Witnessing the Amazing Gift of Life

Yesterday, Friday June 4, was my fist day in the birth room. Unlike Megan's first day there, mine was very eventful. I got to witness 3 births!! The first one started as soon as I walked in the door at 6:00 am. And I have to say, tears of joy and amazement fell. Watching one of God's greatest miracles of life unfold before me was exhilirating. I just couldn't help but think how truly amazing our God really is. And I must say, I am super impressed with how these women endure labor. They aren't given any pain medications, and they hardly make a sound. Not to mention that they deliver without air coniditioning or fans, and it is hot over here! They really are super women! I also got to do some newborn checks, and help out with baby/mom checkups as they came in. I stayed pretty busy pretty much the whole shift, which was both overwhelming but nice to have something to do. The day before I was in the prenatal clinic assisting with check-ups. It was so cool to be able to feel the babies inside the mom's tummies. I got some good practice on knowing how to distinguish the position of the baby and being able to find the fetal heart tones. Although, it would not be complete with an embarassing typical "Chantel" moment. So, when I was asked to listen to the baby's heart I took the fetal heart scope (which looks different than a typical stethoscope) and proceeded to try and find it. After about 30 seconds of not being to hear anything, the very kind girl I was working with suggested that I try turning it around instead of listening it through the hand-held peice. I was super embarassed, and totally felt like a dork because I really did know the right way of holding it. Oh well, it was good laugh!

Megan and I seem to be re-cooperating well from the jet lag. We're still waking up on our own around 5:00 am, although today I was able to sleep in till 7:00 am. We find ourselves being rather exhausted around 7-8 at night, and end up going to bed. It's such a different schedule than we're used to. I'm totally not a morning person and am such a night owl, so this has been quite the change for me :) Despite the heat/humidity, we really are sleeping well at night. The 4 fans running in our room seem to help. Although I was earlier today thinking about how I miss a nice hot shower, it definetly feels good to be cooled off at the end of the day with the nice cold water. Megan and I are currently just lounging around saving our energy for the double shifts we will be pulling tonight. We work the swing shfit, 2 pm - 10 pm, and the night shift, 10 pm - 6 am. So a total of 16 hours...should be interesting. But we're excited to be working together! It'll be a good time!

I hope this finds you all well. We sure do miss everyone back home, but are having an AWESOME experience! We just ask that you pray that we don't melt away before we make it back home. Ha! Thanks for all your encouragement and support. We love you!

~ Chantel