Auntie Cecil's Maternity Clinic

At Auntie Cecil's Clinic I got to do all the vitals for the prenatal exams!!
Some of these pregnant moms are so young!!
It was fun listening to the baby's heart beat and palpating for the position the baby was in!!:)

Today was fun! We traveled to another poor area when another midwife is working. She has a cute little clinic in a very dirty, poor, slum area. It took us a bit to get there cuz of all the traffic. Every Friday they hold a prenatal clinic and all the pregnant ladies in that area come. I got to do all their check ups today. So I weighed them all, took their blood pressure and pulse and checked them all for edema. Then was the fun stuff! Measuring the fundal height and finding the position of the baby and then listening to the fetal heart tones!! Many of them were young girls and it was their first pregnancy so they were a bit shy and nervous. I got to pray with each one of them. Hopefully I will see most of them again next Friday. There are 9 pregnant ladies that are due anytime. One is 41 and a half weeks already!! So maybe there will be another birth soon!!:) DJ went with me to this midwife, Cecil’s clinic, but next week I would have to try and find it on my own!! DJ is going to another island for a few days next week, to visit at another maternity clinic. I tried to pay attention on the way back so hopefully I will be able to find it againJ Cecil’s elderly mother prepared food for me and DJ in their really poor hut, so we had to eat a little. It was good but I was a bit nervous cuz the kitchen was really poor and dirtyL But her mother was so sweet we couldn’t refuse her!
Each day something interesting happens! So much to try and keep you informed about! But I am trying my hardest!! For most of you its probably already too much info!! But I know there are a few, like my mom!! Lol, who really want to know everything!! I try to put up a few new pics on my blog site every time I email so if that’s all you want to see that’s cool too!
Thanks for all your responses!! I love it!!:) Miss you all!!!

My First Birth!!!

My first birth!! The baby boy just minutes after being born!
I got to do his vitals and help with the neonatal exam!
It was hard work!! Can you see the sweat?? lol Gross!!
Mom and baby about 2 hours after the birth!! This is Ritchel the same lady I was doing a prenatal exam on the day before!! She's so sweet!!

Wow! What an exciting evening!! One of the pregnant ladies that we visited yesterday in the squatter area arrived at our place early this morning in labor. She had contractions all day and it was taking forever! I finally ventured out to the internet in the afternoon to send you all the email I wrote last night and then I hurried home so as not to miss anything! I was so hungry and when I got back we started cooking soup. It was going to be a few hours before it was readyL I went upstairs to do some reading and then they called me and said, “It’s time to push!” Ritchel wanted to sit on the birthing chair so she was in the squatting position. That is one of the easiest positions to give birth in. I got to wear a pair of sterile gloves and helped hold her leg during contractions. A few times she peed on us! It only took a few hard pushes and the head was out. I was praying like crazy cuz I didn’t see the baby moving or hear it breathing or anything and it seemed to take so long for the rest of the body to come out! I know the enemy is always out to kill, steal and destroy and I was not gonna let him have this baby without a fight! One more push and the body slid out and was laid on the mom’s tummy. The umbilical cord was clamped and cut and then the baby was handed to me!!!:) It was a little boy. If it had been a girl they said they would have named her after me!:) Awww! I wrapped the baby up and held him close and sang to him. He was covered in blood and slimeL But I didn’t care! It was so precious to hold this newborn baby!! He quieted right down as I sang to him and didn’t start crying again until we had to clamp and cut the cord about an inch from his belly button. But I sang to him again and he stoppedJ I wiped away as much blood and slime and then we gave him to his mom so he could start breast feeding. It took a few tries before he latched on but he was really hungry. If the placenta had not already come out, breast feeding encourages the placenta to come out but it also helps the uterus contract back. While the baby was breastfeeding I listened to his lungs and heart. He sounded healthy. I took his respirations and pulse. Then came the mean part of injecting him with Vitamin KL He didn’t like that. After a good bonding time with mom we did a newborn exam on him. He passed with flying colors! Such an incredible experience!! And she made it look pretty easy. People say that maybe I’ll change my mind about wanting to have kids after seeing this but I think it’s only made me want them more!! Just a few things missing for that tho!! Lol
The crazy thing bout tonight was, just after the baby was born, the thunder and lightening storm got so bad that it knocked out the power! It was so loud that I kept jumping every time there was a clap of thunder! It just added to the excitement of the evening. I enjoyed a cold shower in the dim candle light. Oh and then later, when I was dishing out some soup, I met the mouse as he jumped off the counter by my bowl down to the floor by my feet. I was so proud of myself cuz I didn’t scream or make any sound. I was perfectly calm!! But if he comes to my bed right now I think I will freak a little!! Lol Tomorrow we have to be up early to travel to another clinic to do prenatal exams so I’m gonna try to get some sleep. Might be kinda hard cuz its so muggy and hot!! Just wanted to share a bit of my eventful night with you while it was still fresh in my mind! Even tho I don’t think that I’ll be forgetting this night for a long, long time! Lol
Thanks for all your prayers!! Keep them coming cuz where this family lives, every day could be a struggle for the newborn baby and for the mom!!

The Squatters, Another slum, July 23, 2008

This is Ritchel, she is due any day now! It was really easy to find and hear her baby's heart tone with the doppler.
Measuring her fundal height.
Mary Ann is in the middle with the yellow shirt on. She has been pregnant 6 times but lost one baby at 6 months gestation:( She didn't believe she was pregnant til she heard her baby's heart beat with the doppler!! Hopefully now she will stop drinking beer! The other lady, Chonchita, is her neighbor. She is 30 and this is her 4th pregnancy.
This made me laugh when I saw it!! I don't know if you can make it out but there are roosters under the rice! Chicken n Rice anyone??!! lol

Today we took a tricies, then a bus to a nearby slum area. They call it the squatters. So many families make shift homes in such a small area! It took some doing to find the lady that we were looking for. She is a first time patient of the midwives so this was the first time that they met her. Her name is Mary Ann and she is 30 years old. This is her 6th pregnancy!! She lost one baby at 6 months gestation but the other 4 are still alive and she is in her 19th week gestation with this pregnancy. We did a complete medical history, took her vital signs and tested her blood for anemia. I got to measure the fundal height and use the Doppler to hear the baby’s heart beat. She said that she didn’t really believe she was pregnant this time til she heard the heart beat and she has been drinking beer at parties. We strongly advised her to stay away from alcohol and gave her some prenatal vitamins to take. She was really friendly and even sent a neighbor to buy us soda and crackers to show her appreciation. She fed her 1 year old baby and 3 year old daughter orange soda too!! L DJ and I are planning to teach some parenting courses and nutrition and prenatal care are some of the topics we will cover. We are going to plan out the course and then go invite mothers from the slums to come to our place. Hopefully we will get a good turn out and that the ladies will take what we teach them to heart! While we were in this slum area we also did follow up visits with 3 other pregnant ladies. One of whom is due any day!! They are all so appreciative of the free care. Most would have no access to any prenatal care without the service of Mercy in Action! It is so important for these poor women to have regular prenatal check ups to catch high blood pressure and other serious complications and to detect any stress the baby may be in early enough so that a referral to the hospital could be made before its too late! Midwives, DJ and Imelda, are just beginning to become known among the poor areas here. Many pregnant ladies or their families are skeptical of the free care and are often advised to seek the services of a local witch doctor, called a Helo. But as the women start to talk of the good care, prenatal vitamins, and around the clock availability of the midwives here, their ministry is starting to grow. It was really touching today to be able to pray with all of the ladies. I really felt like a bond was startedJ I’m excited to get to know them more and be there when they have their babies! It’s so hard to play the waiting game! I now have a cell phone for emergencies so that if I’m out, DJ or Imelda can text when a pregnant woman comes here in labor!! It’s an experience that I don’t want to miss!! So it was another interesting day! And at the end of everyday I try to help DJ and Imelda with cooking dinner. They are trying to teach me a few new words in Tagalog each night. They always laugh at me as I try to pronounce them and get it wrong! The hardest one for me to say is: Do you need any help? Which is: Ka ee la ngan mo nang too long? We’ve laughed about this one for 3 days now!! But I’m determined to learn as much as I can!! And when I’m not learning Tagalog, I have my head buried in a Labor and Delivery textbook. I only have about 30 of such books to read in the 4 months I’m here before I go to the southern island!!
I know that I’ve probably been writing a bit much right now but don’t worry; it will probably get less and less!! The more familiar I become with the culture here and the more that I learn my way around, the less time I will have to write! Lol So enjoy it while you can! :P
So far I haven’t even been home sick or cried silently into my pillow!!:) Thanks so all of you that have responded to my emails. That helps a lot!! I miss you all!! And I can’t thank you enough for all of your continued support, encouragements and love!! Means so much!!
Love and Prayers,
Sherina

Manila, Philippines

This is Rockell and her husband Ron. It's her second child and she is so appreciative of the care!
This is one of the alleyways we walked thru. They got a lot narrower and dirtier than this!! lol
This is the other lady who lives in the slum area that had a bad fire! They live in the charred ruins!!!

It is hot!! I actually slept pretty decently last night but I work up so lethargic because of the heat! I wetted my hair down but it dried so fast! DJ, my roommate, and I cleaned the upstairs room we are going to be sharing. I completely sweated thru my shirt! I have a double foam mattress on a wooden frame. I thought I was going to break it when I first sat on it! Lol We lugged my heavy bag upstairs and then I tried to unpack it! Lol But there is not really anywhere to put things. All my clothes are so wrinkled from being rolled up in Ziploc bags but there aren’t any hangers so I laid them all out on the back of a chair! More than half my stuff is still in my bed which I stuffed under the bed. The upstairs room is way hotter than downstairs!! DJ and Imelda, the midwives, are busy cleaning and cooking downstairs. I’ve asked them several times if I could help or if there is anything that I can do, but I think they prefer to do it themselves. Or maybe they think I won’t do it right! Lol Probably right! I think I’m gonna start having about a minimum of 3 showers a day! The cold showers feel so nice! They actually heat up water on the gas burner and have warm showers! I feel like I should be doing something useful right now but I guess it’s going to take more than a day to fit in! So maybe I’ll go ask again and if not I’ll take a shower! Lol
So I went back downstairs and it was lunch time. They teach me new words in Tagalog at mealtimes but unless I write them down I can never remember them! Lol My new words are fork, spoon, plate, cup, rice, rice accompaniment and delicious! Which are: tandori, kotchari, palot, basso, gainin, oolum, and masaram! I’ve already learned: how are you (Kumustaka), thank you (salamat) and tired (pogod). After lunch we went to do some house calls on pregnant ladies who are due any time! We walked to the nearby slums to check up on these ladies. We turned down an alley that was about a foot n a half wide, and trekked thru the garbage and sewer water that flowed thru the alley. It smelled great in there too! Lol Everyone we passed looked at me like I was crazy to be walking down there! After winding around on many alley ways, we called out at this door way and a neighbor let us into the house. It was very dark and the ‘house’ was about 6 feet by 6 feet. A mother, her 3 daughters 2 of their husbands and 4 soon to be 6 grandchildren live there! They were so appreciative that we had come! DJ and Imelda told them that I was one of their sponsors and that’s how they are able to receive this free prenatal care. The one pregnant girl seemed so young and it was her second! They were really shy but curious about me so they managed to ask me a few questions. The first one is how old are you and the second is are you married!! LOL Both answers seemed to shock them! They were probably barely 20!! I felt so privileged to have been welcomed into their home. It was so neat to see first hand the work that is being done by the midwives here! I’m excited to witness the birth of their babies and start a relationship with these womenJ The second lady that we visited lived a few blocks away in a part of the slums that had been burned a little while ago. 320 families that lived there had their homes burned down in a bad fire. This family still doesn’t have their home rebuilt and they live in the charred ruins!! It was quite shocking!! They have one bed with a matt and burned dresser. I’m not sure where they even cook. They have 2 children with another one due any day!! I couldn’t even imagine living in such a situation!! We took this lady’s blood pressure and listened to the baby’s heart beat. Her blood pressure and been up a bit last time and she was worried that DJ and Imelda might refer her to the hospital if it was still high. She was so happy that it was normal today! I have no idea how people live like that! I don’t think they have the money or means to rebuild their house. And now they are bringing another life into it! Breaks my heart! I wish there was more that I could do for them!! Its hard cuz the slums are everywhere here! But I believe that people that God brings across your path are the ones that you are meant to help! I’m just not quite sure what that’s going to look like right now. But I’m excited to make friends with these ladies and families!!:) Ahh!!:) I just had a nice, cold shower! Feels so much better! I’m going to do a bit of reading and then hopefully go to bed early. These births could happen at any time so you have to get rest when you can. I’ve got a lot of textbooks to read in the next few months and I’m trying to read up on labor and delivery as much as possible before the first one. I’ll try to put up the few pictures that I’ve taken of where I live, the alley ways and the 2 ladies.
Love you all!!!
Sherina