The Call of Duty

Britta's body is a wonderland.It produces the most beautiful children. Even if one of them is half Mark. I'm slow to report but I must share my experience with the arrival of precious Adalie. For months, Britta joked with me about being in the room when the baby was born because Mark told her he wasn't really good with the whole birth "thing" so she asked me to come in and help her out when the time arrived. I was completely honored. Britta is my sister in every sense of the word and I love her dearly and it meant so much to me to even be asked. Fast forward to B day. I got to the hospital and was happy to see that Britta's friend Clancy was in town and Britta's mom Bobby was in the room. Apparently Britta was trying to be wonder woman and go natural with her delivery. Admittedly, I had a good laugh with myself when I heard this. Not that I think that Britta couldn't do it, but I just know my girl.

Note: To all you amazing women who've chosen to deliver natural and remain drug free during your labor & delivery, I commend you...but I think you're a total masochist. No one thinks you're mother of the year because you've elected not to go the epidural route. Why not make the entire process a little more pleasant by numbing your downtown?? I think using a tampon hurts. I can only imagine how delightful squeezing a little watermelon out of me must feel. Not all drugs are bad. Especially ones approved by the FDA :)

Note 2: Britta's OB/GYN is freaking AWESOME. He was my buddy from the get go. Not an ounce of ego in him. He came in and watched Britta enjoy some contractions and kept whispering to me that he knows Britta will cave and then he bet me $10 she would ask for an epidural.

Sure enough, Britta came through for us and begged for an epidural. At this point she'd barely reached 3 cm. I love that girl. I sort of wonder if Britta had the whole Angel/Devil dilema thing going on. Clancy was the Angel saying "You are strong, you can do this, let me help you" and I was (of course) the devil saying "Drugs are good, take them and let Clancy help you"

After the epidural, we had a really fun afternoon just chatting and making jokes and around 4:45 Britta told her nurse she really had to go number 2 and wanted to try to do so before the baby came. The nurse tells Britta that isn't number 2 that is the baby's head in the birth canal. WOO HOO! Nurse starts getting everything ready for the baby and the Dr. comes in. Now...when Britta asked me to be in the room during the delivery, I assumed It would be sitting in a chair in the room saying encouraging things. I got the shock of my life when Dr. Neilson told me to get on her side and grab her leg. Clancy and I got on either side and each grabbed a leg. Mark was by her head...

I REALLY tried hard to look at Britta and not down at her crotch but seriously couldn't help myself. Clancy was the respectful friend keeping eye contact but I was too enthralled. At one point I saw this gray-ish small bubble down there. Clearly never having seen my vagina at this angle, I asked the Dr. if I had one of those bubble things. He laughed and said "Um no. That is the head crowning." Phew.
Britta pushed for all of 10 minutes before we were graced with little Adalie. I cried louder than the baby did. It was such a beautiful experience and I felt honored to be there to witness such a miracle. While Britta and Mark were holding Adalie, I stuck around Britta's downtown to ask more questions. Dr. Neilson told me he was delivering the afterbirth and did Miss-ask-a-lot-of-questions want to watch? Heck yes I did. Again, I didn't mean to be as eager as I was but I was just awestruck about the entire experience. I might have got my face a little too close during one of the placenta tugs because a huge spray of blood nearly hit my face. It was like Carrie when the pigs blood spills on her. Everyone laughed a little too hard at that.

All in all, it was a wonderful experience and the atmosphere was fun and relaxed and we laughed a ton. Britta, I'm sorry I couldn't stop staring at your crotch. Thank you for allowing me to share the experience with you. I shall never forget it.

Guess Who I Got to Meet Today?

THE PROPHET!

So, for those that don't know I work downtown at the Triad Center where Channel 5 and the new BYU campus reside. I was taking a new employee to the security office to have a badge made up and they told me I would have to wait 10 minutes. So I went down about 15 minutes later and I asked the security guard who was more important than me right then and he responded, "Thomas Monson" Oh. My. Well...Yes, he IS more important than me. He also mentioned that if I would stand by the elevator I would get to see him rushing past. Sure enough about 20 seconds later, the Prophet walked through the doors and he did not rush by. He stopped and spoke to the guy who happened to be closest to the door. He made small talk with the guy and then came over to me. Just him walking towards me making eye contact, I was giddy. He extended his hand and asked my name and I said "Michelle" and then he said "pleased to meet you Michelle, what is your last name?" (I believe he probably got a bad feeling about me and probably wants to consult with me later.) Then he told a story about a baby he blessed years ago named "Bucket" it was random but sweet. After he left, I was beside myself and I just remember feeling blessed to be near a Prophet of God. Usually the opportunity to see him is with 80,000 of your fellow Church Members and you usually don't have the opportunity to shake their hand. I also know that based on how I've been feeling lately, it was no coicidence that I didn't go get the badge done sooner. It really truly made my day and I felt that pure goodness that emanated from his entire being.

Love in the Purest Form

Okay, this is a very random post (when are they not?) but I had to share this because it literally made me bawl my eyes out. For those that don't understand how someone could live with pets (even after having pretty shoes chewed) may have a better understanding to the unconditional love that you experience with pets as shown in the video. Honorable mention to Marevis who sent me this.

Here's the story:

In 1969, two friends, John Rendall and Ace Berg, purchased a lion. At the time, Christian the lion was a 35-pound cub. He had been born in a zoo. The friends raised Christian in their London home. All three hung out in a friend’s furniture shop on the weekends.

Within a year, Christian had grown to 185 lbs. Rendall and Berg realized they couldn’t keep him much longer. But they didn’t know what to do with him. A chance encounter changed that. Two actors from the film Born Free walked into the furniture store.

The actors recommended a conservationist, George Adamson, living in Kenya. Christian was soon in Africa. There he was rehabilitated and released into the wild.

In 1974, Rendall and Berg decided to visit Christian one last time. He was now a wild animal. Adamson told them it was doubtful that Christian could be found. No one had seen him in nine months.

The two flew to Kenya, anyway. On the day they landed, Christian appeared outside Adamson’s camp. Somehow, he knew. He waited outside the camp until Rendall and Berg arrived.

This video was taken during their reunion with Christian.