It Is An Amazing Race

I just had four days off and what better to do then pack them full adventure and seeing more of the Philippines....... and riding on top of jeepnees, caving, picking strawberries!

SUNDAY

So it started off all Amazing Race style. Originally we planed to leave Monday morning at 4am, but just after finishing a meeting in Antipolo Sunday night plans changed. It took little to change our minds and take an overnight bus that would be leaving in two hours. Usually a taxi ride from Antipolo to the bus stop would take one and a half hours. So we ran like crazy down the steep Anitipolo hills and rushed to find a taxi. You can only imagine the scene we caused, 5 crazy white girls! Our taxi driver was slow and did not have enough gas, but we where on our way. We still had to go back to our house and pack up. Melinda waved down a second taxi to take us from our home to the bus station. This taxi was fast but we got lost as none of us were totally for sure where the station was. After getting and attempting to give directions in Tagalog we pulled into the station just at the same time the bus was supposed to leave. Luckily most things do not happen on time in the Philippines and we made it on the night bus safe and sound. So we settled down for the 9 hour ride to Banaue.

MONDAY

We arrived in Banaue Monday morning just in time to wake up to the beautiful rice terraces

After breakfast we went on a crazy 3 hour drive to Sagada that can not even compare to the logging roads back home. The views where amazing in I road the the country side and into the town of Sagada on top of a jeepnee.

Once in Sagada we settled into this lovely mission house up on the hill over looking the city. Sagada is a small mountain town and very easy to fall in love with. We hiked though Echo Valley to the hanging coffins which is how the tribe people berried their dead.

TUESDAY

This was a huge deal for me as I hate small spaces (even drive-through car washes freak me out a little). We went over 100 meters below the earth and jumped into a huge swimming pool! I am very determined to always try everything once and not let fear hold me back. I enjoy trying new things and challenging myself. After belly crawling through an opening in the cave I had a really since of accomplishment. This is nothing like the Lewis and Clark caverns I have been to before. There is not electric lights or hand rails to guide your path. It is just you, the rocks, the water and the bat guano with a small lantern lighting the way. That is what I love about foreign countries there is a real since of adventure no rules holding you back from riding on top of cars or jumping into a pool of water far below the earth.

WEDNSDAY
We caught the 5am bus from Sagada to Baguio a six hour bus ride that was pure torture. I was car sick and losing my stomach the whole way. I can only imagine it is like to putting your body into a cement mixer and hanging out for six hours while driving a crazy road down a mountain. Once again however the views where breath taking!

THURSDAY
We spent time picking strawberries and shopping in Baguio. After we picked them we bought Ice cream and chocolate and made ourselves a very tasty dessert (and breakfast!)

Fabella Wrap Up

TRIPLETS
THIS IS A PICTURE OF A MOM IN THE KANGAROO UNIT, BABIES THAT ARE UNDER 2000 GRAMS ARE SENT IN THIS UNIT. THE MOTHER WEAR WHAT IS LIKE A TIGHT TUBE TOP AND THE BABY IS PLACED WITH SKIN TO SKIN CONTACT. THIS WAS FIRST PREFORM IN A MATURITY HOSPITAL IN COLUMBIA. STUDIES HAVE SHOW IT HAS GREAT BENEFITS AND BABIES SURVIVAL RATES INCREASE DRAMATICALLY COMPARED TO BABIES PLACED IN INCUBATORS. THIS WAY BABIES AND MOTHERS ARE ALWAYS TOGETHER TO BOND, BREASTFEED, THE BABY BODY TEMPERATURE IS REGULATED, THE BABY IS BEING STIMULATED AND THE MOTHERS BREATHING AND HEART RATE HELP TO STABILIZE AND REGULATE THE BABIES. IT IS A GREAT BLESSING THAT FABELLA HAS ADOPTED THIS TECHNIQUE AND IS VERY COST EFFICIENT FOR THEM BECAUSE INCUBATOR ARE VERY EXPENSIVE.
LITTLE BABY IN THE PREMATURE KANGAROO UNIT!

Fabella was an amazing experience for me both spiritually and for educational opportunities.

UNFORTUNATELY BABIES AT FABELLA ARE SEPARATED FROM THEIR MOTHERS AFTER BIRTH AND PLACED IN THE NEWBORN CARE UNIT UNTIL THEY RECEIVE A BATH, CORD DRESSING AND SHOTS. ONCE THE MOTHER IS TRANSFERRED TO POSTPARTUM THE BABY IS BROUGHT TO HER THERE. SO OFCOURSE THE BABIES ARE CRYING AND WANT TO BE HELD AND KEPT WARM AND OFCOURSE I COULD NOT RESIST DOING THIS JOB!

Spiritually--It confirmed in me that I am passionate about fighting for life and the care of mothers and their babies. As I comforted mothers that were undergoing a DNC (the manual removal of a child that has been aborted) and praying for babies in the NICU I saw the faces of life as they battle against the darkness of death. I want to fight not just for the unborn but for love and forgiveness for the mothers who are deeply shamed, abused and reject after having abortions. Although I do not believe abortions are justified under any circumstance I think the enemy wins when these women live in shame and fear never being shown the forgiveness of a loving God who cherishes them just as much as their unborn child. I want to be a voice for the babies who are isolated in incubators with feeding tube and blood transfusions that have a great will to survive, they truly are fighters. I want to stand up for families that are suffering from curable causes such as malnutrition and lack of clean water. For me being pro-life is a fight for life that goes beyond the time spent in the womb. It is striving to show each person ever created the love and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ from the moment of conception on.

Education-- I got to see some of the most incredible surgeries that I may never again observe. I watched three hysterectomies. In one case the women has ovarian growths and the tumor the removed from her abdominal cavity was no joke the size of two small twins. I also saw the removal and biopsy of a tumor that had developed from uterine cancer. I watched several Cesarean sections including some preformed of breech presenting babies. I saw the deliver of twins, forceps deliveries, did a postpartum exam on triplets, saw a baby girls born with low extremity abnormalities, watched shoulder dystocias and cord wraps. I preformed 20 postpartum examines watched 15 births, 6 cesareans and much more. It is routine to do episiotomies on all primes so I saw the procedure and suture repairs. I did labor Check-In and got the dilation and effacement correct on my first try which was very exiting.

In one ward they had 76 women plus all their babies and that is not include the ICU, High risk wards, midwifery unit and Kangaroo ward so it is not uncommon to have 200-300 women in the postpartum care each day. The funny thing is this is their slow time of the year. During peak months the commonly have three women to each twin bed. Below are some pictures from that ward taken in kind of a panoramic way.

As you can kind of tell the have three rows of beds each bed with two or more women.

WE MADE IT!!!! ALL THE GIRLS WITH OUR FABELLA GRADUATION CERTIFICATES!!!!

Happy Girl's Night Out Day!

I had a wonderful Valentines Day with my favorite girls! We went to a nice dinner and movie and had our own secret valentine chocolate exchange! The best part was my date was John Travolta!

Birth

Today I was in the Midwifery Home Setting room and got to see a baby girl be born it was so beautiful. This room is for the midwife students studying and practicing at Fabella. There are strict conditions on which women can deliver in this room. It can not be there first birth or more then four, their fundal height has to be less then 30cm, gestational age between 37-39 weeks, no complications in previous births and no risk factors. However if they get to labor and deliver their they are allowed to have a family member with them and the baby stays with them much more after delivery. The room is set up to look more like a home with a bamboo bed and they creatively use items found around a normal Filipino home like newspaper. It was a rewarding experience to see this young husband and wife go through the birth together.

Babies and Operations!

I spent my day in the DR (delivery room) and OR (operating room) at Fabella Hospital. I observed two Cesarean sections and two tubal legations along with 9 births. It was all an amazing learning opportunity. For all the operations we got to be in an upper room over looking the surgeries being preformed. It was incredible to be able to see inside the abdominal cavity and the uterus contract after the cesarean birth. I most enjoyed being up at the head of the bed with the mother holding her hand and supporting her head while she is pushing. The staff at Fabella takes a very medical approach to birth and a lot of times care for the mother is over looked. I would assist the mother when she had to move from one gurney to another in the middle of 2ND stage labor, support and encourage her during labor, try to keep her cool and comfortable and give her information on her baby once it had been take to the newborn care room. They also preform mandatory episiotomy on all P1 (first time mothers) so I would comfort the mother while the OB was suturing. There where even some cases where they did not give the women Lidocaine before suturing. As I stated in my previous blog the obstetric managed birth is much different from the midwifery model of care.

My life is like Grey's Ananomy, only not! I cried.

All us girls ready for a full on day!

Jess, Lindsey and Me

Fabella Hospital

Today I stareted my rotaions at Fabella Maternity Hospital and learned so much about my relationship with God in the process. Although the day, circumstances and enviroment is crazily intense I believe God has opened an amazing door for us to minister to women (during lobor, delivery and post partum) and it has only confirmed in my heart that my faith is somthing that I need to be able to live out and express through my caring and love towards others. So in a hospital where;

the goverment gives them less money then a Filopino senitor makes in a year, pravicy and sanitation are hard to come by and woman are rushed though one after another is exactly where I want to be. Today I was working in admissions where the women come in and are checked and prepared for labor. A young 16 year old girl came in labor with her first baby. She was having strong contractions and was very scared. The doctors told her she had to be transported to a different hospital because she had asthma and they would not deliever her. This only made her more fearful. When she first came in I had gone to her bed side and was holding her and and brushing the hair out of her face. I was helping her through her contractions and encouraging her. She held my hand tighly and crying despertly kept looking into my eyes saying "please please help me." Her mom entered the room and she beged her mom to keep her from being transported the mom started to cry as well and at the moment I had to relese into her mothers care and leave the admittimg room as my eyes filled with tears and I cried. Most people who know me well know it does not take much to pull on my heart strings and I pray it stays that way. I pray my heart will always stay tender, compassionate for others and easily stirred by the will and voice of God.

*Fabella Hospital: Although Fabella does not routinely practice the same midwifery modle of care we follow I will be doing a two weeks of routation there. It gives us a great oppurtunity to observe C-sections, operations, NICU (neonatal intensive care unit), premature babies and a high volume of births. More then that is allows us to show the love of God and deminstate compassion to women in a place that can be very inpersonal due to the high valume of patiens. I have a high respect for the women who work at Fabeela as they do the best the can with the resourses they have. They place a very high vaule on being a mother baby friendly hospital (standard set by the WHO) and premoting breastfeeding. Today the postpatum ward had 96 mothers who all of couse have a baby but only two nurses and a midwife to staff the unit. This is not including other specialised postpartum wards.

A view from my roof top.

Now poverty is on my door step next to the roosters and I can't look in your eyes. Walking a thin line as two different worlds collide all inside my heart. And I think I got it figured but I have to jump in, because even in an air conditioned theater I can get comfortable. I live in a world that scares me, sometimes. And people wear masks, but not just for keeping out the pollution. There is barbwire but where are the cows? Culture shocked by what I have always known, what is me. And I still want to wear mascara.