dad, i miss you.

may 31st was/is WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY.

but toDAY is june FIRST for me..and we all know what thAt means!
june 1st is?...iS?...IS? the beginning of jUne!! and soon it'll be the beginning of july. and august will follow (yes, its as simple as reciting the months of the year in order) and thEN it'll be september. The beginning of september is just a few short months away. and i.cannot.wAIt! (sorry about that..)

farewEll dear jEnn.

Jennjo has been our "housemom", supervisor, teacher, and friend since arriving here in the Philippines nine months ago (NINE months...where does the time go?!) is moving back to the states in THREE days. She graduated from Newlife back 2 years ago and stayed on an extra two years to serve the Lord by volunteering at my school and at the clinic. She basically HANDled most student affairs while the directors Matt and Krys were off on furlough for 6 months (AND she's delivered 256 babies). and NOW, she's leaving us...on to bigger and better! Jenn is looking forward to starting up her own birthing clinic in Seattle, to serve the Somolian refugee community there.

To commemorate and celebrate her time here we got family pictures taken at a nearby mall (this is a quirky thing about the Phils, group professional pics are where its at).

and THese beautiful ladiesss are the girls i've been living with. From left to right their names are: Jennjo, me, Heather, and Carmen (top), Laura, Tiffany, Elisabeth and Krystal (bottom)

the "dead shift"

ate ana showing tiffany how to insert an IV...into a blown up glove, a little bit of practice
finding a good, straight vein (of which, i have plENty) My dear Tiffany was bored during the first shift we EvEr worked together, although, there wasn't any labors so we weren't actually WORKing and she got bored and asked if she could stick me with a needle and practice inserting IVs. I have this whole tough guy facade to keep up in the phils, so I had to give in like I wasn't scared and take her inexperience.
aaaand. finally inserting it into the back of my hand. I'll spare you the pics of my face when it was actually IN...(too bad the first pic was ACTually taken last, why the practice poke came AFter the real deal in my hand i'll never knoww)..no back flow?! take it out. take it out.

it's not a contESt..

or anything, but jenny was bugging my about having more blog entries than me (which was met with a bunch of surprised faces, because EvErYonE knows i'm an excellent, up-to-date blogger :P) She ALso argues she writes nice long stories, while i just post a pic and write a little blurb. mer mer...i'll give you a stORY!

Last shift a labor waddled in with 210/120 blood pressure, +4 edema, pre-mature at only 36 weeks and 2 days, fully dilated and ready to push. Protocol says we transport with such pre-eclamptic signs. It was Heathers labour, but i assisted by giving an IV before we rushed her to the hospital, sirens still ringing as we transferred her to a stretcher.
The public hospital (DMC) has always made us cringe at the thought of bringing our patients there...but, it's all we have to work with. We wheeled her into the ob-gyne room to be assessed by the doctora. It.was.Awful.. they took off her dress, covered her with a little rag, injected her with meds (that was a good thing), and THEN started preparing her for a c-section (injecting local anesthetic into both sides of her butt, shaving her tummy and such). I was holding her hand AND the curtain, trying to give the 22 year old SOME sense of privacy.
THEN...oh gracious. She looks up at me and hands me a piece of gauze...
i hesitated, but took it from her, thinking it was probably dirty and diseased.
I spotted the sick, blood-stained garbage can a few feet away and threw it in from where I was standing.

so then, the nurse asks her something and she points to me. Somewhere in between her tugging on my arm and the doctors talking to her in visayan I realized she wanted the piece of gauze she gave me back. The labouring girl looks up at me and opened her mouth to reveal a BIG gap, where her 4 front teeth used to be...AHHhh.. the doctor asks me "where are her dentures?" I only had a split second to decide what was better: play the dumb white girl, or confess I carelessly discarded them. I reply "OH MY GOSH! I thought it was garbage.." as we all look over to the garbage can.
hahah. The doctor and nurses all start laughing, someone said "3 points", i.was.mortified...the poor girl! Heather still had her gloves on, so she went to retrieve the teeth. WOW...she handed them back to me, and I passed them off to the girls mother. Hopefully they washed them thoroughly before putting them back in!!, last I saw of her she was being wheeled off to the OR.

bRUNo.

My friend Aaron bought a DOG on the weekend, a mix of terriers. He isn't taking it home until Wednesday and so I convinced him to let me take him home instead of keeping him at office. I HAVE A PUPPY! and i'm in love. Bruno's more of a little cuddly teddybear than a dog. and he follows me everywhere. and sleeps by my feet when i'm doing my homework. i'm not going to want to give him up in a couple of days..

This shower was for Kuki, the preggo one in the middle! Due in a couple of months, our church threw a shower for her. I was talking to her father about how a normal 'church baby shower' would go back in vineland (both boys AND girls) because he was feeling left out of the fun...actually, he was just hanging around for the food. But we made sure all the boys milling around the church had their fill (there was an inSANE amount of food, as always). Me and Leah (the girl who just got married) lead games and whatnot.

an annonymous sponsor 'from the states' gave the clinic money for us to enjoy a pizza party! YEE. one, two, three.four.five (as sung by lou bega) there was TONS of pizza..from pizza hut, no less. Pizza Hut's slogan right now here in the philippines is "HATE LATE?" haha, however many minutes delivery of its free. I laugh everytime i see it somewhere...that hasn't made its way from north america, has it? Here are mOSt of our filipina preceptors, ready to feast on an afternoon snack!

there's no place like home!

haha. so i JUSt caught myself acting e.x.ac.t.ly like my father.
we have cherry trees in our front yard, and it the spring/summer the birds like to eat them ALL before their ripe and ready to be picked. Dad has tried EVERYthing to deter the birds (for example, nets, tin plates, streamers, and yes, even that ugly scarecrow...all the kids at school made fun of me! haha. j/k) but alas, we never get to eat off our own trees. Over the years he's given up. The only thing he does NOW is open his bedroom window and clap and yell and try to scare them off that way. haahh.
How am I just like him?
WELL. i was sitting at my computer and looked up to see a RAT crawling along our wall in the backyard. So, i went to the window (which is PERManently open) and started hissing, clapping, and yelling at the rat to try and scare it away. haah. The girls I live with were like "what. are you DOing?"
To which I replied "scaring a rat. obviously."


another cRAZy thing that's been happening around our house lately...one morning we woke up to find GOLDFISH in the ditch infront of our house! haha. Elizabeth, a swiss-german carpenter, now midwife, quite talented, can do/make ANYthing built a trap and caught a few. THese boys are trying to catch more with a little net (a net that reminds me of the cottage)

my highschool musical

i was looking forward to this PLAY for so so long!
saturday night our directors (Matt and Krys) daughter, Jessica, had a ballerina part in a production of
MY Highschool Musical. (is that movie big in ontario? because it SURE is here..)
i was looking forward to some grade-school action acting...but alas, the they lip-sinked the whole thing! ahhaha
kinda funny..i gUEss thats normal for plays here.
it was still so good.
Jessica is the little girl in the last pic, in the front..

another nightshift

i was first up last night. A labour came in at 11pm with a ragggging UTI, that kind of thing is not only VERy painful in labour but also dangerous for the baby so I took her to the hospital (in the bRANd new ambulance!). Another girl came in around 1am, but it was her first time giving birth and she was only in the beginning stages of labour, and only 1cm so I sent her home to rest and wait until contractions were more regular. JUST as she was leaving another walks in (just before 2am) she, again, was just starting her labour, but was also 36 weeks and 2 days along. At the clinic we don't deliver under 37 weeks because usually the baby requires more assistance than we can give it when its so young. So we went back to the hospital with yet another transport. I went back to bed around 3am..

Just before endorsements a labour came in at 5:45 and Jennjo showed her to the CR (the bathroom) to pee and wash up before checking her in. I saw Jennjo then at the calendar figuring out her dates (she was 36 weeks and 1 day..) when ALL OF A SUDDEN we hear her moaning, and kind of crying out. We both walk past the midwife sitting area, and around the corner to see what the heck was going on. She was kind of bent over holding tight her duster (a little dress girls wear around the house, and to be comfortable, and in labour) and kind of squatting a bit. Jennjo starts saying "eiow otong! eiow otong!" "stop pushing. stop pushing." and THEN... SROM all over the mat just outside the CR! I run back into the birthroom to grab gloves, but there were not only the midwives on NIGHTshift, but ALSO midwives from DAYshift trying to help. so i just gave my gloves away and watched as two girls picked her up to get her to a bed. i belIEVE the baby's head was out somewhere by the couch, and the body came out just as they got her onto a bed (the duster becoming a perfect sized hammock for the baby). There were like 6 midwives wanting to assess the baby, and start free flow oxygen, and trying to chart the events. so I, with my sleep-crusted eyes, just went and grabbed the mop to clean up the trail of amniotic fluid from the CR to the cubicle. Both mom and baby were good. And the birth added the spARk of excitement my shift had been lacking!

[yes, there have been other stories of CR births... baby's out while the mother was on the toilet. WE're always there though, we haven't dropped one yet! i promise.]

the ORANGe HOUse!!

this has been a "current event" for sometIME now in my little world in Obrero...this house is located just one house down from Mercy Maternity Clinic (the white 3-story building in the background) and was built back in october/november. So, we all watch this MONsterous house go up, and it just so happens that the owners are the same people who 'we' rent the clinic from. AND, they're planning on immigrating to Canada!! AND Matt is currently negotiating with them to possibly rent this house FOR THE STUDENTS! YEE. This is SUPER exciting because i have not had the chance to live with ALL the girls in my class because we were separated into two homes as soon as we arrived back in september. This brand, new PALACE would allow All of the students to live together under one roof. Needless to say, we've been praying for a loong while about this opportunity, and NOW it looks like it's just around the corner!

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!