Homemaker Moments

This homemaker moment is different from the others in the sense that my focus is not on how I was able to fulfill my role but how other mothers are fulfilling their role and beyond!

This week I experienced a very long birth. This month alone I assisted with three births two of them were scheduled for other months. Anyway, all that to say I am so grateful to God for allowing women to be all they need to be in their home and still have enough to bless someone else.

Here is my shout out! To HaleHole3, thanks for bringing cooked lasagna, and strawberry cake to my house, after a midweek birth. To the J.W., thanks for picking up my kids and hanging with them after school for a few hours. To Servingthesaints, thanks for teaching my kids to make strawberry preserves and praying for me during a difficult labor. Finally to my Homemaker Chronicle, thanks for holding it down in prayer, dinners, and sanity contacts!

I would be remiss if I did not give it up to the super duper woman, Impressions that Last! This is my mother who lives next door and is always there. Thanks for taking care of my family from the "sun up to sun down Saturday birth". I couldn't stop laughing as my mother reported, "your family has been at my house all day they don't know what to do without you." I left the house for this birth at 6:00am and returned at 10:00p.m or so. As I was driving home and talking to my mother, thinking they had gone home by now (surely)....No they were still next door at her house hanging, eating her food, watching her television, and whatever else they needed. This was not the first and won't be the last time I am certain of that fact!So again thank you momma!

Homemakers all over the world this goes out to you! You spend many days and nights building your home, your husband, and your children. Most times this includes a to do list that is out of this world. Yet, some how it all gets done, or at least the most important of those things gets done. I love you sister in the Lord and I know without a doubt that our Father in Heaven loves you even more than I ever could! Continue to walk in the grace afforded to you by our GREAT GOD AND KING! Serve well and strive for excellence in all you say and do, making sure that above all else He is satisfied with your act of service to HIM!

Update! Doula or Midwife

I posted a while back about me become a doula or a midwife. Well after some time and prayer I have deceided to begin the training to become a doula which will lead to me becoming a midwife. I am excited because it is just another opportunity for the Lord to use my gifts for His glory. I think it is important that a woman feel as comfortable as possible during one of the most life changing events she will ever experience. So as a doula I will be able to mother the mother in the hospital as well as at a home birth. Many women simply don't understand the fact that God created the human body and in His timing, (not the doctor or nurse who needs to get this one out so they can go to the next one) He will bring life from the womb. Bascially your body will do what God created it to do in its own timing. I digress. I am just excited to be on this new adventure with the Lord. So if you are pregnant or looking to plan a pregnancy and you are in Little Rock, or Conway. Give me a call and I can be your doula :)!

Me & Midwifery

A friend shared a vision of us becoming a midwifes. I had been very excited about beginning the journey to become a midwife...even if I had to do it alone. Anyway one of the test before I signed the dotted line and committed myself to school for midwifery training, was participating in a live birth. Now the last birth I saw was 1998 my god-daughter, and the last birth I had was 2002. So needless to say, it has been awhile. A dear sister in the Lord was planning a home birth with a midwife and I wanted to be apart of it. Remember this is my test. I had hoped the birth would be on a weekend and it was Saturday! Anyway it was amazing! It was a water birth, which I have never seen before. While observing the labor, it brought back the memories of when I gave birth. I understood and remembered the joy and of course the pain. Then I understood what husbands all over the world must feel when their spouse is in labor....HELPLESS! All you can do is give an encouraging word here and there, but that pain she had to bear all by herself.

Back to the whole midwife journey... I am purposing simply to watch to see if I could stomach the whole thing. Then the midwife put me to work! She was aware that I was interested in becoming a Midwife so immediately she had me doing stuff. Clean this, pick that up, watch this, she was full of wisdom and expertise. I learned so much...I have had three children and had no clue about some of the things I learned that day. For that I am very grateful.

I had been debating between becoming a doula or midwife. What is a doula? I know, I know! I did not understand at first either. Simply put the doula is the mother to the mother.

Doula: A non-medical assistant in childbirth. A doula is not the father but is usually a woman who is experienced in childbirth. The role of the doula is to provide the mother with physical and emotional assistance before, during, or after childbirth. Also known as a birth assistant, birth companion, childbirth assistant, or labor support professional. From the Greek doule referring to a woman who was a slave or servant.

The midwife is the "doctor" to the mother.

Midwife: A person trained to assist a woman during childbirth. Many midwives also provide prenatal care for pregnant women, birth education for women and their partners, and care for mothers and newborn babies after the birth. A midwife may be a man or a woman. Depending on local law, midwives may deliver babies in the mother's home, in a special birthing center or clinic, or in a hospital.

Most midwives specialize in normal, uncomplicated deliveries, referring women with health problems that could require hospitalization during birth to a hospital-based obstetrician. Others work with physicians as part of a team. Legal qualifications required to practice midwifery differ between the US states and various countries.

Okay so you have all the details..you know the difference between a midwife and a doula. So at this point I am praying about the direction the Lord would lead me in. I am very open and simply longing for the Lord's will to be done in and through me.

Birth is an amazing process that all by itself brings GLORY to GOD! Take some time to think about it. The husband gives you a piece of himself then the wifes body nurtures and brings forth the husbands seed! AMAZING! God equipped us with everything we needed to bring forth life...anyway that is why I am interested in the whole process. However I am unsure which end (doula, midwife) to fully embrace. I'll keep you posted on this as I am more aware of the Lord's will for me.