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