More from bumi sehat

hi everyone...i didn't realize how hard it was going to be just to post pictures. i promise to do so tomorrow...well, on 2nd thought i don't know if that will be possible either b/c mondays are really busy here! not to mention right now i am hanging out while on-call for 2 women who are here at the clinic. let me fill you in...when matt and i arrived we waited at the airport for our ride, the clinic was supposed to be picking us up. i called to find that the only car the clinic has was unavailable b/c the midwives had to use the vehicle to transport a mom to the hospital. she had a placenta accreta, where the placenta actually grows into the wall of the uterus, making the release of the placenta impossible without manual removal or surgery (hysterectomy). so matt and i arrived at the clinic, via taxi, to a stillness that was palpable. only minutes before it was chaos. all is well though, after several failed attempts to remove the placenta manually the midwives transported the mother to the hospital. the doctor was able to remove the placenta m anually, without surgery. a blood transfusion saved her life and her baby was just fine in the arms of her grandmother during the whole event. now mama and baby are together in the hopspital as mom recovers. whew! sorry to start off the whole show with such a traumatic story, but so it goes! it is nice to say that the births i have attended so far have been less traumatic. there have been some issues within the clinic that i won't get into...but just to put it into perspective there is very little structure here. i am expected to be as involved as i want to be and to take the initiative for any births or prenatals i attend. prenatals are held on tues, thurs & saturday nights from 5-7 pm. last night we saw 40 women in 3 hours. i measured, palpated & listened to 40 bellies and then looked into 40 sets of eyes (we are looking at the capillary beds of all the mother's eyes b/c anemia is such a being problem here. if the beds are pale anemia may be present). i recited all of my findings to the indonesian midwife Agung who was transcribing my findings as well as another local midwife using the other side of the room. fun stuff! during the day saturday we had 2 beautiful water births for 2 first time moms. for a waterbirth fresh flowers are placed in the water and after the birth of the placenta the flowers are put onto the placenta in a bowl. so lovely! all the midwives and assistants (i am learning) sing a prayer during the crowning of the baby to bless her and welcome her. sorry to rush off...

First Post from Indonesia

What can I say? as soon as we landed in bali the smells reminded me of why i had returned. it is such a rich life here. the people have very little, in fact a woman recently gave birth at the clinic who lives in a tarp tent and when she arrived she didn't even have enough money for a large bottle of water...something i drink down every day here, the cost is 35 cents. you are probably here to read my blog to find out about what i am doing and how things are going in indonesia. you probably already know that i will be in ubud, bali at the yayasan bumi sehat clinic for 6 weeks. yayasan bumi sehat means healthy mother earth foundation. if you have never been to bali you are missing out. i hope to post pictures soon, however i am just too tired to deal with it right now! i just wanted to check with some of you who are curious and said you would stay in touch with the blog. this is new for me, so be patient. but i hope to record an accurate and insightful look at my time here. honestly, i arrive here at the clinic during a great time of change. it is so interesting to see how the pendulum swings...the situation in many countries with regard to maternity care is frightening. here, a small clinic is trying to make a difference but is struggling against the current of modern medical "improvement". i will comment more on this later and i can already see that this blog just may become my treatise on the state of birth as i see it in the world. i hope that some of you will share your 2 cents. i know many of you are in the birth world and could contribute a great deal. don't forget...to post just send me an e-mail with whatever you have on your mind...just put blog somewhere in the subject line and i will post your comments and respond to your questions if you choose. here, we see the severe effect that malnutrition has on the birth outcomes. women experience a very high rate of hemorrhage and very high rates of extreme perineal tears...when the tissue is not nourished the tissue does not respond well to trauma. anemia is a major factor in the malnutrition. therefore, a main purpose of the clinic is to dispense prenatal vitamins on a regular basis. such a simple task and yet so tough! that is all i have the energy for tonight. sleep well...