Date Archives → April 2011

baby news

Baby #3 is growing — fast! There are so many kicks and wiggles these days, and my belly is huge already! Before I know it, summer will be in full swing, and it’ll be time to dust off the Moses basket and wash the teeny tiny diapers.

Since moving back to upstate NY last year, I’ve had my ear to the ground regarding birth options, knowing I’d have to cross that bridge sooner or later. A few weeks after this baby made himself known, I started looking for real — and wasn’t very encouraged. I followed every lead I had. I scoured the internet, using every search engine and forum I could find to locate an upstate midwife. I really, really wanted a homebirth. I just kept holding out hope, but by week 18, it was getting pretty hard.

I was trying to come to terms with what seemed like the only option: finding a cooperative doctor and hoping for the best in a hospital. I knew I could trust God in that scenario. But I was so disappointed.

Finally, realizing that if I didn’t act soon, I wouldn’t get accepted by anyone as a patient, I started making phone calls and scheduling preliminary appointments.

And then Ryan had a brilliant idea: “Why don’t you call your old midwife down in NC and see if she knows of anyone who’s running under the radar?”

Sure enough. After searches that said the closest licensed homebirth midwife was in Ithaca, I found out there’s one in Canton, NY. My jaw dropped.

Too good to be true?

We tracked down her phone number (Ryan did, because she’s no where on the internet), and just a brief chat — her mellow voice, her pace, her no-nonsense brand of friendliness — made me jump up and down a little.

And when she came — because all of her visits are house calls!! — I almost cried. The first time we heard the baby’s heartbeat, I was laying on my own couch, with Ryan and the boys and this incredibly easy-going woman who just sort of slipped into the family room like an old friend.

She dots her i’s and crosses her t’s. She’s careful and cautious and courageous. She’s incredibly informed. She’s been through the wringer. She’s everything you expect from a lifelong advocate of natural childbirth.

And most of all, this has the distinct fragrance of gift from the Lord, dropped right into my lap. Really. A little miracle, just for me.

doings.

I’ve been:

to Maine and back for a fast and furious and very fun weekend with Ryan’s mom and sister.

sewing a ball gown for Cinderella. It’s awfully fun to work on something so detailed and beautiful (for someone who usually is just cutting up old polos to make play pants!)

bundling up to go outside, even though it’s mid-April. The only problem with this extremely slow season change is that somehow I have the sensation that time is standing still, waiting for the sun. It’s not.

marveling at the imaginations of my two boys that have suddenly come alive. All at once, in the last month or so, they are best buddies who will play for hours.

thankful for how joyful those two little boys are. They smile and dance and laugh and cheerfully anticipate almost every moment of the day. It’s pretty amazing, and I don’t want to take it for granted.

thinking about the basics: faith in God (and Him alone), digging into this moment and not missing the opportunity to find Jesus, serving my family with a smile, honoring my husband and being mindful of him every moment, praying continually.

anticipating several nights of presbytery at church, followed by a Good Friday celebration and then, of course, the Best Sunday Of All.