Christmas in July

Around the clinic we have been joking a lot of about Christmas in July as many of us sport some fashionable Holiday themed scrubs. Well I experienced a little Christmas in July on Friday; my birthday came early!
I had received the little slips from the post office that tell you you have a parcel, and I was excited that I was finally getting a package I've been waiting for these last 5 months. I arrived at the post office (escorted by the same dear guard who did my visa run), and found to my delight that I actually had 3 packages waiting for me. And to my surprise, NONE of them were the one I'm waiting for!
So I sat in the back of a taxi and opened each of my parcels and smiled and teared up and laughed and then had to explain to me driver what all the drama was about! It is great to feel loved, and that's what those parcels did! Thanx to my dear Family for sending love and pics, gum and books!

6 Months in the Phils

I'm sitting here, munching on dried mangos, and wondering if any of you really know the wonder of the Filipino Dried Mango?? They're a sweet and sour, chewy goodness that is best done by the 7D company. I'm going to miss the Phils.
Of course I'm not going anywhere! Just this week I past the 6 month mark, I almost can't believe it, I've been in this country for so long. I've passed halfway, there's only some 4.5 months left! And as I passed 6mths, I also ran out of visa. Whoops, so I spent 2 days in hiding, as an illegal alien. Ok, so maybe I didn't really hide, but yesterday I did send one of our clinic security gaurds down to renew it for me.
We have 4 gaurds at our clinic and they rotate throughout the day. These men are so sweet, opening my apartment door for me, carrying the drinking water jugs, getting us new gasul, and even going to immigration to renew my visa. It's been a bit of culture shock to relinquish some of these duties I would consider as markers of independence. But in keeping with my goal of learning and living within the culture, I am allowing a man to carry the heavy drinking water instead of doing it myself. I'm learning.
On top of these and the quinessential duty of "guarding", our guards also help out during our prenatal days; they gather charts, and take BPs and pulses and weigh our moms. They're great! A typical security job in the Phils includes wearing a stiff uniform, standing at a door, holding a gun. I'm glad our guards do so much else (and don't carry guns), they're part of the clinic family.

24 Hours, an Office and a Haunted House

We turned out the lights, and we had just settled into our beds, when the door opened and a head popped in - "there's another labour." On - go the lights, back up - goes the hair, out of the air con and downstairs to assess our patient. Within the hour another 2 moms arrive. And that was Thursday night.
Well, I've finally woken up after sleeping almost all day yesterday! Thursday was a killer 24hr shift and by the end I was falling asleep in the middle of endorsing our patients to the next shift. I couldn't keep my eyes open if I wanted to!
We had 3 births, about 30 prenatals, 5 postpartum patients, a couple baby check ups and 2 yet-to-deliver labours. I know that a list like that hardly explains the mayhem, so you will have to believe me that all those numbers equal a crazy, non-stop busy 24hr shift! And being busy is a good thing, it means we're helping a lot of people, it means that I'm getting lots of experience. It means that this clinic is really meeting a huge need in this city! But it also means that for every 24hr shift, I have to schedule another day just to recover!
On a side note - my recovery day included discovering the wonder of the show The Office, which I have long wanted to watch, and have found in my apartment on pirated DVD. A new addiction has begun, but its a very wonderfully witty one!
Also my roommate Tess divulged to me this week that one of the rooms in our apartment is actually haunted. Yes, isn't that great? Apparently many people have heard voices in it, and felt a presence. And also a lot of spirtual warfare has been fought. I'm feeling ok with it, but I told Tess she really could have done without telling me!

Normal?

My eyes are squinting as I try to run through all my online activities quickly, the computers in this internet cafe are prehistoric, and that manages to steal some of the joy from emailing and posting!
The last week has been very normal, certainly nothing out of the ordinary, what does a person write about when life is normal? I don't know, so in the name of News, I will give you these little tidbits...

• We celebrated the 8th of July last Sunday (basically we were late), and I enjoyed it with Filipinos, Americans and one fellow Canadian. In the midst of a whole lot of Red, White and Blue, I frosted one cookie with a Canadian flag, and us Canucks shared it.
• I am working my brain harder than usual (ha) with my recently acquired addiction to Sudoku, the ever-present midwifery studies and my new Cebuano efforts. I'll either come back without brain activity or as a genius.
• After wondering where my kitty had gone to for so many hours, I finally tracked a small mewing from my closet, where I had unknowingly locked her for hours. Ooops.
• I am becoming very comfortable in the killing of cockroaches, last night I was talking with a patient when I noticed a roach on the wall beside us, without any hesitation I lifted my flip flop and did away with him, all in a days work you know.
• I bought a new hot pink pot and pan this week, seriously mahal kaayo! But at least now all my food isn't black and rusty!
• I loved Church yesterday, I'm usually attending the Vineyard here, which is located in a really needy part of town and all around the congregation you can point out Glory Reborn midwives, nurses, our cook or security guard and past patients and their babies. Everyone is so friendly, which is a very Filipino trait, but they are even more than friendly, if I could remember that many names and faces I would now know the whole church!
• I am discovering the great complexity of Cebuano, I was foolish to think I would ever understand this! I mean, I know I will, but this morning's lesson in Actor Topic Verb forms, was enough to overwhelm me for this week! I get so flustered in class, our teacher will ask a question and I'm left flipping pages, "That was on...No, Wait...Ok that one and..., Umm..."

Perhaps this week will become less normal and I will be able to find pictures and stories to share with you. Have a good week!

No Room in the Inn

"There's no room in the Inn" - We've almost had to say that a couple times this week, but the grace of God has provided for our mothers just as He provided for His own.
At the clinic we are prepared to handle 2-3 moms in labour, and 3 postpartum moms staying anywhere from 24hrs to a couple weeks. We also have 3 beds downstairs for prenatals and check ups. Well this week we had a full house, and there were always women in labour. Family members of our moms were sleeping under their beds, and we even had moms staying in the midwife quarters too!
But the grace of God never sent more moms in labour than we could make room for, and he gave us wisdom for those emergencies that came up, and we had a very, very busy few days! Today was a little slower, and hopefully we'll have a couple days now to recuperate before another wave of precious new lives joins us!

Cebuano It Is

Today I began official Cebuano lessons. I've signed up for tutoring with a new friend Jen who is just starting to study midwifery here at Glory Reborn. While I've been picking up a lot from the girls at the clinic I really want to vamp up my efforts, and after todays session I guess we're full speed ahead!
Seriously I don't even know what a "predicate" is in English, they don't teach you that kind of stuff in school! So wish me luck as I test out my new sentence building skills.
Daghang Salamat!

Baby Party - June's Babes

Once a month we have a Baby Party to celebrate all the births of the last month. Parents and their babes are invited back for worship, blessing of the children, family planning info, immunizations, check-ups, gifts and cake!
Wow. It's busy! But it's pretty neat too, where else would these families get that kind of celebration put on for them?

Our welcome room and prenatal area, this is where patients are first examined for prenatals, labours and postpartums, and if we're ever really busy upstairs, some babies get born down here too!

What a privilege it is to pray over these babies and ask God's blessing and protection for them. Please note, the blue tinge does not indicate a weird spiritual aura (haha), our parties just happen underneath a blue tarp!

Some of our midwives preparing an immunization. They look really, really into it! Things usually aren't that dramatic around the clinic!

Baby Irish who I caught last week.

Let Me Introduce You To...

Welcome to Glory Reborn Clinic!

This is where I'm working now, and it's such a great clinic. The labour room is the one just above the sign (gotta love the fire escape!), and I can see straight in from my kitchen window (it's a good thing that us midwives live next door). That means I can go over any time there's a birth to help and to learn.

This is my new little apartment that feels so much like home. It is full of sunshine all day and has such a cozy warm feel. And this is my little kitty, she came with the apartment and her name's Cheerio. Now I'm not a cat person, but this one's pretty cute, she entertains us and steals and then loses my pens. She's also pretty ferocious or friendly, depending on your take!