A week with Omari and his mommy!

On Friday morning Deborah went to do a home birth in Makati. Even though I had met the mother once before at the Paanakan, I had no idea that she had gone into labor until Darren came over to the children's home in the afternoon and asked if I wanted to go and experience the home birth environment. I rode up to Makati with Jorge since he was going up to take Deborah an oxygen tank. Upon arrival we discovered that the baby had already been born but that the mom was needing help for some days after the birth. Deborah suggested to us (the mother and I) that I live with her this week and help her get the baby breast feeding. Because the baby was born at 37 weeks and had some trauma at birth, he's had some trouble feeding. We (the mother and I) have been working together to get him to feed more. It's been a blessing to me to be able to support her and to see this tiny little baby begin to eat more, I think he's grown already! How blessed am I to be able to spend this precious time with this new mommy and baby!? While it is sometimes difficult to have friends around at this time and family is far away, I am allowed to be right here, to wake up for middle of the night feedings with her, to hold the baby while she showers, to help them rest, to change him and answer questions that she has. This has been awesome! Helping mommies and babies connect, building relationships, and being able to hold someone so little and new is really wonderful! It's been an exhausting yet great experience to be able to support and care for this sweet mom as she learns to care for her new little life! I have fallen more and more in love with this little guy everyday! She has carefully contemplated what his name should be and today decided on Omari Yousef. He is adorable!

Mommy and baby





Sunbathing

Naptime



It's going to be really hard for me to separate from this little guy and his mommy when I go back to the Paanakan tomorrow!

until next time...