Baby Razal!
I held him lots!
And lots!
He was just too cute!!
Couldn't put him down! lol
Cutting the umbilical cord.
Checking the hips for any clicking sound during the neonatal exam.
Cleaning him up.
Putting eye ointment in.
Giving him a Vitamin K injection:(So Monday, August, 4th I assisted in my second birth!! I think it was just as exciting as the first one! It was mid morning and I was out back doing a mound of laundry when, Rockell arrived in labor. Her mom, brother-in-law and nephew all came with her. Her brother-in-law stayed outside but the young boy was inside the whole time! She lied down on the bed and tried to be so brave but every time a contraction came she would grab the edge of the bed and cry. She looked so young and alone and her mother was doing nothing to comfort her so I sat beside her and took her hand and she squeezed it every time there was a contraction. Auntie Imelda told her how to breathe threw them so she and I would breathe together. If she forgot I would start breathing to remind her. Her labor progressed very quickly and it wasn’t long til she was sitting on the birthing chair pushing! One concern we had is that her blood pressure was very low-88/60! She was so weak that she had a hard time pushing and at one point said she couldn’t do it! But we encouraged her and she did do it!! It was only me and Auntie Imelda to deliver the baby as DJ hadn’t yet come back from taking someone to the other clinic on a different island. So I was much more involved this time, although I still don’t feel like I know what I’m doing! If I was by myself I think I would still be quite scared! Lol The water hadn’t broken yet and this time instead of getting peed on, every time she pushed she had a bit of a bowel movement!:( The smell was so bad that I had to tell myself just to deal with it. Then the water broke and splashed all over the floor! And then the baby’s head appeared, and one more push and the baby was out! Another baby boy! I had to help clamp the umbilical cord and cut it. I took the baby and dried him off and got him cleaned up. I clamped his cord close to his belly button and cut it. Then got cotton with baby oil and wiped off all the blood and slime and a bit of poo!:( Gross! But babies are too precious to care what they are covered in!! lol He opened his eyes right away and was very alert. He kept wanting to look around and see everything and he looked at me quite a bit! It felt like such an honor to be the first thing the baby sees when he opens his eyes! I did the entire neonatal exam! I even put the ointment in his eyes and gave him an injection of Vitamin K in his thigh. Then after he had been fully examined and cleaned up we gave him to his mom to breastfeed. Then came the job of cleaning everything else up! That’s the not so fun part! When I checked on the mom and baby a little bit later, I saw that the mom was asleep and the baby was moving around and kept kicking off his blanket. So I picked him up and held him close and cuddled and sang to him for over an hour. Until the mom woke up and then I gave the baby back so she could feed him again. I think I held the baby almost the entire time he was here while the mom was resting. Seven hours after the birth, the mom and baby went home, escorted by some younger siblings and the grandma. They bundled the baby up and set out in the dark in the pouring rain to their house. I think I described their house in one of my first emails. This was the first place I went after arriving here. Rockel was the first pregnant mom that I got to meet. So cool that I got to be the one to help deliver her baby.
Today, a day after the birth, DJ and I went to go check up on mom and baby. They are a bit worried about the baby as there is a slight chance that the baby might have swallowed some pooL So they are advising her to take him to the clinic to get some antibiotics. Then today I found out that the mom is concerned because she doesn’t have any milk! I explained about colostrum, and how it is thicker, yellow and sticky and is what the breast milk is for the first 3 days. I told her that its very healthy for the baby and that colostrum is full of antibodies to help the baby fight off infections and diseases. I also told her that the more the baby sucks, the more milk will be produced. I was sad to hear that she had been giving the baby a bottle! I hope that she really took what I told her to heart and that she’ll keep breastfeeding!
I really need to learn Tagalog because I find it so challenging to not understand what is being said. And it doesn’t get translated to me very often. And if it does and I ask some questions because I’m trying to understand, then people get a bit frustrated and tell me that it’s not important! So I’m trying to pick which questions I think are really important and just ask those! Like today for example: we had a pregnant lady and her husband come to see us. It was the first time that we had met them and I was asked to do the medical history and first prenatal check up. But the lady, Sonia, doesn’t seem to understand English so I keep looking at DJ to translate for me! And some questions Sonia just didn’t seem to want to answer so then her husband would answer for her. I was getting a bit frustrated because Sonia was going on and on about some things and I was supposed to be taking down all the notes but nothing was being translated to me. So then I would ask only to be told that the answer was no. None of the details were translated!! So annoying! I decided to quietly hum a worship song and kept smiling sweetly at Sonia to get rid of my frustrations! In the end I think she really appreciated our help. But I still think that it would be so helpful to learn more Tagalog!! I’m not sure how to go about doing that! I try to ask lots of questions and I’m constantly asking how to say things in Tagalog and then I write them down and try to repeat them as often as I can. I’m going to see if any of the young people that I’ve met at the Baptist Church next door, want to teach me for fun! That seems to be my main challenge right now! That and I’ve started not being able to fall asleep and then waking up in the middle of the night after only sleeping a few hours! I was sleeping on the same schedule and didn’t seem to suffer any jet lag my first week here that I thought I wouldn’t have a problem sleeping. Maybe it’s just a weird week and it will pass! At least I’m feeling a lot better! Thank you so much to all of you who have been praying for me!! I can totally feel the support and encouragements from ‘home’!
So we are waiting for one more mom who’s due anytime! Then they aren’t expecting any births for about a month! The next mom is Rafel. Her and her family are the ones who live in the slum area that burned down! We went to visit her again today because she was supposed to have come last week for another check up but she never showed up! Probably because of all the rain and stormy weather! People don’t like to go out then. We convinced her to come to the clinic today. I was shocked again at the place where they live! I really can’t understand how anyone could live like that! But I know that they are doing the best that they can! I think some of her neighbors were surprised to see a foreign person visiting her and quite a crowd gathered outside the doorway of her place. One of the guys there was holding a cute, young girl and tried to tell me that I could have her! The poor thing was probably so confused because (I think it was her dad) was telling her that I was her mommy!! I just smiled at her and told the dad I couldn’t possible take her cuz he would miss her too much!! The sad thing is that I think a lot of people there would give their kids up just like that!
So Rafel did come tonight and her blood pressure is still too high!! She has supposed to have been on a strict protein diet and to have been drinking lots of water! I gave her a glass, finished the exam and then took it again and it was much better! But if it doesn’t stay down we are going to have to send her to the hospital to deliverL She’s praying it stays down cuz I don’t think she can afford it! And maybe also cuz she likes us?! Lol
Well, I think I’ve probably sufficiently bored most of you by now!! Lol If this is too much info but you’d still like to get an idea of my week, then just check out my blog. I’ll put up the pics of the new baby!!:) He’s so cute!! His name is Razal!!
Lots of Love,
Sherina
Today, a day after the birth, DJ and I went to go check up on mom and baby. They are a bit worried about the baby as there is a slight chance that the baby might have swallowed some pooL So they are advising her to take him to the clinic to get some antibiotics. Then today I found out that the mom is concerned because she doesn’t have any milk! I explained about colostrum, and how it is thicker, yellow and sticky and is what the breast milk is for the first 3 days. I told her that its very healthy for the baby and that colostrum is full of antibodies to help the baby fight off infections and diseases. I also told her that the more the baby sucks, the more milk will be produced. I was sad to hear that she had been giving the baby a bottle! I hope that she really took what I told her to heart and that she’ll keep breastfeeding!
I really need to learn Tagalog because I find it so challenging to not understand what is being said. And it doesn’t get translated to me very often. And if it does and I ask some questions because I’m trying to understand, then people get a bit frustrated and tell me that it’s not important! So I’m trying to pick which questions I think are really important and just ask those! Like today for example: we had a pregnant lady and her husband come to see us. It was the first time that we had met them and I was asked to do the medical history and first prenatal check up. But the lady, Sonia, doesn’t seem to understand English so I keep looking at DJ to translate for me! And some questions Sonia just didn’t seem to want to answer so then her husband would answer for her. I was getting a bit frustrated because Sonia was going on and on about some things and I was supposed to be taking down all the notes but nothing was being translated to me. So then I would ask only to be told that the answer was no. None of the details were translated!! So annoying! I decided to quietly hum a worship song and kept smiling sweetly at Sonia to get rid of my frustrations! In the end I think she really appreciated our help. But I still think that it would be so helpful to learn more Tagalog!! I’m not sure how to go about doing that! I try to ask lots of questions and I’m constantly asking how to say things in Tagalog and then I write them down and try to repeat them as often as I can. I’m going to see if any of the young people that I’ve met at the Baptist Church next door, want to teach me for fun! That seems to be my main challenge right now! That and I’ve started not being able to fall asleep and then waking up in the middle of the night after only sleeping a few hours! I was sleeping on the same schedule and didn’t seem to suffer any jet lag my first week here that I thought I wouldn’t have a problem sleeping. Maybe it’s just a weird week and it will pass! At least I’m feeling a lot better! Thank you so much to all of you who have been praying for me!! I can totally feel the support and encouragements from ‘home’!
So we are waiting for one more mom who’s due anytime! Then they aren’t expecting any births for about a month! The next mom is Rafel. Her and her family are the ones who live in the slum area that burned down! We went to visit her again today because she was supposed to have come last week for another check up but she never showed up! Probably because of all the rain and stormy weather! People don’t like to go out then. We convinced her to come to the clinic today. I was shocked again at the place where they live! I really can’t understand how anyone could live like that! But I know that they are doing the best that they can! I think some of her neighbors were surprised to see a foreign person visiting her and quite a crowd gathered outside the doorway of her place. One of the guys there was holding a cute, young girl and tried to tell me that I could have her! The poor thing was probably so confused because (I think it was her dad) was telling her that I was her mommy!! I just smiled at her and told the dad I couldn’t possible take her cuz he would miss her too much!! The sad thing is that I think a lot of people there would give their kids up just like that!
So Rafel did come tonight and her blood pressure is still too high!! She has supposed to have been on a strict protein diet and to have been drinking lots of water! I gave her a glass, finished the exam and then took it again and it was much better! But if it doesn’t stay down we are going to have to send her to the hospital to deliverL She’s praying it stays down cuz I don’t think she can afford it! And maybe also cuz she likes us?! Lol
Well, I think I’ve probably sufficiently bored most of you by now!! Lol If this is too much info but you’d still like to get an idea of my week, then just check out my blog. I’ll put up the pics of the new baby!!:) He’s so cute!! His name is Razal!!
Lots of Love,
Sherina
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