Claudia's Visit

We've told you about Claudia a couple of times. How she is more friend than doctor and how she told Benay she was in trouble for having Giovanni on a day when Claudia was out of town.

She was kidding, of course, but we knew she wanted to be with us as much as we wanted her to be with us for the delivery. If we had time to think about her not being there it would have made both of us sad, but everything happened so fast and God blessed us with Clarice that we didn't, at that moment, have time to think about Claudia not being with us. We didn't think it was possible, but she became even more special to us when we were in the hospital.

The day after Giovanni's birth, Claudia surprised us with a hospital visit. After delivery, here in our city, women usually share a room with another new mother. A curtain is the only thing that separates the new moms, their babies and visitors. Because of this curtain I saw Claudia first. She saw me and smiled and I said, "Benay, you won't believe who is here."

Because of her dad being sick in another city and her being with him the previous morning, we thought we wouldn't see her while we were in the hospital. She came in and said, "Can I come in even though I'm 36 hours late?"

Giovanni was being checked out by the nurse and so Claudia went to Benay.

Here in Brasil women always hug each other when greeting, women and men hug and kiss on the check and men even hug each other when they greet. So, Claudia hugging Benay was the norm. What surprised us was that Claudia didn't let go of Benay and she started to tear up.

I'm sure it was a combination of things: being able to release being strong for her family while her dad was sick, being tired from the long trip back to our city after being with her sick dad, her father-in-law was in the hospital at the same time here in Porto Alegre, as well as missing out on Giovanni's birth and not being there for Benay. I'm sure all these things played into it but I also know that she and Benay have a special bond that is more than doctor-patient. It was special for me to be there and see that. Claudia is definitely NOT a doctor that has any kind of God complex going on.

After the nurse got through weighing and cleaning up Giovanni, Claudia got to check out her baby.

God has blessed us so much by putting Claudia in our lives.

Claudia

Our due date is 3 months from today. Benay has always delivered our kids a few days early so three months from today we should be holding our (still unnamed.....keep the name ideas coming) little boy.

This date and the fact that we went and saw our doctor yesterday made me think about sharing our friend with you.

When we were surprised to find out that Benay was pregnant with Anderson, we had only been in Brasil for a little over a year and Benay had not yet found a OB-GYN.

One of our sisters recommended a doctor named Claudia to us. We went and loved her.

This is Benay and Claudia just a couple of months ago:One of the things that we love about Brasil is the great medical care. From the first visits that we had with doctors here (me in the ER for stitches) we've been greatly impressed with the way they care for us, spend time talking to us and order tons of tests to get to the bottom of any problem, big or small. I know that "should" be the norm for a doctor but unfortunately it isn't.

Claudia has been a huge blessing to Benay and myself. She's more than a doctor, she's a friend. She's rejoiced with us through the birth of Anderson and through this pregnancy and she's suffered with us through the loss of our baby in 2006. One great memory I have of her is how she allowed our house church to pray over her and her anesthesiologist at the hospital before they went and did a surgery on Benay. She humbly and graciously accepted and they both thanked everyone involved for asking God to watch over them and Benay. I will never forget that night.

She was so excited for us when we went back to see her for the first time when we were pregnant with this baby. She understands and appreciates our faith and has shared some prayer requests with us regarding her family.

As we left her office yesterday Benay and I spoke of how we would love to see Claudia and her family become part of God's family.

We thank God for the way he put Claudia in our lives and are praying that He will continue opening doors for us to share more of our faith and the Good News with her and her family.