Wow! I have gotten really behind here.  I will try to catch ya'll up to current events.

For starters, I have now delivered 17 babies or 55 overall!

Caught a baby girl December 29, a New Years Eve baby girl, and a baby girl January 6. It ended up being my second handle that was emotionally difficult for me.  The labor was going smoothly, but the pushing stage got complicated.We almost transported, but progress began to happen, so we let her stay.  Right before baby was born, the lights went out, but thankfully we have a generator and flashlights.  At 6:45 she made her appearance.  She had a cleft lip and palate, but that's not why we transported. We transported her immediately due to to thick meconium and a low APGAR score of 4.  We normally wouldn't have to transport, but with the electricity out, we couldn't deep suction her. It was my first time to transport a baby immediately after birth.  On the ride to the hospital, one of the midwives prayed for her & she pinked up and started to cry, but she was still very limp.  

I saw the mom yesterday and she told me that the baby is doing well & should be discharged soon.

My roommate left, so now I get the room to myself.  I miss her, but I should be able to see her in LA.  Before she left, we got to eat a meal with no silverware...rice, green beans, and a chicken/potato dish.  So much fun!

On Tuesday (your time), I worked clinic and swing. During prenatals, we had a patient with hypertension - 160/120.  I transported her immediately.  I wasn't in scrubs, so the hospital staff didn't recognize me as from Mercy and told me that I, as the watcher, wasn't allowed into the building, but had to wait for her outside.  I tried to explain that I was the midwife & needed to endorse care to the doctor, but the guy that was telling me to go out, didn't understand much English.  I was using as much Bisaya as I could, but apparently, they got it in their minds that I was there as a bantay, & so it took the patient & I both explaining multiple times & in multiple ways that I wasn't staying & only needed to speak to the doctor.  Once I explained, multiple times, why I was transporting her, they asked if I had a triage paper...something that the bantay gives them when we transport.  They wanted me to sit down in the nurse's station and fill one out.  I didn't know if that was required or not, so I told them that I would fill out what I could.  One of the nurses finally asked me if my driver was waiting, I told her "yes" and so she let me go.  

I got back to the clinic & helped finish up the prenatals.  We didn't done until around 1:15 and so I changed into scrubs, ate some lunch & started my swing shift.  It was a busy shift, but it was busy because we transported 5 patients. One of the midwives had a patient who was progressing very slowly, so she transported.  As soon as she got back, another midwife transported her patient due to bradycardia - low fetal heart tones.  While she was waiting for the ambulance to get back, another labor came in.  This patient was a cont, so I called the midwife, and then took started taking vitals.  The mom's vitals were all normal, but as soon as I heard the fetal heart tones, I knew baby was stressed - tachycardia of over 180 bpm.  Normal is below 160.  I listened for several minutes.  We gave oxygen, turned her onto her side, and an IV, but still the beats kept racing.  Once the patient's midwife showed up, heart tones were still between 180-200 bpm.  We had to wait for the ambulance to get back from the second transport, then with me holding the IV bag and Rachel holding the portable O2 bottle, we transported her & her family to the hospital.  Another patient got transported because she was only 34 weeks along. Then when I was getting ready to discharge the patients that I had been endorsed from Day shift, the baby had high respirations, chest retractions, and slight nasal flaring, so I transported him.  Do you know how hard it is to walk into the cubicle, turn to the parents and say that we have to take the baby to the hospital, because he's not doing very well.  That's 2 babies in less then 24 hours that I accompanied to the hospital. That's definitely not the easiest or nicest part of the job.  

Worked clinic yesterday, had approximately 95 patients, which is a lot.  

To wrap this update up, I have 34 days left in the Philippines & 12 of those days are at Mercy.  I have 11 shifts - 1 Agdao outreach shift, 3 clinic shifts, and 7 birth room shifts.   

Can't believe that my time is wrapping up here!  I am excited to get back to the states, but this place, people, language and culture is always going to have a special part in my heart and memories.