The most important part

These past two weeks have been really wonderful. The first one was spent at the birthing home, seeing my 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th births! During the 11th one I actually got to help catch the baby! He was so warm and slippery! Now that I've seen my 10th birth I am able to assist the midwives and be a lot more hands on. Although catching the baby was amazing, I feel that sometimes it is believed to be the most important role, which I really don't think is true. Someone can walk in and catch the baby and walk out again. The most important thing during a birth is the woman, what she needs and how "we" as midwives can support her. I thought after my first time of catching a baby that I would look at birth completely differently. That the one moment of catching the baby would be totally climatic and would then become (in my mind) the best and most important moment. But now that I have actually experienced it, and seen that, yes, it is incredibly special and wonderful, but even more special and important is to care for the woman throughout the whole process, to support her whether she is dialated only one centimeter or if she is all the way up to ten. For me, the part of midwifery that I am truly passionate about isn't the mechanics of it, or the moment of catching the baby, it's about nurturing and caring for the woman at all times. My relationship with her, her family and the baby, is the best part of the whole experience! Of course holding the baby is also incredible and really gives me joy as well. Here's the beautiful Mommy and baby girl from my ninth birth

Most of this blog will probably consist of pictures because I just can't adequately or completely describe the community and activity of the birthing home. Here's Burnadette and Lauren testing out the fetoscope

Rainlids, one of my best and earliest friends at the birthing home

Ate Bell and some of the girlies, between all the midwives' kids there is only one boy

Here are some pictures of Makati, on our way to and from church, the park, and the sunday market









It was really amazing to spend time at the childrens home last week. Instead of running errands or doing some midwifery studying I would spend an hour or so in the afternoon being over there. The time I spend over there is always really joyful, refreshing, and encouraging to me! It was awesome to actully see the babies who I have read so much about and who are doing so well, really being loved on and flourishing under tlc's care.
Here is Vanessa, she is an expert at the baby stare! She's really tiny and sweet and as you can see has some amazing hair!



This is Cindy, I remember reading about her six months ago and her situation when she came to tlc. Reading her story I was just longing to be able to hold her! well now I can! It's great to see her really being loved on and cared for here! She especially loves reading books and gets really excited when you show her the pages! Cindy's amazing story is at http://www.helpintl.org/blog.html you will have to scroll down to find the right blog post.

This is Leonardo, to read his story check out Darren's blog, http://gustafson-family.blogspot.com/ you'll have to scroll down a bit to find his blog post too. He is the sweetest little guy and probably the longest baby I have ever seen! He was super cuddily and even fell asleep on me when I got to hold him this past weekend.

Week Two

Hey everyone! It feels like it's been years since I last wrote and since I was last in the states! This coming wednesday night it will have only been two weeks! Since my last post I have moved (on monday) into the Paanakan (birthing home) and I am still adjusting to living with so many people! I have learned so much since moving in there. The Filipino midwives and their families are so welcoming and sweet! I have absolutely loved working with them on births and getting to know them and their children! One night I came home from spending the afternoon in the children's home and thought I would go take a shower (having had a snack for dinner) when one of the midwives came down stairs and asked me to join them for rice and grilled pork! Yum! Instead of going to bed I got to hang out with these beautiful families as they shared their food with me! These Filipino families are always sharing everything they have and are very open and welcoming! On tuesdays we all get together and eat lunch on the porch, the food this past thursday was especially masarap (delicious)!


This is Deborah (Jeri's daughter) who does a lot of work involving the Children's home, and her new daughter (in the process of being adopted) Bernadette
In the birthing home I live in the basement in a bunk bed (just like home) with Kim (a canadian nursing student studying midwifery here) and Lauren (an American midwifery student) and whichever midwife happens to be sleeping down there at the time. Here is my bed and our bathroom:

Lauren and Kim (and the baby/pelvis we are learning with)

My day is filled with doing prenatals (measuring the baby, feeling for the position, and taking the heart rate), observing births (taking notes, heart rates, and helping any way I can), and reading midwifery books! Somehow Lauren, Kim and I try to fit in errands and visits to the children's home. I have absolutely loved being apart of the six births I have observed! The women are so hard working and so strong! They have taught me so much. For four out of the six births I have been blessed by being the person who gets to clean up and dress the baby! And I get to hold him/her while the mom is getting cleaned up! It is so wonderful to be able to spend a few precious moments with these sweet little ones when they are so new and fresh! Earlier this week Jeri brought over one of the dopplers! (we are starting out with one so that we can make them last longer!) Here is one of the old dopplers compared with the new one:
And here are some pictures of what morning prenatals look like! I loved being able to get some shots of the midwives using the new doppler:




The birthing home is such a community and has a really home-like atmosphere. These are two of the midwives' daughters


common area



birthing room

front yard


Being here in the Philippines, I know that everyday I become more and more comfortable and at home in the birthing home and that I am accepted more and more by the women, their sweet families and the midwives (and the midwives' families)! I love making friends with their sweet children (or at least trying to). I love it when they call me Ate (Tagalog for big sister). Everyday I learn more and more about how to comfort and help women in labor. I'm always striving to do more for her, to be there as a support. She (the woman in labor) is my absolute focus. She is why I'm here, she is the object of all my attention and love and she deserves every ounce of my energy. She is gorgeous and strong and comes through the most difficult experience of her life with victory and joy and I am blessed to be present! She teaches me how to go on, how to push harder than I think is even possible. She teaches me because she is loving and hopeful even when she is in the worst pain of her life! She is brave and overcomes despite her overwhelming fear and opposition. Somehow she always makes it through, no matter what happens, no matter how hard it is, she makes it. A woman in labor is the very best teacher I can ever have!

That's all for now! Hope to talk to you all soon!

In the Philippines!

I don't even know what to write! I feel like I've been here for a very long time, but today is only the second day! The flight went extremely well with no major hiccups! It was really tiring and long but I was able to get some good sleep on the planes. In Korea and at RDU they opened my bag but only in Korea were they really asking what the heck is this stuff?? After I told them medical supplies everything was fine. On the Philippines side I got waved right through customs and and immigration! After waiting for my bags for what seemed like an extremely long time, I was off! It was such a relief to see Jeri and Darren and Lauren and to hand my bags off! I'm staying at Jeri's house for a week before moving over to the birthing home. Her home is absolutely gorgeous! In the Philippines you are always surrounded by noises, people and smells! Even if you have some trees around your house you have neighbors on every side! Because the houses are so open, it seems like you can hear everything! Jeri has a beautiful garden out back that I love sitting in! I don't even feel that my body has struggled to adjust, surprisingly I've welcomed the heat with open arms, it is nice and breezy and feels so good here! Being here I've started thinking a lot more about everything that I consume, food, toilet paper, water, soap, and dishes, I'm so aware of it all now much more than before. Somehow it seems much easier to go without certain things, I love taking bucket showers, I don't mind being a little warm and I love being around this new culture! Being surrounded by a jungle and seeing high hills covered in trees off in the distance is amazing! I stayed up pretty late my first night since my flight got in around 11:30. The next morning (yesterday) I woke up at 6 because it gets so bright here so early! At 8:30 we headed off to the birthing home! I was able to see a birth! I loved holding the mother's hand and giving her water, it was amazing to be able to hold her tiny baby and hand him over to her! I have to observe 10 births before I can start doing more hands on things. After the birth I was able to watch and help with prenatals! I measured the baby, felt for the position and listened to the heart beat. I haven't brought over the medical supplies yet (to the birthing home) but I know they will love them! They have only two dopplers, both pretty old and one even falling apart! I also got to visit the children's home just for a few minutes yesterday afternoon. I hope to be able to spend a lot more time there! Although I was tired and out of it yesterday my jet lag has not been bad at all! I made it until 8 or 9 last night and then woke up at 10 today. Today has been so lovely, it's been a resting day and I've been spending time in the garden, reading books, journaling, and catching up on email. I'm so ready to get back to work tomorrow! I can't wait to work more with the Filipino midwives who were all so wonderful and welcoming yesterday, and with the Filipino women who are so strong and beautiful. I'm longing so much to learn more of the language, I want to be able to communicate with the women at the birthing home! I am really loving it but still not believing that I'll actually be here for five months! That every morning I'll wake up and still be in the philippines! I'm praying that the transition from Jeri's house to the birthing home will be really smooth! It will be very different living there! It's much more open and smaller, and there are always people coming in and out, privacy will be out the window! But I'm so excited to be that close to the births and the midwives! I have so much peace here, my heart feels very content and happy and so close to God here! i love the weather, I love the people and I can't wait to be involved in more births!!! On a side note, if anyone I am not already updating would like to receive email updates please let me know and email your addresses to marlihivers@gmail.com