Friday, June 12, 2015

A blur ... Meanwhile in Tejas

uncle noah's got game


Things at the Maternity Center have been hopping. 

The adrenaline we have used since last Saturday is quite a bit more adrenaline than we even knew we had for one week. 

We've had several higher-stress situations of late. There were two deliveries Saturday, one of a tiny little 20 week old boy that is now buried at Heartline's property. Later that night, we had the birth of an almost 9 pound boy with an unusually (like 20cm extra) long cord wrapped tightly around him several times ... Glad to report he is healthy and doing great!

On Tuesday a postpartum mom came to class with a BP of 184/120 and had to stay and be put on MagSulfate for 24 hours. (This is a terrible and necessary thing. It keeps mom from having a stroke while making mom wish for death because she feels so awful.) 

Yesterday we had regular program day with 45 ladies coming for prenatals along with a mom with SROM  (her water broke) that needed transport because she was in labor too early and her little one would possibly need help breathing, and also another intense labor & delivery for a mom named Judith.  They both ended up needing to go to a hospital a few hours after delivery due to some sort of infection and two high fevers. They are now on their way back to us for further care here.

That's a lot of intensity for five days.  The flurry of activity makes the days one giant blur. 

However, the blur of days doesn't apply in one situation. When I think of the 21 days that have passed since the spunky boys of our household boarded a Jet Blue flight and flew away from the Caribbean, that time feels like an eternity.

We have never had the boys leave for any amount of time surpassing a night or maybe two at their friends' house. We have learned that we rather like them to be at our house. They are good for our house. They are good for us.  In the future I will think long and hard about signing them up for such a long trip.

The new uncles working on their uncle skillz have mainly been with Paige and Graham in Waco - but have also spent a weekend in Dallas with Britt and Chris and a weekend in Austin with Joel and Gillian. Friends they met in Haiti have taken them on outings. They got to see the Hendrick boys, and teachers Caroline and Brooke. I heard they went to a Country Club to lounge one afternoon (like ya do). Life is a party for these two gentlemen and they are having a blast.

I will head to Texas early next week to see Michael graduate from the TX State Trooper Academy and then to babysit the most adorable Graham-son in the world while Paige and Michael honeymoon in New Mexico.  

They got married in early January and then within 48 hours he started school. For the last five and a half months they were apart Sunday afternoon until late Friday night.  To say these two need a week away together is an understatement. I am so proud of the way they fought through this weird way to start a marriage and that Paige single-Mommed it like a boss. Hurray for honeymoon week for them.

While they are away the three boys and I will be visiting every playground and wide open grassy space we can find in central Texas. 

Britt is heavy into another intense semester of PA school but I plan to invade her Dallas space at least once during our babyGrahamwatching days.

If Paige returns from her honeymoon to find that I have eaten this adorable baby, nobody will blame me.  LOOK AT HIM!!!!!







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Last night the ladies took Troy out for a nice dinner in Petionville - Lydie gave Troy 250 gourdes and everyone wrote him super sweet cards.  My favorite part in Phoebe's card: "I am so glad you are alive. I know we had a hard day yesterday but now its over. And I am glad its over and I think you are too."




After a week like this most recent one, I sit down to think about the highs and the lows and the teary melt downs over silly things and I realize that there most certainly is an army of people that pray for Haiti, for Heartline, for the Maternity Center, and for us.  I am so grateful for that and right now I am heading to lie face down on the floor to have a good cry of gratefulness.  

Happy Friday to us all.
tara