Welcome to the World Baby Girl........

Well, let me tell you….the last 24 hours have seen quite the excitement around the Rainey house.

First off, Tim Lundy arrived Tuesday night for a week (we all fly back together to the states on Tuesday), and it’s been great having him here. He is preaching this week at a crusade here hosted by Bishop John, but there has been enough down time for him so that we have enjoyed being able to visit. Tim hauled over two more trunks for us, filled mostly with tool type things, but he brought some stuff for me that turned out to be perfect timing. He brought a walking cast/boot for my ankle, and a ton of stuff for Christine’s new baby….ya know…all the Johnson & Johnson baby bath/lotion products, plus paci’s and some blankets and clothes (thanks Brit and Lori). All kinds of things!! And none too soon!!

Last night at around 10, we got THE call from Christine that she was in labor. She had apparently started having contractions at 7, and by 10 was ready to head to the hospital. Now….we don’t have a car, and getting a taxi here at 10 at night is impossible, so we called trusty Anna Reed, who ran over with her car and picked us up, then we all went over to Christine’s and got her. Her next door neighbors agreed to watch the two older kids, so off we trek to the hospital. So, I was familiar….after the man-trap/bike incident… with the hospital drill….ok…just a TITCH different in the maternity ward. And this is how it all went down…..we walk in and about 20 women gathered around point in the general direction we should go…ok…Christine and her muzungu posse….we head around the corner, where there are two chairs…we find the woman who looked to be in charge, and she just had a titch of an attitude….I’m just sayin…At this point, Russell is standing around with the 20 woman outside the little room…and we decide fairly quickly, this ain’t no place for a man…he was the only one and a muzungu at that…so he and Anna left and left Christine and I to the task at hand.

The “attitude chick”, then points us in the general direction of a room with four beds (photo included), and there is one bed not taken (also photo included). Here’s where it starts to get interesting for me….the bed has NOTHING on it…just a mattress..no sheets, no pillows, no NOTHIN…fortunately, Christine had an extra piece of material which we laid over the mattress. All the other beds were taken with three other women in various stages of labor and they all had posse’s as well…I mean…poor Christine had only me… in one of the other beds, we had a woman that looked to be 55 if she looked a day….and of course not ONE other person beside Christine and I spoke English, so I couldn’t understand all the conversations, but let’s just say some things don’t need words…this poor woman was S.U.F.F.E.R.I.N.G…..and I guess so…I kept thinking what it would be like , at my age, to be in labor again….heebie jeebie’s is what came to mind just THINKING bout THAT. The other woman sat on a stool the whole time and would stand up every time she had a contraction…she was fairly quiet compared to memaw and then the other woman was just crying, and crying and CRYING…and I was thinking….man, she must be in six kinds of pain, but then Christine told me, based on conversations in the room, that her baby had actually died and they were just waiting for her to deliver….OK…kill me NOW!! It was horrible….watching that poor woman labor, knowing the situation. …and this is where we stayed for the next 4 hours….did even ONE person check on us….that would be a NADDA!!!  And people…if you don’t bring it, you don’t have it…they give you NOTHING, but a bed in which to have the baby and a “nurse” to deliver it.

But, my job was to be there to support Christine, and she did a GREAT job…she labored HARD for four hours, and when it was time, she knew, and we walked….barely….back over to the room with “attitude chick” and they took Christine back to another room where there were about 8 beds…and they made me stay outside that room….WHHHATTT!!! Yep…it was like the old days where the family waits outside the delivery room….I was a NERVOUS WRECK!! But it didn’t take but about 2 minutes and we heard baby Elizabeth crying….I must say at this point Nurse Cratchet came out and told me it was a “female” and actually warmed up a little, and because I was the crazy Muzungu running around with my camera, they actually let me back to see Christine and the baby (not the norm from what I could gather), so I was able to get photos. You can see how beautiful she is. She was officially born at 2:43 AM and weighed in at 6 lbs. 6 oz. We got Christine to her room (and by “room”, I mean a big room with 12 beds – similar in situation to the labor “room” – and all full) about 20 minutes after the delivery (Russell came back over when they took her back), and we came on home. I think I got into bed about 4, but didn’t get to sleep until close to 4:30…..of course, if there are no taxi’s at 10, there SURE aren’t any at 4 AM, so I had to WALK home in the walking cast – a good test run for our trips through the airports next week, but holy cow, was ankle hurting by the time I got home!! But…amazing what adrenaline does for pain…should try that more often :)

I am SOOOO very thankful that Elizabeth arrived before our departure next Tuesday. Christine’s aunt was coming today, and her husband will be here tomorrow, and her sister, Chantal on Saturday, so she is set for the next few days, although Russell popped up bright and early this morning and took her a whole smorgasbord of food and water, and Beatrice, our gardener was already there with milk for her, from her cow, so we are all trying to love on her until her “real” family gets here.  Since we are leaving next week, she will get a nice long break (VERY unusual here)…they usually go back to work within a few days because if they don’t work, they don’t get paid, but of course, she is on paid maternity leave from the Rainey household….and when she does come back to work, she will bring the baby with her every day….so, we will get to spoil that little girl silly with love!!

As we get ready to come back to the states for some time there, and I look back at my journey over the last three months here in Rwanda….how I went from despair, to resolution, to now, having family here too….to come back to, when we do…the way I see it, God has blessed me with grandbabies on this side of the big pond now…so that when OUR kids make us grandparents, I’ll never NOT have grandbabies now, whether we are here or there….God is good, and I am blessed!! Welcome to the world baby girl!!