I finally found my name on the list of people who could come and claim their ICard. It isn't really a big deal, doesn't do much for me except allow me to leave and return to the RP without all the hassle, but it's still nice to have. Like the fruit of all the labor. It is a funny card - and has a funny picture of me as well, but fun to have nonetheless. At least I got it with a few months to spare. I saw some of my friends on the list who have long left already! I don't think they will be coming back to claim it! No more visits to the dreaded immigration office! :)
So much to blog about, so little time... Anyways, sorry for the lack of posts lately, but here I am trying to make up for it. We have been so busy, we didn't get to celebrate catching 50 babies on time. By the time we got around to it, Tiffany had already caught 61, and others 58 and the rest of us a few more than 50! Oh well. It was a golden anniversary to remember anyways.
Marlowe and Dorothy are Lois' parents and they came to visit for the month of December. The most wonderful thing about them though is that they decided to be parents to all of us girls and so we all went to Paradise Island and had an amazing time getting to know Marlowe and Dorothy and bonding as a team.
We played games, we talked, we swam and ate and ate and ate! The whole weekend was on M&D and so us girls will always remember this as a very wonderful Christmas and our 50th celebration will always be a highlight of our time together.
We had a late night conversation the night we arrived after a rousing game of Dutch Blitz and really shared the hard things about life, the confusing things, the dreams and the hopes for the future. I am so blessed to be with the girls in my group.
It's taken me a long time to write about my birthday celebration because we have been too busy celebrating! We started the celebrating on December 15th because none of my teammates or I were working. So all 6 of us went up to Jack's Ridge and hung out together along with Marlowe and Dorothy (Lois' parents). We swam the afternoon away and then had a wonderful dinner together. December 15th was Laura's real birthday, and we celebrated mine early. Below are a few pictures from Jack's Ridge:
Then, on my real birthday, I went to pick up the most amazing package from my wonderful friend Bekah Witt which had all kinds of amazing letters and chocolate. I did have to take a test that afternoon, but I was ready for it, and that meant I only have clinic duty without other assignments for the next 2 weeks. Then, that night we had the most fun Christmas party ever. Krys McNeil, our director invested so much time to plan so many fun things for us. Here are a few pictures and videos from that night. Oh yeah, then I had night shift and so because there weren't any labors, we pulled out Cities and Knights and played until 1:30am! Good times :)
Most of you probably remember Celeste? She was Lois' continuity, but I had met her once, and she was willing to be my model for the pregnancy cast that I made. We had such a fun time (scroll down for pics). I knew there was a chance I would end up delivering Celeste's baby because Lois was going to be in Manila picking up her parents the week she was due, but we all hoped she would make it back in time. As luck would have it, she went into strong labor the day before Lois came back, so because this was her 3rd baby, there was no waiting for her. It was a good birth, here are a few pictures of it(edited). I brought in the belly cast I had made with Celeste, and I printed her baby's feet on the tummy of it (around the navel) and then we put Leoneiz Allyson in the cast to see how she fit. She did fit, but barely, and we had to take her right out again, because she didn't appreciate being squished after being able to stretch out for a few hours!
I had the privilage of going to the town of Panacan to celebrate Ate Judes 5th Wedding Anniversary. Let me explain who she is in my life. I first met her through Rachel Tacada who was the mom of the 14th baby I delivered at Mercy. She is related to Rachel somehow -they have a big family it's hard to keep it straight :) Now, she is 5 months pregnant, so she is my continuity (I am doing all her prenatals, and will be on call to deliver her baby June 2008)
So, I went to her home in Panacan which is 1 long jeepney ride away, and when we got there, I felt like I was back in the village I grew up in! I felt right at home, the houses were made out of rattan, the road was small, dirt and bumpy, and the kids were over-the-top friendly! I had so much fun, especially when I took my camera out with me and started taking pictures. They were falling all over themselves to try and get their picture taken, it was so fun.
I will go back again in January after Ate Judes (pronouced Jud-is) next prenatal, and I will bring my fetascope etc so we can walk around and I can do some prenatals on some of her neighbors who are pregnant. I am so excited to have this opportunity to work in a rural setting. Enjoy the pics :)
I was finally sucessful in getting scrubs made here! My mom had sent me material this time last year which I had made into some great scrubs (thanks mom!) but in the case of the missing scrubs, I was down to only having 2 pairs. This, mostly due to my having asked a different shop to make me 2 new tops in August and even though I gave them a shirt to copy, in the end it looked nothing like I wanted, and ended up being sexy enough for me to go clubbing in! Yikes. So now, those tops are being worn by my fellow midwives who are several sizes smaller than me Scrub pair #1 - cool material (both pattern wise and weather wise :) Noah's Ark scrubs :) Tweety Bird Scrubs! Fish Scrubs, there are lots of funny fish on this, too bad it's too far away to see! And finally the material that inspired it all. I bought the material for this top at home a few years ago, and never made anything with it, but brought it with me, and it made a great scrub top! All in all, for 5 tops and 3 pairs of pants it cost me $40 for all the material and labor. In the US (when I was home in September) I looked to buy scrub tops, and the cheapest top I could find at Wal-Mart was $15! So, in the US, all of these outfits would have cost anywhere from $135-210!!! So if anyone needs good scrubs for a cheap price, come here! :)
I was invited to Rachel and Ate Germy's 2nd wedding anniversaries last Saturday. When we were talking about times, they "forgot" to mention the celebration wouldn't happen until that evening. I arrived at 11am thinking I was late, only to find out the party wouldn't start until many hours later! When I asked why they didn't tell me the time, they said because they wanted to hang out with me as long as I could!
So we had lunch together, I brought hair and makeup stuff and we did that for a while. Then, I was asked repeatedly to please take a nap. Hmm, I haven't done that in more years than I can count (unless I am really sick) so at first I politely refused, but finally succumbed after I was asked many times, and realized they probably wanted to nap as well, and only could if I slept. So I laid in a bed for about 1 1/2 hours and slept for the 1/2 hour part. Funny.
Then, I did the rest of the girls' hair and makeup making sure Rachel and Ate Germy looked nice as they were the guests of honor. I had night shift that night, and had to leave at 8:00pm to get home and get ready. 8pm turned into 8:30, and they wanted me to stay until 9:30 (which I declined as nicely as possible - good thing cause I got home as it was with only 1/2 an hour to spare before shift!)
I also made a batch of oatmeal fudge bars with a few of my precious peanut butter m&m's in it for my contribution. Everyone was delighted, they had never tasted anything so sweet before. Ate Shulamite's oldest son came to me, and said "that was so good and so sweet it made my teeth hurt!" It was all gone in 1/2 an hour, and all I took home was the empty pan :)
P.S. The reason why wedding anniversaries are such a big deal with this family is because they are Jehovah's Witness and are not allowed to celebrate birthdays or any other holidays. Please continue to pray for this family.
My friend Jenna sent this to me in an email, and I thought it was quite funny. Sorry ladies, but it does have a point. Enjoy.
The Husband and Wife Store A store that sells new husbands has just opened in New York City,where a woman may go to choose a husband. Among the instructions at the entrance is a description of how the store operates: You may visit this store ONLY ONCE! There are six floors and the value of the products increase as the shopper ascends the flights.The shopper may choose any item from a particular floor, or may choose to go up to the next floor, but you cannot go back down except to exit the building!
So, a woman goes to the Husband Store to find a husband. On the firstfloor the sign on the door reads: Floor 1 - These men Have Jobs. She is intrigued, but continues to the second floor, where the sign reads: Floor 2 - These men Have Jobs and Love Kids.'That's nice', she thinks, 'but I want more.' So she continues upward. The third floor sign reads: Floor 3 - These men Have Jobs, Love Kids, and are Extremely Good Looking.' Wow,' she thinks, but feels compelled to keep going. She goes to the fourth floor and the sign reads: Floor 4 - These men Have Jobs, Love Kids, are Drop-dead Good lookingand Help With Housework. 'Oh, mercy me!' she exclaims, 'I can hardly stand it!' Still, she goesto the fifth floor and the sign reads: Floor 5 - These men Have Jobs, Love Kids, are Drop-dead Gorgeous, Helpwith Housework, and Have a Strong Romantic Streak. She is so tempted to stay, but she goes to the sixth floor, where the sign reads: Floor 6 - You are visitor 31,456,012 to this floor. There are no menon this floor. This floor exists solely as proof that women are impossible to please.Thank you for shopping at the Husband Store. To avoid gender bias charges, the store's owner opened a New Wivesstore just across the street.The first floorhas wives that love sex.The second floorhas wives that love sex and have money.The third, fourth, fifth and sixth floors have never been visited.
Funny story... I worked night on Dec. 1st, and I was 3rd up (meaning 2 other midwives were in line ahead of me to catch a baby) which also means that I was supposed to receive any postpartum care. And, of course there was an immediate postpartum. She had given birth only minutes before my shift started, so nothing was done at all. I wasn't dreading it, but I wasn't looking forward to staying up all night doing this work either.
Then, to my absolute shock, my supervisor took the immediate postpartum and told the rest of us to sleep! I woke up on and off feeling a little guilty for sleeping when she was so busy, and didn't know why I was given the night to sleep.
When I got home a little after 6 am, I ate a quick bite of granola (I never eat before sleeping after night shift) and then slept in my scrubs (another thing that I never do).
The crazy thing is that it all started to make sense when I was woken up at 8:30am saying my continuity (Ronalyn) was in labor! Because I had slept a little during the night, and slept in my scrubs and my hair was still done, and I had eaten a little, I came straight over and to my utter surprise found Joy (Ronalyn) to be 8cm already! I would have laughed if anyone had told me that when I first saw her outside because she smiled so happily at me, and just chatted away as I was taking her vitals. I was sure I would be sending her home at about 2-3cm!
Since I had slept, I was able to be fully functioning that day (which is why God in His mercy allowed me to sleep the night before) and before I got to deliver Joy's baby the guard yelled that there had been a taxi birth! I had never seen that before, but since all the midwives on shift were in a birth, I ran outside putting gloves on only to find the baby completely out already! We cut the cord and brought both mom and baby inside. Only then did we find out she wasn't even a patient at Mercy! She had asked to be brought to a nearby clinic where she was having prenatals, but was brought here instead! Haha. She asked if she could stay, and of course we said yes :)
Then, Joy did get active, and had her baby at 11:56am. It was a beautiful birth, perfect with a perfect little girl at the end named Teesha Jezaree.
I finally found my name on the list of people who could come and claim their ICard. It isn't really a big deal, doesn't do much for me except allow me to leave and return to the RP without all the hassle, but it's still nice to have. Like the fruit of all the labor. It is a funny card - and has a funny picture of me as well, but fun to have nonetheless. At least I got it with a few months to spare. I saw some of my friends on the list who have long left already! I don't think they will be coming back to claim it! No more visits to the dreaded immigration office! :)
