A Sad Day

First of all thank you to everyone who sent messages to see how we are doing. Thanks be to God, we and all our loved ones are fine. But what happened is most definitely not. It is a very sad day for Marrakech. Beyond awful. I cannot believe the people who did this came from this amazing city - Djemma Al Fna, where the bombing happened, is one of the most magical places on earth. It is a UNESCO world heritage site and as soon as you step on to the square you feel its incredible energy. I don't believe anyone from this city could have done this.

All our thoughts and prayers are with the those that have lost their lives and those that have been injured. Staff at the local hospitals have worked under very difficult conditions to help the injured - and I know it has been traumatic for them too.

Marrakech will come through this. It will continue to be an incredible place to live and to visit. And for the sake of all the people that rely on the tourist trade to make a living, which is most of Marrakech, I hope that people still choose to come here and experience this beautiful place.

House Drama

It all came to a head this weekend. Hence the lack of blogging. It all could of turned out so horribly. But. It didn't. It went SURPRISINGLY well.

(For those that don't know the backstory you can read all about our house journey here and then the subsequent drama here.) A month ago Mr. T took over all negotiations. I had previously been leading these but my legalistic approach was not producing results and the further I got along in the pregnancy the less I needed the stress of talking to our delusional builders. Mr. T's approach was different. He spelt it out to them that if they didn't fix the house in time or pay us back the money they owed, then not only would he go to the police, he would also destroy their reputations. He bought their names on the internet, taped all their phone conversations, spoke to all their clients and employees and collected all the evidence he needed to put online and was even considering paying for adverts in local media publications. So about a month ago he met with them and showed them everything he had. It was pretty damning stuff. They were silent. He then offered them a chance to finish the house to a deadline that they could set. They said they needed 3 weeks. We agreed with the proviso that if the house was not finished in 3 weeks they would pay us any money they owed us. Hands were shook. The deal was made. 3 weeks went by and next to nothing was done. They asked for one more week. Mr. T said if one more week is all you need to catch up with over 12,ooo Euros worth of work which you haven't done, than I can give you one more week. One more week passed and still nothing changed. On the extended deadline Mr. T informed the builders they were no longer allowed on the land without him being present and that they had 5 days to pay us the total amount owed. They did not reply. Instead they tried to force their way on to the land and threatened the old man who guards the site for us. Mr. T turned up with the police but by that time they had left. The builders wouldn't take his calls. They wrote to us that night and said that they didn't agree with the figures we sent them and they requested a meeting on the site to confirm who was owed what.

Mr. T and I agreed it was best if I didn't go. This was so hard for me as I am usually involved in everything we do and I am very proactive about it all, but I had to think of Pebbles and such a high stress and potentially volatile situation would not be good for her or me. So I reluctantly let Mr. T go without me, but insisted he take some reliable (and well-built) friends with him. The builders turned up with an official from the court. This was fantastic for us and not so good for them. They started off by saying they only owed us 2000 Euros. Mr. T told them they were

crazy. So they went through everything point by point - apparently the shock on their faces was a sight to behold as it became clear they owed us 12,000 Euros. And all in front of the court official. There was no denying it. They had to sign a paper recognizing what they owed us, which was signed by the official. Then they had to sign a paper agreeing to pay us 5% on the Monday (which we received in cash! Cha-ching!) and the remaining 95% within 20 days. Neither of us could believe it had gone so smoothly in the end. It had been resolved. Resolved. Okay we still have to get the remaining 95% and we know nothing is certain until we have this but. A huge momentous step forward to getting it all resolved has been taken.

Mr. T and I have been cautiously celebrating. Things can move on now. We can actually get this house finished. And in time for Pebbles' arrival. So we have new builders - they have already done our stone floors, our chimneys and the bricks around the front door. The quality of their workmanship and their honesty with us has been great. They don't take advances. We only pay when they have finished particular stages. Now we have got rid of the other builders, our new builders have 6-8 weeks to finish everything that's left. We finally feel in control once again. As they say in Morocco, Al Hamdulilah (Thanks be to God). Life is really looking U-P.

Here are a few photos of the progress that's been made since last photo update:

Front of house (October time)

Front of a house a few months later with stone patio laid. This will be our outdoor dining area.

Staircase leading to roof terrace. Now with laid stone. And one furbaby having a breather.

Tiled roof terrace.

View from roof terrace.

Brick work around the front door. White filling to be added as shown at the bottom right.

Stone floor laid inside the house. This is taken from the living room, looking down the hall and into our bedroom at the end. Unfortunately all the plaster needs to come off as it was done so badly. Our new builders have shown us a different and much higher quality plaster finish that they will do soon.

Stone fireplace completed in living room!

Bath and taps in! Stone floor in bathroom done and tadelakt finished on the walls. Tadelakt is a Moroccan lime polish for walls. However this also needs to be redone as the quality is not acceptable and will not last. So another job for the new builders.

And here is one of our curious neighbours checking to see how the work is coming along....

A HypnoBirthing story--Lisa & Silver

Lisa & Silver took an accelerated HypnoBirthing class in February on Monday nights at Seaside Women's Health in Encinitas. Here is their birth story:

Hi Carol,
Thank you for everything. Silver and I are so happy we took your classes. The knowledge and confidence we gained was priceless.

Our daughter True Madera was born on Sunday March 20, 2011, the first day of Spring! She was 8 lbs 2 oz and 21 inches long.

I went into labor after midnight on Sunday, surges were almost immediately within a few minutes of each other, we arrived at Sharp Mary Birch around 5:30am, and True came into the world at 8:30 am. Dr. Cobb and the nurses in labor and delivery were awesome. Silver did an amazing job supporting us through the whole wonderful experience. We achieved our goal of a natural, unmedicated birth. The labor and delivery was fun and exciting. In retrospect, I did not really get into a relaxed, pain free state of mind- but we did use visualization techniques, and other techniques we learned from you.

True was not breathing when she was born. I was able to pull her up onto my chest and hold her for a few seconds, then Silver had to cut the cord sooner than we planned because they had to take her and help her out with breathing. Silver and and True went to the NICU. I didn't get to join them for a few hours. But Silver did a perfect job doing skin to skin bonding with her once they took out the breathing tubes. When I did get there, I was able to nurse her right away. I was happy to find out they didn't give her any supplemental feeding, baths, or pacifiers. We don't know why she didn't start breathing right away, her heart rate and vitals were all fine when she was born. She was perfectly healthy, just took some extra time to start breathing. Silver and I felt informed and involved in the whole emergency process as well. Although we encountered a challenge, we stayed positive and cherished every part of the experience.

Thank you for all that you shared with us. We are very grateful we were introduced to HypnoBirthing. I hope to use HypnoBirthing again in the future. I enjoy receiving all the great information from your Yahoo group. I feel fortunate to be part of the community.

All our Best,
Lisa, Silver and True
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Congratulations Lisa & Silver! I'm so glad that HypnoBirthing helped you feel in control of the entire situation even with the emergency situation with True's breathing! I'm so glad she is alright & am thrilled that you were able to have the natural birth you hoped for! Thanks for the feedback about my Yahoo group (only for my class members). I'm glad that you find my posts & links informative. Take care & continue to enjoy your babymoon!
All my best--Carol

To learn more about Dr. Damon Cobb, please contact him at Seaside Women's Health Center at 760-642-0800.

To learn more about HypnoBirthing in San Diego, please contact Carol Yeh-Garner at 858-837-1259 or visit her website at www.AWellLivedLife.Net. If you live outside of the San Diego area, please visit www.HypnoBirthing.com to find a practitioner near you.