Today was supposed to be my day off, supposed to being the operative word. I was trying to figure out what to make for breakfast, ya know it's not near as fun to make a big meal for just one. So I opted to make oatmeal and scrambled tofu. Being that I was alone I figured I could have some nice reading time while I was eating. So I got my Desire of Ages and peacefully began to have my relaxing meal when I heard this strange sound, it just happened to be my dear phone vibrating across the table beckoning me to answer it. As I went to pick it up I saw the Freida was calling me, she had taken a friend out for breakfast and was going to be gone all morning. I was thinking that she was just calling to check up on me but she called for much more important reasons. Amy, one of her "independent" apprentices, was at a birth and Freida was wanting to know if I would take her place and go help Amy with it. She said it sounded urgent and thus I would have to leave right away. Quite excited I jumped up, put her on speaker phone and got dressed as I was writing down directions. I've gotten quite good at getting around the area here! It was actually quite a blessing because as I was "peacefully" sitting to eat I was thinking how long the day would be since it was a day "off," I guess I prefer to be busy. And as I was pondering that thought is when my phone vibrated.
Anyways, I quickly got dressed and nicely put on my headcovering/ veil, ya know it took me longer to put the veil on than to get dressed! I left my food on the table and quickly ran out the door. As I went out to leave the car wouldn't move, we've gotten about 6 inches of snow down here and the van was quite stuck. I'm so grateful that I'm used to the snow, so I just rocked the van back and forth and back and forth until I slipped and slid my way out of her driveway spinning my wheels all the way. So I drove and was oh so happy that my day off was no longer going to be a day off. As I was driving farther and farther into the middle of nowhere I was guessing that it was probably an Amish family, what kind I would be able to guess soon :) I'm getting better at guessing. I can spot a Swartzentruber anywhere now! As I drove in the long unplowed driveway I knew it was an Amish home, yea!! I jumped out of the car and ran up to the house to get out of the wind and blowing snow.
Amy met me as I was coming through the gate, she looked about my age, what a wonderful way to meet: "Hi I'm Laura, the one Freida sent to help you" I've thus far met everyone at deliveries. As I walked up the porch past all the hung clothes into the house I knew I was walking into a Swartzentruber home: hand pump for water, the same blue paint with everything in the same place as all the other Swartzentruber homes I'd been into the past few days. Katie was sitting in the rocking chair by the wood stove breathing calmly through the contractions while Eli was sitting at the desk patiently waiting for things to progress. He would quietly walk over to her and massage her back while she was having a hard contracting. The silence broke once Amy and I walked into the back room, we had such a wonderful time getting to know eachother. We have similar personalities and clicked from the beginning. It was time to do fetal heart-tones and Amy gave me the doppler to go check, I had to ask to use her watch since mine still wasn't working. We took turns back and forth getting FHT's and getting Katie anything that she needed. In between I walked around the house carefully taking pictures without the flash on. Amy was telling me how she's taken several pictures without the flash, so I decided to try it. We'll see how many good shots I can get :) I was there for a few hours before the baby was born. cute little baby boy, nice and small. I got the clamp the cord and deliver the placenta, as well as do the baby check. Little Samuel E. was born at 11:17am, 7lb 2oz, 19 1/2 inches long. I took him into the other room where the wood stove was in order to perform his newborn exam, it was nice and warm in there! While I was waiting I sat in the handmade rocking chair and just peacefully rocked him for a few sweet moments. As I was doing the newborn exam Amy slipped out her camera and quickly took a picture, she was doing it so quickly that she forgot to turn the flash off. It went off oh so brightly and both of us gasped as she put the camera away. Eli came out smiling and sat with us for a few moments asking me some questions about where I was from and my family and then quietly went back to join his wife in their room. They are so friendly, open, and warm.
The people here really are perplexed by me, they don't seem to know "what" I am. Most assume I'm not "English" which is fun! They ask me about my huge family that I must have and the farm that they're assuming I live on. The couple's mom came to the house to wash the baby's hair, oh my did it ever need washing!, and she assumed that I spoke Dutch by the way I looked. Who knows why. Well after we had our fun us girls left the house and went out into the frightful winter weather.
Sadly no-one around here seems to know how to drive in the snow, and the plows aren't too efficient at getting any sand/salt on the road, which makes for treacherous driving!! As I was driving back there was a semi that had slid part-way off the road and hit a tree, yet the whole semi was blocking the road quite well so I had to turn around and figure out how to get back using different roads. That was quite the adventure, they have incredibly steep, curvy, narrow roads here. I found my way back and stopped at the Health Food store then drove to Sugarcreek to replace my watch battery.
My breakfast greeted me when I came back, it was still there sitting on the table where I left it so many hours before. Not feeling like making anything I just decided to eat the rest of my breakfast. Later today, rather tonight we went on drive to a prenatal. The snow was absolutley gorgeous as it was glistening on the ground and covering all the tree limbs with a beautiful layer of pure white. It is a wonderful mind picture of how Christ's righteousness can so perfectly cover us that not a single part of us shows through. Our visit was with a sweet mennonite couple who are having their second baby. Freida had me do the prenatal. I've been getting a lot of good practice.
Tomorrow our first visit is at 7:30am, we're driving all over the place and then up to Cleveland for a PKU and postpartum on the baby that we delivered Sunday evening. The Lord has really been blessing with many wonderful learning opportunities, I know I will learn a lot and pray that I am able to share the light with others. Our children's books are in most homes and I've been able to share about natural remedies and health with several of the families. Please remember to keep me in your prayers.
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