Midmom and Doula

I've been rather dull with blogs lately.  It's not that there hasn't been anything going on, that's for sure!  It's just that sometimes I'm not sure what I want to put out there. 

I know that some of you have been aware that the Samfords, fellow missionaries, were expecting child number four.  Since it was not practical for them to return to the States to deliver, and the nearest decent hospital was 7-8 hours away, they opted to do a home birth.  Lots of people might initially think that's the craziest idea - home birth? in Africa? If you were to see the local hospitals, you might understand better why home birth was a good choice.

Bonnie asked if Lindsey and I would be willing to help her with the delivery, and we agreed.  Jacob started calling me "Midmom" and so that's been my new nickname as of recent. For the past several months we have been doing our best to prepare for this event.  I downloaded e-books, I ordered some books and had them shipped, which Lindsey and I have used to study. We've watched a gazillion you-tubes. (Don't laugh! You can learn a lot about delivering babies that way.) We started getting together with Bonnie once a week, sometimes twice, to take blood pressure, check baby's heart rate, discuss plan of action, etc.  We prepared the best we could and prayed about it a lot.

Lindsey taking Bonnie's blood pressure on one of our visits.

As Bonnie's time drew near, all of us were getting more excited, as well as a bit nervous. We were not unaware of the magnitude of the event which would soon take place.  Bonnie had been having contractions on and off  the last couple of weeks.  A couple of days before she delivered, we started going for walks with her.  Friday morning we walked a couple of miles, which included up a couple of nice hills. :) Then Friday evening I went for another short walk with her.  She had been having some contractions throughout the day, though they came and went.

Friday evening Carey called about 8:45 and said it seemed like her contractions were coming more regulary now, about 3-4 minutes apart, and the time had come! I had the bright idea to do a last minute sewing project of a scrub top and had just a little bit to finish up, so I quickly finished sewing and threw a few last minute things together. Our family gathered on the front porch and said a prayer before we left. George drove us to their house and we arrived 20 minutes after receiving Carey's call. Not too bad! (Our houses are only about one-fifth of a mile apart). We found Bonnie in very good spirits, with lots of smiles, laughing and joking in between contractions.

Bonnie modeling her cute hospital gown. :)

It didn't take too long for things to turn a bit more serious as she began her work in earnest. At 12:14 a.m., Kylie entered this world.  She gave a healthy cry right away.  What a wonderful sound that was!  We are  thankful to God that the birth went so well, with no complications whatsoever. Bonnie handled everything SO wonderfully and Carey did a great job supporting her. It's hard to believe that the other children slept through it all.  What a surprise they had when they woke up the next morning to find a new baby in the house!

Kylie Elizabeth - now that's a fresh, new baby!

Carey, holding his new baby daughter for the first time.

Me cleaning and dressing baby Kylie.  She wasn't happy about it!

After cleaning up and getting Bonnie and Kylie settled in, we called George to come pick us up around 2:30 a.m. and we finally crashed in our own beds just after 3 a.m.  

After a few hours of sleep, I started to tackle the dirty laundry from the birth. We had no power, but thanks to our generator, I was still able to get things washed.  Linz and I went back to their house, fixed everyone a bite of lunch, and then brought their three older children over to spend the afternoon so that Carey and Bonnie could get some rest.  Linz and I prepared supper for their family and ours, as well as another meal for their Sunday's lunch. We fed and bathed the kids, our family ate a quick bite of supper, and then all of us took the kids home, along with food for Carey and Bonnie.  We stayed for a little while and took turns holding the baby while Carey and Bonnie ate.

You could say that we've had a busy weekend! Linz and I are pretty exhausted, but it has been SO worth it! Would we do it again?  Absolutely!