Babies :)

Monday

I worked my second morning shift which was wonderful. I saw two births! The first woman was in labor for several hours and was having trouble pushing her 8 Ib baby passed her pubic bone. I stood by her bed for at least two hours as we waited for her to dilate fully. The midwife was a student and it was her 100th catch. The student's mother was in town visiting and got to chart the event (she is a midwife in Africa). The baby finally arrived and I moved to the next bed to watch another. The second woman came in, laid down and was not even in bed for five minutes before she delivered. One push and the baby popped right out. It was a successful day!

Tuesday

This morning I woke up and was at the clinic by 7:15am. I had to work the 'clinic' which is prenatal check ups. We had at least 60 mothers come in for a check up. We hold this three days a week so you can imagine how many people use our assistance. All of the women start in one room for a devotional and singing. After that there is a health teaching which changes every week. If they attend all of the teachings they get 50% off newborn screening. This week was family planning which they try to make fun since the Filipino women get embarrassed easily. After that they slowly shift to the next room where the students and myself were waiting to do their check up. At the check up we look at any labs or ultrasounds we requested from a previous visit. We go through some routine questions and then move onto the fun part! A very nice student taught me how to do fundal checks and checking of the position of the baby. I learned quickly and just about got every measurement and position correct. It was a fun morning and the Filipinos were fun to talk to (if they spoke English). We also prayed with each one after their check up.....We also pray before and after every shift together.

We got through all the patients a little after 1:00pm. My next shift started at 2:00 so I ate some lunch, changed into scrubs and headed into the birth room for my shift that wouldn't ended until 10:00pm. I thought I would be exhausted but I had a great day/evening. We only had one postpartum patient so we were not busy for a few hours. I did get to put in my first IV which was a success! Go me! Until our next labors came in a Filipino midwife, who is 23 yr old, helped me with my Cebuano, which is the language here. We had a lot of laughs and became great friends. We actually work the same shifts this months which I am looking forward to. Cebuano is nothing like Spanish which is what we where expecting. Here are some examples if you would like to sound them out. Most of the students speak it very well. 1. Timbangon nako ang imong anak. I am going to weigh the baby. 2. Nakakita ko ug pugpanganak karun na adlaw. I saw a birth this day....Get the picture? Sometimes I just don't know what is going on. Hopefully I pick up some language in the next few weeks.
Around 7:00pm we had two women come in in labor. The first woman was in quite a bit of pain. She was not allowed to push until she was dilated 10cm. We had her breathe through her contraction which looked extremely difficult. Her and her husband had two daughters and did not know what the third would be. The midwife joked and said if it was not a boy we would switch it out with the woman a curtain over, they laughed. The woman continued to have severe contractions and was in a lot of pain. I prayed that God would take her out of that pain and asked Him to do it in the next 10 minutes. 5 minutes later we had a baby boy! The mom and dad were extremely happy and praised God. It was an awesome experience to be a part of.

Tomorrow I work my first night shift ever. Pray that I have energy please!
Here are a few pictures of one baby boy I saw be born and the other I helped with a bath. My supervisor has the pictures from today's birth but I will get them up soon.