Updates...our 100th post!

Greetings! And a Happy Good Friday to you all! Easter is one of my favorite holidays and in the Phils, it's quite different from home.... I'll get to that! But first.....

This week was full of seeing old patients and getting new ones! Above is my 15th handle, Nicole! Born to Lyn and Michael, this baby girl is perfect in every way! Lyn came in early on my day shift Thursday at only 2 cm dilated....but she was having her third baby, so we all knew it could go fast. We sent her home as she was feeling rather hungry and less than an hour later, she came back in very active labor. About 3 hours later, Nicole was born....struggling to breathe at first, but after a good deep suction and a little oxygen, that little sweet girl was pink and happy....nursing almost immediately.

It was such a peaceful birth and it went so well that I even forgot to put on two gloves....I was just wearing one! I ended up delivering the baby with one glove and a bloody hand that somewhere got only half a glove on! But it was a relatively clean birth and I got to do all the newborn exams noticing special things like her two birthmarks...one on her hand, the other on her leg. So cute. What a blessing to have a healthy birth after so many difficult ones! Both patients are still doing well.
And do you recognize this little....umm, wait...HUGE one above? That's Precious! My first handle! Already almost 5 months old now, she is a TANK! Her mom brought her by so that I could do a well-woman exam on her and visit a bit....it was a great time of getting to know Precious and Maribel again. What a blessing to see them! Then...pictured below....My dear Christine, a patient I transferred 4 months ago for cesarean, came by to show me her little lady! The last time I saw this peanut was when she was one day old! Healthy and strong, both are doing well! Praise God!
And today, Good Friday, I walked to work on completely DEAD streets....You see, yesterday was "Holy Thursday"....holiday #1.....today "Black Friday"...holiday #2...ending with Easter....holiday #3. Black Friday shuts the city down....literally. The only place open, we discovered on day shift today, is McDonalds! And thank the Lord for that...we were starving....no food in the clinic anywhere! Everything was closed, all patients were gone, no helpers, no groceries, no stores open, no transportation except the occasional tri-c-cab...that's it! It was a ghost town! Apparently it's an old Catholic tradition that if you die on Black Friday, you go to hell because Jesus doesn't rise until Sunday....and if you get hurt, then your wounds won't heal for a whole year!

Needless to say...the birth room was soooo empty. One labor the whole day and even she was apprehensive to give birth on Black Friday...Mmm. Aren't ya glad He only died once and arose once and for all! We celebrated the special day with a McDonald's McFlurry and a lesson in IV insertion. :) A quiet shift.

Tim celebrated the day delivering water filters to needy families....a Good Friday indeed. He will post about that next...

I also got a text from MJ...baby is doing better and finally breastfeeding. They have to stay in the hospital 1 or 2 more days and then they're HOME FREE! Thank you for all your prayers! She has been so grateful for them....me, too. I tell her all about the Americans and Canadians that are praying for her...it's pretty awesome.

Have an amazing Easter remembering God's precious gift to us....the death and resurrection of His most treasured....Jesus.

Be blessed.