And Two By Two They Came

Chantel and I arose bright and early to greet the dawn. We planned to take a nap in the late morning to prepare for a double shift (2-10 and 10-6). Around 12, one of our supervisors told us we did not need to work a double, but we could split the two. I decided to take 2-10 and Chantel took 10-6. We each got to see two births! The first birth went extremely quickly. The mom had had six other births so I guess that made her a pro. She had a beautiful baby girl and named her Jonah Willow. She was given the middle name Willow after the student midwife who delivered her. I thought that was super special. The second labor and birth went very well as well. However, the mother started hemorrhaging. She lost over 1200cc of blood! It was so interesting to see how to care for that. We massaged the uterus, gave pitocin, and started an IV. On top of all that, Sarah, her midwife, had to do a manual (scrape the uterus)to remove clots or placental fragments. This is extremely painful. I was told most women are put under in the US! These women hardly make a peep! By the end of the shift she was doing much better. It was scary for awhile! I cannot get over how amazing these women here! They never complain and hardly show any pain. She named her baby Jash Dianne. On to Chantel...She had quite the day!!
While Megan was working hard delivering babies, I decided to go pamper myself. :) Two other girls, Joy & Maria, let me tag along with them to the Pressure Point Spa. But, before we got there we first stopped at one of Joy's patient's homes. I took my very first motorcycle ride to get there...w/out a helmet, I was a little nervous. Thankfully, we all made it there in one piece and proceeded to visit for about a half hour with the mom and baby boy. Joy had delivered this baby about 8 months ago and the mom had texted her to see if she wanted to come visit. They were a very nice family. It was very interesting to see the living conditions, for lack of better a word it was just dirty. A shack is the best way to describe it. We had a lovely time! She served the 3 of us Pepsi and cream-filled crackers, it was delectable. We then went to the spa. I didn't really know what to expect, but upon arrival I was stunned by how beautiful it was inside. The hour long massage plus sauna was going to cost us 500 pesos, or $12. What a deal! I would have been happy to have just sat in the nice air conditioning with that price, ha! It was a very nice place and the massage was amazing! I was a little taken aback when during my back massage she just whipped down shorts. Thankfully, the girls had forewarned before hand. When they say "full body", they mean "full body". Besides that, it was a very enjoyable experience and hope to visit there again one more time before we leave. We then went to Space Burger and ordered dinner for ourselves and the girls on swing shift. The girls say its the best burgers around, and it's basically like a Wendy's/McDonald's burger. But I was satisfied and Megan enjoyed it also. I got back to the house around 6:00 pm and lounged around until my shift started at 10:00 pm. Maria and I walked to a bakery to get some pastries for the morning. On the night shift, I got to see births 4 & 5 for me. The two of them happened right after the other. Now, I've gotta say, Megan and I have been talking about how crazy it is that the women hardly make any sounds during their labor, but this 16 yr. old was making lots! And by golly, I suppose she should be making lots of noises! But both of the women did great and there were no complications. We were a little short staffed for some reason, so I had to step in and chart for both of the births. I really had no idea what I was doing, but they walked me through it well. I watched one of the women being sutured up, because she had a tear and I has a lovely time holding her baby for half an hour. I ended up falling asleep there around 3:30 and woke up at 5:15, nothing was really going on. The best part of working night shift is that you get to come back and sleep in the air conditioned bedroom. What a treat! I slept great until about 1:15 this afternoon.
-Megan and Chantel