we went out on saturday night, and the restaurant we were at had the guy to the left singing for the patrons. BUt, these guys (Aaron (middle) and John (right)) just played at the wedding last weekend and we asked if they could sing our favourite song HERE, at the restaurant. They did SUCh a good job, and it was cool because it gave the other guy a little break.


This picture is taken in John's house. The 'youth' as tiffany and I call them (young adults) hang out here most sunday afternoons. We intrude on his poor mother, who always accepts us with a big smile and a table full of good food! (sticky rice and soft drinks) ahah.


He lives a few blocks from this beach, so we end up hanging out here often as well. (there was also a fair...we rode the ferris wheel, i felt a little sick, and we also went on the terror train..hahaha, a big dark tunnel with black light and glow-in-a-dark masks...it was scary!)



and jUSt because I don't tALk about it, my karoke career plugs on...ahaha, its really everywhere I go, and yes, i'll admit, i lOVE having a microphone in hand.

an honest days work

Dayshift started at 6am with the nightshift endorsing only 2 labours who weren't even active (but they had prom (premature rupture of membranes) and had to stay at the clinic because so). Tiffany was also there, though not on shift, because her continuity was in labour. I was third up and thought I might be able to get a head start on the herb&homeopathy assignment we just started...i.was.wrong. A labour (shoot, i can't even remember her name right now because I've had three babies in three days) walked in fully dilated and ready to push, I was up, and delivered a baby before any of the other 3 admitted at that time. During my immediate postpartum, yet anOTHer labour walked in and my supervisor starting laughing because she was up! (usually supervisors don't get the 'priviledge' of delivering babies because they supervise us students, but there were just TOO MANY girls giving birth). IT was about this time that both Tiff's and Starla's girls became active. YIKES! By 2 pm we'd all helped to deliver five healthy babies (everyone handled one, we just say certain key terms that alert the rest of whats going on inside of our cubicle, and those who are free at the time will come and either chart something down, or assist with the actual delivery). Our team has a pretty great system going on.
Adrenaline is pumping the enTIRE eight hours, after which I had a statistics class until 5.
Mmm. Life is good! I still can't grasp the idea of me...being here, in the Philippines, delivering all these precious babies but..
I somewhat hope I'll never really believe this is happening. I might get overwhelmed with all the miracles poppin' out.
AND. My mom and I are currently confirming flights for my vacation home...which, I am starting to get sUPer nervous about,
I'm not sure what I'll do with myself, not working...not going to schOOl...just, being at home, with nothin' to do.
I wonder if i'll miss it the life that's been created for me here..?!
ANYWAYs. enough of sharing my innermost.thoughts.
Here are a few more pictures of 'happenings around the birthroom' for your viewing pleasure:

Nino and Leah Tiongson

Preparations started around 7am, and by 9:30 we were on our way to the chURCh, all beautified, with the BRIDE in tow. The church was decorated with amazing arrangments of fresh flowers and the cOOlest thing was the bUbble machine. As the groomsmen escortED us down the aisle (a little different than most weddings i've been in. or to) we'd emerge thru BUBBLES! AHhh, it.was.amazing! The ceremony and "i dos" folllowed, as well as the pictorials. THe reception was also in the church, but was quite unlike receptions in north america...people didn't even sit down before diving into the lunch buffet (as the wedding party, we were served at the table..ye-aah) Toasts/speeches lastED less than 5 minutes. THEN the couple released doves. and had a "money dance" [a filipino tradition that resembles a stag&doe (with a lOT less work) the couple dances around and people come upand pin money on them as a sign of good fortune] Next came the bride dancing with her father, and Nino dancing with his mom, at which point the bridemaids released butterflies all around them (soooo pretty, oh, and they were also dancing to the song 'butterfly kisses', how suitable). And that was that. We, as a wedding party were going to get more pictures taken at some garden, but a short sun shower dimissed that idea and the wedding wrapped up a little after 1pm.

the gIRls from Mercy with the bride

a snEAK peak.

a little UPdate.

this.week.has.been.in.sane.
i won't BORE you with ALL the details when a list should get my point across:
- ALmost finished an assignment, current word count? 23, 000 something, on 38 pages...not.quite..done.
- statistics class every tues/thurs with homework on the side
- work. mon/tues/wed/thurs night
- baby checks all OVErrr the place (my god son is thRIVing. and his parents are excited about the fact that my bESt friend is having a little girl in a few short months, what's that? an arranged marriage?)
- wedding shower tues (missionary girl marrying filipino guy, i'm a bridesmaid!)
- fittings, shoe shopping, hair and make-up plans...all in the works
- PLAN (and stress about) the wedding shower prior to tues
- rehearsal dinner toNIGHT (thursday night)
- exCITment and disTRACted with the rehearsal dinner prior to
- cook dinner for my household (how does this happen when i'm not even there to eat it? my faithful partner, heather)
- wedding prep friday
- wedding saturday
- thoughts about chrisTINEs wedding, and how i'll be able to help out/be a part of when so far away..
- clEAN up dive sunday, which i'm afraid i will not be able to be a part of, i'm trying to get a handle on burning the wick from bOTh ends. and Sunday will truly be a day of much needed rest.
- days SO incredibly HOT and HUmid that even cold showers morning and night cannot stop the feeling of sweat running down my back, and constant sticky skin...nice.

SUCh is LIFe in the philippines for me this week.
Sorry I haven't been better at blogging, but after this saturdays wedding, i'm sure i'll have plENty of pictures to upload.
until then..

too yOUNg to be a [fairy] godMOthER?!

here's the run-down:
aileen starting texting me around 4am this morning, complaining of pain since 2 am. and I was like...sorry girl, you've got a lONG way! don't come into the clinic until contractions are only 5 mintues apart. so we keep texting, as she asks questions about her watering breaking and such. and by 4:30 am she was like my contractions are THREE minutes apart.
We met at the clinic and vitals were normal and good. An IE found her to be almost fully dilated, head vERY low, BOW bulging with ctxs...oh my! It would be soon.

SHE did SO SO well. I cannot even tELL you how well it all went. And I pulled her beautiful (and nameless) little boy out at 7:28 am. Complications came after that and we had to do bi-manual compression to get her uterus to clamp and stopping bleeding. She lost 1000 cc and threw up everything she tried eating/drinking afterwards, so we started D5-LR IV fast drip.

after what seemed to be an ENDless discussion on names, they decided on AIJEY (a combination of both parents names) BRYSON (my say) BALURAN (Aileen's last name) BUNAO (Jeffrey's last name). I know I'm sOMewhAt biased and all..but this is the cutESt little flip EVErr.

I came home to shower and eat at lunch, but was scheduled for swing shift today from 2-10pm. It's good though, because I was able to hang out with her at the clinic, and discharge her just after 6pm. I think the coolest thing was to see Jeffrey's involvment in the whole thing...he was such a great support and before he wasn't even going to COME with aileen because he was too afraid to see her like that. haah. He'll be a great dad! He glady accepted the honours of the first diaper change.

and last, but not lEASt...Aileen and Jeffrey have honoured me by asking if I would be Aijey's godmother. sweet eh. I get to stand up for him at the christening, and pray for him, and give him presents. YEE! BEcause of Aileen's IV they had to stay at the clinic a littel longer than most, and it.was.so.hot, so I tried to make them as comfortable as possible..ya know, set'em rEAL nice ;) (notice the laptop on the left side of the pic)

EASter dinner at the CLINic

at first, I thought it was funny how all our big holiday dinners are semi-organized potlUCks...but upon stopping and thinking about it, even our extended family holiday dinners back in Canada are like potlucks. THESE are the girls in my house, schelpping roasted veggies, salads, and fruit (yeah, we live with a vegetarian and a vegan, so we always get the fuit and vegetable portion of the meal) to the clinic for our Easter Dinner celebrations. The many forms of public transportation never gets old.


truthfully, this didn't come clOSE to what Easter dinner at Aunt Jeanette and Uncle Tim's would've been like. i.will.never.take another family gathing for grantEd again :P

happy Easter!!

[note: this blog is all-reader comment-friendly, with woodzy in mind]
these bunnies aren't actually for Easter, we got them for one of our housemates who's celebrating her 22nd birthday soon! ...we kept them in the back, for a couple of weeks without her knowing they were there. then surPRISEd her with 'dessert' last night after dinner :)

The streets were all but empty this Good Friday morning..and I was excited about the chance for a little peace and quiet. I started thinking about Vineland Missionary, and how they're always SO good at celebrating Easter with some inspiring reenactment of Jesus' death or a candlelit service with a choir or something along those lines..I was starting to get sad when ALL of a SUDDEn this entourage of filipinos come walking my way. THe ones in the front wore white robes and carried big, thick candles, then came a life size cross (no acting, he was just carrying it). I was trapped in a little pathway - there was no where to hide...I just backed onto someone's "driveway" and had to wait for the crowd to pass (AWKward!) but it was nice to see, and helped to remind me of what Easter's all about.

Lois, Jenny and I grabbed a taxi later on and set off in search of an air-conditioned establishment equipped with wi-fi and coffee. The only one open on Good Friday was our beloved Blugre...but that didn't open until 1 pm..and it was 9am.
Mc Donalds was the ONly other option, so we ended up doing our homework there until one. It was NUTs though, they were having give-aways for Good Friday such as "buy a mc do and win an ipod!" They even had easter hymns playing (quite loudly) over the many excited conversations. WE didn't get much done :P It's been cool to see how this country celebrates Easter.

39 cms.

thAT's how big Aileen's stomach measures! We had another prenatal today..and things have never bEEn so excitING! Aileen's ultrasound results show a low-normal amount of amniotic fluid, and it wouldn't be good if it got any lower. so THEREfore we've put her on bedrest, and advised 4 L. of water daily and left-side lying. She has also started inducing her labour (naturally, of course) to speed up the process before the baby drinks ALL the fluid (j/k). The only down side is that i will not be able to do the primary healthcare outreach scheduled for Apr.9-10 if she has not given birth before then (and YES michelle..i'll text you when Ai-Ai texts me :D). I've been taking pictures of Ai's tummy all thru her pregnancy, and will put them into some kind of album for her. Most girls in the philippines don't have very big bellies, as birth weights are on the low side..but aiLEEN's belly is AmAzing!