A few challenges.

This past Friday we made the boat trip to Panajachel to meet the midwife. We needed to pick up some groceries so we went early to the large Friday Pana market. We picked up everything on our list for about $7.00!

I’m really glad that Brandon speaks Spanish (even though he will tell you he is not very good)! He has been amazing at getting us what we need. I plan to find a Spanish teacher this upcoming week…I’m feeling a bit uneasy about my brains ability to learn another language at this point in my life but all I can do is try my best.

Not pictured: 2 lbs of black beans and 1 lbs of rice

We walked through the cobblestone streets to Daniela, the midwife’s home.  On the way we encountered a children’s parade. We spent about 2 hours talking with her and we fell in love. She is amazing! Problem is that she also told us that she has 2 other job opportunities that she is waiting to hear about and if 1 of them goes through she will not be here at the end of December when I am due. I did not cry when she told me this but I really wanted to. She provided us with a few other options: birth center in Guatemala city that is located 3 hours away, a name of an American midwife that she is not sure if she is here currently or not, and a hospital in a village about 25 minutes away. The hospital is the place that she uses for medical emergencies and so she would like us to visit it regardless. We left the meeting with the agreement that Brandon and I would tour the hospital, reach out to the American midwife as well as the birth center in the city, and that Daniela will keep us posted on if she will be here or not. She felt that she would hear from the other opportunities for herself in 2 weeks. 

If I am being honest with myself, I am freaking out internally. I am working to stay positive and to believe that this too will workout as it is meant to. Daniela talked about the birth being one small piece to this journey and that the resources really come from within me…working to focus on this but also remaining hopeful that she will be able to be a support to us during the birth.

And then…the power went out! We were very aware that this happens here, Frequently! It went out at 9pm Friday night. No big deal.   We just went to sleep thinking it will be back on when we wake up. Nope! This is when the pain of the news from Daniela really bubbled up. I found myself going to a bad place and wanting to go home. After a good cry (the kind where you can’t breathe) and a great hug from Brandon I felt better. And as soon as I was done the power returned! It was a total of 12 hours of no power but the world kept turning and nothing terrible occurred.

Solar powered light from Brandon's sister Leah...Thank you!

It was sunny outside so I decided to get our first load of laundry on the line before the rain came.  I took an hour nap with the dogs before waking to make dinner. We finished our Saturday night with chicken tacos and 2 episodes of Narcos on Netflix.

XOXO,

Katie and Brandon