The Midwives' Jeepney

There weren't many births at the Paanakan these past two weeks. In fact, these past two weeks have had the fewest births of any since I arrived in the Philippines. Despite the lack of births, somehow I have been incredibly busy. Last weekend Kim and I packed up our stuff and headed for a day and a night at the beach with all the midwives and their families! We rented a jeepney so that we could all ride together. The owner of the jeepney was Jorge's aunt who just happens to be a midwife. It was so cool to ride with all these amazing midwives in a jeepney that said "midwife" on the back!


Jeri and Deborah along with a few others were the midwives on duty while we were gone
Unfortunately we were all ready to go at 4:00 on friday morning, but the jeepney didn't show up until 5:30. We all packed ourselves into the jeepney as tightly as possible. The bags were in the isle and piled up as high as our shoulders! As soon as we got settled inside the jeepney the moms laid down a foam mat and all the little kids took a nap!







I tried to take a nap too and all of the mommies took such good care of me! They gave me a towel to cover my nose (because of the polution) and a bag of clothes and a pillow to lean on! The drive up was gorgeous! We passed by Taal which is a really famous volcanic lake with an active volcano in the middle of the lake! I saw cute little towns, beautiful bigger towns, and the country side of the Philippines! I saw hills and mountains and valleys full of palm trees and pineapple fields (if you didn't know that pineapples grow in fields you are not alone ;) Throughout the entire trip the midwives took such good care of us. They kept us fed for all three meals plus snacks and drinks in between! It was an awesome break from providing our own food! The beach we stayed at was a little disappointing to me because of the black sand and the lack of waves. But I stayed in the water most of the day and got to take Maybell out in her cow floaty a lot! She really trusted me in the water, she had no fear! Even after being dunked by a small "wave" she still pointed to go out deeper! The water got deep very gradually which was nice.

Beach time




Michelle and I






Kim and I also managed not to get sunburned by putting sunscreen on just about every hour! We ate and slept in a bahay cubo (bamboo house). Actually the midwives slept in the bahay cubo and let us sleep in the tent with all the kids and babies. The bahay cubo is a really cheap way to be able to go to the beach here.

My first view of a filipino beach

Our bahay cubo

cooking yummy food!

When we got to the beach we had a yummy lunch on the table and then cleared the table and all took a nap on it!



Tulog na tayo (time to sleep)

After much more swimming and a yummy dinner I was exhausted! I slept for about 11 hours that night! The same night we allowed our jeepney driver to go visit his family who lived close by. Unfortunately, he never came back, for whatever reason. I think he may have had jeepney trouble. The next day we got up and everybody except for the mommies, Kim and I, swam early in the morning. We hung out on the beach, had breakfast, and (Kim and I) read our midwifery books. Finally, we decided not to wait on the jeepney driver anymore and rented a van for the way home. It was so nice to have air con and no pollution smells on the way home! In the van we could see the lovely views even better and got quite a few glimpses of Taal. We were packed in really tightly in the van, both Kim and I had kids sleeping on our laps! Maybell on hers and Roanne on mime. I fell totally in love with Roanne all over again as I watched her fall asleep in my arms. It was one of the best road trips ever!

Baby Home Pictures

Kuya (big brother) Jay

Jay-ar


Calvin

All the sweet, beautiful boys!



Praying before dinner

I am a bird

Recently Jeri gave us an exercise to draw something that represents who we are, and I drew a bird. Soon after we did this exercise, I completed an application for UNCW which included a question asking me to show who I am and include an explaination. I won't include the picture, but here is the explanation:

I use a bird to represent myself because I feel that my life and my characteristics have many similarities to those of a bird. I have always been a nurturer; taking care of others is a really important aspect of who I am. Just like in birds' lives, babies will always be a central theme in my life. One of my goals in life is to nurture, care for, and improve the quality of life for babies. In my life working hard and efficiently has always been a priority. This is also a prominent characteristic of birds. Whether they are building a nest, raising a family or flying south, they work tirelessly and with a powerful dedication. Another similarity between myself and birds is that our homes are very important to us. We both put a lot of work and effort into building up our homes. For them it's a nest with with sticks and leaves, for me it is my family and others who I love and are encouraging to me. They build up their nests while I build up people around me and work to build relationships with them. Just like birds I am very dedicated to my home. Yet, at the same time, I will often leave my home in order to experience new things and new places. I am the type of bird who flies south for the winter, but always returns to their original home when spring comes. I love travel, I love to be independent, and I love to be free, but at the same time I never forget the importance of my roots and the importance of my own tree. I am adventurous, just like birds when they fly. However, I still use wisdom and I carefully calculate my choices, in the same way that birds do. I I love having new experiences and learning new things as I venture away from the nest and away from my own tree. Birds seem to be good listeners. This is a characteristic which I believe is really important, and which I want to work towards aquiring. I would like to continue to work towards being joyful, hopeful and encouraging like birds. If there is one thing that humans can do that is similar to flying, it would be dancing. Dancing is exciting, unpredictable, and fun, just like flying. When I dance I feel weightless and free, just like when a bird flies. I am a nurturer, an adventurer, a home builder, a traveler, a dancer, an encourager and a listener. All of these reasons are why I am like a bird.

A Visit with Omari

I went back to stay with Omari and his mom for a few days this past week! The culture shock between staying in the Paanakan and a modern apartment were a little difficult for me to adjust to this time. But it was great to see them again and to see Omari getting bigger and being much more alert! Every morning I was there I woke up and just couldn't wait to hold him! He is even more fun to interact with now (at six weeks old) because his eyes are open and he's making noises and funny expressions! I stayed with them to help with feeding and to be supportive since Omari's aunt and grandma had just been visiting and then had left. It was great to see them again and to be able to bond with Omari more. I was also excited to see his mom settling in as a confident, sweet, and adoring mommy!!!




Omari and I had a nice nap together

Notice him holding onto my necklace! So cute!


I was blessed to spend time with this family and to help with feeding. It was great to be a part of Omari's journey as he gets his start in life. I hope to be able to see him as he grows big and strong and as his mom continues to love and care for him with such patience and confidence!

Mommies and Babies

I cannot possibly describe how exciting it is to see women go through the journey of pregnancy and birth! Being a part of it and getting to know them is really beautiful! It's so satisfying to recognize women when they come in for their births and to see them recognize you. There's already a connection because you've been doing their prenatals. Then to see them when they come in for their three day check up or for family planning and to hold their babies and see them being so healthy and growing bigger is really awesome!

On 3/9/09 I witnessed my first home birth, exactly one year later I got to witness another precious baby boy entering the world! Here he is with his beautiful family:


My first home birth, a whole year ago:



Home birth baby turning 1!!!

My first home birth was an amazing and beautiful experience. It's wonderful to look back and to see how the Lord has moved in my life. A year later, I am able to be even more involved in another precious birth! It was a beautiful birth and being able to help catch the baby was incredible!

A few weeks ago, I experienced one of the longest labors I've ever attended. Although it was tiring, it was really beautiful because I was able to make a real connection with the mom. It was awesome to see her actually comforted and reassured by my presence! Because it was such a long, hard labor she really began to trust me as I went through it with her. It really blessed me!!!! It's amazing to serve women and to see it making such a difference for them! I didn't even get to catch the baby because I was holding her hands so tightly, but it didn't matter. I was actually needed by her and that was an amazing feeling! After a long, hard labor, she had a beautiful baby girl! I learned a lot about myself and how I can interact with women during their labors.

This is me holding and weighing the baby at her three day check up


Baby home news:
This is Jusin! I haven't had a chance to mention him before


Justin is chubby and extremely happy! He is great at really making eye contact and allowing you to see into him. He is just so cuddly that he makes me want to pick him up all of the time! He is really starting to lift himself up on all fours. He is constantly and consistently full of joy. He lets your love and smile affect him, which is a beautiful characteristic.

Cindy has such kissable cheecks! She also had really great expressions, she just loves to stare at your face and really reacts to you talking with her. She makes these cute little bird noises when she's talking to you, it's adorable! We have been working on rolling with her and she's really trying hard. Today she started making singing noises because she was working so hard! A few times she's even done it on her own! She's a very lovable girl who has come a long way!



I think Vanessa has had over three or four hair cuts in her short lifetime and I just had to include a picture of how adorable she is with her amazing hair:
A few weeks ago we had a visitor at tlc, it was Lemuel Esquivel! He grew up in the little children's home and was coming back to the Philippines in order to adopt a new baby brother from another baby home here. Lemuel is the reason I first found out about this ministry here! His mom told me about it, the only reason she knew was because of Lemuel! So he is the reason I'm even here! It was wonderful to see him loved on by the staff, they had some great stories about him as a kid. Their over whelming joy and love for him were so evident. If you would like to see pictures from his visit go to http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=149980&id=1438977332 which is his dad's facebook pictures. It is awesome to imagine the kids who are currently in the home going with their own forever families! What a blessing to be able to see these babies one day, grown up, loving the Lord, and flourishing with their beautiful families!

Speaking of forever families, we said goodbye to Mark last week! He was His sweet mom and dad's first baby! They were so sweet with him, it was really wonderful to see, and really sad to say good bye to him. We're also had to say good bye to Andy! He was recently matched with a family here in the Philippines! It's great but so sad to see them go! The twins in the baby home, Jay and Denis will be leaving with their forever families in May, I'm excited to meet thier families, but once again, sad as well. They are really lively and joyful! They're always happy to see me, and they brighten my day! They already have pictures of their family and their new home where they'll be living soon! They show me "this is mommy, and this is daddy and this is our ate and kuya" It makes me cry! It's incredible! It's really cool to see the process of adoption from this point of view.

Here are the twins with Senon

Senon and the twins are practically all like brothers. Senon is really sweet and always loves to be held and cuddled!

It's really fun to go swimming or to play soccer (every saturday night) with these sweet kids! Here's one of our swimming outings:
This is Calvin, he is really sweet and really attached to the care workers. He loves playing with the older boys and sitting and reading with one of us. These pictures are actually from going to the pool for his birthday! He's totally adorable and has a big personality!