2008 in Review

Dear Friends and Family December 31, 2008
Another year has come and gone. They are going too fast. This year took some unexpected twists and turns as they all do. It makes me love and appreciate life even more. I’ve loved all the cards, and letters, and pictures I’ve received this season. It is so wonderful to get updates and see pictures, and hear from friends from all over. The letters always inspire me to write my own, so here it is.
Our main focus at the end of the year and during the holidays has been taking care of Anson. We’ve never had any sick kids before, but we almost lost him from a ruptured appendix. He and George had gone to Dallas for a Cowboys game, and he vomited and had a lot of stomach pain right before the game. After they got back to Houston, he felt bad and didn’t want to eat. I thought he had a stomach virus. I finally realized it was something more. We took him to the Emergency Room and he had surgery the day after Thanksgiving. He was in the hospital for two weeks and had an IV line in for two more weeks at home. He got a stomach virus this past week- just what he didn’t need. He was beginning to think he would never get well. He has lost about 23 pounds- weight he didn’t have to lose. He has finally started to eat normally again and feel better. One silver lining to the whole thing is that he appreciates mom and dad a lot more than he did before, and we appreciate him, too.

One big project this year has been for Bonham to get his Eagle Scout award. It was a lot of work and he was definitely motivated and did most of it on his own. We helped him some, especially with his final project which was to collect medical supplies for a clinic in Africa. We got a lot of stuff and collected it in our dining room for about six weeks. Then we had a lot of helpers come and help box it up. We shipped 26 boxes of supplies! I also helped him with his hiking merit badge. We took five, 10 mile hikes together. I usually only made about six or seven miles, but he kept on going. That was hard work, but a lot of fun. Bonham is a senior in high school this year and Anson is in 10th grade. They both have been making good grades.

Luke and Abbie and Travis and Brenda still live in Eugene, Oregon. We got to go up and see them in March. It is an incredibly beautiful place. And we had a blast being up there with them. They all share a nice house there. They originally went up there to mine for gold, but that didn’t work out, so they got regular jobs. They came home for a 10 day visit in August. We had a birthday party for them while they were here (Luke is 24 and Travis is 21). We also went to Austin for a day and tubing in New Braunsfels. That was a great time. We miss them a lot and are glad they are doing well. I am secretly happy to see the weather so bad in Oregon this winter. Maybe they will start thinking about how much nicer it is in Texas and consider coming back down this way.

In between all these events, I continued working as a midwife and running my birth center, That always provides plenty of activity and excitement. I took off for two weeks in December so that I could stay at the hospital with Anson. I delivered 64 babies this year. You can learn more about the details at my blog- (www.lifeofamidwife.blogspot.com).

George worked hard as ever as an engineer and made several trips for work to Oklahoma, Trinidad, and the Philippines. I am proud of myself for getting on a better diet and losing 25 pounds this year. One of my resolutions is to not gain it back. We built a medium size garden this year. It did well and are looking forward to even better results next year.
We have spent the holidays at home together. I am thankful for my family, my friends, our home, my church, my health, and my work. It is good to be alive. I am looking forward to 2009.
All my love to those this goes out to.
Jackie

Big Events 2008

January- We built a small garden out of cinder blocks.
February- Bonham working on his Eagle Scout project to collect medical supplies for a clinic in Africa. The supplies took up our whole dining room.
March- Trip to Oregon to see the Luke and Travis. Had a wonderful time. Such a beautiful place. Wish it wasn’t so far from Texas. Watching the election closely. Voted in the primary. Went to the rodeo.
May- I turned 50- I believe I’m starting the second half of my life- George gave me a gift of wicker furniture for the front porch
June- Family Reunion and vacation to Comfort, Texas. Bonham went to Scout Camp at Philmont, New Mexico
July- Went to the Panhandle for the funeral of my cousin, JW. He was quite a character. A real Texas cowboy. He was well loved by his family and friends. The church where the funeral was held was packed.
August- Luke and Travis (and Brenda and Abbie) came home from Oregon for a visit, We went to Austin for fun and tubing in New Braunsfels. They were here for 10 days that flew by.
September 12-13th- Hurricane Ike struck the Houston area. Big mess to clean up- we still have work to do to fix our house. Got rid of about a third of the trees on our property. It was quite a storm. I definitely underestimated the power of a Category II hurricane. We stayed at our home during the hurricane and spent an exciting and somewhat scary night catching water pouring in through two cracks in the ceiling and trying to keep the door in Bonham’s room shut. It amazed me how long it went on- 24 straight hours of wind. Power was off for about 10 days afterwards. That was the biggest inconvenience. Made me appreciate electricity a lot more.

October- Went to Amarillo to see mama. Bonham got his first job at Circuit City. My dog Gracie, turned 10. I’ll be surprised if she makes another year. Makes me realize how fast life passes. Seems like she was just a pup.
November- Anson got sick the week before Thanksgiving, Had surgery for ruptured appendix on Nov. 29th, Voted on November 4th. George’s sister, Rhoda, and her family came for Thansgiving

December-
Anson was in the hospital from Nov. 29- thru Dec. 12. He had an IV when we brought him home and he was still getting antibiotics and running a fever. Gradually, he got better. We spent Christmas at home. Bonham got laid off from his first job at Circuit City because they are going bankrupt

Life after Hurricane Ike

I decided last year that I was too busy to keep up with a blog. Now I decided I'm not. Writing is therapeutic. It's worth the time. Everything is a big mess since the hurricane, but it hasn't been all bad. We've spent a lot of time at home picking up branches and sticks and leaves. I finished my Texas jigsaw puzzle. I got all my CD's and videos organized. We've been listening to a lot of radio. It's been good to have the kids out of school again for a little while. We still don't have any power at home, but we do at the Birth Center. My husband and I and our two boys are staying at my birth center for now. There was an electric truck working on our street today. We were hopeful. We have a water well at our house, so when we don't have electricity, we don't have water. We have a small generator, but it's not big enough to run the well or the a/c. We kept the refrigerator going long enough to use up most of our food. It's good to cook and eat at home. We do have a gas stove, so we've still been able to cook things.
We had about 12 big trees down on our property (none on the house). That's been the biggest mess. We've got about 4 more to get cut up and hauled out to the street. Bonham got into some poison ivy while we were cleaning brush. He got it on one hand and arm and then on his face. One of his eyes was swollen shut yesterday. Got him some steroids and it's a lot better today. We also had two bad leaks in the roof from the driving rain. It was a good thing we were there to out a bucket under it. Collected two buckets full of water.
I helped with two babies the day before the Hurricane (Sept 11th). We were all relieved that those babies were born before the storm moved in. More info about their births is at my other blog (www.bayareabirths.blogspot.com). My husband stayed home that day and washed clothes and got the house ready for the storm.
I way underestimated how strong the hurricane would be. I thought I could still travel to someone in labor if I absolutely had to. There was no way I could have. It would not have mattered if they had been two doors down, I could not have gotten there. That 110 mph wind was super strong!!! From now on, if we ever have another hurricane, I will tell any client who is close to being due to come stay with me, or go far, far away.
We delivered another baby since the hurricane on the 18th. She started out at home, but ended up transferring to the birth center and we were thinking about going to the hospital, but the baby finally came out. We were so happy!
My boys and I drove down to LaPorte today. It looked terrible. I feel so sorry for the people there and further south. They got wind damage and flooding. I went down there to see one of my clients/friends. She wasn't there. All my clients are all scattered out. Some are still far away waiting for power to be restored.
Every night when it gets completely dark, we all get sleepy immediately. I kind of like life w/o electricity in many ways, but not being able to flush the toilets is a pain.
Jackie

Review of 2007

Happy New Year ! January, 2008

I’ve loved getting Christmas cards and especially pictures and now I’m writing back. When I sat down to write this, I started to make a list of all the good things and all the bad things that happened this year. After thinking about it, I realized that is not really a good idea because some of the things that seem good at first turn out bad later and vice versa. So I will give a little history of what happened this year. I'll tell you one thing about 2007- I didn't sit around much- it was a busy year for me and my family and I am very thankful to have the health and energy to stay busy.

My time is divided between working at home as a wife and mother and working at my birth center as a midwife. I go to my office at the birth center almost every day of the week and sometimes also on weekends. Sunday has always been the most popular day for my clients to have their babies. In 2007, I delivered 79 babies- 43 boys and 36 girls. I have been busier in other years, but this was plenty busy enough for me. About half of those were born at the birth center and about half were homebirths. 2007 went out with a bang with 3 baby boys born on New Years Eve! The biggest baby of the year was 10 lbs., 5 oz- a boy- 4th baby, born at home in Cypress. The smallest baby was 5 lbs., 3 oz- a boy, 2nd baby, born at home in Katy. Had a couple smaller than that had to go to the hospital while the mom was still in labor because they were premature. Nine women had to go to the hospital for various reasons. Seven of those needed c-sections. One baby had to go to the hospital immediately after the birth. I'm sorry to say four babies I helped with have been born this year with major birth defects- two with heart problems, one with intestinal problems, and one with a cleft palate. This concerns me because I have never had any of these kind of problems before. For the most part, all of the moms and babies are doing ok now as far as I know. Although I don't think everyone should start out there, sometimes I am very thankful for hospitals.

I spent a lot of time at my birth center this year and still love being a midwife. It's a really big part of my life. I've had some legal problems with my birth center and that has weighed heavily on me, but I think it is all almost worked out. I know worrying about it won’t help, so I just put my trust in the Lord that I am doing what I am supposed to be doing and he will help me to keep going. I want to thank all of you who helped me with letters on my behalf, and support in many ways. I want to thank my employees, Camellia May, Debbie Perry, Dena Rogge, and Carmen Aguilar for all their help this year. They help me in many ways- especially Camellia takes care of the clients and me. She is a gem.

I had a big party at my home on Dec. 8th for my clients. About 40 families came and it was wonderful to see all the babies and kids. We had a pretty baby contest and if had been up to me, they would have all won. Someday I’m going to make a trip all the way around the country and see some of my clients who have moved away. I know I’m going to Florida, Tennessee, Colorado, and California.

The other half of my life is my family. We have five boys, but just two left at home. We miss the other ones a lot. Luke and Travis live in Eugene, Oregon, and my oldest son, Shay, lives just north of Denver. It's been hard to get used to having just 2 boys at home. Travis married Brenda Gonzales on April 20th. She is from Pasadena and we like her a lot. They are both 20, so they were older than we were when we got married. We hope they will have a long, happy life together.

Anson is growing up fast and is in 9th grade. He's a great kid and we love having him around. He's the only one around most of the time because Bonham is always gone somewhere. Anson spends a lot of time playing his guitar. He's an excellent player. His current plan is to be a chemical engineer when he goes to college. One day last summer he went to work with my husband for a few hours. The next day, George found some of his business cards where Anson had crossed out George's name and written his in. Anson makes good grades and seems to have quite a few friends.

Bonham turned 17 this year and we know our time with him is growing short. He got his drivers license this year in February, and he has a silver 1986 El Camino that he drives (Luke's old car). Unfortunately, he had a minor wreck in October and hasn't been able to drive it since then. It's in the shop now. Bonham is planning to go on a mission for our church after he graduates. He is planning to get a job next summer to save money for that. He hopes to finish his Eagle Scout project in January. He is collecting medical supplies for an organization called Mothers Without Borders for a hospital in Zambia and has found someone who is going there to take them in person.

My husband, George, had a usual year of traveling and working as an instrument engineer all over the world. He went to mainly Trinidad and the Philippines this year. He still works for VenTech Engineering in Pasadena. We miss him when he's gone but he spends a lot of time at home, too. George started wearing glasses this year. It's hard to believe we are both getting so old. We celebrated our 33^rd anniversary this year and his 50th birthday recently.

My mom is 80 and getting very frail. She is living in a good nursing home in Canyon, Texas. I feel sad that I can't go see her more often. She has a sister and two brothers who live nearby and see her often, but I still worry about her. Her husband, Charlie died this year and she has been sad about that. I am sad that she is no longer in her house and we don't have her home to go to on holidays.

Other important events of 2007:

· Great vacation to Anchorage, Alaska (October)

· Trips to Amarillo several times, Kansas City to see our old friends (May)

· Our little ferret, Brownie died- we all miss her (February)

· Painted our porch white- looks a lot better (April)

· Continued as Sunday school teacher for the 9 yr old class at church – 8 kids that give me a run for my money

· Received the Woman of Excellence Award from Mayor Bill White and the Federation Houston Professional Women (September)

· Continued as President of Assoc. of Texas Midwives, an association dedicated to moving midwifery forward in Texas and the US

Best Books I read in 2007

· The Wit and Wisdom of Ben Franklin

· The Tao of Willie by Willie Nelson

· Farewell to Jackie (About last years of Jackie Kennedy’s life)

· Without A Map (Memoir of a woman who gave her baby up for adoption)

· In the Ruins of the 3rd Reich (About life in Germany following WWII)

· Baby Catcher by Peggy Vincent (About a midwife in California)

· I Walked the Line (Book by Johnny Cash’s first wife, Vivian)

Best movie I saw in 2007: Sicko

I started a blog this year-my goal is to write on it and eventually use my notes from that to write a book about my experiences as a midwife. You can read it at if you are interested. www.lifeofamidwife.blogspot.com.

The best times we had in 2007 were when we were with friends and family. We can never get enough of that. Hope to see all of you that this goes out to many times in 2008.

With love,

Jackie Griggs

I was at home tonight, channel surfing on the television. I found a movie just starting, Erin Brockovich. I wanted something to watch while I was organizing some papers, so I started watching it. It's sad. Sometimes, I feel like Erin Brockovich in a different kind of way. Here is my Erin Brockovich story.
I was in Hobby Lobby tonight and a woman I had never spoken to called me on cell phone. She told me she was supposed to have a c-section today, but she didn't show up for it. She said she had a c-section with her first baby 6 years ago. Now she is pregnant again with her second baby. She has been going to a doctor who originally said she could try for a vaginal birth. Unfortunately, her due date was yesterday, and her time was up. Her doctor said she can't let her go over her due date, especially since next week is Thanksgiving and she is planning to go out of town. So the woman who called me somehow found the courage to disobey her doctor and not show up for the c-section. Her plan now is to wait until she goes into labor and stay home as long as possible, until she feels an urge to push and go to the hospital and take whatever doctor she gets. She spoke to someone who recommended she call me. So she called me and told me her story.
Maybe I should have just said, I'm sorry, I can't help you. It's pitiful that so many American women are in this situation. I don't know if I can help her. I do know it's a terrible situation that I've heard about over and over again. Unnecessary surgery hurts women and families. It's wrong.

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Daydreams

When I help with a difficult birth such as the one I described in the last post, it makes me question whether or not I should remain a midwife. Should it be up to me to hold the life of a baby in my hands? The baby I delivered yesterday was born to a woman with no risk factors. He wasn't too big, not extremely overdue, no meconium, she was in good health. However, he had to be resuscitated. But if I don't do it- who will? She could be with a midwife without as much experience or at a hospital where he would immediately have his cord cut and taken away from his mom and probably still be in NICU.
If I was not a midwife, I would like to work in a bakery or a flower shop, making pretty things. I would only work part time just to have some spending money. I would stay up late whenever I wanted. I would go camping with my boys at least once a month. I would hang out at the library and exercise or walk my dog every day. I would clean out my closet and use my sewing machine more often.
Oh, it's time to wake up. I'll do all that some time in the future. I can do those things when I retire. But now it's not time to retire. I still have a mission to help more women and babies and families and hold a place for an alternative to hospital birth. Most of the time, I love being a midwife and I consider it a privilege. It just shakes me up sometimes to realize what an awesome responsibility I hold in my hands.

A difficult birth

When I come back to this blog, I know I am more of a midwife than a writer. I make time in my life to be a midwife, but rarely make time to write. So many things have happened since I last wrote and I'm mad at myself for not making the time to write about it. So here I am now to give an update.
I'm at home today listening to NPR on the radio with my cat lying in a basket nearby. it's wonderful to have some time to write. I helped deliver two babies yesterday. It always amazes me how babies are born in little groups. The babies yesterday were at 6:16 am (after a long night for us all), and 5:09 pm. The mother of the second baby is a woman I am close to. I helped her with her first baby as well and have also helped with some of her friends babies. I like her family because it reminds me of my own. She called me yesterday morning to let me know she was in labor. I was already at the birth center with my first client, so she said she would be there in a little while. In the meantime, my other client went home and I got the birth room cleaned and ready to use again.
When she got there, she was doing great- really working well with each strong contraction- breathing and walking and not complaining- just working hard. She is in good health and had a perfectly sized baby- three days past her due date. I checked her vital signs and listened to her baby- everything sounded great. At 1:00, I checked and she was 8 cm with bulging membranes and we were all so excited to know her baby would be here soon. Her first labor had been kind of long. We were all hoping this one would not take so long.
So she got in the birth tub to relax. She continued working well with her contractions. But time went on , and she did not have an urge to push. After about two hours she got out of the tub to lie on the bed because she was getting very tired. I checked again and she was 9 cm, but the front part of her cervix was swollen. Her water broke when I did that exam and it was clear. I felt confident that the baby would come right on down and out with the water out of the way. So she went on with her labor working really hard. I was surprised that her completely normal pregnancy and labor so far had not resulted in birth. During all this time, I was checking her vital signs and listening to her baby with the dopler intermittantly. He always sounded fine. She would occasionally get an urge to push, but it would not last. I knew something was blocking his way. I checked again and her cervix was swollen even more. I was worried now, because there isn't much I can do to stop the swelling except change the mom's position frequently and put ice on the cervix. She was already moving all over the place, so I decided to try to put some ice on the cervix to reduce it. From that time on, I was very busy working with her with every contraction. The ice definitely helped. She got on her hands and knees to put pressure on the front part of her cervix and soon had a true urge to push. The baby's heartbeat went down to the 120's, but still in the normal range. I think it was because his head was being molded.
Finally, we could see his head as she pushed. He certainly didn't glide out. She had to push hard every time to make a little progress. The baby's heart rate remained in the normal range. And now he was crowning. I waited for the next contraction and his head came halfway out. Ok, push him out- but she couldn't she didn't have another contraction or an urge to push. I rubbed her uterus vigorously to stimulate another contraction-I asked her husband to rub her nipples to release some oxytocin. Still no contraction- just push anyway!!!So she pushed with all her might and he came on through. There was a cord around his neck and I quickly looped it off. He came out limp and white and not moving. It is my worst nightmare to see a baby like that.
I immediately rubbed him and suctioned him with the bulb syringe and he moved and coughed a little. My assistant got the oxygen. It took a minute to get the o2 going, but we gave him some. He had a good heartbeat, but still not breathing on his own. I gave him a few puffs with the ambu bag, and finally he started breathing on his own. His color improved and he opened his eyes. His life came back to him! He was so precious and we were all so thankful for him to be alive. His apgars were 4, 9, and 10. Now today he is at home with his parents and big brother and grandparents.