Words to Go Around Baby Pictures

When talking about today’s blog post, Trish told me I didn’t have to work too hard on the actual writing of the post because the post also contains a lot of baby pictures. Cool, huh? And these aren’t pictures of just any baby. These are pictures of Allen and Trish’s latest grandchild. The fifth one, to be precise!!

Rachel and Brandy’s much awaited second son arrived a bit early on 10/7, but not scary early. Michael Samuel made his appearance at 36 weeks and didn’t have to spend extra time in the hospital. Michael is pronounced in the English way and Samuel is pronounced “SamWELL” in the Spanish way. The tradition of giving one North American name and one Honduran name began with Michael’s big brother, Nathan Josue (Many Honduran kids have a Gringo name and a Honduran name, even if both parents are Honduran). Michael weighed in at a very respectable 6 lbs. As you can see from the photos, he has that full-term look about him even though the actual due date was November 1. 

Rachel says Daddy is just a little smitten

With our Tia Paula!

As you likely recall, most of the Sowers family was in Seattle during the first week in September. A visibly pregnant Rachel made the 10-12 hour flight from Honduras and kept up with all of the family activities. The only thing she didn’t participate in was a mountain hike. The day she returned home, Rachel received a call from her landlord. Their house had been sold. Honduran law required the landlord to give them two months to find a new house. The clock was ticking. Since their ministry operates out of their home, they have some specific needs. They house college-age girls so it was important to find a house in a safe neighborhood that’s near the university. The house also needed to have a lot of room for their growing family, plus the ever-changing number of girls living with them. 

Cue Rachel’s early contractions because this story needs more drama! Yes, Rachel began having significant contractions and was put on bedrest. This is probably a good place to discuss the Honduran healthcare system, which essentially consists of three levels. While Honduras technically has free healthcare for all, the hospitals and clinics tend to be poorly supplied and staffed. Depending on the area of the facility, it might also be less than clean. The next level consists of military hospitals. Since Brandy is in the military this is what Rachel used when Nathan was born. It was clean and the staff was well-trained, but it wasn’t a very pleasant experience. There were issues like nurses continuing to give Nathan bottles on a regular schedule even though Rachel was breastfeeding. The third level in the healthcare system is private-pay. Healthcare costs aren’t as exorbitant as they are in the U.S., so a procedure that might cost hundreds of thousands in the U.S. might cost $30,000 in Honduras. (Think back to Allen’s heart procedures.) Rachel decided to use private care this time.

When she began having contractions way too early, her private doctor suggested she go to a military hospital in case she was hospitalized for several weeks. Fortunately, she was only in the military hospital for one night and they were able to stop the contractions. They sent her home and ordered bed rest. When the contractions started again, she called her private doctor who again directed her to the military hospital to get checked out. At the hospital, she wasn’t taken seriously. They sent her home like she was someone who kept going in with false labor. When she made it to 36 weeks she was finally able to get up and ride around as Brandy drove her to look at some potential places to move. They found a home. The following day she went into the non-military hospital. Mother and baby were able to go home after one night!

Kirstin drove to Rachel’s home last Monday. She’s helping with the packing, keeping Nathan occupied, grabbing all of the baby time she can get, and just generally being a big help to Rachel. She’s like Mary Poppins except, instead of an umbrella and a carpet bag, she arrived with a pickup truck to help haul boxes. 

We're not sure how we feel
about all this

Word is that big brother Nathan is mostly in love with the baby. Before he heads off to bed, he reminds Rachel and Brandy to take care of the baby at night. He is only a little disappointed that the baby cries and isn’t more fun at this stage.

Just to add to the drama, Rachel and Brandy just found out the house they were hoping to move to had some issues that would make it less adequate they originally thought, so they are now back to rental hunting. Rachel isn't (too) worried, however - she knows God's got this, same as everything else! Please pray with her and the fam, that something adequate will show up soon. In the meantime, they are packing up in preparation, and enjoying lots of baby snuggles.

- posted by Christi.