Catch #22

Just a quickie before too much more time passes. :) Catnisse was born on 3/26/12 at 9:59pm, just before endorsements.  Sometimes that just the way things go.  Her dear midwife who had been with her all day (she worked a double shift) was tired and in need of sleep.  I was first up, so I caught the baby.  The momma had been there almost all day except for one break to go get new labs (urinalysis and hemoglobin), so pretty much everyone that was there on shift piled into the double wide cubicle for the birth.  What a party!  Here are some pictures:

Such a sweet mamma and precious baby girl!

Rural Life Center

From March 19-23 four of the girls and I spent some time at a renewable farming technologies farm.  It's really pretty amazing stuff. The joy of seeing these technologies in action is thinking ahead to potentially putting some or all of them into practice one day in a foreign country.

 The short story of what we did: watched vermiculture in process and learned ways of implementation for various aspects of farming.  We looked at goat raising, which included milking, castrating, debudding, and of course, feeding and housing.  Finally we looked at small gardening utilizing composting in the same area with seed preservation.

There were many more areas to learn from then we had time to do!

The mountains! This farm is actually in the foot hills of Mt. Apo.

debudding! Cauterizing the buds of the horns.

Juni had rhythm like no body's business!

Vermiculture using rabbit maure.

And, a little gardening, but preparing the place for the compost first.

Of course we enjoyed spending time around the people who are running it (part of a Baptist Mission) and really enjoyed a break into the country.  Ahhh.  We did our fair share of sleeping as our bodies took the opportunity to really let down and relax.

Enjoy the pictures!!  Also, on the right hand side bar there is a blog called "The Silver Lining" she also went on this trip and has a good post about it.  I'd encourage you to check it out!

Catch #21

She did it!! My sweet little patient, Cherry had her precious baby boy at 4:20pm while i was working on swing shift.  Deandra weighed 3650g (8lbs 1oz).  She is so incredibly tender hearted and her husband (yes, they are truly married!)  It was a joy.  She delivered in hands and knees, for those labor gurus out there.  It was great!

Here's a few pics:

he really doesn't like the camera...

yup, Cherry, Carlo and Deadre.

Pics of #20

This is at the one day check!! Precious!

Isn't she CUTE?

So relaxed!

is that a hint of a smile?!

Jane Mary

This morning at 4:35am a precious little girl was welcomed into this world.  She needed a little deep suctioning because of light meconium staining.  Her cry was strong and she had no trouble nursing well!  What a blessing.  Like her three siblings she weighed just 2740g (6 lbs. 1oz).  Her mom, well, she was dear.

Having had three kids and the last two labors being exceptionally short (30 minutes) she kept me on my toes for a good hour while i watched her labor.  Finally the moment came.  No more than one minute after her water breaking she was pushing and in just a couple minutes we met Jane Mary face to face.

Yup, she's a cutie!  Hopefully she'll come tomorrow and we'll get some snap shots!

P.S. Night shifts are starting to become a joy.  oh, i dont' love the thought of a night shift, but it isn't nearly the fearful thing it was 7 months ago!  Praise the Lord!

Sharing from Life Struggles

1 Corinthians 16:9 says, "...and you are not your own."  Do we understand this?  Do we know this?  I submit we do not!

We just heard a very honestly, very upfront testimony of the real trial of life.  Sometimes God opens doors and makes the paths and shows the way, then the path turns and the doors seem to close.  That has been very true for a family here.  They have had the rug pulled out from under them in two major areas.  Everything is not fixed, the damage is not repaired and the work of repairing what was broken is not done. Yet, the point of the testimony was to tell of God's faithfulness and His gift of faith.  Nothing has made sense yet, there are no apparent reasons given yet for why things have happened.  Yet, they have not lost heart in God, they know they can be grounded in Christ and that the Holy Spirit still is a comfort to them.  They testify, not to a perfect life, but to a Sovereign God whose love can be trusted even when His presence may not be felt as it once was.

Shalom.

Catch #19

The shift was relatively quiet.  There were two labors, both had been endorsed to the swing shift.  I had a busy day of seminars, which didn't leave me much time to be on shift early during the shift, but I was "on call."  No call, all was ok.  At 5:00pm I was "on shift".  There were still the two labors, each with their own complications, but attended by wonderful midwives!

It was about dinner time and as neither labor was particularly active, we took the opportunity to eat dinner. Mmm.  It was rice, filipino BBQ chicken, and steamed medley of veggies.  Mmmmm.  Just before finishing the last bite, a labor walked in.  She was mine!

I directed her to the bathroom (CR) to wash and pee.  As soon as she was done, she followed me to bed one...not my favorite, but that was what was available.  All her vitals were normal.  Although she had put down information for a bana (husbad/boyfriend) he wasn't there.  I inquired about him, but she said that they were no longer together.  Her aunt and mother were in attendance instead.

Unfortunately, her aunt was not as helpful as she had originally appeared to be.  She would encourage the patient to push "when you have pain."  Or, "Ok, i'll go get the other bantay (mother) so we can press on her stomach when she has pain/contraction."  Fundal pressure is very common here, especially for women who deliver at the hospital or in the mountain.

Well, after almost three hours of laboring from being 8cm at 6:19pm to fully at 8:40-ish. She pushed twice...maybe three times and pretty well blasted her baby out!  Some women need more encouragement than other women to push the baby out slowly to really reduce the occurrence of tearing.

At 8:49pm Adrian was born.  A healthy baby boy weighing 2650.  Just beautiful!  The momma tore, just a little.  Even though we have just had our suturing class and I've joint sutured twice, i didn't have to suture.  YAY!  It was a little close to endorsements, so I really didn't want to have to suture under pressure or be committed to staying until it was done.

One more little blessings!  He's precious.