LBM and Birthdays....

Greetings! And a very Happy 28th Birthday to my bana, Tim! It's been a very busy day, but I should start with yesterday (Friday).

I was on duty for prenatals and Ate Susan (my supervisor) taught me how to do injections! I got to do several prenatals on my own and then she MADE me give a tetanus injection on my own! Crazy! She said that I was a very fast learner and was so impressed with my bloodless injection. WHOOOPPEEE! I am learning so much!

Then, Jenn and her helper, Nene and I went to "ukai, ukai" which is the best place to get used clothing here in the Phils. I got a great blouse for 25 pesos! That's like 50 cents! We had a great time and then went to Jenn's house to have all the amazing Filipina midwives over! We had pizza and so enjoyed getting to know them better....we decided that we needed to have a karaoke night soon!...and eat Filipino food, of course!

Today, I have been in the birth room. A good and heavy day all at once....I arrived at 6 am to work with supervisor, Jonna, interns, Laura and Julia, and Jane, our lovely Filipina midwife.
Dear Gigi was already in labor and in intense pain. I was able to chart. We were sure her baby would arrive by 7:30 am, but by 8am, baby was stuck inside and she was crying to Jesus for help. I passed on the chart and asked if I could pray with her.....after 10 minutes of praying, her screams and cries were more like low moans....her body was beginning to relax a bit, too. I began to rub her back and she looked as though she was resting.

Our supervisor gave it a few more minutes and then inserted an IV. Our supervisor decided to transport her to the hospital and at that point, Gigi was ready for a c-section.

I prayed with her again and continued to massage her back while Laura and I accompanied her in the ambulance to Davao Medical Center. Once again, DMC was filled to the brim with business....the nurses were kind, though, and got Gigi in there pretty quickly. However, her wait for the doctor was long and we were told to leave. We are still waiting for word whether she had her baby boy and whether it was by C-section or naturally. Please pray for Gigi and her little boy.

On the way back to the clinic, Laura and I had a good time of praying and crying for Gigi. I hear that it never gets easier to transport a "buntis" to the hospital....this is the hardest part of my time here. Mercy is heaven compared to DMC. Whew. I am so glad that everything that happens is filtered through the loving hands of God....and He is all-loving.....ALL the time. Mmmm. Heavy.

We had three more women in during our shift, one gave birth to a baby boy as we were transporting Gigi to the hospital, the other two were sent home because they were not dilated enough. Perhaps the swing shift midwives will see them!?

After shift, I came home to find out that Tim was at Outland Adventure taking pics again (soon to come) and having loose bowel movements (LBM) for his birthday....so sad. He came home late....so sad....sweaty and ready for our dinner drive to Jack's Ridge...a beautiful lookout restaurant in the hills of Davao. Before leaving, I lit his cheesecake (only 2 candles would stay lit because of the wind/rain/thunder/lightning storm that was brewing), but the pics turned out anyway...then he opened my card....Ahhhhh. I will let him tell you about HIS birthday, Jack's Ridge and Outland Adventure next post. :)

Many blessings to you all and keep those comments coming!