I'm Pregnant. Can you tell?

Greetings! We pray you are all well! We are anticipating lots of changes and news from family and friends over the next couple of weeks...we just heard that our sister-in-law, Esther, is in labor with baby #2 in British Columbia, another sister-in-law is set to go in August, and we have other friends just waiting to meet their little ones, too.

Speaking of which....because so many of you have asked to see me in "pregnant glory" (whatever THAT is!), Tim sat me down for one of his photo sessions in our house to document my growing belly. We really had a great time taking an evening to play with his camera and enjoy each other and the belly...Promise Grace kicked the whole session through...she doesn't seem a bit camera shy! As for me, the session was a challenge, but Tim is a very talented man, so here are the results.....

Among other news, Tim and the team loaded up 14 filters for Magindanao on a small truck with another truck returning later this week to pick up more. This is very good news. Tim is also looking into a wonderful possibility of training more eager Filipinos tomorrow. Their training will greatly impact their area and the surrounding areas including Magindanao. Praise God...things are moving forward.

In the midwifery world, I had the privilege of delivering another baby girl last night. Unfortunately, I have no pictures as a result of the complications of the birth. Similar to last Monday, my dear patient, Licsi, worked very hard through labor and did fantastic. She was strong and although this was her first baby, she was such a trooper despite the excruciating pain.

When the head was near visible, her bag of waters showed very thick meconium that looked like pea soup. Not good. We fought to get the baby out as the baby's heart tones dipped and we had to put Licsi on oxygen. Over 40 minutes later, little Eunice was born, not breathing, lifeless. It was a race to get her breathing with all hands on deck, there was deep suctioning, oxygen, resuscitation, and finally a heartbeat was found...her eyes began to open, but she was still very blue and limp. We needed to transport.

Meanwhile, my dear Licsi tore from the needed force of getting the baby out fast and the fact that her baby was quite large. She had a 3rd degree laceration that spilled blood and she was given in IV. While I was on transport with a new intern named, Christy, Licsi was being sutured to prevent her from bleeding further. The intern, Christy, was such an incredible blessing to me accompanying me to DMC to check the baby in and helping me every step of the way throughout the busy shift. At DMC, we raced Eunice to the resus. room where there were no empty beds, all the oxygen tanks we in use and two men had just died. It was chaos and after conversing with one of the nurses, we got Eunice into the OB emergency room where she was given oxygen, put under a heat lamp and cared for.

We returned to MMC to find Licsi still being sutured by our wonderful supervisor. But the tear was just too deep with Licsi's pelvic nerves exposed. Not a good sign. So then we prepared her for transport to DMC as well. She fainted in the movement, but came to quickly. We prayed and off she went.

Clean up was huge...we were all tired. But apparently both Licsi and Eunice are doing well, but have to remain at the hospital for another couple days for treatment.

Not sure how well I am coping with being pregnant in the birth room. I often feel weak and incompetent with my belly constantly slowing me down....and yet somehow God continues to give grace. Not sure how much longer I can keep up in the birth room....but my desire is to be a blessing and continue learning, so until this is no longer a possibility, I will continue. God is good. Thank you for all your prayers and encouragements....they are much appreciated and much needed! We will keep you posted.

Be blessed.