IAll of the babies... All of them.
Friday and Saturday here were very full. Saturday was crazy! My goodness... But I'll get back to that in a minute... ; )
By Friday night I had mastered the art of sleeping here... Wear as little clothing as possible, sleep as close to the ground as you can, ice yourself down, wet cloth and freeze it for a few minutes, then place that over yourself and sleep in front of a fan. Magic. And most of those things i have access to because I'm a spoiled American here... We don't realize how much we take air conditioning for granted in the States. That's for sure! I am so thankful for the beautiful place set up for us at the clinic. It's amazing with so many amenities we weren't expecting. The Becks (missionaries who helped us plan this) have spoiled us rotten! :)
Anyhow... Friday! We woke up and started working at the clinic doing prenatal check ups again. I took ladies weights at the start of their appointment, then helped direct them to other offices for other portions of their check up. After finishing that, I was able to learn how to do post natal checks on the Mom and baby with Sari (our leader). The babies are SO STINKING cute here! My goodness. It made me even more itchy to deliver one. ,; ) The language barrier for checks is interesting, because Filipino culture is that they just smile ALL the time, and they always try to be polite. If they don't know the answer to what you're asking or they don't understand what you're saying, they just smile and say "yes" so they're not portrayed as rude. This can be a bit of an issue, but we work around it with lots of smiles and laughter. : )
After working at the clinic, 4 of us girls went to Faith Academy with the Becks. This is the largest school in the world for Missionary kids, and let me tell you.. It's amazing. We were able to go on a tour and heard testimony after testimony about the campus there and how it all came to be. Speaking of, Shop at Forever 21. The owner completely funded their swimming pool and HUGE auditorium, which was over $5 million dollars..
Seriously.. The stories we heard. Incredible the way God has worked! While we were there we helped out making health promotion posters for Kindergarten and High School students. :)
We went back to our house for dinner, made by our sweet Filipino helper, Ate Cora. Pancit, lumpia, and chicken adobo... My goodness. The food here is amazzzzing. :) Following dinner, I took my Bible and went up.on the roof of the clinic for Jesus time during the sunset... Gah. This coupled with the babies is nearly enough to make me want to move. ; ) it was so peaceful!
We had a meeting after that with our leader Sari at her parent's house here. We talked a lot and eventually got to the point where we were so exhausted that we were nodding off. But since I don't do much halfway, I nodded off in the middle of a conversation and almost fell off my chair... I was going no one saw once I realized what happened, but of course Dee saw and started cracking up. Nothing much has changed there. ; ) When we got back to the clinic we all went straight to bed. This was when I figured out how to get to sleep. ; )
Saturday I woke up at 7 to find two of the girls making pancakes and two downstairs with deliveries because 3 women were in labor! Sarah got to see a 4:30am delivery and deliver a baby herself at 6:30 (of which she became the godmother) She came up and finished breakfast with us while the other two women progressed. I went downstairs with Lindsay and Dee to see what was going on with the births and take pictures since they claimed them (just wait for those) ; ).
When we got downstairs, one woman was ready to deliver so Lindsay said she would take it since she was with her earlier. : ) The Dad for this birth... My goodness. He was precious. Running around the delivery room fanning his wife, then rummaging through their bag looking for diapers and baby clothes, smiling sometimes and staring at the birthing process. ; ) I took pictures while Lindsay got ready to help pull the baby out - she placed her hands around the baby's head once she started crowning and gently pulled up and down to help ease the shoulders out. Again, the mom barely made a sound. Between their high pain tolerance and wanting to avoid shame by crying out, you wouldn't even know a woman was delivering until you heard the newborn's cry. And all without pain meds! If they can do it, I can. ; ) I probably won't be as quiet though. Hah.
Anyhow, the baby slid right out and Lindsay had the biggest smile on her face! So did that Dad and everyone else in the room. :) Lindsay placed the baby directly on the Mom's chest skin to skin, as their protocol insists. Golden hour!
The cord stopped pulsing and Lindsay got to clamp and cut it soon after the birth. The placenta came next as the midwife pulled on the cord, which scares all of us but we are trying not to go around the clinic saying what's wrong or right about how they do things. The risk with this is retained placental fragments in the uterus and possibly even pulling the uterus out. Scary stuff. There was actually a bright red gush of blood right when the placenta started to exit, and I caught my breath, praying everything was going to be okay. As it slid out, the midwife checked it, then began pulling out pieces of it that I believe got left behind. Goodness. So anyhow, the baby was perfect and healthy and began crying right away. Everything else went perfectly with the birth and postpartum. : )
As soon as that woman delivered, another came in ready to go and Dee took her, ready to embark on this baby-catching adventure. : ) I stayed and snuck in on this birth as well, taking pictures to document it and getting in all of the births I can possibly see. : ) I love it and can't get enough!
Dee got gloved and ready to help as the woman began pushing. I had my camera in one hand and one hand around a leg holding it back, then changed positions so I had one hand behind her neck, one around her leg and my camera on my hip. Truly both of my loves coming into action! Hah. :) I let go as the baby began to crown and the mom's Mom took over the job. I got my camera set up as Dee exclaimed "Ahhh look at the head! Yay!!!" She started clapping and was a giddy little mess. It was precious. : ) Again, she slipped her hands around the baby's head as she came out and gently pulled to allow the shoulders out one at a time. The baby girl slid out and Dee placed her on the Mom, with everyone in the room in that collective gasp as another human breathed it's first breath and joined us here on Earth.
Mmm beautiful.
Again, they pulled the placenta after clamping and cutting the cord, but no problems this time. :) Another successful birth and happy family! I gave an oxytocin IM injection to the Mom to help with uterine contractions to prevent later hemorrhage.
I waited around to see if I could get a birth in myself, but no one else came in and the woman laboring ended up having to go to the hospital because of failure to progress and fetal distress. : (
We headed to Sari's for dinner and made picture frames for girls who we're having a tea party for tomorrow (Josie's angels). They have been rescued from abusive homes. I'm excited to meet them and heart their stories tomorrow. :)
Good morning in the US! Goodbye for now. :)
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