Photography Ministry out here

God has given me an opportunity to use my photography to bless people out here. I am *so* excited! 

At Jeri's birthday party last week, someone gave her a *huge* stuffed purple bear, who we've affectionately named Ube (pronounced Ubay - ebay with a u - since he's the same color as the vegetable). 

While everyone was having fun with the bear, one of my moms came in for her 3 day postpartum visit and Deborah, Jeri's daughter, got the idea to take a picture of the baby with the bear.

Well, someone got the idea that maybe we could take a picture of each baby born here with the bear and then print the pics and give them to the moms at the 3 day postpartum visit. I volunteered to do it.

So now every couple days I catch a jeepney up to SM and have a few pictures printed. I need to do it again this afternoon. 

I absolutely love taking pictures of each baby with the bear and I've also started taking pictures of each mom and baby together so each family gets two pictures. 

I also absolutely love seeing a family's eyes light up with surprise and excitement whenever I carry a camera and gigantic bear into their room. And then they start laughing and taking pictures too while I go about my work. It's a lot of fun. I really enjoy doing it.

Thank You, Lord, for giving me this opportunity to use one of my favorite hobbies to bless others!

Scroll down to see two "samples" of what I've been doing.

Mom and baby

baby and Ube

Endure Hardship...

So my dilemma was solved for me last night when Agnes asked to have her baby back. I was so happy to give little Jen back to his Mommy. Because she doesn't have a husband or friend to stay with her, I agreed to spend the night in the room with her and the baby.

All was going well and I went to bed around 9:30pm. It was silent and peaceful until 11pm. Then Jen woke up. And he wasn't happy. At all. And he screamed almost nonstop from 11pm until 5am when I decided I was going to get out of bed and start my day. Translation: I only got two hours of sleep last night.

I have absolutely no idea what that kid's problem was. Agnes tried to feed him all night long. We checked his diaper. The only thing that worked was when I held him upright. Except I didn't feel right doing that because of the sticky situation of Agnes not being sure if she was going to keep him or not. So I'd hold him for a few minutes until he calmed down and hand him back to her. About ten minutes later, he'd start to scream again.

Anyway, I was really frustrated with this kid and left the room to start my day. At that point, I was certain that I'd never ever ever have kids. It hurts to give birth to them and then they scream nonstop once they're born. Then they become teenagers. No thank you!

Still grumbling, I stomped over to the apartment and flipped open my Daily Light to the morning section for July 31. There, the topic proclaimed nice and boldly, "Endure Hardship like a Good Soldier in Christ Jesus."

I started to laugh.

Until now, I never would have thought of last night as a "hardship." You know, hardships are when you're put in prison for your faith, or when you don't have enough money to pay the bills, etc. I never thought of hardship as staying up all night supporting a mom and newborn.

This morning, God used my Daily Light as a 2x4 to smack some sense into me.

Hopefully I can get some rest this afternoon after I go to the mall and get some pictures printed for a mom and her baby.

Thanks everyone for your prayers!
Satisfied in Christ,
a Very Tired Danielle :-D

Angel in my Arms

As an update to my earlier post:

Deborah brought little Jen (Agnes' little boy) back over to Shiphrah since she needed to go somewhere. So now I've got him. His newborn exam isn't until 8 or 9pm so I've got him until at least then. Then I either need to take him to the orphanage (TLC) or keep him for the night.

What do I do?

There's no way I can bring him to the orphanage and leave him over there especially since there's already two newborns and lots of babies over there. He's just a few hours old and needs lots of love and attention!

But at the same time, I don't really know how to care all night for a newborn. Would I wake up when he cries? Would I remember when to feed him and change his diaper?

So I don't know what to do.

Knowing me, I'll probably keep him for the night. But I'm not sure.

Please pray for this little guy and for his Mommy who is grieving for him.

Anyway, he's snuggled in my arms fast asleep. Hopefully I can figure out this picture situation soon so y'all can see him.

When Hello Means Goodbye

Today Agnes gave birth.

She came to Shiphrah last Monday, her due date, because she was going to surrender her baby after he's born and needed a place to stay. She lived in a small house behind the birth center and became a friendly, smiley daily presence. I liked her a lot.

Jeri told me the reason Agnes was probably going a week overdue was because while the baby is still inside her, it's Agnes' baby. We are by no means trying to pressure her to surrender her baby. It is Agnes' choice.

This morning, Ate Lyds smiled at me and said, "I think we've got another lady in labor."

"Oh?" I asked.

"Yes, Agnes."

We checked Agnes an hour later and found out she was fully dilated and the baby was -1 station (-1 station means it's above the pubic bone, 0 means it's at the pubic bone, then there's +1, +2, +3, and baby out).

There was much excitement since everyone knew and liked Agnes at that point. I was next up to catch and Ate Lyds was the midwife. Then, because Agnes doesn't have a husband, Ate Helen enthusiastically danced into the room laughing, "I'll be the tatay (father) and the osawa (spouse)!" (Normally the dad sits behind the mom and supports her while the baby's born, so that's what Ate Helen was offering to do. Except of course, this is Ate Helen we are talking about, so of course she had to have fun with it. :-D)

We waited for the baby to drop a little bit before she started pushing. When she did start pushing, her fingernails started turning blue, her hands started cramping, she started sweating profusely, and she clocked out on us. The midwives and Ate Helen started oxygen and massaged her hands. Because they were talking very fast in Tagalog, I wasn't able to understand what was going on, but Deborah, Jeri's daughter who is also a midwife, told me it was probably from emotions.

The baby was finally born after what felt like a while and I wasn't sure whether to hand him to Agnes or to hold him myself, because he was going to be surrendered. However, Ate Lyds told me to hand the baby to Agnes. Except, she didn't take the baby. So I put my hand on the baby's bum to keep him from falling between her legs again, while we waited for the placenta.

After the cord was clamped and cut, Deborah cleaned off the baby and dressed him. Then she brought him back to Agnes and asked if she wanted to breastfeed him.

She said no.

So Deborah took the baby out of the room and took him to her house where she fed him some formula.

Agnes seemed very calm on the outside during the whole thing, but when I went to check on her a few minutes ago, she was crying.

My heart is breaking for this mom and her newborn who will never know the love of his birth mom. I wish I could do something but there's nothing I can do but pray. And I have been praying.

Please keep Agnes and her baby in your prayers.

Thank you!

Too Beautiful for Words

This morning I caught a baby. It was the parents' first and she was very-much wanted and hoped for. When I handed the baby to her mom, the mom eagerly grasped for her child. Then she held that newborn in her arms and just stared at it in wonder. Her face was so full of emotion and expression as she took in her baby. Behind her, the woman's husband began to sniff and dab at his eyes. It was so beautiful and I was so honored to be able to sit there and witness the meeting.

I just wanted to sit there and join in the emotion, but no, there was a placenta coming that needed my attention...

Someone needs to invent a camera that attaches to your glasses but is pretty much invisible so that all you have to do is blink and it will record an image of what you see. *sigh of exasperation* I really wanted a camera this morning. I've never seen anything so beautiful as that new family sitting there, drinking each other in with the newness of life.

In most of the births I have attended up to now, the mom will disinterestedly hold her baby while the husband looks out the window or texts someone on his cell phone, hardly paying attention to the new bundle in his wife/girlfriend's arms. There is no celebration and emotion with meeting the baby. It usually makes me sad but today's greeting made up for it.

Oh, how I wish I could have captured that image to share with everyone! It was so amazing!

And, as always, pictures!

one of my catches. 

Ate Lyds bathing a newborn

Angry Birds juice! I want some! (jk)

Jennifer took this photo of Karissa and I at Pizza Hut yesterday Notice the creeper in the background. She was like that the whole entire stinkin' meal!!! :-D

I would call this "Wordless Wednesday," but it's now Thursday...

bath time!