Fear

A couple nights ago I was sure I was in the early stages of labor. And instead of being excited, I was terrified and feeling panic. This was not part of my labor plan. But I couldn't make the nervous feelings go away. Finally I got some rest and my contractions went away by 3AM. But I realized that I need to get get myself together, and rely more strongly on the ONE who will get me through this. I KNOW labor will be hard work. I don't want God to take that away. But I want to face it with peace, and grace and the knowledge that He will not leave me and He can give me the strength to get though it. So please pray that with me and for me in the next few weeks...

Having a baby...

I'll be honest... the few hours of labor terrify me. I think it's the unknown that is the hardest to deal with. When labor starts, and then gets increasingly painful, you really don't know how much longer you'll have to 'do this'. Of course there is comfort in the fact that it WILL end. It never lasts forever. :)

So this will be my sixth delivery. I'll give a brief rundown of the kinds of deliveries I've had, and what I'm hoping for this time...

Drew: 16 hour labor, all natural, 2.5 hours of pushing, shot of Demerol near the end (Two days after due date)

Joe: Water broke, hospital induced labor with pitocin, stadol through IV, 16 hours (Two weeks early)

Harley: Water broke, hard contractions, quick delivery, 2.5 hours (Two weeks early)

Zach: 20 hour labor, slow start, picked up throughout the day, epidural for last two hours (On due date)

Jethro: 6 hour labor, fast and hard contractions, epidural last two hours (Two weeks overdue)

So I've had lots of different experiences. As an epidural is not an option for me for this next delivery, I am reading up on natural childbirth and how people deal, cope or even enjoy it. It seems like some women view this as a rite of passage into motherhood and feel very empowered by their experience in childbirth. I would have to say with Harley's birth, I did feel very strong and unstoppable. (Look what I just did?) So I am hoping as I practice my breathing and visualization techniques, that I will be able to stay focused, hold myself together, and even enjoy the birthing process this time. I know if you can stay relaxed, your body is more able to do what it needs to, and it is a good method to trust your body. I must not let panic creep in because that does no good for me or my baby. I really am looking forward to meeting this new child.

I recently got the book, Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, and the DVD 'The Business of Being Born.' I would highly recommend both to any woman, but especially to those who may have another child. There are so many wonderful things our medical world can do for us as laboring women. But also so much that is unnecessary to the process of something our bodies are made to do. Even after having five children, there was much I learned from reading this book.

I have also read the book Hypnobirthing and it has some great breathing and visualization techniques in it that I am hoping to use.

Birth Number 2

I was called to another birth on Friday. It was 4pm, not even the middle of the night. So I thought I better jump on the opportunity to go help out. When I arrived I found out this was an 18 year old girl delivering her first baby. She was outside walking around and had been found to be 8cm dilated.


She wanted to have a rest and came back inside to sit down. They checked her again and had me check her. Again I am no good at this part. I must need much more practice. Aparantly she was 9 centimeters. Shortly after this she expressed a desire to eat something so her friend went off to find some food. When it arrived she sat down to have a snack.



After that she was tired again and wanted to go in and lie down. She was told she need to walk to get her contractions going. They were coming, but not real close together. Like any first time mother, she did not want them closer together or to feel any more pain. But she was very brave.


Here sit the three midwives/nurses waiting for things to progress... When she got so tired she had to lie down, they hooked her up to an IV and gave her some pitocin to make the contractions come along faster.



Here came the difficult part of the delivery for me. As we had checked her the nurse commented on her circumcision. It is very common practice here in Mali for a girl to be circumcised in her childhood. Unfortunately for this girl, she was sewn up too small to allow for this baby to be born. As the baby began to crown the midwifes had to perform an episiotomy to allow the baby through. This makes me so sad. It is a very traumatic experience when a girl gets circumcised, and now in childbirth it becomes more traumatic again because of this. There was no anisthetic used to aid in pain relief either.


A healthy girl was born around 6:30pm. I asked them what the sex was so that the mom could hear. Then after the baby was weighed and left on the scale, I asked if I could hold her. I took her over the the mom and showed her beautiful baby to her. That part gave me great joy.


Pray for me as I plan to talk to the midwives about working on educating their patients about the negative effects of female circumcision.

The Baptem...

Kadjatu came to pick me up for the Baptem...

Everyone loved holding Jethro until he got too tired of it!

We ate some rice and fish... Jethro thought it was great fun to eat with your hands... Kadjatu had a beautiful henna job on her hand.

Jethro got a little nap while I was there. I stayed for 4 hours... and people were still showing up to the party when I left...

Kadjatu and her friends...

Dancing is the main event... and everyone likes to enjoy it...

This is the star of the show...

The ladies who are hosting never stop working hard... even if they are dancing and visiting, they jump up to serve any newcomers...

There were lots of women and LOTS of babies!

Lots and lots of women...

These poor kids need some meat and veggies...

Jethro Isaac Frazee

Jethro Isaac

Well I need to update my blog... I had a baby on April 29th, 2010. He was 9lbs 4ozs and 21 inches long. He was born in Antony France. My experience was a good one. God was trying to teach us something... that He really is the one in control, once again did we forget? After four children, two that were early, and two that were right on time, I went two weeks overdue with my fifth child! We were quite shocked! I was scheduled for an induction at 8AM on April 29th. After realizing I could not avoid being induced, I went to bed the night before and awoke one hour later to a strong contraction. Between every contraction for one hour I told myself it would just pass as contractions had done for the last month, every other night or so. But during each one I knew for a fact this was the real thing. Finally I woke Jeff and said we needed to call someone to watch the kids, and our neighbor to give us a ride. This was around 1AM. He wanted to know if I was sure, as anyone drug from deep sleep would want to know. :) Our Tunisian neighbor Mouna drove us to the hospital at about 2AM. After getting settled at the hospital the 'sage femme' informed me I was three centimeters. This I could not believe... the pain felt more like 7-8 to me... Well 30 more minutes of that and I decided I should have the epidural. Things progressed very quickly after that and Jethro was born around 6:20AM. I was exhausted and wanted to get home quickly. I left about 30 hours after his birth. Some good friends from Church helped us get home and had a little 'fete' for us complete with strawberry tart, champagne, and chocolate. It was a beautiful ceremony to welcome Jethro home into our family.

Two other ladies at our language school were due after me. Mandy had her baby Alex two weeks later at Antony, followed by Megan having her baby Evie a month later, also at Antony.

Jethro, Evie, Alex

Mandy, Me, Megan

Eliana Grace Kunkle

I have a lot to praise God for this week. My brother Jeff and his wife Angela have been on a long road to have a baby. Many of you, my dear friends and readers have prayed for them with me over the years. Well yesterday they gave birth to a little girl. (Or I should say a big girl!) Eliana Grace Kunkle. (It means God has answered our Prayers.) She was born in Zeeland Michigan at 2:52 AM and was 21 inches and 9 Pounds. I am a very proud Auntie!!

39 Weeks...

Hello again... Another week and still 1 cm. I have nothing very new to report. The baby still sounds great and is measuring right on target. My Dr said if nothing has happened by next Thursday she would talk to me about induction. I really don't want to go that route unless the baby is in distress, so please pray with me that things get started soon. Thanks for all your support...

I am Amazed at God's Creation in Me

Baby Frazee is Growing...

Not knowing when your baby is coming is the hardest part of the end of pregnancy. The joy of feeling my little one squirm and twist and makes me so anxious to meet him or her. People can't believe sometimes that we don't know the sex of our baby. But I contend that that would only tell us the smallest of things about our child. Discovering who he or she will be, is one of the most thrilling parts of having a new child. The three children I have are all such different individuals, despite their sex. I'm excited to see who the next one will be.

Waiting for Petite...
37 Weeks...

Insomnia

OK... I remember this now from previous pregnancies. Insomnia. I am sitting awake at 1:30 AM, staring at lights blinking outside my window. Then thinking about things I should do tomorrow. Then wondering why I am thinking at all as the clock strikes 2:30 AM. Just go to sleep I tell myself. Why doesn't that work? So finally I hop (that is really not the right term to use at the point in my pregnancy) out of bed and check email and get caught up on reading my friends blogs. How much am I going to regret this in the morning I think? But what can I do? I CAN'T sleep...

36 weeks and counting...

Just where is my stomach???

OK... you get to that point in your pregnancy when you wonder, what is going on in there? Where are my intestines exactly, because things just don't feel right. And why in the world do I pee every time I cough? (Which has been way too often lately!) It is just crazy what our bodies go through, so I found this image to share with you all. This is where it all goes!!!

Our "Petite"

I don't know how much I have blogged about my experience with my health care this pregnancy. Basically I am thankful for free insurance, so I will not bash the system. However, I have been disappointed on more than one occasion with various proceedings and lack of attention. The most difficult for me was having my ultrasound on Tuesday this week. Clearly the technician was not experienced with the equipment and did a terrible job. I did not get any clear view of the baby and nothing was explained to us other than the baby looked fine. I know that should be enough. But I felt like my only opportunity to 'see' the baby before he/she was born was wasted. So I was bummed.

Tuesday is our busy day and after kids club and dinner, before we went on to youth group, I got a call from MaryLou. She had set up an appointment for us Wednesday night at a 3D ultrasound place. I was so overwhelmed by her sensitivity to my desire that I could barely speak.

Last night we went to the place. All seven of us. Jeff's parents and our kids. We saw the baby move and hide his/her face and stick his foot in his mouth and we even saw a smile. Gas or not I was thrilled. :) It was delightful to see this little baby... so here are a couple photos.