continuity - jonna mae ANGCON

I've been with Mae since her initial prenatal, and have loved getting to know her. She always has so many questions, is so concerned about every little detail in pregnancy, and already lOVes being a mom. She had an ultrasound early on, making her EDD 04-17-08 and we alsO know she's having a little baby boy (most likely)!! I'll definitely keep you informed as to how it all plays out..

she's COMInggggg :D

Our class just finished a pretty intense assignment, and had the test yesterday. It went well! We're on to the next one, postpartum complications. The schedule for March has already been set. The second and third weeks of March will be filled with classes taught by one of our consulting physicians, Dr.Estrella I'm looking forward to sitting through lectures again! After that, I think there's something like 3 more assignments left. NUTS! The end is near. I've uploaded a couple pictures for your viewing pleasure, but mostly to make you jealous of my job!

Just a couple of the babies that were born on shift the other day. The little girl on the left is a low birth weight baby, just under 5 lbs. and her friend on the right is more of a normal size around 7 lbs. Two beautiful girls, both born within a few hours of each other, and both only a few hours old. The difference is pretty crazy eh.

SOmetimes I forget how lucky I am to be able to play with these little dolls every day.

Mercy's nEW AMbulance!

"..mOVing on uP, to the eastside =D.." (thANks for commenting guys.. it makes me want to blog mORE and mORE!)

my continuity: Mary Ann Tormento <3

Seriously - one continuity birth just beFORE outreach, and one just AFTERwards...how cool is that?!

My first night back Ann starting texting me in the miDDLE of the NIGht, and I really couldn't figure out WHY because she was going on about not being able to drink the protein shake I'd suggested she'd try to help fatten up her baby before birth. Finally, she said her tummy was painful. and THAT's when I clued in, blurry-eyed and tired, at 2am that she was in early labour. I encouraged her to stay at home, until it was so painful that she wasn't able to text me during a contraction! And didn't hear anything more from her the whole night. By 8am I was wondering what had happened to her, although not so afraid she'd push her baby out at home. She's 19 years old, super scared of labouring, plus it's her first baby.

She texted just before 10am to announce she was on her way to Mercy. After greeting her I could tell she was only in early labour.. I sent her home (she went relunctantly) at 4 cm and told her I'd text her around 5pm to ensure she stayed away until then. She came back at 12:45pm! haha, only a few short hours later, but I let her stay and she laboured well until starting to push at 3:45, and bb out (it got kinda stuck between the birth of the head and the body but Laura was there to assist) at 5:11pm.

The father's name is Jessie Reambonanza. As such, he was looking for a short, one syllable first name to counter balance the long surname. He wanted Kirt. I thought he said Bert. They must've read my reaction to the name Bert (I immediately thought of bert and ernie) because Ann asked me if I had any good names. I said my brothers names are Steven and RObert. Those were too long. She asked about my boyfriends names...aaand, i had nOthin! hahaa, I suggested my dad's name, Blake. THey didn't like it. So I asked about shortening the 2 previous options to either Steve to Rob. AND, ROb they liked. Jessie said his nickname could then be RR (Rob Reambonanza!). So, here's to you Rob, I named a baby after you yesterday!

OUTreach #2 - to Palet via Kapalong, Gupitan

Getting ready to leave thIS is how we ride 2.5 hours up into the mountains.. as we went I wore my hiking boots and kakhi pants. unFORTunately, we got stuck in one of the mud ruts we passed through. It seemed like an eternity as we sat there, tittering on 2 wheels, when in reality in was probably only a second before the bike starting tipping. The heavy bag of food was attached to the left side, and over we went - all 3 of us catching it with our feet, but not having enough strength to keep it up, I was FORced to put BOTh boots ankle deep in mud. hahaa, it was fun, i guess. At least I didn't have to worry about getting dirty after that. On the way home I opted for sandals to speed up and down the hills, fly past embankments and 'round corners so fast it would make your toes curl, if nothing more than to keep my flip-flops on! I got pretty good at jumping off the back of the bike, if ever stuck so the driver could do his thing up front.

We stayed the first 2 nights, in Lanang, FLorida. Here Ermie, Michelle, Serena, Mary Jean, and Guang-guang pose while eating dinner the first night in the village - fresh (and I do mean frESh) chicken soup and rice, and bananas for desert.

This is the room we slept in the first 2 nights - on woven mats atop the wood floor, under a blue mosquito net! It was pretty cold. But after sleeping on such hard surfaces, I don't like my own bunk bed.. I woke up sorer this morning than any Other morning this week! The precious little children were CONstantly peeking in, staring at what we were doing, even if we weren't doing much of anything! We went to their school in the evening and played "teacher" (i was the teacher =D) and, when it was time to leave, they struck up a song unexpectedly "goodbye my tea-cher, good-bye! goodbye me tea-cher, good-bye! It was incredible, aaaand made me want to actually bE their teacher. How cOOL would it be to be the village grade school teacher?! ..there's sO much to dO in life!

Serena brought plasticine for the kids to play with, and we had SUCh a great time sculpting things. It's cool to see what "they" come up with to make, as opposed to what we would think of. One little boy held up what looked like a bowl (we'd make each other guess), but I was wrong...he'd made the toilet bowl in the outhouse! hahaa. aweee.

WHile we give the women prenatal care, the mEN are all about having their blood pressure checked.. as the feared "high blood" is talked about quite frequently. Needless to say, I took a lOT of blood pressures.

my continuity: Jay Marie Moricawa <3

During our prenatal check-up last Friday, I told Marie (who was 39 wks pregnant at the time) that she needed to wait ONE WEEK before going into labour because I'd be away on outreach. It was more of a joke than anything else, I really didn't think she'd go. Marie is 18, it was her second pregnancy, but she had had a spontaneous abortion with the first and this is why I took her on as a continuity. Saturday night I get a text from the clinic informing me that Marie had arrived in labour! I came as quickly as possible, but sent her home after examining her (she was only 4 cms dilated and there has been too many transports lately due to prelonged labour (quite possibly from just being hERE, at the clinic too long!). I went to bed that night excited, knowing she'd most likely text me at an insane early hour to say she was coming back to Mercy. At exactly 3:46 am I received the text.

Marie was a little..."needy" (which I thrive on!) and with a little encouragement from Ate Susan she pushed her baby out into this world at 8:47am! A little boy, who has the same little skin tags on his right ear as his father. It was an amazing birth! There wasn't even a little skin split to suture! Later on, Marie said (to the best of my translation) "man, my pwerta must be really big if my baby's head was able to go through it without tearing!" hahaa. Bonnie! I gave the blue onesie you sent to her son, John Rievin =) THANKS again!
Truthfully, I had been having sort of a rough day - all my friends were sleeping on the beach on some deserted island for Tiffany's birthday but I had decided (with my head, not my heart) that I'd stay behind to do homework, save money and pack for outreach. After they'd all left, I was REALLy regretting my decision. But THEN, Marie came in and I realized what I had stayed home for! NOT homework, but to help this sweet sweet little girl have her first baby =) It was moRE than I could have asked for a consolation! i lOVE my jOb =D

[and THEN this guy came into the clinic...he'd jUST hit a dog while on a motorcycle and it looked like he skidded out real bad! I cleaned and dressed his wounds, then JH sutured his one elbow (crazy deep cut)]
[and THEN I had another labour (i was also working swing shift today) and she came in and I thought "oh man.." because she was acting super pushy but from an IE only 3 hours ago, she was only 1 cm) turns out she WAS fully, and delivered her baby shortly after I said she could push! wow...what a day. now I will sleep for approx. 6 hours before starting the long trek out into the mountAINs =)...hopefully life will be a bit slower out in there!]