Midwife and Baby's Away

So we changed our minds about the doctor. And about driving 2+ hours to have the baby in Boise. There's a great birthing center run by midwives called the Baby Place in Meridian (next to Boise). We met with the head midwife there and it just felt like the way to go. All of our concerns about the drive and especially about dealing with hospital staff and doctors have been lifted. The thing that sets midwives apart from doctors is that they look at childbirth as a normal, natural thing instead of a medical procedure. They don't induce people and have never had problems with the baby or mom because of that. Basically, everything that we want out of this experience, they agree that it's the way birth should work. They're totally willing to work with us since we live far away even if that means coming in for check ups on days they aren't usually in the office and adjusting the appointment schedule so we don't have to drive down there as often as long as I'm healthy and doing well. She even said she wouldn't mind coming to McCall once or twice. Probably the biggest reason that we considered changing our plans for the doctor is the money. I called and got prices for everything and we were trying to figure out how long it would take us to pay $11 thousand dollars minimum to have this baby and someone mentioned that it's a lot cheaper in Boise. So I made some more calls that week and found the Baby Place which was the least expensive of all options and our total cost for everything is only going to be $2500! Now that's a little more manageable, which will allow us to finish paying off our credit card and our car. Then if we're lucky, maybe we can get a second car next year.

Anyway, we know that this solution has been an answer to our prayers.

Part 2 answer to prayers was a phone call I got a few days later. I got a side job as rep for a company called Baby's Away (www.babysaway.com). It's a franchise that rents baby equipment to people on vacation (cribs, strollers, high chairs, anything you can think of). The owner lives in Sun Valley and has been running a location there for about 15 years. She just started the McCall location this past winter and the person who was running it for her was a friend of mine, but since she had to move, she referred me to the job. So basically I get phone calls from people wanting items for a weekend or week while they're in town, I take the order, and deliver the items. Then when they're done, I go pick them up and clean everything before it gets rented again. For these simple tasks, I make 50% of all rental charges plus there's a charge for delivery. Brandie, who was doing it before was averaging about $200/month, and that's the slow season up here. Not bad since it didn't ever feel like much work. Of course, the hope is that it really takes off and I do get busy, because then that extra money might end up being a lot more than $200/month. So my intention is to put all the extra income (after tithing of course) into our credit card until we get it completely paid off. It is humbling to realize how much we are blessed. I am grateful for a Father in Heaven who looks out for me and my little family, even when we know we should be doing so much more to serve Him. I'm also grateful for a husband who supports me in all areas. (For example, by spending hours yesterday morning loading 15+ cribs and a bunch of other baby equipment from a storage unit into a moving truck and then down the unstable stairs to our basement to make this more convenient and profitable.) What a guy!