She's HOME!!!!

Midwife #1 called and surprised midwife #2 and I by announcing she was going to come by and see our progress at the birthcenter! We've been working on the bathroom and it's almost done. So, she got out of the hospital and came to give her opinion. Thankfully she was rather pleased and able to get around pretty well with her walker. She told midwife #2 and I that she'd be at work on Monday and shocked us by being right. We should have known that she's always right!

Midwife Update

On Friday night they moved Midwife #1 to a normal hospital room! She's really liking that because that means there's a shower for her and it also is a sign of progress. They're trying to get her on some milder pain medication and she tried that today but with doing that and starting physical therapy it was just too much so this afternoon she went back to the stronger stuff for one more day. I also found out that she has all sorts of fractures all up and down her back and one in her neck. She's looking much better and wanting to be able to get back to births! Today she told Midwife #2 and I today that she was going to be back at work on Monday! We laughed and then she said "Monday in three weeks." Maybe we'll allow her to come and lay on the couch that day. Keep her in your prayers, she's got a ways to go yet.

My very wild week.

Wow, I can hardly believe it's almost Friday. So much has happend and so little sleep. Here's a brief run down of my week.
It started off quite innocently and pretty ordinary. Studying, working out, working. . . Tuesday at about noon everything changed. I heard the special midwife ringtone coming from my cell phone and answered quickly. I was not prepared to hear what the midwife (here on out midwife #2) told me though. I could tell she'd been crying and was crying so I knew it wasn't a birth or anything good. The other midwife(midwife #1) had been in a bad car accident and midwife #2 was at the hospital with her. Midwife #1's two oldest sons were with her and they we're hit by a car that ran a red light at 65 mph. Midwife #1 and her sons were getting CAT scans at that time. The boys were really in quite good condition. One had a concussion (Ty) and the other one (Jacob) had major bruising from the seat belt. They kept Jacob overnight to monitor him (I don't really know what for). Midwife #1 was in worse shape though. Her pelvis was broken in 4 places and her sacrum was also fractured more than once. Her spleen was bleeding at first but it sealed itself off and so they decided to leave it and just monitor it. I was at work but was able to go by a little later in the the afternoon.
After work mom and I went and helped midwife #2 finish painting the new bathroom at the birthcenter so that it would be more ready for prenatal day. Just as we began washing up at 10:30 midwife #2 called me and said we had a client in labor. I rushed home and showered, changed clothes, ate dinner and napped for a very few minutes before being up all night at a wonderfully perfect birth! I went ahead and went to work on Wednesday at 1 and worked all afternoon.
Wednesday night I went to see midwife #1 and check on her. I ended up staying at the hospital until about 10 pm. At this point I haven't really slept (more than 15 minutes here and there) in about 40 hours! I got home and crashed until 7:45 when it was time to get ready for prenatals. Midwife #2 and I did prenatals all until about 3:30 and then I went to work, got home, ate, did a walmart run for the birthcenter and now, here I am about to go to bed and sleep until it's time to get up for MORE prenatals! That's the short version!

Questionable Squash!

My family has a garden and a sense of humor and imagination. So, go ahead and picture what we do when we find an interesting shaped squash. Well, I'll go ahead and allow you to see pictures of what we do! Also, there's a pic of my new haircut for those of you that haven't seen it!

Bass clef squash

Questionable squash
The haircut!
Dad questioning the squash
Questionable David
Saxaphone squash
Snake Squash
Uzzi Squash

Adventures in Jonah!

Yes, Jonah has decided he wants some more attention. This morning when the guy got here to spray our trees dad went out to move Jonah so he wouldn't get sprayed. Well, Jonah refused to start so we prepared to get a new battery. Jonah refused to be jumped off despite many efforts so we disconnected the battery and I put the battery in the trunk of dad's car (for those of you who haven't carried a car battery before, know that they're much heavier than cell phone batteries). The ol' battery tested to be fine so we set to work scrubbing off the corosion. Grandpa and I scrubbed away with baking soda and water and got it all cleaned up. He still refused to start. I guess he really wanted some attention from the tow truck and mechanic. Plus, since he'd gotten tree chemicals all over him I had to give him a scrub down right there in the street. Let me tell ya, he's spick and span clean! He just needs to get a new starter so we can go for a ride. Thankfully we had an extra car that I can drive for the time being. I think this one's a girl (just my opinion) so hopefully she'll run well for me.

I guess today I wasn't supposed to study! Jonah gives directions sometimes. I had been talking about how I needed to wash him for a while. I guess he just got antsy for his bath. I'll have to let him know that he can ask more nicely in the future.

Summer time is here!

The heat has arrived! It really hasn't been so bad but it has let everyone know that it is summer. Work's been going well, and I've been doing some volunteering with the local crisis pregnancy center. The birth center has moved across town and I've helped with that and on top of everything tried to stay up with studying. Believe it or not I've still had time to sleep at night!

David and I have started biking together some which has provided some good brother-sister time. I have learned though that my bike has a mind of it's own when it comes to switching gears. : )

Esh has gotten great reports on her platelets lately and she should soon be off the steriods!

Well, sorry this is so ecclectic but that's all that's really been happening!

Amy's Graduation!

Sorry for the long delay. So much has happened in the last month! Amy graduated, Esh's platelet counts got back well within the normal range, and we had a big Shavuot gathering! The only one of those that I have pictures of though is Amy's graduation. There were so many cameras present that I didn't get too many great shots myself so I'm waiting to get some better ones from UJ and Amy soon.

Jones pictures!
Abbe, Mike, Amy, Joe, Dave, Cheryl, and I musn't forget Abuelo.

Here she is in cap and gown.
Such a typical Amy face!

The Grad herself
Randomness
"Uncle Joe" with his Jones Soda
Amy, Mike, and Abbe
Amy and Abuelo

Well, I took a short road trip today to get some snuggles from some cute babies! Luke is now 6 1/2 months old and got his first tooth the day after I last saw him last week. Justin is now 5 days old and cuter than ever and has already gained two ounces of weight. Here are some snap shots from the day.

Justin's big sister Jordan (18 months old)

Luke and Me!

Kara and Justin (doesn't she look awesome!)

Leslie and Luke


Luke

He's here and happy!

Just wanted everyone to know that Justin Zechariah arrived safely via C-Section on Monday night. He's adoreable and thinks he was created to suck on something at all times! My finger was one of his favorites. In fact for a while when I held him he refused to take his paci and insisted that I wash my finger and let him suck on it. I didn't mind though. He did leave some skin on it so all's good. Here's some pics of the long awaited little guy. Oh, he was 8 lbs 7 ounces and 20 inches long.

Also, mommy and baby are very healthy and got to go home today. You'd think mommy had had a homebirth afterall with how she gets around.

Notice what's his mouth!


Justin and Mommy
Justin and Daddy
Justin and Granny (paternal side)
Just Justin (and Granny's right hand)
Justin yawning with his favorite midwifery student! I guess I exhausted him telling him his birth story. LOL!

BrookLyn and family!

BrookLyn's parents
BrookLyn and I!
Micah and David
BrookLyn and Micah
Sorry it's been so long since I updated. Life's been busy and fun and well, I don't know what else.



Here's pics from BrookLyn and her family's visit. We had a blast with them and enjoyed all the sweet kiddos. I didn't get many pics but BrookLyn's mom did and I hope to get copies of those soon.



Enjoy!

Have truer words ever been spoken?

A friend loves at all times,
And a brother is born for
adversity. Proverbs 17:17

While reading in Varney's Midwifery Fourth Edition on page 189 I found a quote that hit the nail right on the head in light of the verse above.

"Many girls place higher values on the cooperation aspects of
games than boys do. Examining play-time activities of fifth graders in the 1970s
one researcher found that aggressive legal debates over the rules appeared to be
enjoyed by the boys as much as the game itself [40]. Girls, on the other hand,
viewed the rules as open to innovation and less significant than keeping harmony
among the smaller group."

Show me!

Show me Your ways, oh Yahweh;
Teach me Your paths.
Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
For You are the Elohim of my salvation;
On You I wait all the day.

Psalms 25:4-5

Yes people, I really did it!

Here's the evidence! These pictures were taken on Monday and Friday. Yes, it still looks just as clean to this very moment. Don't pass out on me now but I do plan to keep it this way. No use having to start all over! Jonah is next. I filled his tummy up today for about $30 and so cleaning him can't be nearly so bad. LOL. I'll try to remember to post pics of him when he's all done.

BTW, for those of you who haven't been in my room the thing over my bed is a mosquito net that some member of my family actually slept under in PNG! I have it looped up over my bed because it's too hot to sleep under this time of year!


During!

A civilian officially!

This is a few days late but I wanted to let everyone know that Alon is officially a civilian as of Sunday. He started a job on Sunday also. He's manager of a guest house kind of thing outside of Jerusalem.

The picture is of him in uniform with Esh. It's one of a very few good pictures of him!

Esh's platelets!

Hey everyone one!

Hallelujah! This week Esh's platelets were 118,000 which is a rise of 17,000. The normal range is between 150,000 and 450,000 but that's still a significant enough rise that they can start weaning her off of the steriods! She's VERY thrilled about that but please pray that her body does indeed kick in strongly and begin producing platelets on it's own. She's ready to be rid of the side effects. The steroids have been zapping her energy and making her swell and making her feel hungry all the time. Also, she's got a cold right now that she's trying to kick. So, while she got great news and is thankfully and excited she's still not feeling so great physically.

Shalom!
Melen

And the Verdict is. . .

Drum roll please!
















































I do at least resemble Helen Hunt! I got one vote of sort of, but only in pictures and the rest were "YOU DO LOOK LIKE HER!" or variations of that. So people, you have a movie star look alike in your midst. I will begin to sign autogrpahed photos when my salary reaches 7 figures. Until then, I am too busy to do such a thing.

Also, my car is named Jonah thanks to Amy who reccomended the suitable name! Thanks Amy, you get. hmm, a visit from Melen Hunt at your highschool graduation as a reward!
P.S. I'm posting this a few minutes early but I plan on being in bed before 12 am!

I MUST STAND UP!

Movie cover.


The real Sophie

I just finished watching Sophie Scholl with my family. It's a true story about a German citizen and her brother that lived in Munich, Germany in 1943. What makes their story noteworthy is that they stood up! They refused to stand by while they heard stories of Jewish and those deemed mentally retarded disappearing. What did they do? They started and underground resistance group called the "White Rose." They wrote pahmphlets and passed them out at universities. They wrote messages on walls for the German public. Their mission was to educate the German people and to cause others to stand up for fellow Germans. Human beings just like them that were being killed by Hitler and the Nazis. People with families, children, grandchildren, parents, grandparents. Sophie and Franz and others refused to let fear rule them. They stood up and fought. They got caught. They stood trial. Still they stood for what was right. They said what they stood for. They cried. They prayed. They pleaded with God. They were brave. They died for their cause. Praying that it was not in vain. At their public trial they knew what the outcome would be but they used their trial as a platform to tell others the truth. The Nazis wanted others to witness it as a warning but the Scholls used it to spread the truth. So other Germans would be that brave and stand for human rights.

The hardest scene to watch was when Sophie's mom and dad came to say goodbye. Her dad told her she'd done the right thing and that he was proud of her. Her mom looked her in the eyes and said, "My little girl. You'll never walk through the door to our home again." Sophie replied, "Mom, I'll see you again in heaven." Women lost their children due to them writing articles and spreading them out. Mrs. Scholl lost her two children in the same day. Can you imagine? Now, as we were reminded when in Israel at Yad Vashem (the holocaust museam) think not only of Sophie and Hanz Scholl but of the children and grandchildren they should have had. What would the children of such brave and moral people have done? Would they have been doctors? Sophie was a children's nurse. Would she have been there when your aunt lay dying at age 3? Would she have encouraged your grandmother as your mother was sick with a fever? Would their offspring have found the cure for cancer? Would they have harbored children being persecuted by other governments? Would their grandchild have been your best friend? The person to stand by you when you needed a friend? Would they have been the teacher that a child needed to love them? Would they have been the neighbor that baked cookies for you just when you were down? What would they have done? Each person that died was a whole world. They had families and future generations.

What were our parents and granparents and even great grandparents doing at that time? Were they complaining because there was no sugar because of the war? Were they griping about a rainy day when they wanted to have a picnic?

Now, look at America. Everyday more freedoms are taken away. Everyday taxes get higher. They require more vaccinations or make laws that take the rights of parents away. They make laws that make it hard for women to seek the maternity care they want without CPS being called. They take away our freedom of speech more and more. What are we going to do? We need more Sophie Scholls. We must not stand idly by. We must stand up for what is right. How? I don't know. Where? I don't know yet. When? We must do it now. Tomorrow will be too late. Pray. Petition the Father to show you how to act. I don't want to die having not stood for the rights of humans. It's time to stand up.

Thank you Sophie for your act of bravery. It was not in vain. You planted seeds for many to take courage and stand up! Thank you!



Sophie and Hanz Scholl and their friend and fellow White rose member Christopher Probst's graves.

Car wash part 2

I think my car now deserves a name after such an experience! I have no ideas though. Please give me suggestions!



Here's the rigged up fan set up!

Well, after I posted the adventure didn't quite end and Amy wanted me to post the rest of the story.

Since the seat was REALLY wet I needed to have a fan blow on it for a while. The hard thing about that is that my car is normally parked on the street and there's not plugs out there. We do have a two car garage so the solution seems simple, but that's just not so. My dad has a car, my mom has a van, and my grandpa's car is here too. It was determined that the van needed to remain in the garage and that my car would take the other spot. Well, the truck was in the garage and grandpa's car was behind it. Thus I had to move my car to behind the van and then move grandpa's car to in front of our house where my car had been. Then I had to move dad's truck to in front of the neightbor's house. Remember my car seat is still soaking wet so I'm driving in reverse a lot while sitting in the center seat. Then I put my car in the garage and grandpa's car in the drive way behind mine and then dad's truck behind that. Then I rigged up a fan to blow on the seat all night. All that took only about 15-20 minutes.

Adventures in Mel Land!

Guess what?
Okay, my dad has been telling me I need to go to the car wash because my car has bird poop on it and that can ruin the paint. Yesterday he brought me a ticket for a free car wash so today I decided I'd go and make my dad happy. I didn't have much time so I took my book with me to study from while waiting in line. . . Well, the person in front of me was the last one to get the prescrub because it was quitting time. Thus, I got no prerinse to get the bird stuff off. Oh, well. So I pull on into the car wash and it starts. I lean over toward the passenger seat and study. Next thing I know my left hip is soaking wet. Yep. The drivers side door now leaks profusely. As I unbuckle quickly I look for something that's absorbant. All I see is two of my jackets. I put the grey one on the seat to soak up the water there and hold the denim one up to the long leaky part each time the water goes by. The jacket helped but more than once it just guided the water straight down to my feet where it made splashing noises. Finally the car wash is over and I am now supposed to drive home while sitting in a DRENCHED seat. No, I refuse! So, while sitting mostly in the middle seat (good thing I have 6 foot long Barbie legs) I try to buckle back up and drive like a normal human being. Man, the way everything looks is so different from the middle of the car. I got home climbed out and guess what? Not one bit of bird poop had come off after that whole ordeal!!!!!! So, I had to come in and get a bowl of water and go scrub it off myself. The car wash really didn't do anything for my car at all. It still looks awful and I'll have to wash it myself as usual as soon as I get the chance. ARGH!

By the way. The picture was taken about a year ago. I found a fork in my car and decided to put on my best road rage face. However I do believe that pic was taken at the very same intersection that the carwash I went to today is at.

Okay time for a poll!

Please respond ASAP. The results will be posted on Sunday, April 15






Since the debate as of late seems to be wether or not I look like Helen Hunt I decided to end the debate with a poll. I'll post a pic of each of us and let everyone e-mail me their opinion. The address to e-mail is midwifemel@gmail.com

I apparently don't have any good recent pics of just me so I'm the one on the right! I added another one of me because Helen Hunt had pros taking her picture. So, I get two decent pics for her one professional picture!