Birth of two kinds

I feel as though I witnessed a birth last weekend. Not to the growing baby inside of me that stars in the last few lines and photos of this blog posting, but to a project we've been working on since 2004. COHI was finally able to host and sponsor the first meeting of Israeli and Palestinian midwives as part of our coexistence work in the mid-east last week. To say that I was humbled, moved, and inspired would not do the experience justice. I want to share some of the photos with you, there will be more published on the COHI site soon, but please take a few moments to bask in our success.

I served as the facilitator for the weekend's activities, and while this was a great honor, it was also a great challenge. We spoke together in English as this is our shared language. But many of the midwives from both groups don't speak English often and so there were some funny miscommunications. As the excitement mounted, women were speaking over one another and so we resorted to the old "talking stick" protocol. But as we were in a birth center, we used a fetascope as it was closer at hand.

Here is our token man, he is used to this role in these settings. He tends to disappear all day, running errands for us, and then shows up when chores need to be done. What a man, what a man. He can be seen here washing up the day's tea cups at the birth center after the first day's event.
Mindy, the Israeli coordinator for this project as well as our midwife and COHI Board member, can be seen here hugging two of the Palestinian participants. This is the sentiment that exuded from everyone present all weekend. It was heavenly, really.

The workshop over the course of the weekend paired up midwives from both groups to present on protocols regarding all aspects of labor and delivery in their countries. It was a great place to start the conversations between the women and to keep things focused on midwifery. Here are two midwives, one from each group, demonstrating some positioning options for delivery. Truly supporting one another!
Below you will see the entire group, minus one of the Israeli midwives who was called to a birth early in the am. I hope that the friendship, partnership, and goodwill established through our first few days together continues to grow, proving that peace is indeed possible in this part of the world, and women just may be the ones to make it so!

Adam and I stayed on for a day so we could do our scheduled pre-natal with Mindy. I thought you might enjoying seeing some of what our process involves, and the place where the baby will hopefully make its debut.

Here is our midwife, Mindy Levy, who is also a dear friend and COHI Board member, checking my blood pressure. It was just where it is supposed to be.

Adam working through the various positions that the baby takes as it moves through the birth canal. Lots of work for that little baby!

I have a a tipped uterus, meaning that my pregnancy is in the front of my body rather than in the middle. Mindy is modeling for us how my uterus is extending out over my pelvis right now, but as the pregnancy progresses it will straighten out. This is why I am showing so much, so early.
Adam checking my proteins, again, right where they should be. Reminds me of checking the chlorine levels at the pool all of those years. The scientist in him really enjoys this part of the appointments, I think.

This is the garden out back from the birth center, where should I feel up to walking during my labor I can wander around. Not a bad place to bring a new life into the world, eh?

This is the size of our baby as of now: 19 weeks, plus a few days. See the cell phone placed next to the picture so you can get the scale. No, the baby isn't making a call.

You can see here Mindy measuring what is called the fundal height. As it is, when I lie down the majority of the pregnancy disappears due to the tipping action of my uterus. We measured me both lying down and when I stand up. When I stand up, its significantly larger. All the same, I am where we should be with this, as well. Or I should say, the baby is where it should be!

So there you have it, an update on all of the excitement that we've joined in over the last week. I am set to fly away in less than a month to the US, and Adam will join me there in early June. We can't wait to see many of you quite soon, and we will post any news about things from our sandbox should we have the chance.

Love from us,

Adam, Sera, and the bump