Christmas EvENts wrapped UP in a blog~

Charity's got this sweet new underwater camera...it lOOKs like a normal digital, but you can get.it.wEt! So when Lois' parents took us all to Paradise for a night, we were experimenting with it! This is just one of the shots of fiSH...marine liFE gets me every time.

On the bed at Paradise, indulging in the Toblerone they brought for Christmasss..in order of heads from left to right it's Tiff; me; Laura; Jenny; and Charity - these are the girls in my class.

ChICken fights in the ocean.

My entire class, again, at Jack's Ridge, celebrating Laura ANd Jenny's december birthdays...this would ALso be a good time to say Happy Belated Birthday to my father as he, too, is a december baby.

Tiffany and I at Mercy's Christmas party..which was extREMEly well done. We had fOOd and drINks and gAMes and tEAms and prIZes, a gift exchange and, oh - it was alotta fuN! Girls Only!!

3 BABIES in 1 week is enough christmas blEssing for mE! - All very normal, natural births, the babies have been hearty and healthy! I've been stunned again and again by my 'secret angel' who leaves little notes and (big) presents under the tree for me! I now have my very first pair of umbilical sissors and a hemostat, thanks for her (SO fun!). I'm procrastinating at the moment, as my final is tomorrow afternoon. Between this computer and a book my mom sent me I'm never without sOMEthing to keep me occupied! I can hardly wait for this weekend to begin - friday night is Mercy's Christmas celebration, and on saturday my class is off to PARADISE resort for a night on the beach, celebrating 50 babies caught and the Christmas season (I'm in dire need of a tan..). Monday's the 24th, with a possible boattrip to the islands, and a Christmas service at church. Christmas morning we're planning on brunch in a new park downtown (with rumours of REAL GRASS!) Normal people hope for a white blanket of snow on Christmas, but we are in search of actual grass - it should be exciting! Christmas dinner will be at Chad and Naomi's house (a married student, and our neighbour). And I don't work again until nightshift on the 25th AND the 26th, with the exception of clinic tomorrow.

Have a vERY mERRY Christmas, EveryonE!!
Hopefully, we'll be able to connect on the phone over the holidays..

bacK at it...oH the mIRacle Of Birth -

I've had shift the day after getting home from outreach, and by 2 hours into it had caught a 9lb little girl (that's sUPerr big for the phils!). I had Sunday off, but Monday was back in the birthroom, with Krys as the supervisor on shift. And IT WAS NUTS! Babies were being born at 1/2 hr intervals! Tiff, Jen and I all had active and pushing labors - each born around 8am, 8:30, and mine (the last to go..) at 9:08am! Two more were born around10:30 and then at 1pm for a total of 5 brand new bundles of jOy on our shift!!

TIff and I side-by-side, encouraging our girls to push out a baby...really, this is thE bEst job in the Entire world! I couldn't ask for better midwives to work with.

to the MOUNtains!!

I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to join one of our apprentice midwives at the clinic, Jane, to her "hometown" out in the country with 2 other students, Jen and Medea on a midwifery medical outreach for the past week. We packed noodles and rice for a week and headed out on a bright Sunday afternoon from Davao. By the time we reached Tagum by one long bus ride and a jeepney ride it was raining so hard we decided to postpone the next leg of the trip (a motorcycle ride into the village) until it was only sprinkling. We made it to Mary Jane's house (the local midwife, and the midwife/healthcare worker for a number of remote villages) and just rested up that night in preparation for our "courtesy call" to the Mayor's office the next morn.

After the Mayor's visit, a little volleyball game, and negotiations for some free meds we re-packed, ate lunch, loaded the 3 motorcycles taking 8 ppl (including our drivers) a couple hours into the mountains, and were off again! Monday afternoon was spent travelling and then resting before dinner. Tuesday morning we were prepared for 100 some odd ppl of the village (population of around 7-800) to gather in front of Mary Jane's modest little health center (where we spent the nights) for our services. exCEPT that it was RAINinggg that morning, and therefore the patients and pregnant women just trickled in all morning long. Medea handled most of the first aid and health problems (she's a registered nurse in Switzerland) while Jen and I worked with the prenatals. IT was so cool because we were able to bring a Doppler, and most of the girls had not heard their baby's heart beats before..actually, everyone was intrigued by the swooshing sounds! The afternoon was spent finishing up prenatal and health check-ups and I was able to steal away for a bit a play with the kids... who, are sO adorable!! I remembered my hemp and they have tiny coins here with a hole in the middle of it, not worth much, and we made probably about 50 bracelets with these coins and hemp and tied them off on each child's wrist.


The coolest thing, ALSO, was meeting the trained hilot of the village - a 60-something year old shriveled up, soft-spoken woman who gave us acupressure massages (it really hurt...they are CRAZY!). A hilot is the traditional birth attendant here in the philippines, and are known for handling stressful complications. She was very sweet.

Whaaaaat else..., because it was raining there was no shortage of frogs and that first night we went out in the rice fields and caught about 20 of'em and stuffed them in a bag. The next morning i helped gut them, behead them, skin'em and fry them - wow, i neveer thought it'd be good, but they WERE! THat day we also hiked through a banana-tree forest to a pretty tall waterfall where we could swim and jump and play around. Thursday we did some Motorcross biking (except with 2 or 3 ppl to a bike) to yet another, more remote village. We did mOre prenatals there, and I assisted Medea in a minor surgery - a little 2-yr old girl had a crazy boil on her knee that we sliced open and drained (I felt sick afterwards..)






































































All in all, the week was relaxing but eye-opening and really very exciting! We accomplished a few physical things, but mostly just hung out and made solid friendships with people who speak a different language. IT always amazes me how easily bonds can be formed without the use of words, communicating instead through eyes and facial expressions and hand signals - i really like that. I was blessed oVEr and OVer again. Thanks to all who were thinking/praying for me while i was away...hopefully I'll get to go again!!

..juuuust SOME of the things we do while on shift, waiting for a (REAL) laboring woman to waddle through the door - today's shift was esPECially dead and needed some liveninggg UP (how cOOl would this be for reaL?!...anyone lucky enough to be pregnant deserves to be conGRATulated!)

hOw many days 'til Christmas?!

nOt enOugh.

I can be sure of that fact, alone! Things are nUts here in the Philippines at the moment...and not jUSt for me. Somehow, all on Monday afternoon, I got super sick (again) which is so weird because i don't gEt sick often. but, I'm almost better now (thank the Lord) because OUTREACH is quickly approaching.

I am sUPerrr excited for outreach and no Mom, i do not yet have the names of the places we will be travelling (mostly because I cannot pronounce, let alone spell them correctly!). But, from the meeting today, i DO know that we will be leaving Sunday afternoon to be well rested and ready to meet the Mayor of the city early Monday morning. We were advised to 'dress well' for this meetting, hahah, which includes a nice blouse and actual shoes, instead of flip-flops!

From there we will be travelling around for a period of 5 days, by motorbike, to 3 different tribes in the mountains, accompanied by the local "community health worker', Mary Jane. Mary Jane is actually a trained midwife, but does not have this status because that would mean a bigger salary and full-time work, which the government is not willing to sacrifice. Mary Jane is, therefore, not only a midwife but the general healthcare worker for many not-very-accessible miles.
I am looking forward to meeting her!

I've realized how dependant I've become - they told us today at the meeting that we'd need to supply our own food. A year ago I would've jumped at the chance to plan a camping menu for a week, but nOw it seems like a daunting task! I'm sure everything'll work out, as it always does. Prayer is essential, and would be appreciated, not only to stay safe (as beds are rare, malaria-carrying mosquitoes are rampant, and water must be boiled before drinking), but in order to really connect to these women! We have been given the task of preparing certain health teachings, will be doing prenatals, and assisting Mary Jane with whatever other first aid cases she may encounter.

WE're expecting something bIG to happen! Even if not ever seen or known, that hopefully our presence in some way will make a difference...
I'll be sure to update you all after returning home - the outreach runs from Dec.09-14th and I will most likely not have any time to write on this before then as I have dayshift tomorrow, and church Sunday morning before boarding the bus to the mountainsssss :D And after that, it's just a short week of work, parties, holidays, and gift exchange before the 25th arrives. Life is rough (as dearly quoted by my mom!) YEE.

ADVANCE MERRY CHRISTMAS! (the common greeting around Davao for the past few months :)

a little more of lIFE..

Every young adult that is any young adult plays badminton as a hobby after work in this country. As such, I've taken up the sport ;) My Chinese friends, Joan and Jean pick Lois and I every Thursday and we play from 8-10 pm at Smashville, a nearby gym. hahah, it's hilarious. They, Joan and Jean and their friends, are so so good, some of them even teach! I'm picking up a few tips here and there. It's quite fun!
These 2 girls also took Tiffany and I on a roadtrip, about 45 minutes away, to Panabo to visit their Aunt and Uncle, who OWN MONKEYS!
It's always been a dream of mine to have a monkey, and thIS is the closest i've come to getting one. It was so amazing to play with the monkey for the morning. Monkeys hands and feet are absolutely incredible! Their Uncle also owns the medical clinic in town, running for over 30 years now! We got a tour, plus a little demonstration on some new, high-tech acupuncture!

Nov.28, 2007

That's funny, because when I started this post i put "sept" instead of "nov"...i'm a little behind. ANYways, just a little story - 2 deliveries ago the baby had to be transported immediately due to complications such as apnea, lack of muscle tone, mec-staining, extremely large caput (basically not breathing on its own, etc.) It was AWful. But the Lord is gracious, and my next birth went much better!

On Nov.28 Shirah Angela graced her mother's presence (literally) because her mom, Nancy, had already given birth to FOUR BOYS and desperately wanted a little girl. She worked incredibly hard to push the baby out, and after the baby was resting on her tummy I ask, "what's your baby?! check, feel between the legs to check!"...

She reaches over and feels the umbilical cord (that was still attached) and exclaims "lalake?!" ("boy?!")...and i said "NO!" and as i wrench her leg open to reveal her little...little...i'm at a loss as to what to even CALL it on this thing! Anyways, you get the picture. Poor Nancy, almost thought she was doomed to never have a girl, she's already 38, and after realizing what I was saying to her, that her BOY was actually a GIRL, she asks, "sure ka?!" ("you're sure?!") ahhahah. oh my...

Later on, she was thanking me for helping her out and said "babaye kaayo!" ("very girl") aweee :D She was oh so sweet! And I agreed that it was very much a beautiful little girl. What a great job.

a very lAte post.

to match a vERY lAte THANKSGIVING! because the directors of our school are American, I celebrated Thanksgiving a little lATe again this year...i was relieved to see the pot of mashed potatoes next to the usual rice...thanksgivin' just wouldn't be the same w/o mashed pot and gravy! and to drink?! what else...but coke (and a little bit of (disgusting!) coconut wine). I love when everyone gets together :)

and on our fREE time.

on the days we DON't have "duty" at the clinic...we pack up and head to an aircon coffee shop :) The favourites are Bo's; Blugre (not so much after they discontinued their green chai tea, but i've heard they've now got vanilla chai, so it'll PRObably become a fav again); Basti's; Cups and Lowercase; Humps (mmm, peppermint latte); 51 japanese coffee shop; Brewedcastor; Nezz Cafe; Wiki-something (i forget cuz i've never actually bEEn to that one...).
the POINt is, this city is brimming with coffee shops, all with wifi, and good tea to drink! We can get a lOt done in an 8 hr day of just sitting there in a cafe doing homework with nOthing to distract except the internet, the good company of other classmates, other patrons, non-stop christmas music played throughout the place, the constant racket of blenders and coffee pots and... the waiters ;) ...just kidding! I hope everyone at home is wEll! It IS the rainy season for me now, and sometimes, around 3am, I get chilly enough nOt to turn off the fan, but to cover up with a sheet. Oh, to play in snow...

with 2 hours left..

around 8pm, in the 14th hour, sweet Marianita came back (the one I'd sent home earlier) more active! She was single, but had her amazingly experienced mom there to help her labor. Seriously, her mom could've been exPLOYed at Mercy - she was sO good at telling her daughter what to do, without being "overbearing".. A veteran laborer, she knew exactly what to tell her daughter to do - she's had at least 5 babies, and her first time pregnant had twins (who had both already died before she pushed them out..)

I got to deliver her baby at 9:33 pm, and because it was so close to shift change, I didn't have to do any of the postpartum things like the baby exam and bath and such (the fun part :P). So I finished up the paperwork and endorsed the rest. I later found out that the father came at some point that night (which was really special for her because he already has a family and told her he was going to stay with the others). It's a common occurrence here, i've kind of learned to accept it, but, as long as they can support all their children, it's socially ok.

It was a great birth! I was completely blessed by the support of Marianita's mother, and just how she handled pushing out her first ever little baby girl.

a 16 hr. shift

I asked Jenny if she could work my sunday swing shift (afternoon-eve) because I planned somewhat of a party in Toril (about an hour from here) with a couple of the women i've delivered - mainly the 2 Aninon sisters. But, I switched her for toDAY, saturday swing although I already had saturday day shift. Therefore, i'm in my 11th hour at the clinic, and obviously there's not much going on. I haven't delivered a baby since the 2nd of november (TWO WHOLE WEEKS) and was looking forward to a busy shift, but so far I've only sent one girl home in early labour and done a tOn of Jenny's baby check-ups! I also did more homework than I probably would have gotten done at home ;) It's been a fun day though...i'm hoping this little blogger break will spur the fully dilated labours to start pouring in here!! (i'll letcha know what becomes of the next 6 hours..)

the funny ways people endure injections.

Yesterday I had prenatal clinic...we each have our own cubicle and our patients sit in the waiting area until they are called. Because we have 5-6 midwives working on our team, we just pick the chart off the top of the pile, call the name of the patient, and carry out the prenatal. I picked up a rather large file yesterday and realized I would be seeing not one, but two patients because of it.

The filipino people have a community within the country called the "Bajaos"...even I can tell, just by seeing someone, if they are Bajao or not. It's hard to explain...they just have a certain look about them, are usually much darker than the average filipino, with different hair also. These people are also extremely uneducated, they do not know how to read or write, when we admit them in labor, instead of signing their name we take their thumb print. They do not know how old they are, or how many times they've been pregnant, etc. That being said - they are thE kindest, swEEtest people you'll ever meet.

I didn't know this, but our clinic just has one big file for the entire community of Bajaos...not that we see a lot of them, home births with a hilot (traditional birth attendent) are popular among them. I saw these 2 particular girls during the health teaching, but it didn't click until I found myself calling 2 single names into my cubicle. YIKES! Truthfully, I was scared at first...it's very hard to communicate with them and not only because I haven't yet mastered the language.

I almost pawned them off onto my supervisor, but really had the desire to work through the prenatal as much as I was able...I took measurements and made sure their babies were doing ok. Then, my supervisor came in to finish the communication and direct me through the rest of the prenatal.

I needed to give them both tetanus toxoid injections...and when I went to give the younger one hers (oh my goodness, she was already sO stinkin' cUTE!) and she saw the needle and immediately threw her hand over her eyes, where she kept it until the shot had been given. I wanted to cry...hahah, it was sO cUTE! After the prenatal we pray over the mom and her baby...the Bajaos are cool because when you start praying, thEY start praying!! (and usually clap after the prayer - It's amazing!). My heart is stILL smiling from the encounter. I wish I had my camera to take a picture of these 2 beautiful women.

and this is just a funny advertisement.. like ANYone would get away with thAT in north america!

You don't know how often -

I can almost feel you right here with me.
I hear your words of advice and support on bad days...
see things you'd find funny and hear you laugh...
and even find myself trying to remember certain things so that I can share them later with you.
It's not as fun as having you here, but I love sharing that kind of closeness.
We're close in all the ways that count -
in spirit,
in understanding,
and in heart.
Being far away will never change that.
I'm so lucky to know that no matter where you are in the world,
You are in my life for keeps!

- Alaire Tennille


And, in the midst of being homesick, and just a little sad...my very first piece of mail since i've been back arrives!!, and not a minute to soon. Thank you oh-so much for loving me. and for making these words so true in our lives.

Last week wasn't so good...thus, i did not blog. I was super sick! and really wantED to be at home, in Vineland, in my OWn bed, and miserable until getting better. inSTEAd, i was swaying, on the top bunk of a bunkbed, sneezingg, and snifflingg, annoyingg and infECtingg my 4 innocent roommates. blahhh. It was not very nice - i, was not very nice. BUt i'm better now! Praise God.

and, i've had some pretty amazing things happen while i was glassy-eyed and hopped up on drugs. I got to visit the Aninon's (sisters of whom I helped deliver their babies, the boy in the pic is almost 5 months now (how crazy is it to think I delivered this little boy!)), I was able to spend some time with Aileen and her son (my god-son, Aijey), had a sKYPee date!, start a life map, play in church on Sunday, and say goodbye to a dear friend named Jamie whose on her way back to Korea.

I also was able to finish an assignment, and take the test for that section on monday. We've only got 11 more assignments to complete! And this next one we're starting, Intrapartum Complications and Risks, will take over a month to complete. Oi, so homework is planned to Christmas. WHICh, by the way, i've already started my shopping (and not jUSt for myself..:P) I'm sO on tOp of things!

aaand yet another..

Last (saturday night/sunday morning) night at 1am Lois called me into the clinic because dear Mary Joy Yahot (another continuity) was in labor. Mary Joy was special because she's 19, was having a hard time with her boyfriend, and had tried to abort the baby with medication in the first trimester. She knew prior to delivery that her baby (boy from ultrasound) could possibly be 'abnormal'. We prayed that all would be okay.

I checked her at 2am, she was 6 cm (first time having a baby..) so I thOUGht there was plENty of time. A half hour later she was spontaneously pushing a bit, but i explained again how waiting until she's fully until pushing is a good thing. Next thing i knew she's like "uhh, jenna...i feel something coming out, like blood or something" (she was pacing the birthroom at the time). I lifted up her dress to reveal the BABY'S HEAD already out :S ye-ahhh, so she waddled over to the bed, while I threw gloves on but the baby was born completely unassisted, without pushing, by miss Mary Joy.. so USually first-timers have a long labor, and have to push hARD to get the baby out. but thIS little boy just fell out! She didn't even tear! We all had a good laugh about it after making sure the baby was ok (he was perfectly fine, by the way).


so thEN I ask, "what will you name your first son?"
to which she replied, "harry john"
then I go "what will the spelling be?"
and she goes "h-a-i-r-y john, you know, like hair" (as she lifts up her ponytail)
and i laughed.. as did the rest of the midwives.
my supervisor then goes "how about hUrry, because he was in such a rush to get out!"

[later on while filling out the birth certificate, I re-checked the spelling with Mary Joy. and she has decided that "Hurry John" is the most appropriate name for her son!! hahah, what a story she'll have to tell at hIS wedding!!]

Being a part of nEW lIFE~

Last night on shift I had the opportunity to deliver Annabelle's 2nd baby. She was my continuity, a particularly cool situation for me because I delivered her sister's (Analyn) baby last spring. The birth was 'perfect', medically-speaking - she came in fully dilated at 3:30am and little Mary Kate was born at 4:34am. Her boyfriend (Michael), along with Analyn's bf (James) brought her to Mercy and were a great support for her. Although, James waited outside in the hall, of course. I cannot wait to visit their entire household!! I am so incredibly blessed to have been a part of their lives. These pictures show Annabelle with her new daughter, Mary Kate (just 3 hours old!).

aMAZinggly relAXEd!

I had a bit of a crazy weekend, with clinic on friday, dayshift sunday, and clinic again monday morning.. we also handed in our Family Planning assignments, and took (and passed) the test for that, AND received our next assignment - all about genetic screening and diagnostic testing (which I'm looking forward to studying!) bUt. after the test on monday, Lois and I met Jenny and her dad who is here "on buisness" visiting Jenny! We were blEssed with the opportunity of staying the night at Paradise. and Uhh. Everything is right with the world (at least for now, in my mind).

the mysterious "Lake Agco"

1)on the way UP!..









2)in front of Lake Agco.









3)a view of the resort..









4)i've ALways wanted a pet monkey :|

Ate May and Kuya Arex, boiling the eggs:)

This past wkd I went with Rose to our supervisor's place in Makilala and took a day trip to Lake AGCO, located at the foot of Mount Apo (the tallest volcano on this island) to experience all of the natural wOnders of the mountain. The "lake", as they call it, turned out to be (for me) more of a pond! But, it was breathtaking, none-the-less! As you can see from the first picture, lake Agco was sO hOt it was boiling and steamy...we actually boiled eggs in it for part of our lunch! The people there say that the lake gets angry if it's noisy and steams up to hide - so we were all whispering :) hahah, it was so cool. Actually, it wOUld steam more if we forgot to be quiet...

Whaaat eeelse, there was a natural spring pool (freezing to everyone except me), a "mud" bath - which turned out to be just muddy water, although still natural, and warm. There was paths and trails, and boiling clay to cover your body with, and a steam cave - the steam was natural and smelled like sulphur, but the cave was man-made.. It started raining around 2pm and we waited it out until 5:30ish to ride back on the motorcycles we packed onto to get there. At that point, I could ACTually see my breath, which was aMAZing because I haven't experienceD that kinda thing since last, last winter. The filipinos kept saying there was smoke coming out of the mouth, and I was trying to think of the word we use for that, and couldn't...i think i've deduced that it doesn't exist.

It was SUCh a nice, relaxing weekend...getting out of the city is pure bLIss! I'll leave you with just one last picture, that was posted before the trail leading to mount Apo. It reminded me of the movie Hitch...right?!