After losing baby Mutuku a couple months ago, I must admit it’s been difficult and confusing to think about returning to attending births and knowing the wisest way to go about it considering the situation here.  I’ve been brainstorming and tossing around a lot of ideas, reconsidering the very real risk to myself, to the TBA I’ve been working with, and most importantly, to mother’s and babies.  It’s such a complex situation and is far from black and white on any level.

But things that perplex, overwhelm, and seem impossible to us are never that way to God.  He is all knowing, all understanding, and all wise.  He IS the answer, and once again reminded me recently that the solution is often so much simpler than I tend to think or make it.

Recently we were doing one of our prenatal discussion groups at the TBA’s house.  I was in the back room with a mother who had come late, doing her prenatal check up.  All of a sudden another woman who had been sitting next to me during the discussion barged into the room and threw herself down on the floor.  It probably sounds funny, but I wasn’t at all alarmed by this.  The TBA had earlier informed me that two of the women in the group were actually in early labor, but of course that could mean they were hours or even days away from giving birth.  The woman who had barged into the room was one of the mothers who was in labor and I’ve grown accustomed to Kenyan women doing such dramatic things, especially wanting to lay on the cold floor while they are in labor.  I looked down at her and she seemed content where she was, so I just continued the prenatal check up, especially because I had several concerns about the mother whose prenatal I was doing and I didn’t want to cut it short.

The TBA came in the room and was attending to the woman on the floor.  She alerted me that the woman’s waters had ruptured, but I still figured we had time to wrap up our prenatal check up considering I had just been sitting next to this mother a few minutes ago and she had seemed totally calm.  That and the fact that ruptured waters didn’t necessarily mean birth was imminent.  However as I continued to monitor the situation on the floor out of the corner of my eye I felt I needed to immediately end the prenatal exam after all.  I cheerfully ushered the prenatal mother out of the room and helped the mother who was in labor onto the bed. 

Lo and behold, the baby was crowning!  The TBA ran out of the room to get supplies and I barely had time to slip one glove on before the head was born! In the blink of an eye, baby Princess was born and she was absolutely perfect.  I’ve honestly never seen such a perfect newborn in all my life!  While I felt terrible that I hadn’t taken the situation more seriously, I had to laugh about how God must have gotten tired of waiting for me to get back in the saddle and back to attending births, so He literally dropped a baby in my lap with a situation that I couldn’t have avoided even if I wanted to.  And not just any baby – a PERFECT baby, who helped restore my faith in His birth process and my call to be a part of it.  He is so kind and I am so thankful for His patience AND His loving pushiness.

“He renews my strength.  He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name.” –Psalm 23:3

baby Princess