Making Possible the Blue Cocoon

Sometimes God puts people directly in your path.

When I wrote to ask her if she might be willing/interested in coming to Barranquilla to help us with the birth of Peanut, I wasn't sure what she would say.  When we met in February I had confided that I was pregnant (mostly to avoid eating too near any provocative smells), and sparkly eyed she had confided that she was sort of a birth nut.  She was available to talk if I needed to do so, and she wished me well in the coming 7 month journey.  It wasn't much to go on, but, following Ed McMahon's logic, I figured "Heck, if you don't enter, you can't win" and the email shot into cyberspace.

Her response was quick, thoughtful, and lengthy - a preview of all the emails and communications to come.  :)

Susanne is here working with the Mennonite Central Committee for three years, and aside from concerns about whether she would be able to take the time away from her work, she and her family were committed to making this crazy request work...all the way from Bogotá.  So she packed a bag (before we did I think), put it by the front door, and faithfully checked email, text messages and voice mails to see if she needed to hop on a plane.

In her words, "I would love to make it to the birth itself, but if circumstances/timing doesn't work out right...I could bring some recipes and cook a little" and "I'll just be there to clean the toilets and do some laundry for you all."  There may be no one who has undersold themselves quite so impressively.

What we did not know (remember?) is that Susanne is actually a child specialist: birth to age three.  So aside from making it to the hospital by 5pm (plenty of time...) and helping convince Dra. Lucia to let me get on that darn ball to help Peanut turn over, she stayed with us for 4 more days and helped us get our sea legs.  Having eaten together twice and spent a total of 6 hours together previously, Susanne saw more of me than most people ever even wanted to - on the surgical table and afterward as I worked to get the hang of breast feeding and hurt in places I wasn't even aware existed.

Besides cooking some of the best food we have had this whole year, doing the laundry and bringing recipes (we did manage to keep her from attacking the toilet), she stayed up through the night with us to help us figure out the first nights with Peanut.  Susanne helped us remember that Peanut's crying was not a personal attack but rather part of the work she was doing to try and get it together in this new place.  She brought a sense of calm to a household that was feeling more of the storm, and she allowed both of us to hole up in the blue cocoon so that we could sleep, cry, smile, and stare in wonder at this new arrival.

In short, she helped us move from people to parents, and for that Tía Susanne, we can never thank you enough.