Birth Story

Every morning for two years, Cameron & I prayed that the Lord would bless us with a child.  In January of this year, we went to the doctor to start infertility testing.  But we only did a few tests, because in February, I took another test - a pregnancy test!  And so our adventure began...

After a nauseous first semester, a "swell" second trimester in the hot summer (in case you didn't get the pun, my feet and hands were swollen), and a tiring third trimester, finally the time had come!  Since July, Sara was breech, and she never flipped head down.  So, we scheduled a c-section for Oct. 13 at 3:30 PM.  I wasn't allowed to eat for 7 hours before the surgery, so I woke up early that morning to have a big breakfast at 7 AM.  After breakfast, I went back to sleep for a few hours to get as much rest as possible before the birth.  Then I packed my bag with everything I would need at the hospital for the next few days.  It was so weird packing baby clothes for the first time.  Around 1 PM, Cameron, my parents, and I headed to the hospital for the birth.

My last picture pregnant!

At the hospital, I changed into a gown (seen above), and a nurse check my blood pressure and my uterus.  Much to my surprise, she told me the contractions I was having were real!  She said, "Today would've been the day anyway!"  I couldn't believe it.  I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions for over a month and didn't even feel a difference.  After recording the contractions with a machine, the nurse came back to take me to a preparation room.  *Men: you may want to skip this next part* I had been told they shave you, so I knew what to expect, but I couldn't believe she literally did it with a disposable razor and Barbasol.  So that was really awkward.  But at least she didn't cut me.  After that, she took me to another room where a nurse gave me an IV in my hand.  I have small veins, and it really hurt.  :(  It was so odd in that room while I waited for the fluids to start, because my doctor and the nurses seemed so relaxed.  They were discussing what food to order for dinner!  Although that seemed weird to me, I was glad they were relaxed and not concerned that there was anything out of the ordinary with my upcoming birth.  They let Cameron come in to see me, and he looked so funny in the hospital gown and hairnet.  It was so encouraging to see him, because I was really getting scared and the IV had hurt so much.

Soon I was headed to the delivery room.  Before the surgery, I had to sit on the table and bend my head down as much as I could so the anesthesiologist could put in the spinal catheter for the epidural.  It hurt.  I buried my head in the nurse's chest and she held my hands.  After that, I started to lose feeling in my legs, and they lifted them up onto the table so I could lay down.  Then they put up a sheet and I couldn't see below my stomach.  Much to our disappointment, Cameron was not allowed in the delivery room with me.  He was only allowed to watch through a window.  We had assumed he would just be able to see my face, but instead the window was on the other side!  He was going to get the whole blood and guts experience.  The nurse told him to knock on the window if he felt faint!  I was sad that I couldn't see him, because of the sheet.  But the anesthesiologist talked to me in English, and she was really nice and encouraging.  I had no pain, but I could feel movement in my abdomen. At one point I was feeling faint, so I told the anesthesiologist, and she put some oxygen in my nose.  Later I started feeling nauseous, and she gave me something for that as well.  It was so weird just laying there, not being able to see what was happening.

After a while, the anesthesiologist looked over the sheet and said, "Congratulations!"  I heard a suctioning sound and then very loud crying!  It was so surreal. Cameron told me later that he had watched the entire birth - he said the doctor shoved her whole arm up in my stomach and pulled out a baby!  Before I knew what was happening, the nurse brought Sara to me so I could see her.  I couldn't stop crying.  Then I noticed that the nurse was holding Cameron's phone - she had gotten his phone to take pictures of me with Sara!  I was amazed at her thoughtfulness.  We took some pictures, then they took Sara to the nursery while I was being sewn back up.  Again I was amazed to hear the doctors and nurses having casual conversation, but I felt reassured that everything with my birth was routine for them.  I got really sleepy at that point and closed my eyes for a while, but I didn't go to sleep.

Cameron looking through the window

Sara has a good set of lungs!

My first look <3

After they finished sewing me up, some strong men picked me up and put me onto a bed to roll me to the regular hospital room.  There Cameron and my parents were waiting for me.  They had been looking at Sara through the nursery window, which was conveniently right across from my room.  The nurse asked if I wanted to see Sara, and I wasn't sure if I was ready.  It was too overwhelming.  But my parents and Cameron said she had been crying the whole time in the nursery and maybe she needed her mommy.  So, I realized I couldn't be selfish asked them to bring her in.

The instant she was in my arms she stopped crying.  She had just needed me to hold her.  <3

Our first family photo <3

That evening and night we spent a lot of time awake trying to learn how to breastfeed.  Sara was trying so hard and doing such a good job.  It was really weird for me, but also beautiful.  Cameron spent the night in the room with me, and my parents stayed at our apartment and Cameron drove them to and from the hospital each day.  The next day (Friday) was a blur of doctors and nurses.  I don't remember much.  Our friends Jeff & Lauren visited and took my parents to dinner, which was a big help.

My mom holding Sara in the hospital.

The second night, the nurses recommended that we leave Sara in the nursery so we could rest.  I signed a form giving them permission to give her formula, because she was still acting hungry after breastfeeding.  I was concerned that my milk was delayed coming in, since I had a c-section.  They also reminded me that I needed to take care of myself as I recovered from major surgery, and I needed to rest for my milk to come in better.  We slept so hard that second night.  (I later learned that actually Sara was not swallowing when she was feeding, but that's another story for another time.)

The next morning (Saturday), the neonatalogist told me that Sara had a bit of jaundice and needed to be kept in the nursery under the lamp.  They brought her in for feedings, then she was in the nursery the rest of the time.  It felt oddly quiet in the hospital room without her.  They were supplementing formula, because she was still hungry after breastfeeding.  I appreciated that they only did that with my specific permission.  The neonatalogist wanted to keep her under the lamp that night uninterrupted, so we had another night of rest.  She said there was a possibility that they may need to keep Sara an extra day longer than me, but if they kept her under the lamp all night, maybe she could go home with me. However, around midnight the neonatalogist said Sara had shown such an improvement that she was going to release her with me.  I was so relieved.

One thing I found odd compared to US hospitals is that I had to request pain medication when I needed it.  In the US, when I had surgery, the pain medication was automatically given to me (usually every 4 hours or something like that).  I felt silly calling the nurse all the time to ask for pain medication, and as a result I probably suffered through a lot more pain that was really necessary.  Also, the IV in my hand had gone bad.  They said they could give me another IV, or I could just take pills, and I opted for the pills because I hate needles.  They were able to use the spinal catheter until they took it out on Saturday.  I still have a scar on my hand from that IV as I write this a month later.  Also, they didn't force me to get up, walk the hallway, cough, etc.  They recommended me to get up and walk, but it was my responsibility to actually do it.  The only real incentive I had was that they had taken out my catheter, so I had to get up to go to the bathroom.  It hurt SO BAD to get up.  Abdominal surgery is no joke.  This is my third one.  (The first two were the result of a car accident when I was young.)  But my experience taught me that I needed to push myself in order to recover, so I did it.  Cameron was a huge help to me.  I think Sara being confined to the nursery also helped me to focus on my own recovery, which would be important when we went home.

Sunday was the day for all of us to go home.  I was so glad Sara had been released with me.  It was a bit odd, because there didn't seem to be a specific time to leave, and no one was pushing us out the door.  Cameron had some trouble getting the car seat out of the car (I'm sure he was a bit nervous), so I ended up just carrying Sara out of the hospital.  I'm told that in the US, the new mother is in a wheelchair and the baby is required to be in a car seat, but that's not required here.  We just walked out on our own.  A lot of people looked at us as we were walking out, and many said, "Sa va traiasca!" which is a sweet blessing for life.

Here we are at home!

It was so nice to have my parents here for Sara's birth.

Faith at Work conference

Over the last six months, God has opened our eyes to the great need of helping equip Romanian Christians to live out their faith in the workplace. After collaborating on a short article about church marketing (which you can access here), Cameron's good friend and co-author, Mircea, taught in Cameron's seminary class about how he lives out his faith in the office where he works. We posted a picture on Facebook of Mircea teaching, and several people from around Romania began emailing Cameron to ask if Mircea's talk was recorded somewhere or if they might get a copy of his notes. Obviously there was a strong interest in the topic. This got Cameron thinking about the need for another project on the topic.


In early May, Cameron contacted a missionary friend named Jeff who has mentioned for years that he is interested in this type of ministry. Cameron, Mircea, and Jeff then set out to interview seven Romanian Christian business people concerning how they live out their faith in the workplace and what the church might do to encourage them. They then spent a good chunk of the summer writing an article on the topic, titled "Vocational Witness in the Romanian Workplace: Realities and Responsibilities." Here is the link if you'd care to open and read that article.

Immediately following the final edits of "Vocational Witness," we began developing a workshop for Christian business people on this theme. At the moment, the guys (and their wives) have pretty much finished writing the curriculum and are now in the process of finding speakers and hammering out details. We are calling this "Faith at Work," and the idea is for the conference to be extremely practical (How do I work and live as a Christian on the job?) and encouraging (Is there anyone else out there who struggles with this stuff that I can connect with?). There will be three speakers and three small group breakout sessions to hash out how such concepts might look in their specific offices. The plan right now is to conduct two small beta tests of 12-15 participants: one in Bucharest in January and one in Timisoara in February. Lord willing, we will have a larger conference of 50+ people next summer.

Please pray for us as we prepare for these Faith at Work conferences (locations, dates, getting the word out, securing speakers and participants who will give good feedback, etc.). We are excited to see how God is moving in this area!

New seminary school year begins

Cameron's second year of teaching at the Bucharest Baptist Seminary is in full swing. He is teaching Biblical Evangelism again, which is great because he can use his same materials (notes, reading quizzes, etc.) from last year. Cameron missed two sessions of class due to our daughter Sara's birth (thanks Jeff for covering for for him!), but he is glad to be back teaching again.

While the total number of students in Cameron's class is technically the same as last year, over twice as many students are actually coming to class each week. We consider this a real blessing that word seems to be getting around that Cameron's class is worth attending (not to mention the fact that they get participation points). On average, there are about 18 students that attend each Friday.

Some exciting news from Cameron's class is that already several students have had fantastic gospel conversations with unbelievers. Many students were able to exchange email addresses and phone numbers with the people they spoke with, and one student has already met with his new friend (a taxi driver) at least once to talk about spiritual questions! Because of the way the program is designed, over half of the students will not be assigned to take Cameron's class in the spring, but one student the other day asked if he could still come to class even though he does not have to!

All told, Cameron is very proud of his students, both of their good class discussions and overall involvement in actually sharing their faith with others. Please pray for a good rest of the semester and for continued boldness for the students. We praise God for this wonderful ministry opportunity!

New mission point: Concrete Neighborhood

Cameron here. As pop singer Adele says, "Hello from the other side." This is our first blog entry post-Sara's birth, so we have decided to break up what has been going on into three blogs: three ministry-related and one baby-related. Of course, we realize that most people will skip to the baby-related one, and that's ok.

This post relates the goings-on for a new mission point in Bucharest that we are calling Concrete Neighborhood. It is a small neighborhood not far from our apartment, yet very much in need of gospel transformation. The folks there are mostly Roma gypsy, and it is a very poor area and known for drugs and unemployment. Here is the back story:

 

At the end of August, our assistant pastor contacted me about the possibility of taking a Northern Irish short-term mission team into Concrete Neighborhood to do facepainting, construct some soccer goals, and play with the 80+ kids that live there. There is a large concrete slab there that used to be the foundation of a Communist-era factory (hence, "concrete" neighborhood). We had a great time that day and I got to meet several of the people. Of course, they asked when we were coming back and I decided that Jessica and I would go again to see if we felt the Lord calling us to do more there.

That Saturday we went back up to Concrete Neighborhood and some of the locals told me there is a Romanian guy, C, that has been coming for four years on Saturday afternoons to do children's programs. Everyone in the neighborhood knows him. I realized right then that it would be best for me to meet this guy and collaborate with him. By that point, Jessica was nine months pregnant and so has not been able to be back since (hopefully she and Sara can come in the spring). So I went, and the Romanian man and I struck up a good relationship. Over the next few Saturdays, I had several good gospel conversations with a few other adults there, but realized that C did not feel equipped to do much with the adults. "But you can start an adult Bible study," said C, "and I will introduce you to everyone." (Talk about Luke 10 person of peace!)

The next Saturday we had ten adults gathered, and the one after that we had seven. I missed almost every Saturday in October due to Sara's birth, but yesterday I was back up there. Unfortunately, the weather here has turned pretty cold and fewer people are getting out of their houses. Nevertheless, we are a core group of four people that have committed to come together each Saturday afternoon to pray for God to move in Concrete Neighborhood. We meet in the home of the neighborhood's one believer; I give a little word of encouragement from the Bible and then we beg God to continue opening doors. And He is!

At first I was a bit wary that C's church did not seem to really be involved in supporting his efforts, but yesterday one of the elders of his church came and assured me that they will support us. Praise God! Also, turns out that the believer whose house we meet in has been graced by God with the gift of preaching, which means that when we begin growing as a Bible study and, Lord willing, one day a church, he can assume teaching responsibilities. Honestly, it is incredible to me how God is moving.

Please pray for Concrete Neighborhood. Ask that the Lord will blow open many doors for this ministry. Ask that God would draw many to himself in that rough place. Pray that as we meet in the coming months, our hearts might burn for Christ's kingdom to break through in that place.