A Different Kind of News

A friend of mine is having a baby today. She's 42. Her husband also in his forties. They have three beautiful little girls and thought they were "done."

But then Lonni started feeling a little sick. Which isn't surprising for her. She suffers chronic health problems brought on by a parasite that was transmitted to her in a bug bite during a reporting trip to the island of Haiti in the 1990's.

Eight months later after her latest "little sick" began, her newest little bug may be born today.

I woke up this morning and checked her blog. Yes, today is the day. The doctor is going to induce labor. So I went down to Voice of America, to get some training in using their new computerized video-sourcing system.

Meantime, the Washington Post notes that President Barack Obama is in Mexico, meeting with the Presidents of Mexico and Canada. As a group, they are called "The Three Amigos." I think that started during the Bush administration, because Bush, being former governor of Texas, had a special affinity for his southern neighbors. And maybe he liked the sound of saying "Adios, Amigos!" whenever they parted.

Lonni's "guest blogger" on her page says that the hospital staff tested to make sure that Lonni and the baby were in the best possible situation (heart rate, blood pressure, etc.) to start the labor.

Then they gave her a drug to start the process. Several of Lonni's friends said they were "on pins and needles," waiting for her baby to be born. The new phenomenon of blogging has served Lonni well. She notified all of her friends that she was going into the hospital to wait out the baby's birth, and then was able to update us on a daily basis.

In turn, she got back support posts full of love from family and friends on a regular basis. And anything that she felt she wanted to discuss further, she could take to private email with specific friends. She's stayed on my tail about various issues, being supportive and encouraging and pregnant, all at the same time. Online.

The NYTimes reports on a deadly day of bombings in Iraq. In the most devastating attack, a pair of flatbed trucks packed with bombs exploded simultaneously in a village near Mosul. Altogether, 50 are dead.

There was another update about Lonni and the baby a few hours later. The guest blogger said that Lonni's mother, who has stayed off and on for ten weeks alternately by her daughter's side and with her grandchildren (thus truly earning the nickname "Saint Dee") called to say that the labor was progressing and Lonni would soon be given that lovely drug treatment that women in labor scream for (if they wait too long) called "an epidural." There was some pre-delivery concern that the baby couldn't handle a vaginal delivery, but an epidural means they are going for it.

NYTimes also says that deathtolls from the typhoons in China are still climbing. The video from that region was stunning over the weekend, with people, cars, and even a six-floor hotel swept away in the waters. I wondered how the cameramen even got in to get those pictures safely.

Thank heavens there will be no pictures until after the delivery is over. And then it will be "smiling mother/father and conehead." I live in terror of those maternal "from the battlefield" pictures. I'm not much on reality tv, and since the "delivery room videos" kicked that off, maybe now we know why.

I've now hit the button to "refresh" on Lonni's webpage so many times that it seems silly. I know that things are going as fast as Lonni and her sweet baby boy can handle, but I am wishing for more information. I'm alternately holding my breath in anticipation and exhaling in frustration.

Accustomed as I am to charging up the sidewalk with a microphone and knocking on a door or two, this is so different. I'm finding the back and forth of it all amusing. With all the world's news at my fingertips, it boils down to the fact that today's biggest news for me comes out of a hospital room in Boise, Idaho where it's reported on a blog tucked into an out of the way spot on the Internet.

But I just can't help it. I am waiting and praying for word of one tiny little life. Good luck Lonni!

Update: Lonni's son was born the same day this was posted. He weighed 4 lbs. 4.5 ounces and was off a respirator within 24 hours. He's doing great, but as a preemie, will be staying at the hospital an extra month. Lonni will be/was released three days later, freeing her from her ten week hospital stay.

Recession Luxury: Friendship

I reached into my knapsack and pulled out a brand-new cosmetic item, still in the box. I pulled out the old one, and noticed there was still some product in there. I thought, "No, no. You are going to use up every drop of that cosmetic. Use it until it is completely gone before you get out the new one and start on it."

That's right. I'm cheap. In the past, I've bought dresses for special occasions that never came up. I bought a red silk dress that I bought on sale 15 years ago in Knoxville, TN for a "special occasion" that never happened. The dress still had its tags on it when I donated it to a mission store a year ago. The style is outdated and I no longer cared for the color. Such wastefulness, but that's who I was right at that time.

But aren't most of us becoming a lot more cognizant of using things completely up? We want to get full value for the amount that we paid. The environmentalists among us must be thrilled that Americans, long known as the most wasteful consumers in the world, are now suddenly interested in using and reusing items until they are finally and at last worn out.

A friend was talking over the weekend about how she and her husband have gotten a new stove.

"My sister-in-law wanted a different color, so they were getting rid of it. It's in perfect condition except that the oven display up on top doesn't work, so you have to keep track of where you set the temperature to start and then it's 5 clicks more to 350 degrees. But it works just fine."

And she's thrilled to have it. She now has her heart set on a new sink, but she wants it to fit in the unusually-sized spot left open for it without making further adjustments, so she's not sure how soon they'll find the perfect sink. Another friend who was also listening to this suggested, "Oh, you should check the Re-Store Shop over on Main Street."

I have other friends who spend more on their homes. They aren't in the middle of raising two small children on one small-ish paycheck and struggling to make ends meet. But I don't have any friends that I like more or who make me feel more at ease.

They remind me of another conversation I had with a friend who brings in over $100K per year herself, while her husband's salary (I guesstimate on both salaries) runs well over $200k. The friend needed a new dress for a special evening out, and she said,

"I just hate to shop. And I hate the idea of spending a lot on a new dress that I'll only wear once or twice."

I said I completely understood and was a bit tight on spending on myself as a rule. I said "In fact, I'm kinda cheap."

She said "I know. It's one of the things I find endearing about you."

I think I got a little head-rush at that moment. I still am quite taken with thinking about it. I guess I always felt uncomfortable that I was careful about my spending. But suddenly, here was one of my more cherished friends saying she knew who I was and liked me not in spite of it, but actually a teensy bit more because of it.

It's unlikely my two sets of friends will ever meet. They are from very different worlds and I'm quite certain they wouldn't immediately see how much they have in common. But I guess family budgets everywhere are "same circus, different tent."

Anyway, I think we all need such friends right now. We have probably had them all along, but maybe this recession allows us the luxury of admitting to ourselves and our friends that we see who they are and accept them in full glory for it. And relish the same from them.

I Went to a Hurricane...

...and it was a bit of a wash. Pun intended.

So after two days of Gustav ("the Hurricane that wasn't" -- at least in New Orleans) I went to the airport to fly home to LA.

The airport was closed, so I called ABC and drove to Atlanta to visit some favorite (and sadly neglected friends, Bob and Cindy and their two kids) friends.

Enroute there, I got a call about a job. A full-time job that I had applied for. Funny story there, but that's for another day.

I drove to Cindy and Bob's house. Emailed ABC and said "I'm here until Sunday, if you need any additional help." Emailed back to the people with the job and flew to their office on Thursday.

I met with them on Friday (horrifically nice people. Really splendid!) and then flew back to Atlanta where I got a message from ABC News saying, "Yes, we will take advantage of having you in Atlanta. Please go to Miami on Monday to cover Hurricane Ike."

Do you feel sorry for Bob and Cindy yet?

Anyway, early on Monday, I will fly to Miami. And until then, I'm going to try to make it up to Bob and Cindy for all the past neglect and recent abuse of their patience.

Have a great week! Live shots from Miami and Hurricane Ike begin at 5am EST/CST/MST/PST on your local stations.