Communication in the little things

Imagine playing Bball with that view!  They did this all day long.


It didn't seem like a large difference, really.  Exchanging the "v" for a "b" in pronunciation seems to trivial, especially when it seems to be common in many languages. Don't be fooled, it can be the difference between communicating and not.  Here's a little story to help.
Violet (my friend and roomie) went to the market and made our last stop the egg/chicken lady.  We told her we wanted to buy some eggs.  She quickly replies, "Fibe? Fibe?"  With no needed explanation I knew she was asking, "Five? Five?"  I replied, "Twelve."  "Fibe?" She asked, again.  "No, twelb."  I corrected.  And with this she quickly counted out a dozen eggs.
It's such a small thing.  It's not complicated, no clearly pronunciation is needed, just the awareness of the more commonly pronounced "b" instead of 'v".  It happens all the time, most commonly with number such as, "pipty-pibe" (55) and "seben" (7).  It's all English in the formal sense, but there's a little difference in pronunciation that makes all the difference!

Tabuk!  This is a new adventure.  For three weeks a friend (and roommate) and I will be spending some time at a maternity clinic to visit some missionary volunteers.  It's very rural, hence the rice fields everywhere!  And so pretty.  Life has a whole different pace than in the city.  It's slower and quieter...so much quieter.  There's the occasional radio or tv that can be heard, but overall is quiet.  

Today will be our first full day here after some great rest (16 hours... probably enough sleeping) and we'll head out to explore with a guided tour.  

There are lots of stories from our travels, but those stories will have to wait.  :)

Michelle, the one who remembers

Something about her stayed with me.  Maybe it's that she was a Filipina with some of the longest dreads ever and they were a messy mass, maybe it was the tattoos on her arms and legs, maybe it was the myriad of bracelets and anklets.  Maybe, it was that she told me she would bring me a bracelet when she came back.  Or maybe the LORD just allowed her to remain in my mind.

Everything about her is very counter her culture.  I don' know how she found out about Mercy, but probably the way most of the patients do: word of mouth or they just see the sign.  She is always the last prenatal on her day and she's actively seeking something spiritual to fill her void.  To this end, I did pray for her at the end of her prenatal.  Especially as she said that she would be going to another island (Cebu) for some festival and she and her bana would be selling bracelets, anklets and necklaces.

This prenatal was in December, so through all of January she was on my mind.  What was she doing?  Had she seen the One for who she really searched?  The cough she had that was probably from smoking before she was pregnant, was it a sign of other lung problems?  Would I ever see her again?

The clinic here runs such that there are a team of midwives assigned a particular prenatal day, so we might see patients only once, then again we might see them lots, it just depends.  And, when they come to the birth room they are served by the current shift (unless the woman has become a continuity patient, but that's a different story.)

This past Tuesday I was working on prenatals.  We started just after 9:00am.  There were lots of patients and one by one they were all seen.  Occassionaly I wondered if I would see her...and if I would recognize her (there was one other gal with dreads, which are certainly a defining factor).  We were almost done and i was cleaning up my bed when I hear a teammate behind me say, "Kelly..."  I turn around to Michelle!  She came.  Her dreads, her inked skin and charms galore, she was here! She smiled and said, "Hi Kelly."  What joy flooded me heart.  And she said, "I brought this for you from Cebu."  

This just amazed me.  I don't really know her, she doesn't really know me and why she would remember me when she was on a 3 week vacation is beyond me, but she did and she was true to her word.  Just as she said, she brought back a bracelet.  As she left and said good bye, by name to me and the midwife who had done her prenatal, she promised the other girl a bracelet too.  

Now the bracelet reminds me to pray for her and her searching heart.  She's very dear and had such a bright personality, but there's no doubt of her need for a Savior.  What a joy it is to speak to the King on her behalf that she would know Him.  She's not due for a few more months, so hopefully we run into each other again during prenatals...maybe even her birth!

Fresh Fish

 Our daily vegetables and fruits come from the local market.  On occassiona we also find that we need to buy some meat at the market.  For sure if we buy fish we always buy it at the market.  Everything from shell fish to octipus is available, but you must arrive at the right time.  Either 4:00am or 4:00pm for the freshest catch.  The fish can be scaled and cut or uncut and you buy by the kilo.

These catches were fresh...they were just unloading their trucks and laying out their catches for the buying.  They really looked so gorgeous.  This is the real fishing life.  They really do live from catch to catch!

Uncle Frank.  Ya, he's my favorite.  Especially when cousin Leo joins in.  They are a good team.  If things get real stressful at any point Aunt IV is real quick to jump in and give a boost!  If all else fails and things need a little rest, well, cousin Trendelenburg is a good one.  Everything can be managed better when he's around.

Family reunion?  Not quite.  This is the little picture that made me laugh while thinking through complications in birth.  Frank, well, that's the best kind of breech with the least amount of risk.  Leo...Leopold's maneuvers are used for palpation of the baby in-utero.  IV, well, if you've ever been sick (or surgery) enough to be admitted to the hospital you've most likely experienced one of these. They are wonderful things though that make treatment and care sooo much easier ad quicker.  Trendelenburg, well, it isn't a place, it's a position.  This position puts ones rear end up in with the head down.

Oh, usually birth is ok.  It is a normal process created by God and is usually a moment to praise Him for His creativity and goodness.  Yet, we all know this world is a place of suffering and sometimes things just don't go as planned.  So, one must always prepare for the worst.

Thinking of birth trauma's also makes me think of life.  Sometimes our lives just don't go the way we planned or we're seeking a little respit for healing and refreshment, yet it's just one thing after another.  We know God has a plan.  And, it may be that through the tears, the hurt, the trials, we just hang on and hope in Whom we know we can hope that there is good in store.

There are a couple people serving with us here that are going through some pretty major trials.  We all know them, it seems to be a reminder in the moments that life seems to good that it's not forever and it really isn't good...but we do have a hope of eternity!!

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.  In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials." 1 Peter 1:3-6

Like shattered glass...a broken view

"Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—" - Romans 5:12

Come on a journey with me, if you please.  Imagine that you are a health care provider and you've done all you can possibly do, but the situation is not improving.  Stop there for just a minute.  Back up, just a little to remember your heart in what you do.  You've been given a passion for healing, for restoration, for life.  This passion is not just a passing trend, rather it's been passed down to you as a legacy from your Father, a gift, His passion is also life, abundant life.  Back to the current situation. 

Your working hard to preserve two lives.  One seems that it will improve momentarily and it's possible to continue supporting her life.  The other one, the one that is so little and needs so much because, well, it's just arrived and can't help itself, seems to be fading before your eyes.  Yet, there is more help to give and the whole situation becomes joyful in just a moment.  This would be the birth that you just assisted with.  There were a few tention filled moments just after the baby came out, then all was well.  Oh, what an amazing, incredible, miraculous event to witness time and time again.  Life.

Now, continue on through your morning.  You have patients coming back for their postnatal check ups.  This is usually a time of joy as you check over the growing baby, support and encourage the new mother and sometimes the father.  You laugh at some of the cultural traditions and sometimes have to lay down reality in the face of tradition passed on from generations that isn't really helpful for the life of the mother or baby.  Such is life, but it's good.  

This morning that baby check isn't the case.  The mom contacted you the previous night to say that her baby was turning red and blue.  You advise her for home monitoring and to come in as soon as possible or go directly to the hospital as you can only go with what she is texting you.  She arrives early the next morning.  You can hear the baby before you see him and know that something must be done immediately for his blocked, heavily congested airway.  Deep suctioning is performed and you hurry away on a transport to the hospital.  As if  your heart wasn't heavy enough at watching this little life fail, it's about to get heavier.

What you find makes your heart break.  In the very place where you have gone to seek help to sustain life you find apathy and death.  You carry this precious, struggling little life in your arms only to walk by sickness that eats away at people's very life leaving them corpses of hopelessness.

That was my dear friend this morning.  She is a midwife.  Sometimes there are midwives who don't like hospitals, but in truth, there is a place for them and the care they offer.  We have disagreements, just like every field of medicine (have you asked how a surgeon would deal with a situation versus a therapist?  Ya, pretty different!), but we do rely on them in a healthy chain of giving the best care to patients.  Unfortunately, what she was met with this morning was overwhelming.  She was absolutely overcome with the severity of death, especially where it seems there should be healing.

My friend took her precious, gasping baby to the hospital and was overcome by the struggling, and occasionally lifeless bodies around her and the apparent lack of concern from the staff or even just available staff (please know, i'm sure that they care and are probably often overcome by the pure volume and the difficulties they have in trying to meet demand...imagine daily triage, so NO disrespect to them at all.)

The feeling that comes is utter helplessness and a reminder of the reality that this life is filled with death. Oh, sometimes we can see death as a sort of poetic doorway and be comforted that for those walking the path of Life it is only the beginning, but often there is nothing beautiful or poetic about it and it may be filled with hopelessness if they don't know He who gives Life.  It's a hard path to walk when those who you have sought for further help aren't sufficient.

Praise the Lamb for the life He gives, oh share it freely!  And, if you know people in the health care profession pray for them.  Lift up their patients (even though you may not know them) to the Great Physician.  Life is precious and not just this life here and now, but the life to come!

Of Justice and Birth

Hello!  Oh, it's been a while since there's been an entry on here. Sorry, no that your sitting on the edge of your seat for the next post, but maybe it's a little hard to keep up with someone when they never post.  True that!

Today, on the way to shift my friend said she was just, "writing a blog in her head."  This actually came up because I had texted her when her car drove by instead of stopping to pick me up!  She graciously and quickly turned around and did give me a lift.  haha.  We were laughing and she was just saying how she was writing a blog post in her head, and thus lost in thought and driving auto-pilot.  That made me think....blogging.  Hmmm, that's a fun thing to do, in fact i used to do that!  So, here's the blog post that is a little story of today and a window into the daily life.

This morning shift was crazy!  There were three of us on shift who could catch.  We go in order depending on your last birth, so I was third up.  Initially it was rather quiet.  We had postpartum patients in various stages of postpartum.  Some waiting to pay and go home, some needing a baby bath, then go home...yup, various stages.

Then, Salem, my friend who was talking about the blog, she got a labor!  Woo-hoo.  She checked her in and found out she was fully and her patient gave birth shortly there after!! :) That was just the start to the shift...then Brenda got a patient, then I got a patient, then Brenda caught a baby who was almost born in a taxi, then...well, it was just so busy.  In summation: Salem caught 2 babies, Brenda caught 1 and had a labor, and I had 2 labors.

What does justice have to do with this?  Well, sometimes woman are positively wonderful to work with and be with during their labor, some woman are just, well, it can be a character polishing experience...and some, they are just trying.  That "trying" patient for me is usually the one that challenges my ability.  Yes, they make me wonder if I know what in the world I've learned or seen!

Today I had one such patient (the first one who was there the longest!)  She was almost fully dilated, but was not dilating symmetrically, so she labored in hands and knees.  The difficulty was what i felt was an inability to communicate with her and how hard it was to read her.  The contractions are apparent, but she wanted to push so early on, which was expected, but so hard as the midwife to know how best to support her and when to really support her to push when her baby really needed to descend a while. ("a while" that's a very Filipino phrase...our English is greatly effected here.)

Here's where the justice comes in.  Towards the end of shift she was becoming progressively more pushy, but was tired and had a small potential for being transported.  In preparation for the next shift and to help her with tiredness (before it became exhaustion) I inserted an IV.  At this point it was apparent that the bana (husband...boyfriend) was a little frustrated that she hadn't delivered yet.  Oh, it was slight, so slight, but it opened up in me a well that poured forth a need for justice  I looked at him and said, "YOU must support her.  Her work is hard.  She is working so hard and is progressing normally, so YOU must support her." Oh, what used to be a slight frustration with my patient became such a passion for her justice that she would receive the support, encouragement, and love she deserved as a laboring woman.  She really was doing excellent.

Justice hasn't been something that has always been on my heart, well, maybe in the negative.  We can all think about personal and inpersonal situations of injustice, probably especially within the "Justice System".  Hmmm, but there is positive justice.  In fact, it is an attribute of our Heavenly Father.  He cares for justice.  When we want justice, though sometimes it's our injured ego, often it is a reflection of our desire for the perfection that can only come from God.  Know Him.  Seek after Him and seek His justice.

"He loves righteousness and justice;

The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord."

Psalm 33:5

"For the Lord loves justice,

And does not forsake His saints;

They are preserved forever,

But the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off."

Psalm 37:28

"A bruised reed He will not break,

And smoking flax He will not quench,

Till He sends forth justice to victory;"

Matthew 12:20

P.S. this patient did deliver shortly after the swing shift came on...haven't heard the whole story yet, but no doubt it will be good!