Dealing with the Flu Blues...

Greetings!! Thank you all for the comments on the last post....we sure do appreciate them! And yes, that 10-inch worm really DID come out the patient's mouth. She and her baby are doing just fine, though. :)

This week yielded some pretty great craziness....

Tim and Toti moved the water project building site to Toti's house on a great plot of land. It needs just a little work, but can be used as both a training site and manufacturing site for the copious amount of filters being made! YEAH GOD! Tim and the gang were crowding out Jenn and Joe's backyard with all the filter goods....we are so grateful they were willing to let us use it for so long!

With a new plot of land, Tim and Toti have a new pile of work....Tim made the "good" mistake of promising 1,000 filters to 1,000 Muslim families just a ways south of Davao. And they are taking him up on the offer, much to Tim's surprise! Now Tim is just praying in the funds to finish their new manufacturing site, build a few more molds, and hire a few more able bodies to make these filters! What a wonderful challenge! 

Today he is in Santo Tomas installing 5 filters and giving another filter presentation with Toti! The work never ends! Tim loves his job....I have never seen him so excited about work and he is really beginning to enjoy the busy pace of life....I just keep telling him to wait until the baby comes!!! That'll be a busy pace like none other! Tee hee!

Promise is growing well...kicking daily, tummy's bigger, despite the growing discomforts, I am still happy to be pregnant and thankful for the gift. 

The birth room has been busy! On Tuesday, I had the pleasure of meeting the beautiful couple above...Deding came in looking VERY uncomfortable....I counted one contraction, did her vital signs, was in the middle of getting heart tones from the baby when I heard her say..."Ma'am...baby is coming!" Mmm. Okay. I told her to breathe deep and grabbed the birth cart and oxygen tank and heard her say..."BABY IS COOOOMING". Yeah, I think I got that the first time! So I told her to breathe again and we got her on the bed just in time for her to say, yup, you guessed it..."BABY IS COOOOOOOOOOMINGGGGG!!!!" And yup, the baby's head was just shy of crowning. 

I could tell she was just itching to give a good hard push and get that little one outta there fast, but I told her to "HA, HA....Hinay, hinay....HA HA!" Meaning...SLOW DOWN and BREATHE! She did! And it was a good thing! As the baby's head crowned I could feel that the baby's hand was coming along with the head, too! A very cute picture, but a very painful tear in the making if she just pushed her baby out hard! But her slowing the pushes enabled the baby to come without any tearing at all! Just a perfect 6 pound little lady named Riza was born. And though Deding's chart said that she was anemic, she barely bled at all and managed to go to the washroom without dizziness and was discharged before my shift ended! Praise the Lord!

That shift was soooo busy....4 births in 2 hours, three postpartum patients and countless baby checks. I started having contractions every 15 minutes and could not stop until the work was done. Got a little nervous about that one, but by the time I got home that night, my belly had slowed down some. Praise the Lord for that! 

Deding's bana was amazing, too....he noticed that we midwives were tired, busy, and terribly hungry, so while he went out to get his wife food, he purchased two bottles of coke and a BIG bag of sweet rolls! We were so blessed! The following day, he brought me a watermelon and a pineapple! And today he brought me more rolls and more coke! We midwives have taken a liking to this bana....his wife is magnificent and her bana is a blessing....he always brings so much to share!

Right now I am resting off a day of prenatal exams and baby checks waiting for Tim to come home from far, far away. Yesterday he was feeling soooooo sick...with diarrhea, joint aches, and a horrible headache, he was not in good shape. I made him sleep after he did a bit of work....he slept a good portion of the day as he was so concerned about his trip this morning. And then he gave me the flu. One positive thing about having the flu when you're pregnant is you no longer have to fight constipation! Everything just slides right out! The only problem is, it is not always at the most opportunistic time....and I am praying for Tim out in the bukid without a good toilet today. Our tummies are sore and eating is a chore...can't wait for this one to pass...sorry for the pun. I checked in with Tim twice today....a flat tire, they got lost, and it is threatening rain....poor, poor Tim. Please pray he gets healed along the way...that would brighten the already darkening day for him!

As for me, I have two days off of clinic duty to do homework...close to a bathroom. :) Thank you for all your prayers, support and encouragement! Please continue to pray for our protection both physically and spiritually....we've been hit from all sides this week! From contractions, to the flu, to a broken water pump! ARGH! It's a good thing God called us here and we aren't going to get discouraged! :) 

Be blessed!