Midwife Horror Story

This is the story INCLUDING PHOTOS of our experience with a "midwife" we hired here in Costa Rica. She is Canadian. She has an english speaking partner and they advertise heavily on the internet as midwives in Costa Rica.

It was a horrible experience and I am posting it to warn EVERYONE who might be considering an at-home-birth to be extremely careful about the midwife you hire to help you.

The story is a long one...but needs to be read and passed on.

Be sure to check out all the photos!!!!

Midwife Horror Story

Our amazing grandson, Joe Julio Jones, arrived on Friday, Nov. 15th, 2013!!! He is absolute perfection and the most beautiful baby in the world!!!

Strawberry blonde hair,  blue eyes, 8 lbs 8 oz, 19½ inches long.

We thank God for this beautiful blessing!!

Our beautiful daughter-in-law, Maillyn, was a real trooper and amazed us all with her strength!!

Although our plans all along, were for me to deliver the baby, we had all agreed that it would be prudent to have an experienced midwife standing by to assist in case of complications. The original choice was an elderly woman, from our town, who has delivered three thousand babies. Unfortunately, she became ill, when Maillyn was about 7 months along, and had to cancel.

My son went online and found a midwife service here in Costa Rica. Two NON Costa Rican women who have partnered to perform at home births. 

Their website is very professional and says all the right things. They tout themselves, on the internet, as being very experienced and they claim to have delivered MANY MANY babies. The partner nearest us is Canadian and speaks English. We were happy about that because, even though our daughter in law speaks Spanish, our Spanish is limited.

At our first meeting with the midwife, for which we paid $90.00, Maillyn explained to her that she wanted me, her mother in law, to be the one to bring the baby into the world and for the midwife to assist in case there were complications. The midwife looked at me like I had three heads and said, snidely, "YOU won't be delivering the baby. Maillyn will."

Thinking she meant in the "technical" sense of the word I said, with a smile, "Well, I'll just be doing the catching."

Midwife said, "No......you won't. Maillyn will be doing everything."

At this point the thought crossed my mind, "Then what do we need you for?" But I didn't say it.

I then mentioned to her that since we had learned that the original midwife could not attend I had been HEAVILY researching home births, watching videos, etc. just in case we couldn't find a replacement for the original midwife. I told her that I had been researching every possible complication including breech birth.

She looked at me and said, "Oh. So you want a breech birth."

Still biting my tongue I said, "Of course not....but I thought it would be a good idea to be prepared for such a case."

She ignored me.

She then informed Maillyn that she would bring her "birthing pool" so that she could have a water birth. Maillyn and Bud had already researched and discussed water birth and decided against it. 

Midwife looked very displeased at this and started trying to tell Maillyn that water birth is the best way and that is what she should do. Maillyn held her ground and said, "No. I want to have my baby in bed."

She then examined Maillyn to see if the baby was in the proper position. She was extremely rough and gouged her hands deeply into Maillyns baby belly, feeling for baby limbs and shifting the baby around in the womb. I had never seen a doctor be this rough and it truly worried me.

As much as I already disliked this womans attitude and manner, it was more important that Maillyn feel comfortable with her so I said nothing. 

Believe me when I say...holding my tongue was not an easy thing to do. I don't get a lot of practice.

I did, however mention to my son the things she had said and done.

My son, knowing I can be extremely "picky" about humans, figured I was just exaggerating.

The last two days before the birth, when Maillyn became so terribly uncomfortable, she called the midwife to ask her some questions about what she could do to be more comfortable. Midwife told Maillyn to come to her house, an hour away, and she would look at her.

I then called the midwife back and asked if she could come here since Maillyn was too uncomfortable to make a car trip one hour there and one hour back.

Midwife, whose exorbitant fee we had agreed to, said, "No. It would cost me in gas to come over there. It's a normal pregnancy and a normal sized baby. Her discomfort is perfectly normal. My fee does not include visits. I have extensive training and expensive equipment. And all I would be able to do anyway is to check to see if the baby was in the right position and explain to Bud, (the father,) about birth."

(I am including photos of some of her "expensive equipment" that got left behind.)

I thought to myself, "Ok, with this midwife, you get no before care. She just comes for the birth, watches the mama do all the work, collects her pay, and leaves." Still.....I held my tongue.

SO!!! The big day arrives. Maillyn went into labor at 9:00 AM on Friday morning, 15th of November.

I immediately call my son, the midwife and Peggy, a member of our extended family whom Maillyn had invited to be here to witness the birth.

We explained to the midwife that Maillyns contractions were coming in waves with about six to eight contractions, two minutes apart, and then five to ten minute breaks between waves.

Peggy stampeded a herd of cattle and trying to get here in a hurry. The farmers drive their cattle along the road from one pasture to the next. Usually you just sit and wait until they are out of the way. Peggy didn't want to wait. She blew the horn and cattle scattered. Poor farmer.

She also drove in a ditch to get around a traffic jam

Bud arrived in RECORD time. He didn't even take time to grab his pay. Just out the door, into the car and "OUTTA MY WAY FOLKS I'M ABOUT TO BE A DADDY!!!!"

Pity the poor motorists who were between him and our house.

As we sat with Maillyn, keeping her laughing and happy between contractions, two minutes apart and regular at this point, keeping her spirits up, we waited for the midwife. 

Two and a half hours later midwife called to ask Maillyn how she was doing and calmly said she was getting her things together and was about to leave home.

Maillyns contractions were one minute apart at this point so we all wondered about this womans timing (she is, after all, an hour away)....but as before.... we said nothing.

She arrived around 1:00, swept into the room carrying a dirty yoga ball, a beat up, dirty birthing stool, a bag with assorted "stuff" in it, a PRODUCE SCALE for weighing the baby, (scale had one chain and two thin "strings" for supporting the baby.) and a tray of "instruments" (As a side note: I already had all those same instruments sterilized and ready.)

Click on the photos to enlarge 

She looked at the three of us and said "You people shouldn't be here. This is a private thing."

This was a little surprising since she had been told at first meeting that she was only there to assist. I turned to Maillyn and told her if she wanted us to leave we would. We wanted this to be comfortable and perfect for her.

Of course Maillyn said, “NO. I want you here.”

Midwife was not pleased.

Then Peggy (our "timekeeper") offered to show her the schedule of contractions she had been painstakingly keeping for the past four hours and the midwife rudely blew her off.

Peggy: "Would you like to see the record of contractions?"

Midwife: "Not really. I know the baby's coming. You don't need to do that anymore."

Midwife then takes a FILTHY small bag out of her larger bag and pulls out her fetal Doppler (stethascope/heartbeat monitor with a speaker.) 

Click on photos to enlarge 

She then started ROUGHLY prodding and pushing Maillyns belly around and pushing the baby this way and that, and declared, "He's still too high. He's not ready yet. You called me too early. Maillyn told me she was having contractions two minutes apart." (and yet she waited three and a half hours to leave her house)

Out the door she went and started making the first of what turned out to be a phone call marathon.

Bud walked out to where she was and she began haranguing him about us calling her too early. She was obviously very angry that she might have to be here longer than she wanted.

Just a recap... Maillyn was having contractions two minutes apart when we had called her, she waited over three hours to show up.  and now they were one minute apart.

I guess we should have waited until the baby was born to call her.

Peggy had attempted to show her the schedule of contractions as soon as she arrived but midwife blew her off. Contractions one minute apart is, evidently, still too early for her to have to arrive on the scene.

By this time my son, Peggy and I are extremely unhappy with the midwifes manner. None of us were saying anything because we did not want Maillyn to know what we were thinking. We would take turns leaving the room and would discuss the situation where Maillyn could not hear.

At one point I left the room and when I returned the room was darkened and the midwife had Maillyn laying on her side and was massaging her hips while my son held Maillyns hand and comforted her.

I walked in quietly, sat down and said, (again quietly) "How are you feeling, Honey?"

Midwife rapidly put her finger to her lips, frowned at me and shushed me like I was an out of control three year old....so I didn't say anything else.

A few seconds later Maillyn asked, "Why is everybody being so quiet?" We all three responded, "Because we were told to be quiet."

Maillyn spoke up and said, "Well I don't want you quiet!! I want you talking!! This is a birth, not a funeral."

So the lights came back on and we continued to talk to Maillyn and try to keep her spirits up while she labored. Midwife was NOT happy about that and again started insisting that Maillyn needed to be doing this in the water. Telling her it would make her labor easier.

Once, when Bud and I were out of the room, midwife looked at Peggy and said, "Why are you here?" Peggy told her that Maillyn had asked her to come and be there for the birth.

Midwife just did NOT want anyone there and she made that pretty clear. Personally, I now think she just didn't want any witnesses.

All the while, throughout the entire, 11 hour event, she was massaging Maillyns hips. Very deep and very hard massage. In hindsight I truly believe that massage was all the woman actually knew how to do.....and she didn't even do that well. As a matter of fact, Maillyn now tells us that the massaging and the gouging with the Doppler was more painful than the contractions and she is still, six days later, sore from where this woman was gouging her hips and belly.

  

Midwife, in a huff and still making phone call after phone call, then asks Peggy to start timing the contractions again.

Maillyn was in heavy labor and the midwife kept telling us the baby was not down far enough. He was not ready and we had called her too soon. She kept doing internal exams, using surgical gloves that she had stuffed into a little zip-lock bag. She eventually ran out of those and had to use the STERILE ones I had provided.

She also ran out of gel for her dirty Doppler and had to use the gel I had provided.

She was constantly leaving the room and making phone calls on her cell phone. Over the course of the event she stayed on that phone three quarters of the time she was here. She actually ran her cell phone battery down she was on it so much. We finally figured out she was calling her "partner" to ask what to do next.

On about her 7th trip out of the room to make another phone call we heard the screen door slam. I tried to tell myself the door had just slipped and slammed on its own. But then she started slamming doors, even the bedroom door, every time she left to make another phone call.....and there were LOTS of phone calls. And lots of SLAMS!!!!!

She continued, throughout the day to do deep massage on Maillyns hips. Maillyn finally told me "PLEASE!! I don't want more massage!! She's hurting me" She was in pain from the deep gouging the woman was doing with her thumbs.

Then she wanted Maillyn on her hands and knees. "We need to get the baby to move into position. He's just not in position and not down far enough. "

Bud and I helped Maillyn get over onto her hands and knees and put pillows under her chest to support her. Meanwhile the masseuse...oops, I mean "midwife" is gouging her thumbs into Maillyns hips again.

Maillyn stood it for as long as she could and said, "I need to lay down."

The woman was NOT turning loose and was not backing off the thumb gouging so I said, "She says she needs to lay down." The woman still did not stop with the thumb gouging.

Bud said to Maillyn, "Just go ahead and lay down, Baby."

STILL she was not turning loose of Maillyn so I said, (in my NOT inside voice) "SHE NEEDS TO LIE DOWN!!!"

You who know me know my vocal power. Although I did not shout I did raise my volume and increase the "intensity" of my tone enough to alert the thumb gouger that she was about to lose both thumbs and maybe her head if she did not turn loose of my daughter-in-law.

She let go quickly and Bud and I helped Maillyn back into a reclining position.

Maillyns water had not completely broken but she had started to leak a little.

The woman kept telling us the baby was on the right side of the belly and not in position as he should be. But when she would jam that Doppler into Maillyns belly to try to find the heartbeat the only place she could find it was dead center and right above Maillyns pelvic bone. (We were all wondering, "if the baby is not there then why is the heartbeat there?")

She gouged deeply into the sides of Maillyns belly trying to find a heartbeat further up but the only one she could find was down against the pelvic bone.

She was so rough with her hands and with her Doppler that she left bruises on Maillyns belly.  The photos show the bruises 6 days after the baby was born.

Click on photo to enlarge.

She also kept telling us, as she did internal checks, that she could feel the babys head. She could feel the suture lines in the babys head and he was not positioned right. "But don't worry. He has a big, soft bag of water to protect him."

Now I admit I have never delivered a human baby. That was the reason we wanted a midwife with us. But I kept wondering, "How is she feeling the suture lines in the head if there is a water bag between his head and her fingers?"

None of what she was telling us, (baby in wrong position, baby not ready, baby turned the wrong way, baby on one side of the belly even though the heartbeat was dead center and right against the pelvic bone, etc.) made any sense at all and the woman kept getting more and more agitated, slamming doors, and going outside to talk on that damn phone while we all remained calm in order not to cause stress  for Maillyn.

During the internal checks she was doing she took notes on how much Maillyn had dilated.

At 2:30 she wrote that Maillyn had dilated to 4 centimeters.

At 3:30 her notes said 5-6 centimeters

At 4:30 she wrote 4-5 centimeters.

???????????

Less centimeters than an hour before???

In hindsight we now feel she was panicking because she did not know what she was doing. We all now have serious doubts that she has ever delivered a baby. I'm of the opinion she has never delivered even a puppy!!

THEN she called us liars!!

After about 9 hours of labor midwife says, "She's dehydrated. She hasn't been drinking enough fluids."

Bud told her that Maillyn had drunk three quarts of pipa fria (coconut water) since she's been in labor.

Midwife responds, nastily, "SHE HAS NOT."

Bud told her that his dad had made two trips to the store for pipa fria and he had made one trip himself and Maillyn had drunk all of it except the 4th quart.

Woman again says, "She has NOT!!!"

I then spoke up and said, (still nicely mind you)"Yes, she has had three quarts." Midwife turns angrily to me and says, "SHE HAS NOT!! I'VE BEEN WATCHING CLOSELY!!"

Bud, at the VERY end of his patience with this rude and rough woman said, "No, you have not been watching! You've been outside on your damn cell phone."

Midwife responded with, "I don't like this discussion."

I was thinking to myself, "Yeah. I'll bet you don't, bitch!!" BUT I DIDN'T SAY IT!!! (sorry about the language) 

We all stopped talking.

By this time we were all ready to throw this rude woman out of our home. But we held our tongues and kept smiling for Maillyns sake. Our tongues were practically BLEEDING from being bitten so much.

After 9 hours of labor each of us mentioned to the woman that maybe she should break the water. She told us "NO!!! It's too dangerous. He's not in position. The babys head is floating!!"

We all wondered about that "floating head" as the baby had been wedged into the birth canal for a few hours and you would think if the head was "floating" the whole body would be moving around...which it wasn't because the heartbeat had been stationary the whole time.

After 11 hours of labor the woman says, "This baby is too big to be born vaginally. She has to have a C-section. We need to get her to the hospital."

(Two days before, when she had refused to come and check Maillyn, (because it would cost her in gas) this same woman "informed" me, on the phone, "This pregnancy is perfectly normal and the baby is a normal sized baby.")

I explained to Maillyn, as gently as possible, that we needed to go to the hospital. We got her up, lowered the back seats of the car so Maillyn would  be able to lay down, put padding, blankets and pillows in the back of the car and loaded Maillyn in.

I got in back with her and "spooned" myself around her so she could have her contractions while pushing back against me.

Peggy sat up front and Bud did the driving. The midwife drove her own car with Bruce, my husband, as her passenger to show her the way to the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital emergency entrance and Bud jumped out and went into the hospital. He told an orderly "My wife is having a baby!! We need to get her out of the car and into the delivery room!" 

The orderlies just looked at him and then at each other without making a move. Bud, being in "expectant daddy Bud mode," grabbed one by the collar and TOOK him to the car. They figured out this truly was an emergency and ran for a gurney.

Maillyn held onto Buds hand even though the nurses tried to brush him off on the way to the delivery room. They were determined to be together until the baby was born.

The nurses, realizing they weren't going to shake Bud loose, finally told him, you have to change clothes. They handed him some scrubs and he rapidly undressed and re-dressed while watching Maillyn through the delivery room window.

He tells us, when he got the pants on, they came halfway up his calves. The sleeves of the top were cutting into his armpits. He says he looked like Jethro Bodine from Beverly Hillbillies.

He rushed into the delivery room and held Maillyns hand. They broke her water, she gave two good pushes and Joe was born. No tearing, no cutting and no stitches. AND NO CAESAREAN.

We had only been there 10 minutes.

While Peggy, the "thumb gouger" and I were at admissions giving them the information on Maillyn, the thumb gouger told me, "Be sure to tell Bud and Maillyn not to tell them we were doing an at home birth or that I am a midwife."

I told her they already had. 

She looked startled and said, "Oh!! I guess I should have told them not to mention it.

In summing up. This so called "midwife" was NONE of the following

Experienced
Capable
Proficient
Competent
Aadequate
Skilled
Suited
Accomplished nor qualified as a midwife....

She is the exact opposite. Not to mention she is the most unprofessional person I have ever encountered.

We are THRILLED beyond measure with our beautiful grandbaby. He is the light of our lives.

We are COMPLETELY, THOROUGHLY, ABSOLUTELY, ALTOGETHER, TOTALLY, UTTERLY, SOUNDLY, FLAT OUT DISGUSTED with this so called midwife.

She put the lives of our grandson and our daughter in law in danger because, in our honest opinion, she does not know what she is doing.

If you are planning to have an at home birth in Costa Rica be sure to interview, do reference checks, thoroughly research, and screen ANY midwife you think of using.

Do NOT trust their web page. They can make themselves look great on a web site and still be as incompetent as this woman who put us through all this hell.

This woman and her partner should be thoroughly ashamed, exposed and should be run out of Costa Rica.

Joe Julio Jones Arrives!!!

Hey Everybody!!!

Well we got a brand new member added to our pack!!! He's kinda funny lookin' (not a lot of fur) and he barks funny but we love him anyway!!! 

Mom says we get to keep him!!!!!!

His name is Joe Julio Jones and he's a real cutie. We got to meet him two days after he was born. He arrived on November 15th.

Mom won't let us play with him yet though.

He's 8½ pounds, 19½ inches long, has strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes!! He sleeps a LOT and Mom says he's a good baby 'cause he doesn't cry a lot. Only when he's hungry. 
He's our brand new human puppy!!! 

Our human bro Bud, and his wife, Maillyn, made him!!
We think they did a really good job!!!

Here are some pics!!! 

This is his "daddy face."

Meeting us furkids

Sleepin'

Smiling in his sleep

  

Joe and his mommy

Joe and his daddy

Joe and his PawPaw

Joe and Mom (she's his granny)

Us furkids getting a good sniff!

He's a real cute little guy!! We can't wait til he's a little bigger so he can run with us and chase birds and squirrels and stuff!!!

WAGWAGWAGWAG!!!!!

The Lighthouse Crew!!!

Lighthouse Update 10-11-13

WOOOF Everybody!!!

We know it's been a while since we updated our blog but it's been a little crazy around here, (as usual,) and Mom has been kinda sick....so we'll let her get by with it this time.

All of us are doing great. Miss Mercy is now in her new home. She is TOTALLY loved and spoiled and she loves her new mom!! 
When she saw Mom she just could not stop hugging her with her head. She'd run back to "New" mom and jump up on her as if to say, "I really really love you!! But this is my other mother and I just gotta go hug her some more." Then she'd run back and hug Mom some more.
If you don't remember Mercy, she is the one that was so terribly near death when Mom got her. Mom was up with her all night the first night giving her supplements and drops of water and electrolytes to get her through the night. She was too weak to even raise her head. Mom had to give her everything one drop at a time because she wasn't conscious enough to swallow.
She really turned into a BEAUTY!!!!!!!!

Mr Fox is doing GREAT!!! He's the one with three fractures in his legs and pelvic. He could barely get around when he arrived 'cause his back end parts didn't work very well. Now he's running and playing and enjoying life. He still drags that right rear leg but not enough to keep him from running with us other Lighthouse kids. And of course he still loves Larry....the first friend he made here at Lighthouse.

Benny is now in a foster home and is doing great!! Mom got him all healed up and he was lookin' good and feelin' good so he went back to Animales Atenas and they found a foster home for him.

Gracie got adopted by our vet!!!! She was supposed to get adopted by our volunteer Kristie but those plans fell through. So our vet said he wanted her for his own!!! 

The other day some people came to visit from Colorado!! They run a wolf sanctuary there called Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center!! www.wolfeducation.org

They brought us all kinds of donated medicines, flea & tick preventative, skin medications and all kinds of stuff!! Mom was THRILLED!!!

And some people we pup sit for brought their furkids for us to pup sit and when they found out Mom had been sick they told her they had hired their groomer to come this Sunday and give us all baths and stuff!!!! Is that the nicest thing you ever heard of!!! Mom says that's such a sweet thing to do!!! .....wait a minute.....did I say baths? uh oh.

We're adding a few pics in memory of BudBud. He was such a special furkid. Mom can't get him off her mind today. She just keeps sniffling and stuff. 

Here's our BudBud over the years. He is very very missed.

Y'all have a great day and we'll try to keep our blog more updated. 

TAILWAGS!!!!!!!!!!!

The Lighthouse Crew

Apartment Robbery

Tailwags Y'all!!

OK. Mom is finally awake and able to make something other than blubbering sounds. 
She woke Dad up at 1:00 AM night before last and they LEFT!!!!!! 

Us furkids figured they were going after another "emergency" furkid 'cause that's usually the only reason they would wake up and leave the house at that time of night.

We waited for them to come home but then the sun came up and we were still waiting!!!! We all got kinda worried. We were hungry too!!! And poor Gracie and Dama, who sleep in their crates, were REALLY needing to go potty and none of us other furkids knew how to operate the latch on the crate door!!

When Mom and Dad finally got home they looked TERRIBLE!!! They took care of all of us first and kissed and hugged us and apologized for us having to be alone for so long. That took a while 'cause there are 22 of us right now to hug and kiss. 
We sure were glad they were home!!!

They were SOOOO proud of Gracie and Dama!!! They actually held it and didn't mess up their crates!! SUPER DOGS!!!!!!!!!!! 

Anyway, today Mom doesn't look quite so much like those horror movie zombies..... 

and she's actually beginning to pick her feet up off the floor when she walks.

She was pretty scary lookin' when she first got home!! 

Anyway....We're gonna let her tell what happened 'cause, of course, us furkids weren't there.

Here goes.

Hello friends,

I promised to tell you all the details of what had happened Tuesday night.

I have FINALLY slept and, although my eyes are still not focusing correctly my brain is about a half step further along and is managing to form somewhat understandable thoughts......I hope.

I had just sat down on the side of my bed on Tuesday night when the phone rang. I answered it expecting it to be, as usual, someone calling me about an injured animal.

My brother owns some apartments in Grecia, a town about 40 minutes away, and since he lives in the states,  we take care of the apartments for him. (Hubby Bruce actually does all the work)

The lady on the phone (a police officer) said the apartments had been broken into and robbed. She said they took TVs', microwaves and kitchen articles. (She was mistaken about the microwaves)

Then she told me they had our property AND the robbers there at the police station and asked if we could come there and identify the property.

I woke Bruce up. He had had about three hours sleep and I really hated waking him but I didn't really want to go that far so late by myself.

We dressed and made the 40 minute drive to the Grecia Police Station. 

When we walked in they had four young men handcuffed to the hard, flat, wooden benches in the entrance way. Each had one hand free.

All of them were wearing hoodies and had their heads lowered so we could not see their faces. If they had to look up they pulled their shirt front up to cover the lower half of their faces. They mumbled among themselves and twisted and turned on the benches. (I gotta tell you right now folks those are extremely uncomfortable benches.)

I also have to say I personally think hoodies should be banned. 

The police showed us the TVs' and we identified them as being from the apartments. Then they told us that two of the young men were minors and two were adults. One was already on probation for the exact same crime. 

I asked how they caught the men and they told me a neighbor had heard the shattering of the doors and called police. NOW comes the only "funny" part of this story. 

The police responded to the call and they see four young men, strolling down the road at nearly 1:00 AM....two of them with TVs' on their shoulders. 

(Now we're not talking small tvs'. These are BIG...OLD TVs' ...you know...the kind that are about three feet from front to back and weigh about the same as a small pony.)

They just stood there as the police approached as if nothing about them should be at all suspicious! 

(Uh...no officer...we're not doing anything wrong. Just taking our TVs' for a stroll. Why yes!! Of course they're ours!!)

or 

(Hi Officer!! What? NO! These aren't TVs'! They're our new boom boxes. These things get bigger every year y'know.)

Did I mention it was raining?

They finally took the handcuffed young men, (notice...up until now I have referred to these four as "young men." That's going to change so be warned.) back to the holding cell. I can only hope they had those same benches in there.

Injecting a note here: I'm one of those HORRIBLE people who smoke cigarettes. When we left home I only had two cigarettes in my pack. Expecting to be there and back home in a couple of hours I was not real concerned. When I realized this was not going to be the case I asked one of the officers, who also smoked, where I could buy cigarettes. At 2:00 AM he told me the only place would be a bar. Not knowing where any bars were in Grecia there seemed no way I was going to be able to get a new pack.

We signed some papers, verifying that the TVs' were from the apartments and they said we could sit down.....on those benches.

They worked on paperwork and we sat...and sat....and sat.

Then some other officers arrived and the arresting officers (the ones we had been dealing with) told us to follow them to the apartments.

We got into our car and followed the police car. He kept making turns we were unfamiliar with and we knew they were not heading toward the apartments. 

The officer finally pulls up in front of a business, gets out and comes back to my car. I rolled my window down and he said "Give me money."  (?????) He then said, "I'll buy you cigarettes."

WHOOOOOO HOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They didn't have my brand but at that point I could have cared less.

What a sweet thing for the policeman to do!! 

SO!!! We leave there and go to the apartments. (This is where calling them "young men" changes")

Apartment # 4

 TV stand

Apartment # 3

Apartment #1

They accidentally dropped two of the 8 knives they stole from the kitchens on their way out. The police covered them with a mat and put crime scene tape above them to wait for the investigators to get there. 

These four tick brained, gutter scum, vermin infested, drug sucking, lazy, shiftless, worthless waste of human tissue, poster boys for birth control, too sorry to get a real job maggot turds (See. I told you that was all gonna change.) had used crow bars and their feet to pry the locks and kick through the doors of three of the apartments, DESTROYING THE DOORS and causing a few hundred dollars worth of damage for two OLD TVs and the remotes (I'm amazed they had enough intelligence to remember the remotes) and eight kitchen knives. 

They MIGHT have been able to sell the TVs for $20.00 each and God only knows what they planned to do with the knives.

Do I need to mention we were "upset" when we saw what they had done?

At that point I was EXTREMELY tempted to ask the police to PLEASE just tear up the paperwork and turn over the maggot turds to me. 

We went back to the police station where we spent the rest of the night, SITTING ON THOSE SAME BENCHES, waiting for the rest of the paperwork to be completed. As the sun rose in the sky they realized the paperwork ALL had to be redone because there were minors involved. 

Did I mention that the police had called the "parents" of the minors before they called us and the "parents" basically just said "uh-huh" and went back to sleep. 

So......we sat....... (the only way I can actually describe how uncomfortable those benches are is to say these are exact replicas of the benches in the waiting room for hell) Some of them were made out of wooden slats placed about three inches apart. (remember I have a skinny, bony butt so you can imagine the discomfort.)

THEN!!! The TV crew and newspaper crew showed up!! From what we can gather this was a major "bust" for the Grecia police. The little turd who was on parole has, evidently, been doing a lot of this kind of thing and teaching the younger turds the ropes.

They are ALL repeat offenders, drug addicts, etc.

After the reporters were done we had to go to the "Fiscalia" to sign the warrants against the maggot turds...then back to the apartments to try to deal with the OIJ (investigators) and then try to secure the apartments until the doors and door frames could be replaced and find a neighbor to stay in one of them overnight to guard them.

Our son, bless his heart, had left his work and gone to the apartments and met with OIJ so that part was already done and over with when we arrived.

We got a neighbor to stay in the apartments overnight and headed home.

By now it's almost 2 PM and we are both FRANTIC to get back to the dogs!! KNOWING that poor Gracie and Dama are still in their crates and that all the others are probably starving to death. (They did miss breakfast after all)

We got home and let the two out of their crates whereupon they actually took a moment to greet us, tails wagging, before making a beeline for the door to get outside. They had not even soiled their crates. POOR BABIES!!!!!!!! What great furkids they are!!!

We had both been up all night and day. Bruce had, at least, had three hours sleep but he was ready to drop. I, on the other hand had been without sleep for 32 hours.

I don't guess I need to tell you I felt and looked like something the dogs had dug up in the yard from a very deep hole.

I must say......as bad and as exhausting as the experience was, it would have been a whole lot worse if the Grecia police had not been SOOOO gracious in their treatment of us!!! They were WONDERFUL and extremely thoughtful. God BLESS 'em!!

We don't speak enough spanish to communicate well. Yes, we should have learned more by now but the animals don't really demand it and I don't hang out with a lot of humans so the process has been slow.

They didn't fault us for that and were so VERY patient with us!!

They offered us coffee all night, were very understanding, and I just cannot praise them enough!!

At shift change, 7:00 AM, they make breakfast for the officers coming on duty. They offered us gallo pinto (beans and rice) and coffee and when we refused (we were really too tired to eat) they brought us four bananas and coffee. 

What a WONDERFUL group of people they are!!!

I've now had some sleep and am able to function rationally. Bruce, after a good nights sleep, has gone to the apartments with our good friend Rick, Peggys hubby, to repair the damage. It's so good to have GENUINE friends who will help out in a situation like this.

THANK YOU RICK AND PEGGY!!!!

THANK YOU SON!!

THANK YOU NEIGHBOR WHO CALLED THE POLICE!!!

THANK YOU GRECIA POLICE DEPARTMENT!!!

And to the little tick brained, gutter scum, vermin infested, drug sucking, lazy, shiftless, worthless waste of human tissue, poster boys for birth control, too sorry to get a real job maggot turds who caused all of this....Get off the drugs, get a job, act like human beings instead of toilet scum, ditch the hoodies and at least TRY to look respectable, and never forget.........I'm watching you. 

Benny Meets The Crew!! 9-3-2013

Howdy Y'all!!

Benny when he first arrived at Lighthouse

Benny now

Little Benny passed his check-up today and the vet said it was ok to let him join the Lighthouse crew!! He's doubled his weight, his infections are cleared up and his hair is starting to come back in!!! 
He's a cute kid!! Sprinkles really likes him!! 
Here's the video Mom did today when she introduced him to us!!

http://youtu.be/I1aRTFrZrRY


TAILWAGS!!!
From the Lighthouse Crew!!!