Thursday, February 23, 2012

The cup that bubbles over...

As the title implies there are sooo many things to write about.  In your favor, they will just be little snippets here because these little things that were going to be posts in their own right have piled up quite a bit AND, well, time is short.

#1. Baby #18 TODAY!  I was third up of four of us on shift.  It was busy, but with just postpartum patients.  There was one labor out of the 6 or so patients on the board that were endorsed to us.  The midwife who was "first up" took her.  Then around 7:00am a labor came in, so the midwife who was "second up" took her.  All was going pretty smooth.  Both labors were fully and were pushing, but as you ladies that have had children or worked in a similar setting know, just because your pushing doesn't mean that baby will born right away.  So, we were just chillin'.  The patients in postpartum were being taken care of as needed and everything else was pretty calm.  Then, the first labor gave birth at 8:16am.  She did great.  the next birth I was assisting with gave birth at 8:37am and just as the placenta was out (i was still holding the bag with the placenta in it) there was a taxi that pulled up.

The supervisor goes running out the door yelling, "Kelly, Kelly, Kelly....hurry, come on, Kelly, Kelly, Kelly."  At this point i'm still holding the bag with the placenta in it trying to figure out where an acceptable place to put it is.  The midwife told me to just put it on the bed, which I quickly did.  I only had gloves on and wrongly thought that the super had already grabbed a tray (which were still on birth carts in the cubicles that had just had births.  Upon arriving at the taxi the scene was like this: The patient laying stretched out across the seat (thankfully this was a small SUVtaxi, so a little more space than a car) with a waded blanket between her legs.  Sorry, if this is a little graphic (cover your eyes and skip down...) I peaked under the blanket and saw 4-5 cm head visible!!  That's exciting.  She was pushing and yelling with every contraction and was not about to slow down.  We couldn't move her, so the baby was delivered in the car!  So fun.  Usually we let the cord stop pulsing, then clamp it, but in this situation the cord was clamped and the patient was transported in a wheel chair to the clinic and a bed.  Ah, what crazy times.  I didn't get any pictures, but hopefully they will return for baby checks and we'll snap a few there!!  Happy Birthday to Leana Gabrielle, 2900g (about 6lbs. 7oz.) at 8:50am.

#2. VALENTINE'S DAY!
Like most holidays here in the Philippines they do like to celebrate Valentine's day.  It is substantially less celebratory that most, but they do sell the appropriate candies and do some decorating in store fronts and restaurants.  For us, it wasn't too big of a holiday.  We had a seminar to go to and regular clinic work.  But, just today (Feb 23) the mail brought in some wonderful surprises.  Namely two that touched my heart.  One was a lovely pkg complete with choc, candies and a card from my dear brother and sister (in-law).  THANK YOU.  The other was a card from some ladies at church in the P4U group.  THANK YOU.  Reading each of your notes just touched my heart.  Today has been especially long and tiring, so thank you!!  Each of your notes made me smile.  Priscilla...so clever.

#3. Life is Messy!
One of the many topics that we run across in this field, as in many other fields, is the need for counciling.  Often, the women we minister to are single and pregnant.  Hmmmm.  Or, they are living with their boyfriend.  So, it is imperative that we learn to listen and offer a place of trust and hope.  Sometimes we may have opportunities where we are doing more formal counseling, but mostly it's just in the way we serve the women.  Often, these women are very open and very real.  The may openly confess to having a "job" of being a prostitute, or drinking, or smoking.  Some hide, but when you can be a safe place, they open up.  
So, what ran across my brain was the need for Christians, and often those working in foreign places, to be real too!  No one is super human.  Sometimes we put up facades of "Holiness" or "Purity" when in fact we are simply binding ourself to a made up standard that is damaging in the end because we miss out on God's graciousness to our humanity or finiteness.  He is gracious!  Just a challenge for my own life and for you.  Just because you may have a label of Christian doesn't mean you too can't be real about struggles or even feelings, like flash in the pan tempers.  Mhmmm.  My parents tried to instill in us the worth of validating people.  For instance, to stop, make eye contact, and say, "hello." is very validating to someone because they know that they are a person in your eyes.  Ahhh.  It challenge me to be real and know that life isn't always clean and neat, sometimes, the emotions or feelings we have may not feel holy, but they are part of life on this earth.  Sometimes, I just need someone to validate those and then we can move on.

#4. We have a great matter of security here.  There have been multiply shootings recently, so we are under "orders" not only by our staff, but also by the mayor (to all the Filipinos in the area) to be aware and be safe.  Usually we would walk to the places close by, but that is no longer an option!  The shootings have been of pedestrians (usually females) who are attacked by a motorcyclist.  Sometimes it was due to a struggle to give over posessions or money, other times it didn't seem to matter whether there was a struggle or not.  We are not living in fear, but it has changed our life a little.  Your prayers are appreciated.

Well, that's all for now!  May the Lord bless you and keep you and give you strength to carry on in His path!

1 comment:

  1. I really liked reading your bubbles. Praise God for such a full cup. Dad and I are proud of you and how you are serving our Lord. Way to go for catch #18! God bless you, sweet daughter! xoxox mom

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