Busiest Month Ever!!!

I have been so busy this month but yet I have been so aware that many of you have been praying for me and my patients! Thank you so much!! Your prayers mean so much!! There are so many stories I could tell you about events that happened this month that I hardly know where to begin! I have learned so many valuables skills and there have been many intense moments! I would greatly appreciate your continued prayer for me, my health and the safety of my patients, especially the little babies! My back went out 6 days ago and I have been in and out of excruiating pain!! I finally broke down and took the reccomended pain medication available here at the clinic. My bed is not ideal for my back pain but I'm doing the best I can. Trying to sleep flat on my back with my legs bent. But I'm praying God heals me cuz its very difficult to properly care for patients with my back like this. The transportation also doesn't help on the small tricicles!!
I'm very excited that my parents will be coming to visit me April 21!!! I'm excited for them to get to see what I do here and visit some of my patients:) My parents are putting together some donations to bring me so if any of you feel so inclined to donate supplies or money, that would be awesome!! :)
May I will be starting my official academics for Midwifery!! I'm excited to keep learning. There is still so much I want to know!
I will try to upload some pictures but this connection isn't great so it might not work.

Another baby safely brought into this world! Thank you Jesus!
This mom delivered so fast. She had felt like pushing in the tricy on the way to the clinic. Baby was out before I had time to put my second glove on all the way!! I got to name him too!! I named him Josiah!! He was so small but so very cute!!!
This was my first official catch from last Nov 14th!! So nice to see them again but they both have really bad coughs right now:(
I really like going to see the families for the postpartum visits to their home. Such a priveledge to see how they live. So poor!
Doing the new born exam.

Things have been busy here at the clinic! The first week we were having lots of births and the next week we had to do a lot of transports to the hospital! I've been learning lots through every experience. I've now delivered 8 babies as the primary midwife. One was just last night. But this week has been hard too. An older man came in the clinic who had been bitten by a poisonous snake. I was helping the doctor and we did all we could but the man passed away:( I was doing chest compressions and we were giving him blows of oxygen but we did not have the anti venom for the snake bite:( So sad!! I want to get some!! This did not help the fear I already have for snkakes!! Some of the women we live far up the mountains and we have to hike up there are visit them!! I'm going to need extra prayer for peace and no fear! There is one woman who lives in the area the man got bite and we might have to hike to her house in the dark if she goes into labor in the middle of the night!!! Ah!!! But overall I'm really liking being back here. Terri, Vicki's sister is teaching a 6 week course on childbirth education on our prenatal days and that is going great! The women, and me and the Filipino midwives, are learning so much and its fun too:) We are having more and more come every week!
I am just about done with my application for school. I'm applying to the National College of Midwifery so that I can become an official midwife! All that's left is to send in a cheque for the tution. This will be an online program. Most of the textbooks are here from schools that Vicki has run so I'm so priveledged to be able to make use of them!! I'm really excited to start studying:) Lots of Love to all of you!!! <3 <3 <3

Feels like home :)

It's home here now!! I'm loving it!! This week there were 4 births! Some were a bit complicated but when I whispered the name of Jesus, I could feel His calming presence and all the babies and moms are alive and doing good!! I'm learning a lot! Not just about midwifery, but also about ushering God's presence into my daily life! There could be the most complicated situation, but when you feel God right there with you, He takes away your fear and fills you with His love and peace! It's amazing!! I know this is the place and the time that God has called me to! Thank you to all for your continued support, prayers and encouragements!! There is a definite battle and I need your help to keep fighting! Fighting for my quiet time, fighting for the women, fighting for the things that are on God's heart!! I love you all!! Happy Valentines Day!! I hope God's love is so real to you this week!!! <3 <3 <3

My first week back in Puerto Galera

My very first day back to the island I went straight to the clinic to help with all the prenatals and that night there was a birth and I delivered the baby. A beautiful baby girl named Jenelyn. I went to the home a few days later to check on the mom, Arlyn and baby and both were doing well. I was able to give Arlyn some help with breastfeeding and I can’t wait to visit her again to see how she’s doing with that! Breastfeeding is the absolute best thing you could ever do for your baby!!!
Thursday is the day we go to Sabang and do prenatals for the women living in that area. It happened that I had to go alone there and do all the prenatals!! I found out when I was finished that there had been 15!! Which was a lot for me and it was my first time doing prenatals by myself. I was a bit nervous and had to use my broken Tagalog a lot!! But I was amazed that I could understand most of what they told me!
Thursday night we had to transport a mom in labor to the hospital in Calapan, which is 2 hours away. We had been monitoring the FHT for a few hours but they were decreasing and bright green poo particles coming out in the fluid were telling us that the baby was in distress. The parents were very concerned for their baby but also extremely worried about how they would pay for the transportation and hospital fees!! The look on their faces broke my heart and I gave them some of the last of my pesos!! They were so grateful!! The mom, Anna, had tears in her eyes! I heard this morning that she was able to have a natural deliver and so far the baby is doing fine. When they are back from Calapan, I will go visit them and do a check up. I’m praying that God will provide the money for the fees that they will have to pay to the hospital. The burden of that often weighs on families for years as they struggle to somehow pay down the debt. Last year there was an article in the Manila newspaper about 4 babies who were held at the hospital until they were 8 months old because their families had no money to pay for delivery!!!! Things like this just should not happen!!!!

This morning I got to see baby Louie. He was born last November and has a bilateral cleft lip. He was only 2000grams, about 4.4lbs when he was born. His deformity makes it hard for him to nurse properly. We have a surgery lined up for him thru Operation Smile, but he needs to gain a certain amount of weight. This morning his weight was up to 4100grams. But he still has a ways to go!! It was so fun to hold him and see him laughing and smiling at me. I could tell that he has some other developmental delays as he’s 3 months but still cannot hold his head up on his own.
This afternoon I went to 2 pregnant girls homes to check on them. It was so fun to visit with them and their families. I had been having a lonely, rainy, sad day afternoon and it was good to get out and hang out with a fun family. One of the girls lived half way up the mountain. It was quite the hike in sandals in the rain up the slippery, muddy terrain!! On the way back down I was so sure that I would end up sliding down the mountain on my bum!!
It’s so good to be back here and I know this is where I am to be for this time, but I have been struggling with loneliness and today I spent a few hours crying. I would love pray for God’s joy and just for friendship, someone I can talk to and share how I’m really feeling and pray with! I’m missing all my friends and family back home and all the love and support you all are to me!!
Lots of Love to you all!!!

Back in Manila

God’s definitely prepared the way for me to come back to the Philippines. From a compassionate lady, working for Korea Air, letting me take an additional third bag for only $60 when it would have cost $240, to the customs officials in Manila waving me thru with a smile, even though I had been really honest and checked that I had goods to declare!! Some of my friends, Jonas and Rachelle and a few others from the Baptist Church picked me up from the airport. It was so nice not to have to haggle with a taxi driver and worry that he wouldn’t know where I was staying here in Manila!!

The kids here in Manila were SO excited to see me!!! They missed me even more than I thought!! The screaming welcome that I got was so loud that I’m sure everyone in the area heard it!! Good thing they didn’t know I was here til the next day cuz I arrived at the clinic at 2am!! I don’t think the neighbors would have been very happy if they screamed then! Ha ha

So thank you all so much for your prayers and all the items that were donated!!

I love and miss you all already!! And I’m missing the cold weather too! It’s still so hot here!! Ha ha

Lots of Love, <3>

Sherina

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!!!

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!!!!