Shift with Holly

It was a very exciting shift... it started out kind of slow, but it held a lot of action! :-) Holly was first up to assist so we had a pushy girl who was giving birth to her first baby. She was doing pretty good... but then the baby wasn't coming out.... for a long time... so we ended up transporting her to the hospital, and she had a C-section. It was kind of sad, but I think it was ok. Then after a little while another girl came in, and she was SO beautiful! She was very tall, like, REALLY tall. It was grand. She had come with her young daughter and son and husband. They didn't have anyone to watch the kids except a little boy, who they also brought with them. Crazy. So, the mom was pushing out her third little baby, while the husband ran back and forth between her and the kids outside! :-) And then, since there was nobody else there, the kids came in and were hanging out and inspecting their new baby! Holly did amazingly and it was a pretty good shift. (so the pictures are of the new little family, and Holly finishing up the newborn exam)

In other very exciting news... we are deep into our new assignment (which isn't so new anymore...) it is Intrapartum (labor/birth). It's really great and relevant to what we are learning right now. The girls in my year are starting to deliver the babies instead of just assist, and it's exciting to see. I still have 7 assists... I only need 3 more... I have been "stuck" there for about 2 1/2 weeks. It's a little bit discouraging, but I know that I am not going to handle until God wants me to do it, and I have learned SO SO SO much in this past 2 1/2 weeks. I have gotten the women from admission and sat with them, basically, until the head was about to come out, and then a supervisor comes in and catches it. So I feel more like I am... I don't want to say ready, because there is still SO much to learn. I will never get it all. But I know way more than I would have if I would have just finished my assists 2 weeks ago. And it gives me more time to build relationships with these girls, which, is so important to me. Anyway, thats all for now. I should get back to homework. I am on cooking this week, which leaves me not as much time for homework! :-) Have a wonderful last half of the week, and weekend, friends!!

P.S. Shout out to Jes L.'s Mom!!! She rocks! ;-)

:-)

Wow it's been a long time... The assignment was due, and then the internet out for a whole week! It was crazy times! :-) But now it's settled down just a bit, and we are back to just the regular amount of craziness! :-) I am very excited because this aftenoon I get to work with Holly! And I PROMISE that there will be pictures and stories from that later. But for now, it's laundry and homework until 2 when its time for work... until then :-)

sigh

Wow! I finally finished my assignment. that one was a killer. It wasn't exactly hard... just long and time consuming. So after malaria set me back about 6 days, I finally finished Sunday night (definitely 6 days after I wanted to). It was due monday afternoon, so it turned out ok. God is SO faithful. I just have to take the test on... tomorrow, and then on to the next assignment, which, I hear, is a real whopper... so yikes!

In other news me and Holly got to work together yesterday!! It was prenatals, so we really didn't see each other at all. BUT our cubicles were right next to each other, and it was so great to be able to hear her with the women, and to listen to them joke and laugh together. It made my heart smile. She however, did not hear my initial prenatal karaoke joke... In the Philippines karaoke is HUGE!!! Like, really, a karaoke machine on every corner! so on the day of initial prenatals sometimes the girls have no clue what is going to happen, so we tell them... "Here at mercy..." so I always talk about the fetoscope (like a stethoscope, but different...) to hear the heart beat, but then I also tell them about the doppler I tell them it's like a microphone, for their baby to do karaoke! and they always laugh so hard at my very funny joke... actually, a lady responded yesterday with, "Oh yes, I know this baby is going to be a karaoke star, this is practice!" HA HA HA, it was hilarious! Well, anyway, here are some pictures of Holly and I doing prenatals... not yesterday... but recently... :-) Have a great week everyone!

Oy!

Hi everyone! Sorry for the delay in posting... I have been very sick for the past... week ish... I've had malaria and basically not moved from my bedroom for about 6 days, not eating/drinking, etc... But God is faithful, and He was taking care of me, and Holly was taking care of my physical needs (which, is kind of difficult, I'm not the best sick person... I'm not very compliant...). I am so blessed by her. But anyway...
Today I had a three week check with Cindy and Natalie. Natalie is getting SO big! She was over 7 lbs! yay! She was still kind of jaundice, which should have probably gone away by now, but her grandmother was giving her this "vitamin" supplement and thought that was enough, and she didn't need to follow our instructions. But I told her to stop giving her the vitamins, and sun her a little... and keep feeding a lot. Cindy is so grand, she texts me all the time! :-) And nice ones, too, not just forwards (in the Philippines they send a lot of forwards to people, they are kind of silly, but ... yeah). Last night she sent me a message saying that she was so excited to see me tomorrow (today), and that she misses me, and Natalie does too! :-) And today they brought me some mangos! my favorite! I've decided that Natalie looks just like her mom! They are both so cute!

So on the school front... Our teacher for this assignment graciously extended the due date from Friday at 12 to Monday at 2! I was SO glad, because when I was sick, I couldn't do any of it... I couldn't think well... So that left me about 4 days to do about half of the assignment that we had 3 weeks to do! yikes! I was SO excited about the extension, so now, I can do a bit of a better job with it. Speaking of "it." I should probably go work on it some more! Have a wonderful week! I will update again sooner! :-)