Digging in the Desert

Whether it be good or bad, doing pretty much anything in this country is somewhat of an adventure.  Going to the doctor, grocery shopping, or having dinner can turn into something far more than you bargained for.  And that's just every day life!  We decided to wait to do anything that normal people consider to be an adventure for when Harry's parents came.  They were planning to stay for two weeks and I knew we would need a few fun activities to get us all out of the house.  A few people from our compound posted pictures on Facebook of them digging for sand roses out in the desert.  I thought that would be the perfect thing for us to do!  One of the families had been twice and they made a pretty accurate map of how to get there.  We were advised on all the equipment we needed to bring with us and to go with a group for in case one of the cars got stuck in the sand.  Luckily the same driver had taken them on both of their trips and he was available to take us!

We invited some our friends to come along so we all met up and had lunch at the compound restaurant before heading out to our desert adventure.  I don't know why, but I imagined that we would pull over on the side of the road and start digging.  That wasn't the case!  We were literally in the middle of the desert...with the Bedouins and roaming camels.  I've seen some of
the tents that these people live in from the highway, but seeing them up close is crazy!  I have NO idea how they do it in the summer when temperatures are well over 100 degrees! 

We finally made it to the spot where we knew we would be able to find the roses.  They form in arid sandy conditions, specifically at the evaporation of a shallow salt basin.  So in order to find them, you have to dig until you hit water which is about 3 feet.  Connor had a great time!  He kept saying that he was looking for buried treasure.  It was soooo windy, but we all had a blast!  

Camels roaming around in the distance.

Our drivers.

Our gang! (minus Harry's dad who took the picture and his mom and Jameson who were in the car)

Our first adventure as a family of four!  It was extremely windy so I kept Jameson covered up.

The girls :)

Because it was so windy, the sand started to cover the roads (and I use the word "roads" loosely).  We had to go really fast to make it through where the sand had gotten deep.  Connor thought it was so much fun...me, not so much!  I definitely won't be riding any dune buggies!   We didn't always make it through though!  We were in three cars all together...the first car made it through okay, the second car got stuck which made the third car have to stop and of course get stuck.  This happened more than once!  Thank goodness we were in a group!  It made for an entertaining ending to our outing!

Some of the roses look better than others, but they are all pretty fascinating!

          

Jameson Kenneth Hitt

After the doctor at the hospital sent me home the day of the flood I was so disappointed.  I was so tired and uncomfortable and in pain that I just wanted it to be over with.  I prayed that something had changed before going to my doctor's appointment the next day, but that wasn't the case.  I was still only 2 cm dilated.  She did what OB doctors do to try to get things going and left me with "Inshallah, he will come soon."  I got home from my appointment around 7:00 pm (yes, they do late appointments here).  I was starting to hurt pretty bad, but I contributed it to the procedure my doctor had just done.  Connor was at the game room on the compound so Harry and I walked over to get him.  I had to stop a few times because of the contractions, but I continued on thinking they would eventually ease up.  I ate supper and watched a little tv, trying to relax.  By 10:00 Harry had pushed me over the edge with his constant nagging about the contractions and asking if I wanted to go to the hospital.  I strongly advised him to stop talking and leave me alone haha!  At this point I was actually having to use breathing techniques to get through the contractions, but still I thought they would go away.  I didn't want to go to the hospital just to be sent back home.  I took a long bath and decided to try to get some sleep.  I definitely couldn't sleep so I played on Facebook and read, trying to take my mind off the pain.  It wasn't working.  Sometime after midnight I couldn't take it anymore and decided that we needed to go to the hospital.  We called the driver to let him know that it was time.  Harry tried to call our friends that we had made arrangements with to take Connor but they didn't answer.  He tried again and still no answer so he ended up just going to their house and ringing the doorbell.  By the time Sijo (the driver) got to our house Harry was running back up the street.  I started to get really nervous when I had to lean against the car and wait for the contraction to pass before getting in...it hurt that bad!  I'm pretty sure this made Harry and Sijo pretty nervous too.

It was a little after 1:00 am when we left our house.  Sijo started honking the horn to get the guards attention before we got to the gate.  He pulled up as close as he could and got us out of there as soon as it was open enough for the car to fit through.  The guard at the hospital wanted to see Sijo's id so he showed him his Las Dunas id because it was right next to him.  The guard tells him that he wants to see his iqama and Sijo says that we have a real emergency so he let us go in.  They've never asked for identification before, but I guess they do after visiting hours.  I got checked into the ER and brought up to the maternity floor.  The nurse hooked me up to the monitor that measures contractions.  I talked her into only monitoring me for 15 minutes because the pain was becoming unbearable.  Harry noticed that the paper in the machine was jammed so he went to let the nurse know.  When she was finally able to see how strong my contractions were she got the doctor in there to check me.  She said I was still only 2 cm dilated, but was going to admit me because the contractions were very strong.  I told her that she needed to let whoever was doing my epidural know that I was ready for it and to meet us in the labor and delivery room.  She kind of giggled and said something about one step at a time.  Neither of us realized that things were about to start progressing really fast...all I knew is that I was in a tremendous amount of pain.

The nurse brought me into the labor and delivery room and started making me do all the not so fun stuff they make you do to prepare for labor.  Harry went down to get our bags and let Sijo know that we were staying.  She gave me a little nitrous oxide gas to help me relax and take the edge off.  By the time Harry got back to the room my body began to take over and the nurse said I was pushing.  She checked me and I was 8 cm.  I saw the panic in her eyes and my worst fear became a reality when she said that I didn't have time to get the epidural.  I grabbed her arm and said that she just needed to tell him to hurry up and get in here.  She looked at Harry and said that he needed to tell me that I couldn't have it.  I started to beg!  She explained to me that even if he came, he wouldn't give it to me because I hadn't gone through the whole bag of IV fluids.  All of this happened in less than an hour of me getting to the hospital so she knew I would be pushing soon.  I started to freak out!  The contractions hurt so bad and took so much out of me that I was in and out of it in between them.  At one point all I could see was a bright light and I remember hearing them open things and then the sound of the metal tools clinking.  I started to wonder if they were putting me under and giving me a C-section.  That's how crazy I felt.  I have always respected women who choose to go the natural route, but I definitely didn't want to do it.  The epidural didn't work exactly as it was supposed to when I had Connor, but even that didn't prepare me. 

Finally, they told me that I could start pushing.  At that point I guess I just accepted that I was going to have to do this and I was on a mission to get it over with.  When I felt the "ring of fire" I immediately remembered reading about it so I knew it was almost over.  Thank GOD!!!  He made his entrance into the world at 3:15 am, about 2 hours after we left our house.  No time for pictures, no time to call our family to let them know, but he was healthy and I managed to deliver him without cursing anybody out :)  Success! 

Connor meeting his baby brother!

First family picture :)

This is where he was born, SAAD Hospital.

Aside from the obvious, I had a very good experience at SAAD!  There are a few things that they do differently here (at least it was different from my experience with Connor).  Skin to skin contact was immediate and they left him there for at least 30 minutes.  They are a breastfeeding only hospital.  I was told that they will only give the baby formula if it's necessary and even then they will feed the baby with a cup, not a bottle.  I'm sure you could bring in your own if you didn't want to breastfeed, but I don't guess it's something they would provide in the nursery.  The babies spend very little time in the nursery.  They took him for a while after he was born to get a bath and to be checked out and then maybe one or two other times for a very short amount of time.  The nurses weren't constantly in and out of the room either.  I didn't have any IV fluids or antibiotics after I left the labor and delivery room and I think they only checked my vitals twice.  We were actually able to get a little sleep!

Things may not have worked out exactly how I wanted them to, but he is healthy and ultimately that's all that really matters.  And I think it's pretty neat that he'll be able to say that he was born in Saudi Arabia!