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!

this is Aileen (my "continuity"of care patient. except, she has become a friend over the past 9 mos.) and NOW we're counting down to 40 wks! She's "due" april 10, and i am so nervous (and excited)! This will be the first time I deliver one of my fRIENd'S babys...i do not know what i'll do if something happens and we have to transport. For now, I'm on-call all.the.time. waiting to get a text with ANY change in her state..false labour pains, bleeding, or that crAZy growth on her finger :S WhatEVEr she needs.

todAY we spent the morning doing free pap smears on any women who wanted it at our clinic. It went really well, actually! The girls from Cebu are very experienced with all of this, and have actually hooked up with a university in Australia and are currently starting research for the WHO for statistics of HIV prevalance in the philippines. At present, there have been no such studies conducted, so there are only estimates for numbers like this, if you can believe thAt. They're predicting prevalance will surpass estimations...scary. OUr clinic will start regular testing (on high risk patients) starting this monday. I'm excited to be as knowledgeable as these girls from Cebu...(Hilary was only 22 when she started her clinic on that island..she's now 26) It blows my mind to think about what she has established within the community she lives. Her and her husband, unlike our clinic, are the ONly americans around. That's gotta be pretty intimidating when first starting out.
this is my group: Tiffany, Sarah, Heather and myself as we set up for the clinic this morning. [we were just practicinggg.]

these pictures are of the birth my mom was able to witness.
Here are the clinical requirements for NARM (north american registry of midwives):
- well-woman exams/family planning sess.>30 - after this wkd, i'll have plENty, but none so far
- initial visits> 20 req'd - me, 0
- pre-natals> 55 req'd - me, 158
- labor observes> 20 req'd - me, 66
- newborn exam> 20- me, 15
- postpartum mom+bb checks> 40 - me, 27

so THIS weekend is going to be busy. A lady is flying in from Cebu (an island west of here) who runs a clinic over there. HER clinic does STD testing and paps on their girls, and she's coming to give us an in-service on all that so we can start doing it at our clinic (instead of sending our girls else where for testing). So friday's the class. and saturday is a free pap party at Mercy.
The filipinas at the clinic used to test for such things, but haven't for a while and I, for one, am excited about being able to do it again. Using a microscope again, it'll be like gr.10 biology class ALL over again! Actually, we aren't going to be doing the results on a regular basis. The government here will give free pap results for free, and we're currently trying to find a place that will give results on other things as well. And, lets be serious, i've been working with that area of a woman for 6 whole months..and NOW i'm going to be able to see insIdE! [hopefully this isn't too much information] I think most of you would dIE listening to dinner conversations around here, ahah. besides, i usually spare the gory details.

a blESSEd dAY of bliSS.

it started off the night beFORE. a movie night/sleepover is a RARity in the midst of an assignment, but the girls took a little time off to cElEbrate :D the next morning was an aMAZing breakfast - complete with frosted mini wheats and eggs with chEDDar chEEse (courtesy of my mom) She also left presents from my family and girlfriends back home, so opening those made me fEEl even more loved.


thEN we headed off to the dive shop, the club had conveniently planned an extra far dive for the day and when we arrived there was this big banner stretched across the front of the dive shop that read "Happy Birthday Jenna" haha. it.was.nuts! so fun.

these are most of the people i dive with...the group shot was not for me (i don't think) but the 'president' of the club suggested it for the carabou website (as you can see, they made sure they brought along the bday banner..) and thEN they sang happy birthday and started chanting "SPEECH, SPEECH" thinking i wouldn't have the guts to say anything. but i daZZlEd them with an on-the-spot, sugar-coated blurb.

the dives were amazing...the marine biology nEVEr gets old. The whole time i'm down there my eyes are darting every which way, trying not to miss a single colour or shape

The girls brought along books and such to read on the way to and from the dive sites, but i purposely forgot all my books at home. It was such a nice day and i just wanted to sit. and stare. and think. I gUEss turning 23 is supposed to make a person wise so i was TRYing to work on that!


the boat trip went from 8-5 and after we went to a favourite thai restaurant of mine. This is the best because everyone texts everyone, and all the students (well most) come together from whatever they were doing that day to share in a birthday meal. Here in the philippines, it is customary to treat everyone to the meal...and therefore i had lots of texts saying "i want to come to your party..hah. jokes lang" [because the filipinos know that is NOt practiced in canada...much the opposite actually]

gUESs whAt?! (mom, no telling.)

yeah. mary has always been the smartest girl I know. she's right...the chicken was actually wrapped up in a life preserver and not ONlY on the boat for a ride...he was the guy's lUNCh for the day, talk about frESh! Whenever we go scuba diving we stop at this amAZing beach for a picnic lunch. Everyone packs their own, and thIS time they killed and grilled chickEns. mmm, where ELse can you get freshly killed chicken to eat? (except for in Beamsville, that is, b/c I can remember my brothers letting chickens without any heads run around the backyard)

thIS saturday is an extra long, extra cool boat trip. a "club dive"! Yes, i am now a certified diver and also a member of the carabou dive club. This saturday we're going to travel around the island to dive where there are caves and such! (i've never bEEn on the other side of the island!) It should be inCREDible.. and incredible doesn't even beGIN to describe!

wedDINGs.

FIRST OFF, I'd like to give the biGGESt, moSt excitEd CONGRATULATIONS to my dearest CHristine Martens, who just got enGAGEd to Bradley Morgan! The date's been set AUGUSt 3rd...ohh my, that's so so soon. i'll come home to everyone married off with houses, and big bellies (couldn't BEE a more perfect time to return!) I know Brad'll throw a fun wedding..and whAt an amAZinggg wedding party!

NEXT, i have some news from here also. Leah Drayer, an mk (missionary kid) is ALSO getting marriEd...to a filipino (brianna, you'd be in lOVe, he's got dreads halfway down his back!) and she's asked ME to stand up with her. Yes! I'm going to be a bridesmaid, yet again! I cannot wait. We're having our dresses custom made. THe tailor just drew up my dress before my very eyes while I described it to him...cool huh. They're coming along nicely! The weddings April 21st. Here are a few pics of the fittings (and dreads..)
the other maids.

Well, I guess my vacation is coming to a close. What a whirlwind of activity, Jenna doesn't sit still for long. I thought I was doing a pretty good job of keeping up until last night when she ran up several flights of stairs (she didn't know where the elevator was and didn't think it important). I climbed the stairs OK just not as fast!!! We were on our way to an Italian restaurant. We have also eaten at a French establishment and Thai food, and a Mongolian Grill; a few filipinos homes for lunch, lots of seafood. Look out gourmet club - we are going to try some new dishes!!!
Jenna asked me what was the highlight of my trip. We have done so many varied and different types of things; mountain resort, beach resort, VERY poor and rustic filipino home for lunch, very rich filipino home for lunch, a day on the ocean with scuba divers - no I did not dive - lots of swimming and so on. However as I contemplated her question- I realized that the highlight was the night I went with her to work and watched her deliver an adorable and oh so tiny baby girl. The mother was awesome and it really was something to see - my baby delivering a baby!!!
I told Jenna how much I was going to miss her and her life here and she was quick to point out that my time here hasn't been exactly how she lives. She is after all a poor student - walks everywhere, doesn't eat out except for b-day celebrations, certainly doesn't frequent resorts of any kind and keeps her nose in the books when she is not at work. In fact she is starting to get behind in her schoolwork so I guess it really is time for me to leave. My flight leaves Davao at 6:45 p.m. Monday, I will be in San Francisco 7:30 p.m. Monday, and in Buffalo 10:30 Tuesday a.m.

it's only been a week.
i HARDly think that amount of time consistutes 'a lazy blogger'.
beSIDES..it's been a whirlwind of activity this past week.
i'm entertaininggg!
PLUS - the highspeed at our house has no speed right now, scratch that, it's not even working at ALL.
and these are the reasons I have not written to you.
please accept my dEEpest apologies (woodzy and dear michelle)...
and NOW.
for some reason the pictures aren't uploading from my computer so I cannot even show you all of the excitement my mom and i have had. I will do my best to describe it all now. And post pictures for you when it starts working.

I will start after our wkd at Eden.
Monday: mom and I had her first birthroom shift...there was only one labouring woman so we just read basically the entire shift from 6am to 2pm. [yeahh, i read 2 novels that wkd, kinda crazy] jUST after we endorsed the lady to the next shift - "HEAD visible" and she started pushing. Luckily mom was able to get in on that, and saw her first birth!, it was fast though, and i wasn't the one delivering, but...she saw it!
Tuesday: i have prenatal appts. all morning, so mom came with me to those. I tried to impRESS her by using this new language.
WEd/thurs: we went to Paradise Beach Resort, and stayed in this little hut! mmm.
Fri/Sat./Sun: we ventured out, 2 hours south to 'the province' (what WE would call 'the country') to Makilala where my supervisor Mayflor lives. Only we forgot sunscreen, and after spending saturday at a resort with all natural spring pools and waterslides, etc. I was burnt to a little crispy. [yeah, i got burnt and mom didn't..doesn't seem to make sense seeing as i'm the one who lives in a tropical country only, she wasn't as drawn to the waterslides] We had a really good time with May's family though. and i EVEN learned how to drive Arex's motorcycle this time. He told Rose to take me out and practice getting it into second...pfft - we were cruising towards the sun setting behind magnificant mountains in no time (in fourth :P)...SARE, motorcycles are the ONly way to go.
It.WAS.AMAZ.ingg.
here's a pic of my moms greatest adventure...riding on a motorcycle with four other ppl

EDEN - "naturally.."

is the motto that is splashed across the entrance to every site and attraction at the mountain resort my MOM took me to this weekend. Ironically enough, this nature park (found 3000' above sea level) is 95% man-made. Logged over in the 70's, they rebuilt the lost environment planting almost every tree found there today, making Eden the only pine forest in Davao [the pine sure reminded me of the cottage...mer]

the sITEs were incredible. We had dinner last night over-looking the core of Davao City, illuminated. This is a picture of something they referred to as "Rainbow Pass", because the arches are home to a number of coloured flowers.

We went swimming, and i went HIKinggg (yeah, i could've been of the bruce trail, except for the bamboo and the spiders bigger than my hand..), and we saw filipino deer and thought of Grandpa, took the hour long taxi ride up and back and thought of Dad (haha, you would've had your foot through the floor for SURE) the guy was nuts.

Eden is also a major supplier for the local grocery stores of Davao. Here is a picture of the lettuce, but they also have fruit orchards and vegetable gardens and herb gardens...it was really cool to see it all, and even bEttEr to try it all at the buffets.

The resort also had this amAZing bird sanctuary...i really believe sesame street had a character that looked like this. THIS bird was cRAZY scary, made a even stranger sound, and was bigger than me :|

they ALSO had pretty peacocks everywhere. but, only ONE white one. Mom thinks it musta been mating season because the males were CONstantly displaying their muscles, haha - it's not working too well for this poor guy (as the girl pecks aimlessly at the ground..)

uhh. so. this is..somewhat.embarassing. bUt we found a hat that suited Gramma's collection of unique cottage apparel and so HERE is a little present for Gramma ;)

a blog. from my mom..

Well I made it - 38 hours of travelling - 28 of those hours in the air - the rest sitting in airports. Read a whole Karen Kingsbury book, watched several movies and slept surprisingly well (surrounded by kids for the longest flight). Everything went oh so smoothly - thanks to all who were praying. Jet lag hasn't been a problem but then I AM ON HOLIDAYS - doing not much and enjoying it. Jenna's doing a good job of looking after me, but then look who she had as a teacher!!!
We have already enjoyed a massage - just incredible and only $4.00; went to the market this morning which brought back memories of my stay in Sudan; and have just made reservations at a mountain resort for Sat/Sun- the room will cost us $25 for both. I can hardly believe these prices. Yes, I said mountain- Jenna is looking forward to snuggling into a sweater and me - well, it sure is hot here - but not unbearable. Jenna's house is equipped with lots fans.
The food is good, real good. We enjoyed an incredible breakfast of fresh fruit and freshly shredded coconut. They have these machines that do the shredding at the market while you watch. Jenna took me to Banok's for barbequed chicken - a specialty. Here is a pic of the chickens barbequeing on a spit.