It is February 13, and 2 days away from Hannah’s 6th birthday.  She just lost her first tooth 2 days ago.  It also happens to be 2 days away from Hannah’s little sister/brother’s due date….an unexpected addition to our initial plans to come to Timor last spring/summer.   Pastor Kathy just laughed when we told her our situation (thanks for keeping our secret for so long, Kathy), and said, “Oh, God does have a good sense of humor!”  Teasing that we are handed a lot of things at once: the opportunity to live in East Timor as missionaries, doing the work we felt/feel called to do, and blessing us with another child, at the same time! 

I have received the spread of responses to having a baby here in East Timor, and, for choosing to stay in Lospalos and have a Timorese midwife attend me for birth.   My parents have dealt with the mixed emotions of excitement of receiving a new grandchild, and the disappointment and fear of having me so far away, and in Timor.  I have met many malay (foreigners) here in Lospalos and also in Dili, and they all are a bit surprised that I do not want to go to Dili Hospital to have a baby (even though it is a 5+ hour drive).    It seems that here, in ways, I am dealing with some of the same psychology I dealt with in my practice in Duluth…..fear and distrust of Birth.

To be sure, I am not taking my situation lightly.  I liken the possibility of the need to drive to the hospital in the city of Baucau to this: helping women in Grand Marais, a 2 hour drive from Duluth, and the Big Hospitals with emergency capacity.  Like in Grand marais, there is a small hospital here in Lospalos.  Cuban docs and Timorese staff, including 6 or 8 midwives, are available.  Baucau has resources I might need, but probably won’t.

Mostly, I feel fortunate and blessed that I have had a healthy pregnancy (yes, even here, in the two-thirds world).  In a ddition to the midwife who will attend me here in LP, I will have the support of so many midwives: Jana, Deb, Caralee, Gail, Jacinta, and others.  I appreciate and look for your continued prayers, friends, as the birth day draws near.  Monica