The Last Few Days

Heading back home on Wednesday, but still going to blog.  Just thought I would post some pictures from the last few days that sum up a lot of my daily life here.  I am looking forward to being back home, being able to run outside without sweating my entire weight, being able to communicate with people, and drinking a descent cup of coffee.  But, the Philippines have been good to me.  Truly a beautiful country with many wonderful people.

There is a whole section in every store devoted to Milo, a "healthy energy drink" but pretty much just hot chocolate

A popular and free mode of transportation here, jumping on the back of someone else's car.

Amber playing the guitar for a patient.....and Kueya Felix.  He's pretty cool.

Outside the clinic

Kueya Felix, our guard, trying to escape the smells of the clinic with his nifty mask, a baby oxygen mask.  Labor and Delivery can get odoriferous for sure.... 

We transported a patient in this vehicle the other day with the I.V. bag sticking out the window and four midwives and a driver in the vehicle.  It was definatly a site to be seen.

Down time at the clinic.  It is so nice to be able to go outside at 10 PM and for it still to be beautiful weather.

Good Times and Bad Times

Up until now, every birth I have attended has gone according to plan.  If a woman has high blood pressure, it eventually comes down, every blue baby pinks up quickly and every low tempurature fixes itself.

On Friday, we had a woman come in that was fully dilated and breech.  A breech delivery can be very dangerous and even here, women would get a Ceserean.  If the head does not come out first, like it is supposed to, the body can stop labor and the baby can suffocate.  She came in and there was no way we were going to be able to transport her in time for the delivery.  So we went ahead and delivered the baby feet first and miraculously, everything went fine.  The baby and mother were totally fine and we were all in ah of the delivery and we were able to think about how cool the delivery was, and we barely thought about the danger.

Then, we had a woman come in last night who had already had 2 miscarriages and was legitimately thrilled to be having a baby.  During shift this morning, we went to go check on her and make sure she was doing ok and could not find fetal heart tones.  We transported her the ER, where they will take her from now.  It was awful to be sitting in her cubicle with a doppler and not being able to find anything. 

I was confused by how a healthy baby can go from being perfectly healthy to dead.  I just reminds me that things in the medical world happen really fast and do not always resolve themselves.  The human body has the amazing ability to take care of itself and adapt to everything we do, but sometimes it just can't handle it.

New People, New Places

Went on another outreach today to a local church to do prenatals.  It was quite different from the churches I am used to.  They were very open to the outside and cats kept on running in and out.  It could have used a lot of work, but so could a lot of things here.  I love doing outreaches because I get to see the kind of neighborhoods that the people I take care of live in.

Jacquelyn doing her thing. 

I took my camera out to and all the kids immediately started begging me to take pictures.  It was pretty dang cute.

One of our house keepers.  I have a lot of respect for this woman.

Fetascopes!

Doing a prenatal on a 13 year old.  My youngest so far.

Only in the Philippines will you see a full grown woman playing a guitar that is bigger than she is.  Oh Ate May, how I want to pack you in my suitcase and take you home with me.

This n' That

       I have been so caught up in everything lately, trying to learn as much as I can about midwifery and Filipino culture, I am totally underestimating what a momentous time I have been able to take part in for all these women and families.  I get to see a new person brought into the world just about every day, share hearing a baby's heartbeat for the first time with their moms, and so many other things.  Every time I am working in the clinic, I am so caught up in what is next and what I need to be doing to think that I am seeing something that is truly amazing!

That being said, I thought I would share some of the Cebuano I have learned since being here.  These are basically the only words I know to communicate with the patients, drivers and clerks I am in contact with.  I wish I had time to learn more because I really want to get to know these women!

Allison's Cebuano words:

Como sta aka?: How are you (usually I can not understand what they say back, but I just smile and nod)
Ok lang: I am OK/ OK in general
Ako si Allison: My name is Allison
Sha si......: Her name is.....
Salamat: Thank you
Palihog: Please
Oo: Yes (or you can just say yes by raising your eyebrows)
Wala: No
Ate: Term of endearment for a female, like sister (you use this pretty much whenever you are talking to another female, I love this idea of calling everyone your sister)
Kuyo: Term of endearment for male, like brother, same idea as ate above
Mayo Ka'ayo!: Good work!
Buntis: Pregnant woman
Bana: Husband or boyfriend
Bataye: Support person
Bata: baby
Ginhawa: Breath
Buso: Contraction
Busó: Full (has a potential to confuse women while they are in the thick of painful labor)
Ulo: Baby's head
Epanganak: Give birth
Matress: Uterus
Kasing-Kasing: Heart Beat
Utong: Push
Cute Ka'ayo!: So cute!
Guapa: Pretty
Sup-sup: suck
Lakae: Boy
Babae: Girl
Gatas: Milk
Beri-beri: Swelling
Injection: injection (you guessed it!)
Sakit: Pain
Normal: normal (another one of my favorite words....)
C.R. (comfort room): Bathroom
Mang ihi: Go pee
Tubig: Water

This is a really bad picture of rooster that cockadoodledoos all day and night!  I thought roosters were supposed make noise in the morning, but apparently not.  Luckily I have gotten used to it.

Another Random sign.  Not quite sure about Paradise Beach's advertising techniques as there is nothing to do with fighting there. 

Night Shift Baby

This little guy was born last night at 12:29 AM.  His mom just turned 16 and Dad was stabbed to death by a gang in July.  A very sad situation, but all you can do it hope and pray for them.

The baby was supposedly 2 weeks overdue but he was only 5 pounds 2 ounces and had other signs of being somewhat premature.

Heather making baby footprints at 2:30 AM......yeah night shift.

Purple feet!

Mother, baby and grandma.  I will be praying for them.

Signs of Davao and Other Stuff

Ok, so as mentioned before every place I go has a hilarious sign.  These are just some I have collected from a 2 kilometer walk.

Sign outside the clinic: I am not sure if it is the "OK "or the "..... " that is more confusing.

So my size pants?!

AWESOME!

Anyone want some shoes?  You could probably get a good deal of Nike knock-offs here.

Pedi-bikes: A common form of transportation here.  About 20 cents/ mile.

The Clinic on a quiet, Sunday afternoon

Every other house has a Sari-Sari store selling the exact same things: Instant coffee, milo, crackers, load (for cellphones), and coke.  Sometimes, they will have really sketchy looking meat at lunch time.

Paradise, in Beach Form

Had the day off yesterday (however, I did have night shift last night) so Holly and I hit the beach!  We laid in the sun all day, I got a massage right on the beach for about $6 (my third massage since being here and my last!  It is so hard to stop because they are so cheap and they do such a good job!), went snorkeling, and  ate food that took 2 hours to get to us (grrrr Filipino time!!)

Clear blue water, lots of coral and fish and white sand!

For once I wasn't the only non-Filipino!  Davao is a popular tourist spot for Austrailians and Koreans

You may think it is just a pineapple, but really it is filled with fried rice....

You won't be late....you're in the Philippines

I went to go renew my tourist visa today in the immigration office.  I got there right when it opened and assumed it wouldn't take more than an hour.  Wrong.  Very wrong.  I ended up spending 2 and a half hours  sitting there waiting.  So many employees were just sitting around and it was so frustrating.  I texted some of the girls back home about how it was taking so long and they reminded me, you're on Filipino time now, everything is going to take a while.

Things move slowly here and people are always running late.  They say the more important something is, the later you should arrive.  It hasn't been too much of a struggle until today.  Good thing I was sitting next to an italian woman in the same situation and we pretty much ended up sharing life stories by the end of the two hours.  i think my next trip will be to Italy.

On a side note, I need to stop spending money!  It is so easy to spend money because everything is so cheap!

On another side note, Holly and I were bored this evening and found a documentary this family made about their unassisted home birth of twins.  It was a bit much for both of us and now I am in the really weird mood.

Too Many Clever Titles for Just One Title (January 17-20)

It's busy now!  I have been meaning to update in the last little bit, but I have been busy or internet has been down or something.  Tuesday night, we had a baby out at 9:39 and then 9:40, it was awesome but sadly I only got to see one birth.  I think my hears are still ringing from the birth I was in, it was quite loud to say the least.  Maybe I should get earplug........

The following pictures best describe my last few days here at Mercy. P.S. I just drank my first REAL cup of coffee in the past month and I am now having heart palpitations.  My body has adjusted to the really awful instant coffee that is actually just sugar packets I guess..

Health teachings before prenatals with Christina.  Todays Topic: Nutrition.

I am the unhealthy pregnant woman who only drinks coke and eats McDo and limpia and does not eat green vegetables.  Yeah, we keep it pretty simple.

60+ women listening to the health teaching before prenatals.  They come at 7:45 and we do a devotional and sing worship songs with them. We get about 50-60 women tuesday-friday and 80+ women on Mondays (Mondays are when we get all the new patients)

I took this picture as this little girl's mother was screaming bloody murder as the babies head was crowning in the bed next to her.  Obviously she was too excited about her coloring book I brought her to pay any attention to the commotion.  I love how little things can make the biggest difference with young ones.

Freshly born babies!  

Let's Eat Crab!  Actually, let's not.  The resturaunt I pass on the way t the gym.  Every time I see it, I always laugh to myself.  I thought about starting another blog just for all the hilarious signs there are here but I don't have the time.

Fonda with mother and baby.

We were bored.  I think this picture speaks for itself. 

Busy night in the birth clinic last night!  

My first experience with the Badjao people.  The Badjao are a gypsy people group who live on the coast of Davao City.  They are living off of the government, they have no education and no money.  All medical facilities must except these people even if they have no records, immunizations  etc.  A Badjao woman came in last night and brought lots of friends and family with her.  She did not know how old she was, what time her labor started (they don't have clocks to tell time) and she said she thought she had already had 6 children.  She had nothing for her baby and no prenatal work done on her.  

Two babies in two hours!  So excited I forgot to take the 5 minute apgar with one of them!  OOPS!!!

The little girl in the pink's mom had to be transported to the Medical Center because of a hematoma, so she stayed with us.  She had not been breast fed and MMC doesn't have any bottles of formula, so we gave her to the little boy's mom who had delivered right before her to breastfeed.  Could you imagine that happening in the U.S.?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

PS: The little boy was born O.P. (meaning head up instead of turned down) with his eyes WIDE open.  It was my favorite birth I have seen so far.  In fact, he never really closed his eyes after he was born.

One "bed", one doppler, 1 scale, 1 bp cuff, lots of paperwork, 3 midwives,  and lots of women needing our help

Doing an outreach with the Badjao people.  We had a translator and asked them questions about their pregnancy and medical history.  I asked on woman if she had any idea how far along she was in her pregnancy and she said "No, but I am pregnant every year".  When I went to give a woman a tetanus shot, I rubbed her arm off with alcohol first and looked at the cotton ball which was completely black.  These poor people have no running water or electricity.  They bathe, wash dishes and go to the bathroom in the beach they live on.

Isla Verde outreach with the Badjao people.  The women in this picture are our translators, truly admirable people doing amazing things for this community.

"If this clipboard could talk, oh the stories it would tell"

My feeling exactly.

Going to do touristy things this weekend finally!

Things I Wasn't Expecting to be Popular in the Philippines

1. Justin Beiber
2. Celine Dion
3. Passing other cars onto oncoming traffic
4. Jeggings
5. Making white girls feel uncomfortable
6. Really bad instant coffee
7. Crocs
8. Large malls
9. Wearing lots of make up
10. Food delivery via motorbikes
11. McDonalds (aka McDo) especially their spaghetti and fried chicken value meal
12. Boxing
13. Cock fighting
14. Durian (be thankful you don't have to try it)
15. Honking your horn to communicate with other drivers
16. Having security guards at every single building for no reason at all
17. 24/7 texting

Mondays, pre-natals, and seafood

Doing my own prenatal check ups finally!  Pumped that I am able to do things on my own, but too bad that I don't speak vasayan.

Trying to show a young expectant mother that she needs to eat more iron!  She was looking at me like a total lunatic if you can't tell.

Feelin' the fundus

Went to go Celebrate Lynsey's birthday at Jack's Ridge overlooking Davao City.  Quite the adventure getting home since the roads flooded.  We fit 8 people in a tricye, I was convinced I was going to die.  It poured down rain, which was wonderful and refreshing and reminded me of home.

Only in a third world country can you go to a 4 star resturaunt and get a $50 meal for $6!

Some of the girls

Jenna isn't afraid to eat the entire fish.  Get it sister.

Stuffed squid?  No thanks.

 So I didn't realize when I ordered seafood, I would get an entire fish.  But I just sucked it up and ate it, and it ended up being delicious.

Before

After.  Nice work ladies.