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...