Mirrors and gauze

So the evaluation went well, His positive comments were not written in invisible ink as I had feared. whew.

The next day, I started the day empowered with the zen of a good evaluation. So I decided to branch out and do some career growth on the job.

Our youth minister, director of youth, trailblazing bundle of energy- call her what you will- she is expecting her first child. I call this taking the discussion of the facts of life to the max. The adolescents she mentors have seen her before during and they will after. It has been a real education that is more effective than print or video. Anyway, She was scheduled to have a C section on Friday.

She has to be one of the most beautiful pregnant women I've ever seen. First babies create a unique essence i their mothers. I've enjoyed her pregnancy a great deal. More than she has in some ways. I asked her if she wanted to do a bellycast so she could remember and show her babe exactly what mom looked like right before she was born. She was in! Ready to tackle the job! A friend who had also done this gave the very pregnant youth minister/director her leftover materials and I waited to see how the couple fared. One day, two dayspassed. No cast. Finally, on Thursday, I asked her about it.
"I'm very interested! but my hubby isn't quite sure how to do it. he keeps saying things like, wrap you in wet plaster gauze? ALL of YOU? "
I knew he was being pulled into the new daddy zone. I knew his reason and sanity had already started to drain. I wondered if he was afraid the gauze would keep the baby from being born? Or if he was wondering where in the world does one display such a cast as one of your naked pregnant wife? No matter. No matter at all. I knew if there was a will there was a way.

" Do you want me to help you?, I mean, in the am, you'll be a mom and this time will have passed" OMG I was volunteering myself to do this !!WHAT was I thinking? Church chicks do not have this listed in their job descriptions. I do not think so. hmmm.
She was in the car rushing home to get the gauze before I ever finished talking. Oh lordy.

When she came back, we went up to her office and I laid out a trash bag for her to stand or kneel on and she stripped. We cut the gauze into strips and I dipped them into warm water and started layering them on her. My embarrasment left with the first strip. She was a perfect model. Still, with the motion of the baby making her rock a little from time to time. 45 minutes later, there she sat, covered in white. I pried an edge of the hardened cast away from her shoulder, and the rest popped right off. What a fun project!! She was patient and we chatted about everything except the fact that a casual working friend was pasting wet gauze on her naked body. It was the elephant in the room. or the elephant in the womb, i might say. Talk about up close and personal....We cleaned up and let her cast rest there for a while.

I brought the boss pastor up, and he with his good nature, came willingly. He had no clue what in the world we were wanting to show him. When he looked, he was taken aback. I mean, really, what do you say to a site like that? When the shock wore off, he recognized the value of such an idea and he accepted it with awe. Me, too.

ONe day, she'll finish the cast with paint or something else, and it will become a work of art. The new mom is already that, and much more.