In the morning, Micah had been whining quietly for some time.  He wasn't in a good mood.  Usually we are summoned by a cheerful, "MAMA!  MAAAAAAAAAMA!"  This morning, it was a series of whimpers and cries.  Yeah, there were a few "mamas" here and there, but he seemed so grumpy that I was hesitant to let him out thinking he may fall back asleep.  I waited a while and then I decided to go get him.  I knocked and he answered with a weak, "COME IN!" 

As I entered, there was a horrible stench.  He obviously had a messy diaper.  As I neared Micah's crib, he was in the corner of his crib sitting down.  Usually he is standing and waiting for me to get him.  Then I noticed that there were stains all over his sheets and blanket.  Then I realize that it is brown.  Then I realize that there is brown stuff COVERING both hands, his clothes, and part of his face & hair.  I'm not even exaggerating, it looked like he had just played in a big, gloppy mud pile.  There was poop everywhere.  The sheer quantity of it all was outrageous.  I was beyond myself.  I was in shock.  I'm surprised I didn't go into labor right then and there. 

I yelled to Israel for back-up.  I was afraid he had ingested some too.  I told Israel to take off his clothes as I ran off to started the bath water.  After stripping our poor child down, I stood him in the tub and began rinsing him off.  It took about 15 minutes to remove all of the brown stuff from his whole body.  Then, I plugged the tub and had him sit down for a bubble bath.  (Their bubble bath is scented like grapefruit so it helped the overall smell of the bathroom while at the same time, lifting his spirits.)  In the meantime, Israel hand-scrubbed the poopie clothes, blankets, sheets, and mattress protector and then threw them in the washer for a pre-wash, wash, and then extra rinse.    

The most pathetic part of the whole ordeal was that while I was washing him off with the warm water, he kept saying in between whimpers, "Thank you, Mama...thank you."  The poor boy - I wish I would have gotten him sooner.

The moral of this story is to never feed Micah homemade soup - complete with squash, corn, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, cabbage, and vegetable "mandoo" - for lunch AND dinner with grapefruit for dessert.  I don't know why we didn't see it coming.  This was the worst disaster ever.  It beats the Eucerin episode by a landslide. 

So, at church a few Sabbaths ago, I was talking with one of my friends from church, Yunis, who is a nursing student at Finlandia.  She asked me who my OB was.  (She wants to be an OB nurse and she does her clinicals at the same hospital.)  I told her it was Dr. Smith*.  Then she went on to tell me how all of the nurses there hate her and how mean and impatient she is with them.  This was shocking because I always thought Dr. Smith was super-sweet.  She always made me feel so comfortable and seemed like she knew what she was doing.  Plus, she also has 3 little boys so I felt we had some sort of personal connection. 

* * * * *
One evening while my sister was up here for the week, asked her to measure my fundal height.  Anyway, she saw my c-section scar.  It's not as bad as it was with Imanuel, but I still have a pretty bad keloid.  So, my sister told me to ask my OB if she would close my incision with subcuticular stitches.  It's not standard, but apparently it is the "nicest" way to sew someone up to leave minimal scarring.  My first c-section at UofM, I was stapled.  For my second, I told Dr. Smith I scared really bad with the staples, so she glued me together.  For my third and final time, I was going to ask for the subcuticular sutures.

* * * * *

At my next OB appointment, I had scheduled to see a different OB, Dr. Doe*, since Dr. Smith was not available that week.  I went in and ended up having to reschedule since there was an emergency and that doctor wasn't available either.  As I was rescheduling, the receptionist asked if I wanted to reschedule with Dr. Warren.  I told her that my actual OB was Dr. Smith and so I asked if she would be available.  I have had Dr. Smith since I moved up here and she was the doctor who had delivered Micah.  Then I received surprising news as the receptionist told me, "Dr. Smith no longer practices here".  I was a bit taken aback because she told me so bluntly and without much emotion.  So, I responded, "I guess I'll just reschedule with Dr. Doe then." 

* * * * *

The next Sabbath when I saw my friend again, I told her that Dr. Smith no longer practiced there.  I was wondering if maybe all of the nurses had petitioned against her and had gotten her fired.  Yunis didn't hear anything about it, but said she would try to investigate.

* * * * *

So, that following week, I'm at Walmart checking out and the cashier asks me how far along I am.  I tell her that I'm about 28 weeks and she tells me that she is too!  (I couldn't even tell she was pregnant!)  Anyway, she asked who my OB is and I told her that it was Dr. Smith, but now I have Dr. Doe.  Her OB also happened to be Dr. Doe.  She then goes on to tell me that she heard from the lady who works at Customer Service that Dr. Smith was fired because she had made a few ladies go sterile.  She told me it may just be a rumor because she doesn't know the customer service lady very well.  Anyway, that was that.

* * * * *

At my next OB visit, we discussed the date of the c-section and unless it can be done earlier it is scheduled for December 21.  We're happy with that date because it is also Israel's parents' anniversary.  This year, it will also be the winter solstice - how ironic for a yooper baby - it will have been winter for 2 months already!  Anyway, I brought up the issue of her sewing me up with subcuticular stiches and she says that she always does that for her patients.  That made me happy.  Hopefully she's really good at that.

* * * * *

I googled Dr. Smith to see if I could get any beef on her.  Nothing.

* * * * *

Things I learned from this experience :
1.  In small country hospitals, everyone knows everyone.
2.  In the country, all pregnant people are seen by the same OB or knows yours.
3.  Walmart checkout is where you can hear the latest town gossip.
4.  In the U.P., Dr. Smith will forever be known as the mean OB who was responsible for making people go sterile!  Poor lady!


So, I have a new OB.  She will be delivering our 3rd boy.  That will mean that all 3 of our kids will have been delivered by 3 different doctors AND I will have been closed up 3 different ways.  Hopefully this final time will be the best all around!  It seems the most promising...just a little over 9 weeks left.  I absolutely CANNOT wait.

*Names of OBs have been changed to protect their identity.

The past few months have been really busy, but were lots of fun.  My sister, Julie, came to visit Michigan during her last vacation of residency.  She helped me clean and reorganize our entire house which resulted in about 4 loads of drop-offs to Good Will, 9 bags of trash, and our truck full of recycleables.  From our kitchen pantry to every closet in our house, everything was sorted and cleaned out.  She purchased a bunch of storage containers for us to help us keep organized too!  I wish we had taken before and after pictures!  Anyway, it was great.  I feel so much more ready for baby #3 to arrive.  On top of that, we planned a surprise baby shower for our brother Jukes and Aileen.  After sorting through all of the kids' closets, we were able to give a bunch of the boys' clothes and baby items I didn't need to them and with so much extra, we had a bunch to give the Conways too!  (Yes, we had an over-abundance of baby boy clothes!) 



On our trip downstate, we stopped by the DeYoung's Family Zoo and enjoyed seeing the animals up close and personal.  Imanuel was able to bottle feed a baby camel, pet a baby bobcat and hold the leash of a New Guinea Singing pup.  It was such an awesome zoo! 

 

We really enjoyed spending time with our family during our brief visit downstate. 



When we came back up, Israel had his work cut out for him.  In preparation for the winter, he decided to purchase entire logs instead of pre-cut wood.  It was a couple hundred dollars cheaper this way, but he would have to chain-saw and chop them himself.  AND, he ordered LOTS of logs.   



With the help of some church members, he got the majority of the logs cut.  The only problem was that we had to stack them...and we only had a garden wheel barrow that we purchased at Walmart.  It was beginning to fall apart.  So, today, Israel bought a cart that could be pulled by our riding lawn mower.  We had to assemble it ourselves, but it was fairly simple and after an hour, we were able to haul tons of wood into our garage.  It was a great investment...not only for hauling wood, but to take the kids for rides! 



After loading a few carts of wood, we were tired so we decided to take the boys for a "wagon" ride in the backyard.  We stopped by our apple trees to pick and eat a few apples.  I was privileged to be the "tractor" driver since Manu thought my tummy was too large to fit in the back cart.  So, I drove our lawn mower while Israel, the boys and Bentley sat in the cart.  It was lots of fun!



Hopefully within the next few days, we'll have all of our wood cut and stacked for the winter.  The leaves are already beginning to change the the weather is cool and crisp.  I think after living in the Yoop for 3 years now, fall is my favorite time of year.

Manu and Micah are much easier to handle now that they enjoy playing together.  Micah is becoming more vocal and learning to express himself.  It just seemed like last week when the only words he could say were, "ready?" or "hot?"  Now in the car he always asks, "Almost there, Mama?"  He knows how to sing almost every song in the "Kids Sing Praise" CD.  He tries to pray by himself too.  He is always willing to repeat words or phrases that we try to teach him.  That's lots of fun too.  It's so cute to hear him calling, "Manu, where are you?!"  I think his speech development is much more rapid than Imanuel's was.  Probably because he tries to say everything that Manu does. 



Micah is definitely more of a risk taker and is more adventurous than Imanuel too.  Maybe that's why we already had to take Micah into the ER 3 times and we never took Imanuel in.  (It would have been 4 last week if Imanuel wasn't there in the woods to yell at Micah to spit out the poisonous berry he decided to put in his mouth.  Micah just suffered for a day with fever and diarrhea, thank God.) 

I just cannot wait until this child is born.  I feel like once he's out, I can at least start going back to my own physical self.  I'm feeling so large it's not even funny.  But I can't complain.  God has been very good to us and we are so thankful for the life we are able to live up here.  Okay, I think I wrote enough!  Until the next time I'm struck with inspiration...

(I'm going to put the rest of the pictures up on Facebook including exclusive pictures of Israel chopping wood!  :)