Sunday, October 19, 2008

Changes!

The 3 adorable girls that I vacationed with.
The YWAM family, Joel and Grace and son Paul. They now have their new addition, another baby boy!! :)
Mom Elena, and baby Christian and family. Elena still has really high blood pressure but other than that they are all doing great!
The last baby I helped deliver in Manila. Also baby Louie.
Mom Shirly came back for her birth certificate with her baby Louie. I got to hold him lots!!

So there's been a few changes that have happened in the last few weeks and now that I have a free moment, I thought that I should let you know what's going on in my life! I had a mini 4 day holiday with another Canadian family that's living in Manila. We came to the island of Mindoro to a beach resort very near the clinic where I was planning to work at in November. I had a great time with them. We hung out on the beach and I got to spend lots of time with their 3 adorable girls and their Uncle Joey!! They were all such a blessing to me and took care of all the financial aspects of the trip! While I was here I met with Terri who is overseeing Mercy in Action while her sister Vicki is in the States. We decided for a few reasons, that it would be best if I came to the island sooner than originally planned. So, she came back with me early on the Friday morning and then we left Manila at 4am to come back to Puerto Galera! It was quite a fast decision so I wasn't able to say goodbye to everyone but I did manage to say goodbye to quite a few of my friends. It's such a different atmosphere here on the island. Its so peaceful and quiet and the air is so clean!! And the beaches are gorgeous and there are mountains! Saturday, my first official day living here, we had a birth that kept us up all night! I was already quite tired from little sleep the past few weeks and 2 very early morning trips the 2 days before! There were a few moments in the birth room where I didn't know how I was going to stay awake!! But I did! And guess what?! It was another boy!!! So funny that I have yet to see a girl!! But they have many more births here so I'm sure it will happen. I'm starting from scratch with my training but I'm already feeling like I'm learning so much more here! It helps too that there are experienced midwife teachers who speak fluent English! So I saw my first tear and sutures! I got to assist Kate, the midwife in charge here right now, while she stitched up the 2nd degree tear! It was at 4am and it was so hot and the tear looked like ground meat to me but she was able to piece things back together and stitch it up so that it looked normal again!! Amazing!! I also learned how to do some back massaging and pressure on the back to help with some of the pain the mother was feeling during contractions. The mother wasn't too keen on doing the breathing exercises and in the end she ended up pushing the baby out too fast when she was asked to slow down, which was probably one of the reasons that she tore! Kate was so great at explaining everything that was going on. She went through all the forms and explained each thing that we look for and why! I feel like I've learned way more in one birth here than in the 7 that I saw in Manila!! I think I'm really going to learn a lot here! It's going to be busy and maybe not that much sleep, but the knowledge and experience is going to be great! Kate has such a neat way of interacting with the women too and I'm really enjoying watching her and learning from her! We went on a postpartum visit yesterday and it was so neat how it was just like visiting with a friend over coffee but yet she got all the information that she needed to fill out all the paper work after!! She's also very knowledgeable about topics such as breastfeeding. I thought I knew a lot about it before, but now I know even more! Breastfeeding is one of the best things that you could ever do for your baby, but yet so many mothers think that they have no milk and then they buy formula!! One of the most challenging things is trying to encourage mothers to breastfeed!

So, I'm settling into life over here in Puerto Galera on the island of Mindoro. I miss my friends back in Manila, especially my roommate DJ and Ate Imelda but I know I'll see them again when I pass back through Manila in December. I'm living with Terri in Vicki's house for a few weeks until Vicki and Scott come back from the States and then I'll move into the clinic. The clinic is just a 5 minute drive or probably about a 20 minute walk away. And the beach is about 10 minutes away too!:) So that's what's new with me!! I would still love to hear bout things back home and how you are doing!!

Oh, and thank you so much to everyone who prayed for my friend Sara!! She is doing better than I would have ever expected!! She emailed me and told me exactly what happened. She ended up going through labor and delivering the baby even though he was already dead :( She is still at VGH for a few more weeks going through extensive treatment for her leukemia! She has a curable kind though so that's good. When her white blood cell count comes back up she will be able to move back home but will continue going 5 days a week for chemo. So please continue to keep her in your prayers!

Another person to pray for is Ate Cecil. I would go to her clinic in Manila on Friday mornings and help her with her prenatals. Her father was quite sick with TB and he just passed away yesterday. Her mom is also not that well and Cecil has a young son as well. So just pray for God's continued provision and comfort for this family.

I'm also a bit sick right now. I think its just a cold but I'm feeling really achy and headachy and miserable!! And its so hot here and the power goes out often so then no fans!! It was out most of the night last night! But that seems like such a small thing comparatively!! lol

Miss you all!!! Lots of Love!!!

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Please Pray for my Friend Sara Moore!!!

Please pray for my friend Sara!!! She and her husband, Jay, have just lost their baby and found out that Sara has leukemia!!! She is a really close friend of mine and its so hard for me to hear about this while being so far away from home!!! I am sitting at the internet right now and I can't stop my tears!! Thanks for all your prayers and support. Thanks to all those who have emailed my new email account, sherinajoy@gmail.com It's going to be a slow process getting updates out again but I will try. I'm a little low on funds too so if anyone is feeling overly generous or has extra cash they don't know what to do with, I won't turn it down!!! lol :P
Love you All!!!!