Apparently there is a bun in my oven.

Well, thought it was time to make an official announcement that we have a bun in the oven. I'm 14 weeks along and due December 16th. Here is a photo of Rusty, the night we took a pregnancy test at home....

One interesting story. Before we had taken the pregnancy test I was in a nearby village for clinic with Libby, and one of the Akha women (around 50 years old) came up to me and said, "Wow, you're pregnant!" I was taken completely off guard because I was two days late to get my period, but wasn't thinking that I was pregnant.

I asked my friend Ae why this women thought I was pregnant and she said, "Akha women can tell. They know by looking at the veins in your arms." So two days later I took a pregnancy test and sure enough it was positive. When I went back to the village to tell this women she wasn't surprised at all and looked at me like she was wondering why I had even bothered to tell her something she already knew. Weird.

More things we have learned about Akha Medicine

Here are some of the treatments we learned about during our last monthly training session on preventative healthcare with the leaders from the 12 villages our foundation works with...

We focused our teaching on Scabies, Diarrhea, Impetigo, and Allergies.

Akha Medicine...

• Treatment for Diarrhea-->Boil guava leaves and drink it as tea.
• If someone is puking AND has diarrhea, the Akha will put ashes in their water and drink OR put their fingernail clippings in water and drink it (the last one makes me nauseous).
• Treatment for Scabies--> Rub hot chili pepper flakes with salt on the itchy areas. This supposedly hurts a lot, but is known to help.
• Another treatment includes using a vegetable called, "A-jee bulu" that looks similar to a turnip. You crush up its seeds and rub it on the skin twice a day. (DO NOT eat the seeds however because they are extremely poisonous).
• Treatment of Impetigo--> There are two different plants they use to treat impetigo. The one they use around the ears is called, "Nay-me-ja" and the other plant they use to treat the crusts around the mouth is called, "A-loo ja-ba."
• Treatment for Itchy Skin--> Take Akha onions (similar to spring onions) and mix with charcoal scraped from the bottom on their cooking pots and rub on wherever the skin is itchy.
• Another treatment for itchy skin is to dig up rich, wet, soil deep under the ground and mix with honey come and rub on the skin.