Babies, Beauties, and Chicks

Wednesday was a busy shift. We had quite a few labors and I helped with two assists and two postpartums. Both births went smoothly and we had two healthy babies when we endorsed to the next shift.

Austin Santino

Jhon Steven

 Thursday I had outreach and swing shift. I headed to the clinic around 7:30am to get the outreach bag packed and ready. Four of us headed in the ambulance to Isla Verde where there is a big bagial/gypsy and Muslim population. The Bagials live on one side of the community and the Muslims live on the other. In the past the Bagials use to be part of the Muslim culture but the Muslims will not claim them as part of their tribe now. The Bagials are not educated and do not wish to be. They do not know a word of English and cannot sign their own name. When they come into the clinic they have to sign birth certificates with a thumb print and ink. I on the other hand do not speak Visayan and sometimes the Bagials speak a different dialect than the students. Luckily there was a nice you lady who helped me translate while I was at this clinic. The clinic was someones home with an extended roof over the front of the house. This Filippino family provides a clinic a few times a week and allows doctors and clinics such ourselves to come in and provide care. While we were there we had a few elderly ladies come in to get their blood pressure read. I tried to speak some Visayan but my patients just laughed and got all nervous so I was happy I had my own translator! The morning went great and the family invited us to stay for lunch. We had a wonderful meal with pot roast, limpia, and rice. They were expecting several people for lunch but told us they were not coming anymore. As soon as we sat down the group arrived! Good thing there was enough food to go around! The visitor were some American high schoolers that are staying for a few weeks with one of our students. Her husband use to be their youth leader and they wanted to come visit and do some mission work so it was set up.

The clinic in Isla Verde

Yum :)

Swing shift was not as busy. I was endorsed a postpartum patient who was pretty easy. I checked vitals, filled out the birth certificate information, and gave the baby a bath. One of our interns brought some donated Bibles and when I gave my patient one she was very excited. She asked, "for me?" and when I answered yes she tried to cover her smile with the Bible. She was very excited. I guess I did not think it would be a big deal. I took for granted that almost everyone in the states owns a Bible. It made me think how many lives have been changed because of this clinic. These woman come to prenatal every couple of weeks and are greeted by warm face that soon become familiar. We do devotions with them and pray with them individually after each check up. We pray for them if they are in pain and having a long labor as well as praying for them before discharge. And a Bible to top it all off! I'm sure they feel safe and loved at the clinic and from what I have heard about the public hospital, I am very glad this clinic is running.
One night Tilly, Casey and I decided to go out to eat. We went to G-mall which has 5 floors. You would not be the impressed by the inside but on the very top you can walk on the roof. It is nicely designed and modern. You can see across some of the city which is neat. They are in the process of opening restaurants but about three were already open. We ate at an Italian restaurant and was greeted by the owner. He was a little Italian man who quickly told us about his son. Apparently his son was on one of those cooking shows and is one of the top 10 chef in the U.S. Jenifer Lopez really likes his dessert :) The owner also use to work in Chicago for at least 15 years and just moved to the Philippines a year and a half ago. He must have like us because he continued to send us complementary things such as cheese and olives and brushetta. He told me more than once how beautiful my blue eyes and blonde hair was. It was only a little awkward since he was old enough to be my father. By the end of the night he gave us his business card just incase we wanted to contact him. We told him we were missionaries but that did not slow his complements any. The food was great and we all probably paid only $8 USD for our meal. It is hard to believe that most people in the Philippines cannot afford to eat there. That seems so cheap to me but I guess I haven't worked for $3-5 a day and had to provide for a family.

The roof of the Mall

Over looking the city

Yay for table napkins!

Pasta with peas and ham

Our little Italian Man

One the way home from the mall Casey and I were alone because Tilly had to leave a little earlier for shift and we wanted to get pedicures. The mall was closing so that did not workout for us! We went outside to catch a jeepney and got one right away. It was filled of course! One our way across town it started to rain and the jeepneys have plastic windows you can roll down and snap to the side. We saw all the Filippinos do their part and Casey tried to snap her corner. Lets just say it was not working out and Casey had her arm out the window holding it down while we drove quite a ways. I was laughing and soon Casey was too. I think we were the entertainment on another jeepney ride. We hoped off at our stop and it was still down pouring. Our house is at least 3 big blocks away so we thought we would sit in a restaurant and wait it out. It did not stop raining so we decided we would just walk in the rain. We crossed the street to the gas station. There just so happened to be a tricey there (a motorcycle with a cap connected). We asked him if he would take us to San Pedro just down the street. He said he was not allowed into the gated community and we assured him we would talk to the guard. As we pulled up we yelled at the guard if it was ok for him to take us to our house in the pouring rain. It was our favorite guard :) He looked both ways and waved his had to make it quick, obviously breaking the rules! It was so funny! Our little driver was about our age and loved every minute of the adventure. It was another fun night on the town!

Waiting for the rain to stop

Fun Fact: The neighbor's chicken jumped the fence and has been laying eggs in one of our bushes. Pretty sure they are going to hatch soon. We plan on keeping the chicks. The neighbor can keep that loud roster though!

Our neighbor's Chicken

Our soon to be little chicks

I stopped in to see how the painting was going at the clinic

I guess our workers get a lunch/nap break