded down around Commerce, Georgia.


Late that night/early the next morning, we got the phone call. It was 2:45 eastern time. Jackie's mother, our dear, dear Elsie, had just passed away. Saddened, we continued on our journey early the next morning. I know our server at the Cracker Barrel restaurant where we were having breakfast was really worried about me. I was crying all over my pancakes, and trying not to. She just said, and repeated it, "Just pray about it." Well, it was a good hard thing, and you just have to cry when you need to.


Natalie flew to Dallas that day, and got there before us. We picked her up on our way back to De Leon, arriving here at midnight. Emily and Timothy drove in from Lake City the next day. So we were all together. The funeral was Wednesday, July 16, and we all said good-bye to a grand lady. She is in no pain now, and with Jesus. We're glad, but we miss you, Elsie.


The kids all drove back to their respective states on Saturday. So that brings me up to date. Waiting for the next babies...

Busy and Waiting

I've been having a wonderful time lately being a midwife. And I've been having a wonderful time lately being a person. I guess for me the two just mesh. I'm very thankful that I have a calling that fits who I am. I know that to do what you love is a gift that not very many people have.

I looked at my picture gallery (http://www.firstlightmidwife.com/) and realized that I've helped with nine births so far this year. And every single one of them has been special in a unique way. One of the interesting things about this year is that so far I have twice as many boys as girls. From April 30 to June 4, a period of five weeks, I did five births. And only one of them was a girl! Other years I've "done" more girls. I think this is actually the first year that there have been more boys. Go, boys!

So my busyness has been one of the reasons that I haven't blogged lately. Other reasons include Timothy graduating from high school. He's the last one of my children, so my days of home schooling are done. He had a graduation ceremony on May 24, along with five other homeschoolers in the area. The graduation was very nice, with each family awarding their child his or her diploma, a special speaker, a slide show, and music for their entrance that was not "Pomp and Circumstance!" (How did that piece get to be so special?!!) The day after he graduated, he and older sister Emily and their friend Melody loaded up Melody's car and left for the summer. They are currently working in Melody's sister's restaurant in Colorado. Suffering. Poor things. Jackie and I plan to go see them for a couple of days if the births that I have pending work out so that there are a couple of weeks that are "free."

Anyway, I haven't made any major changes in his bedroom since he left. His room has just become a repository (read dumping ground) for the other things that I've been rearranging around the house. I don't get all gung ho about rearranging, so I only hope that when he returns for a couple of weeks in August that he has a place cleared off to sleep and a little pathway through his room. He won't care. I know, because one of the places to be cleaned is under his bed, and I'm seriously considering using gloves when I do it. Ugh! What was he thinking!

I miss him and Emily and Natalie. Natalie is in North Carolina for the summer. She is the girls' staff coordinator at a summer camp there. This is the third year she has worked at the camp, so evidently she loves it and the people she works with. And I think they also love her. I would also like to go see her if the babies cooperate. I would love to scoop her up from camp and take her to the little island of Ocracoke off the coast of North Carolina for a day or two! Ah, the beach! It's so lovely.

Lately I've been actively waiting with my client for the birth of the next baby. Waiting is so hard, especially when your due date passes with no signs of baby coming. It's hard on the midwife, too, to keep her hands out of it! And in our instant society it really is not politically correct to wait for anything. Waiting is an art that is not in vogue, and very little practiced. It's one of the hardest things I do as a midwife. But the longer I'm a midwife, the more I realize that waiting is worth it. And I also realize that when you fiddle with the natural order of things, things get funky. If I try to get things going (read "induce labor" with natural means), invariably labor just doesn't cooperate, or the labor is long and we have to nurse it along. But it gets harder and harder for the pregnant mom and her husband to explain to all their friends and relatives that no, nothing is dangerous for the baby. The midwife is really keeping an eye on everything. It's really safe to wait. Really. So they resort to screening their calls. Sometimes they put messages on the answering machine that say something like, "Junior hasn't been born. We'll let you know when he is. Everyone's ok. Good-bye!"

Anyway, whenever he is born, we will all rejoice! And he will have been worth the wait. It will be a good birth. And you'll soon see his picture in the picture gallery. I love what I do. Have I mentioned that before?

Happy Birthday, Elsie!

Today is Elsie's birthday. Elsie Robinett is my dear mother-in-law. She is 91 today. We had dinner with her and her four remaining children (we still miss you, Marilyn!)

This is my husband, Jackie, sitting with Elsie just before we ate. The wonderful meal was prepared by Sharon and Carolyn! Thank you, ladies!

And Happy Birthday, Grandma Elsie! We love you!

Transport Tryouts or Bathtub Hubbub

Boy oh boy! I know, I haven't posted in two weeks. I've been thinking about different possibilities for posts, such as the completed quilt that I've been working on for four (yes, four!) years for Emily, or the wonderful radishes and strawberries that are coming out of our garden.

But what I really want to write about is the birth that happened two days ago. So I will.

I was called at 12:30 am by Betty (not her real name) to let me know her water had just broken. Everything was good. The water was clear, baby was moving, no contractions -- yet.

So I told her to see if she could go back to sleep. I tried to. It never works for me. She called again at oh, 1:30 to 2 am, I can't remember exactly when. She was now having contractions every 5 minutes, and no, she couldn't sleep. Uh huh. I couldn't either. But I didn't go to her house yet. She still sounded cheerful. First-time mom. Just a little early.

At 3 am, when Umbert (not his real name) called, I could hear Betty in the background, really working with the contractions, and she had two in the brief conversation that he and I shared. Ok, now it's time to go!

So I got there at 3:15. At 3:30, I check her and she's already at an 8! Wow! Fast for a first-time mom. By 6 am, she's pushing hard. She pushes for an hour and a half before she poops out. She's pushing with pain every time. It's hard to keep going when there's pain with the pushing. There's a bit of cervix that keeps slipping down over the baby's head and she pushes against it every time. Ouch! I try to push the cervix out of the way for her, but the baby's head is so molded that the cervix just slips right back down. It's not much cervix, just 1-2 mm thick, but enough to cause her to give up.

She wants to go to the hospital for pain relief. So we go. The problem is, the hospital won't give pain relief when you're completely dilated. So we stayed at the hospital for a whopping 20 minutes, then Betty signed out "Against Medical Advice" and we left.

The problem at this point is that she's been "complete" since 6 am, and it's now 10 am, and the contractions haven't quit, she just hasn't been pushing since 7:30 or so. Baby is fine. Mom is fine, but hurting with every expulsive contraction every 4-5 minutes. Really ouch! I mention before we leave the hospital that I have a daughter in this town. She has an apartment we might borrow, instead of having another 45-minute drive back home. Surprisingly, Betty takes me up on it!

Now I have to call Emily. Emily is thunderstruck (weirded out -- she's only 20 years old), but responds by calling me when I text her the following message: "Where are you? We need your apartment to have a birth in. This is not a joke!"

We then meet her at her apartment where she is frantically vacuuming. Oh well. We didn't come to see how clean it is, although we thank her for her efforts wordlessly. She and her roommate clear out. Funny how they don't want to be there. I would have! And I really would have appreciated some help, but oh well. Birth is not everyone's cup of tea...

So we clean the bathtub, fill it up, put Betty in it, and she gets going on the pushing again. It's now 10:47. She pushes very hard, but we're still not seeing head, although it's getting close. She gets tired after about 45 minutes, and I suggest draining the water out of the bathtub to clean it and refill it. She complies, lies on the bed for about 30 minutes, taking another break from pushing.

Back into the tub at 11:57, and this time, when she begins to push, we get another burst of energy. It's called hope! Because now, we begin to see baby's head as she's pushing. She redoubles her efforts. By 12:30 pm the baby's head is crowning, and finally, finally! her head is born. Then, her fit is so tight that I have trouble checking for cord around neck, but soon ascertain that there is none. I also realize that I will have to help this baby. Her shoulders are stuck. So I tell mom first to get on her knees in the water, then I tell her she'll have to stand up with one leg on the side of the tub. I finally get a little leverage on the baby's shoulders and we get her born. She responds very quickly to me stimulating her and suctioning a little with a bulb syringe.

At 5 minutes after the 12:41 birth, she is a perfect 10! I'm not sure what Emily will think about this birth in her bathtub, but I think it's pretty cool!

It's a good thing I thought before we left their house that I might need some basic birthing supplies in case she had the baby on the side of the road. We really made use of them at Emily's apartment!

As it was, we couldn't weigh the baby or do some of the other things we normally do postpartum until we got back home. She weighed 8 pounds, 14 ounces! Big baby, first-time mom. Oh, by the way, no stitches were needed for mom.

And we cleaned Emily's bathtub before we left.

This is my birthday table! I can now officially post a picture! Hurrah! Hurrah! See how lovely it is? See the green glasses and the wonderful sunlight? Thank you, Beth, for the beautiful setting, and Rose, for the amazing flowers!

Birthday Birth Day

I had a birthday yesterday. It was great, even though I'm middle-aged, or maybe especially so! I also had a birth day yesterday.

The night before my birthday, sometime between 9 and 10 pm, I think, I received a call from one of my midwife friends. She was also one of my preceptors (another word for teacher) during my days as a student midwife. She wanted to know if I would be on call for her for an impending birth. I immediately thought, "Well, I purposely cleared tomorrow because it's my birthday." But I didn't say that. I said I didn't have anything going. She knew it was my birthday.

Anyway, she had two births going at the same time, and she did the proper thing; she went to the one that was going faster. Then she got another midwife to cover the slower birth. Me. Perhaps she would make it to both. I thought she might, as she said that this particular client had her water break early that morning, and had erratic contractions all day. First-time mom. So I thought maybe my midwife friend would make it to both births.

Well, the husband of the lady that was being saddled with my care, I'll call him David, called just shortly after my friend called. He was wondering how long they should give the "every five minute" contractions before calling me to come, since it would be a 2-hour drive for me. So much for erratic contractions. I asked him to observe his wife -- I'll call her Mary -- for 30 more minutes and then call me back with a report. He called me back. By this time it's 11:18 p.m. They're ready for me to come.

I did go. And the birth was lovely. David and Mary coped with having a stranger come into their home to catch their lovely new baby girl. And I now have a baby that I caught on my birthday. That's a first. It was a nice birth, pretty fast for a first-time mom. Total labor time including pushing was about 11 hours. That's nice, but it still seems long if you're the laboring mom.

I got home yesterday morning by 11:30. I laid down for a nap about 12 noon, waking up at 2 p.m.

Then I got to go to a dinner party held in my honor. The Crazy Ladies cooked for me. The Crazy Ladies are me, Beth, Suzan, and Rose, and Rebekah when she's not in California. They invited my mom and my sister and her kids, and Timothy, my son, as well. And of course Beth's husband Bob and my husband Jackie were there as well. If I knew how to post a picture it would be of the table set for us. Aren't the green glasses lovely? (Just imagine them!! Ok, ok, I'll try to learn how to put a picture up! Soon!)

We had greens from Beth's garden with Suzan's special dressing, then Rose's meat loaf, wonderful baked potatoes, and cooked greens (again from Beth's garden) with garlic bread that Bob prepared. And for dessert there was red velvet cake, made with love by Suzan. She doesn't even have an oven at her house! It took all kinds of maneuvering, but it was so jazzy when finished! It had sprinkles, and curlicue candles that were just fun!

I had three birthday cards in the mail, and one on my email, and several special calls from friends and family...it was a really nice birth day birthday. Thanks, everyone. Thanks, Lord.

Initial Post and Thoughts on False Labor

Hi, and welcome to my first post! I'd love to have you come by and visit often; that is, assuming that I will post often...

I am a midwife. You may see posts on midwifery, or on my everyday life in rural Texas.

Sometimes I will be busy catching babies; other times I may just be quilting.

Today I'm meditating on false labor. Why is it called false labor? Well, it tricks us into thinking it's the real thing. A false labor may drag on for days. And what characterizes it? Generally, no change. The intensity stays the same, or gets lighter. The spacing of the contractions stays the same, or gets longer. And the length of the contractions stays the same, or gets shorter. Also, if you have to "baby" the labor, it's not. In other words, if you have to stay in the same position for the contractions to keep coming, then you have yourself a false labor.

Some midwives call it prelabor. This is because they assume that these contractions are actually doing something. The truth is, we don't know. But false labor happens often enough that you don't need to feel ashamed if it fools you. One of my midwife teachers is fond of saying that the record for false labors is ten! In other words, there was one lady who was fooled 10 times before she actually went into labor. That should comfort those of you (like me) who have been fooled into thinking, "Here we go!" just to be let down when the contractions quit.

I went on a false labor run yesterday. It was lovely. I visited with the lady, her man, and her children. Baby was fine. We ate well. Mr. Husband cooked free-range eggs, upside down pineapple muffins, pancakes, and fresh organic fruit. We rested. And then I came home. At one point she thought her water had broken. An amniotest came back negative. No amniotic fluid. No problem.

I had a nice drive back home, where I await the next call. Who knows where it will lead to next?