Prayer Request for Mother and Baby

One of my Continuities (meaning I've done all her prenatal care and was the primary midwife at her birth)  gave birth the other day to a very small baby (2.2 kg - 4lb 13oz). During the immediate newborn exam, we noticed that the baby, Cyrus, had a hole in his back so we monitored them. Cyrus was doing ok but had a slightly fast heartbeat. Then when they were discharged, we sent them to the hospital for a doctor to evaluate the baby.

Anyway, the dad came just now and told us that Cyrus has water in his head (not quite hydrocephaly), a hole in his heart, and spina bifida. He'll be kept in the hospital for at least a week, but probably more. Before he left, I asked the dad how the mom is doing and he replied that she's "trying to be ok." In other words, she's having a hard time.

Please, please pray for little Cyrus that God would heal him and protect him and also please pray for his mother. She's such a sweet, strong woman and I know she is trying so hard to be brave. Thankfully, both she and her husband are strong Christians so they know where to find their strength, but this is really hard on both of them.

Rosemarie and Cyrus

In the Nick of Time

Last night I spent the night at the birth center because there was a mom in labor and I was next up. She is still in labor as I write this and is doing amazingly. She is so strong and perseverent.

Anyway, I was dozing off and on, going to check on her every once in a while then going back to sleep. At 5:43, the birth center's "door bell" started buzzing like crazy so I was quickly on my feet, pulling the heavy front door open. I could hear the mom before I saw her. She was about to deliver.

I didn't think we'd make it inside.

Anyway, we quickly moved inside the birth center and she stopped at the door. "Ok," I thought, "this is going to be an interesting birth."

However, we were able to get her into a delivery room and onto a birth stool. Within a minute of sitting down, her baby was born. She showed up at Shiphrah at 5:43, her baby was born at 5:45.

Then I found out she was a lady Karissa had been doing the prenatal care for.

Oops! Well, even if we had gone sprinting over to the apartment and Karissa came instantly sprinting back with us, she still would have missed the birth. But still, I felt bad.

Oh well. At least the mom (barely) made it in time! :-D

Giggle, Giggle, Giggle

Some of you might remember how I posted last week about my ticklish COC coming again last week.

Well she came again today (I'm not sure why she's been wanting to come so often - she's not due for 2 months!). I was really excited when I saw her and knew we were in for a fun prenatal. This time, she was determined not to giggle so the only time she giggled was when I felt for the head. The rest of the prenatal, she tried to keep her mouth firmly shut but several times a big, unstoppable grin appeared.

I'm glad I'm the one doing her prenatals. It's so much fun. ;-D

One month

I've been here in the Philippines for one month.

It's crazy how fast this month has gone by. Sometimes it seems like each minute lasts an eternity, but other times, I blink and wonder where the day went.

Right now I'm studying blood. A woman's iron levels during pregnancy is incredibly important. Low iron means she's at a much higher risk of hemorrhaging after the baby's born. Around here, a lot of women are anemic (meaning her hemoglobin levels are below 11). A ton of foods out here are loaded in iron and they're very cheap, but a lot of poor people eat hot dogs because they're also cheap and easy to prepare. Jeri has a lot of fun explaining to everyone what's in a hot dog. Blech!

Another reason the women have very poor iron is because culture has taught them to diet while they're pregnant. They're taught that small babies are easy to birth but what they don't realize is that the baby does 60% of the work of labor. So if a woman is dieting, by the end of labor, both she and the baby are so exhausted that they're both exhausted. In extreme cases, the mom and baby die. There is a direct correlation between dieting and anemia, but the women don't stop. Sometimes, they can't stop. Neighbors, friends, family, and everyone else in the Philippines are telling her to diet. Sometimes they're even limiting the amount of food she can have so that she can have a small baby.

After getting a woman's blood results, the first thing we look at is her weight gain. Chances are, if she's anemic or border-line anemic, she hasn't gained much (if any) weight during the pregnancy.  Today I saw a woman who looked very unhealthy and hadn't gained anything since when she started coming to Shiphrah two months ago. Some of that wasn't her fault, but a woman needs to gain weight during pregnancy. Unless she's very heavy, gaining a healthy amount of weight is a MUST!

Ok, I'll get off my soap box and go back to my point about why I'm studying blood... :-D

Jeri normally takes care of all that blood stuff during prenatals but she's leaving for the US next week for a month. So she wants me to take care of that while she's gone. This will be interesting as it involves critical thinking, counseling the mom, and knowledge of the language, as best as possible. This week I've been at the blood table during prenatals learning as much as I can. I think I know most of the phrases I'll need, but it's still an intimidating task, especially since Jeri does it so well. So please be praying that God will give me the courage and wisdom and ability to fulfill this task. I know I can do it, I'm just a little intimidated by the immensity of it.

Also, I've started taking on COCs (continuity of care). If there's a woman who comes in who's between 28 and 32 weeks (those numbers will be changing as I get closer to leaving), I can take her as a COC. What that means is I'll be the main midwife at her prenatals (and I have to do at least 4 prenatals on her) and I'll also be the primary at her birth. If I decide to become a CPM (after arriving here, I've discovered that the plans I had for the future are no longer going to work, so I'm not sure if I'm going to become a CPM or CNM. Right now I'm leaning more towards becoming a CNM because they're more widely recognized and I'd have the training to help more than just pregnant women.), NARM (National Registry of Midwives - the organization who certifies CPMs) says I need at least 4-5 continuities. Now, a continuity doesn't sound too hard to fulfill, but getting 4 prenatals in on a mom is actually harder than it sounds... Currently, I've got 25 COCs. The earliest ones are due in August, but most are due within two weeks time in September (Sept's going to be one crazy month for me!). 


Anyway, last week, there was a pregnant girl (I'd guess between 16 and 18) who I saw and I instantly knew I wanted her as a COC. During the prenatal, every time we touched her belly (which is a lot), she'd start giggling because it tickled. And then when we started feeling for her baby's position, she absolutely lost it and had to stick a rag in her mouth to stop giggling. It was so funny! 


She was back again today. I smiled when I saw her. She smiled back. And lo and behold, the moment I touched her tummy, she started giggling again. 


I wonder what she will be like in labor... :-D


Ok, I've probably talked your ear off by now! Tootles! And ready for more pictures? Scroll down! :-D


Ooops! Blogger just told me that I've run out of free memory space for pictures...I'm not sure what I'm going to do in order to upload more pics...Gonna have to think about that one...Sorry about that and hopefully I'll get the problem fixed soon!