Saturday, April 28, 2007

Sushi: A Fish & Bread Remix


I think Jesus would like sushi. I mean he was definitely into fish and we serve a creative God. After a little talking into I went to sushi with the girls last night. As a native Montanian, out on the town with two experience sushi experts I knew I had to jump in. Plus I love doing new things and want to be more like Jesus! My previous experience with sushi has always been the California Roll a basic in the sushi menu and a very safe choice. Last night I expanded and we had a party with Rock&Roll, Dynamite, Teriyaki Chicken and California Rolls. So with good friends and good food I am leaving that table with my glass half full.

Spelling?


I have been meaning to write for quite sometime and apologize for my poor spelling. After seeing this stand at a mall here and Manila and realizing I am not the only one who suffers I sat down to write this blog. If you have been semi consistent in reading my blog, I am sure you have notice by now it is one of my weaknesses. Or even if you have read only one post I apologize for the effort it may have taken to fumble though it. There is the problem of the random words I try to make work when I can not figure out how to spell the word I want to use and I always have to change the way I say things so I can spell each word right. With that said I also want to mention that it is not easy being such a poor speller and maybe some of you can relate. Growing up as a bad speller sure makes you resourceful because it affects your daily life. Writing checks can lead to cardiac arrest as you search your surroundings to find the spelling of the company's name. Or that one little line I dread where the make you spell out exactly how much you spent. Heaven forbid someone with a puzzling last name or confusing information call and ask to leave a message. That is when I pull out the art form of making the letters hard to distinguish. Making my "e" look like it could be an "a" or an "i" and I write really close together. Thinking it better if someone can kind of make it out thinking I have bad hand writing then realize it is spelled complete wrong. So I confess I do make an effort to hide all my spelling errors. I use spell check often. At twenty one I am still very dependent on my mom or sister to edit all my work, thankfully they are much better spellers then I and helped me get though high school without out looking totally stone age. I also have an automatic reflex of copying my emails, blogs and myspace messages into a Word document and waiting for the page to be covered with red lines so I can fix my mistakes and hide my weakness! I spell the word I know then use Word’s thesaurus to find the word I want. I am thankful for Word and would be embarrassed to show you how many of those red lines are on my page as I type this out. So, I am in the bad speller camp with so many others, separated from those who can spell crazy words in their heads, compete in spelling bees and then make movies about people competing in spelling bees.

But I can read and I have never been as thankful for that as I was the other day. Lindsay and I went into a bookstore, which is one of my favorite places to be. It had been months since I had been in a book store and I was amazed as I realized I could read and what that really meant. Not only that, I can read in English meaning I could pick up any book from the self and have a go at it. Anything I wanted to learn is at my finger tips. Reading is something I never thought twice about until the reality that not everyone can hit me in the Philippines.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Unforgetable moments I can not quite remember.


I think most midwives will agree there is a single moment in birth right when the baby is coming out that seems to slip away from your mind. You can't picture this moment or recall the details, yet you know it is amazing. The moment is made unforgettable by it's effect on your heart not senses of your flesh. At this point you know you are in the middle of a miracle, apart of something so much greater then you. It is a moment when everything is made perfect, love is born before your eyes. Then the baby is out, in your hands on the mom's chest and all you can do is praise the Lord.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Street Children: How did these two words ever meet?


O' Little child

On the street you do sleep.

Walking around

With your dirty bare feet.

I want to weep with you,

But I never see you cry.

How is it that you who are weak

Are stronger then I?

Friday, April 6, 2007

You Turn My World Upside Down!

It has been a fun few days at the birth center so here is a little update of some of the highlights!

Catch Just On Time
On Wednesday I had the day off but was on call for my continuities and got the call at 6:30am that my patient had come in and was already full dilated. (For a continuity we have to do the patient's prenatal visits, labor and delivery, newborn exam and postpartum visits so a lot of work goes into getting them and it is upsetting when you cannot make the birth or if they get transported.) It was her third birth so I knew the pushing phase would be short. I jumped out of bed and grabbed a taxi for the 45 minute commute. I felt cool telling the driver I was an on call midwife and in a big hurry! I was stuck in traffic about 3/4 of the way there when I got the call to not worry about coming in the baby was going to be out soon. With two 15+ hour births on my last shift I already knew God has been teaching me a lot about patients. So I sat in the taxi and became content with the fact that this is out of my hands and in God's. I decided to go into work anyway just to say hi and congratulations. When I walk into delivery room 2 I could hear the sound of the doppler taking fetal heart tones which means the baby was not out yet. It was still crowning and I made it just in time to catch. Maybe I am not the only one learning not to rush in life, because I think the baby was waiting for me!

9.5 Pound'r and I not talking about fishing!
Sharon caught this baby boy weighing 9lbs 8 ounces for Filipinos that is definitely the catch of the day.



Upside-Down
We had our first breech birth. It was so amazing to see a natural birth of a breech baby, some midwives never get this opportunity because they transport to hospitals if the baby is breech. A perfectly happy, healthy baby was born a little upside down. As you can see from the picture he still was not used to all the freedom his legs had found!


Precious Family
This family was so beautiful and I am thankful that I got to be apart of it for these special moments. The kids both rubbed their moms back during labor and waited with great excitement for the baby to come out. We watched Happy Feet to pass some time during the long labor. The three year old boy thinks his new little sister is very beautiful. The eleven year old girl stayed close to Lindsey and me for the rest of the night.

On My Mind & Heart
I did find some down time to read and dream about Nigeria as God increased my love for the country.