I've taken the church for granted.

Or at least some of the services we provide our members. I've never put too much thought into our visiting teaching or home teaching systems, other than when I was in charge of visiting teaching, but I've since come to realize how wonderful and unique those programs make us.
I have a friend that called me early this morning asking me to come check on her because she thought she was in labor. Normally I'm used to that call, but not when it's 32 wk twins. By the time I got to her place 45 minutes later (yes, it was far longer than I wanted but I had to feed 9 kids, bathe two girls, and take home a puking child that had spent the night) she was waiting at the front door with her bag. I spent the next several hours with her at the hospital, again not unusual, and then came home and started making phone calls and sending out emails trying to find people to help with child care so her husband can continue to work while she is hospitalized trying to keep those babies in.
What is unusual is that I am having an extremely difficult time finding help. I don't know much about her congregation, and what programs they might have in place for these type circumstances, but so far I have received no offers of help from her fellow church members. The two that would like to help are unable to, which leaves me (who has a sick husband and am on call for when this mom goes into full labor, plus on call for another birth) and one other friend that has helped out a considerable amount over the last 2 wks.
Never before have I been so grateful for the church and the help it provides it's members! I know that if I was in this situation all I would have to do is pick up the phone and make one phone call and people would be knocking at our door offering meals or asking to take our kids home for play dates. What a blessing the visiting and home teaching programs are!

Why I can't talk to hospital moms anymore.

I have a friend that just delivered a beautiful, long-awaited (10 years in the making!) little boy this week. I'm of course beyond thrilled for her, but I got a look at her birth photos today and spent the next hour steaming mad! Here she is, with this so desperately desired little boy, and her first sight of him is her husband holding the baby near her face while the docs sew her stomach up. She's not home yet, and it's been awhile since we were super close, so I'll leave it alone and just try to avoid learning anything about her birth and doing anything but congratulating her on her sweet baby because she doesn't need to hear me rant about the huge c-section rates at the local hospital and how hers was most likely unnecessary, etc. I'm not what you would call a feminist, but I can't understand how a woman (generally speaking now, not aiming this at this particular person) can turn something as important as their reproductive rights and future over to someone else without taking any hand in the decision making process! Too many women nowadays seem to revert to childhood (unquestioningly allowing someone else to make their decisions) when it comes to having a baby..well, the doctor says this and the hospitals brochures agree so it must be right. How can a 32% c-section rate be right, when according to the World Health Organization it should be less than 10%? I could go on forever on this particular subject, but I won't. It will just get me all riled up again, and John shouldn't have to deal with that:)

Remodeling

Is it just me, or is remodeling a job that could last forever? We are on our, supposedly, last run through the house. You know, doing the last bit of paint touch up and in some cases completely repainting the rooms (even added some accent walls in our bedroom), replacing carpet, etc. On a good note, I have now added "Can change electrical outlets" to my list of skills. Who knew I would eventually be able to do minor (very minor) electrical work? That can be added to another list, my "What I never imagined I would be doing as an adult" list. Have to say, it ranks much higher than shaving the dog's butt.

Baby news

Not mine, so don't get excited. My clients baby arrived this morning by c-section. 9lb 1 oz girl, both are doing fine. And that's all I want to say about that.

The joys of midwifery

This truly has been the worst year I have ever had since I started working in the midwifery world and today just capped it. I have one client left, ONE, before we move to Idaho and have been really looking forward to this birth. It's a young couple with their first baby, and there's just nothing like being a part of that joy and excitement. Well, the excitement is now gone. The baby has been consistently breech for quite some time and has resisted all efforts to move him. We've gone ahead and prepared for a vaginal breech birth, but I got a call from the parents today announcing that during their doctors visit they had scheduled a c-section for tomorrow morning. As a midwife, I'm heartbroken. I just don't know if I can take one more not so great ending. As their caregiver, I disagree with the decision, but as a fellow member of the church (we're both LDS) I have to accept it for what it is and in this case it's a father with the right and privilege to receive inspiration on his families behalf. This father feels that they have been instructed to accept the offer of a c-section and that it is, against their hopes and wishes, the right thing to do for his wife and baby. And who can, or should, argue with that? They aren't going into it blindly, I've made sure that it is an informed decision, and they are insisting on an ultrasound before the c-section to see if the baby has turned. If, miracles of miracles, it has turned they will say, "No thank you, we'll wait" and come home. It's now out of my hands; all I can do now is hope and pray the baby has turned (and not just from the mothers left side to her right, which is the only reaction we got from the Webster!).

I'm sick of sawdust.

Someone or other (I blame John) came up with this crazy idea of sanding down all the wood work on the upper stairs (the house is a bilevel), instead of recarpeting it, and varnishing it to match the wood paneling in our basement and to go with the laminate flooring. We will hopefully finish today. It's going to look amazing, but I have to say that I am heartily sick of sawdust.

New house?

I just got a new listing from my realtor that looks promising, so she's going to take pictures of it and one other house in Hidden Springs for us tomorrow. It's the size we need, and has the stucco John likes and the room count we need as well. We'll see how it goes!