Hope You Enjoy!

Hope everyone is enjoying the blog, I really am! So, last I left you I went to check on an Ibu, a young 18 year old named Komang. So beautiful! Her family spoke a good bit of English and revealed to me that they were all very disappointed with her for getting pregnant out of wedlock and loosing her chances to go to college. This is a more privileged family who sent their other daughter to college here on Bali, she was also attending the birth. I tried to share with the grandmother and the sister that we are already in this place, and here we are at the birth...so let's support Komang and focus on the here and now without dwelling on mistakes! We are gonna have a baby!!! They agreed, we all have a special bond after that. The mother moved quickly, as I mentioned she might and by 9:15 am we had a beautiful water birth! The mama was making better progress squatting in the tub rather than reclining so she delivered the head in a squat in the tub. When the head popped out she instinctually rocked forward onto her hands and knees. Fine by me...especially since I ended up dealing with a shoulder dystocia, where the shoulders are "stuck" and need some coaxing/assistance to be delivered. The hands and knees position is very beneficial for birthing a baby who has "sticky shoulders" so the position was excellent. It is ideal for the shoulders and body to be delivered before 5 minutes after the birth time of the head. So I worked the shoulders a bit and...voila! A chunky little bugger emerged...who was actually mostly chunky in his head and chest only and more petite toward the lower body. Beautiful birth with a minimal but complicated tear that I hope responds well to the stitching. I have gotten so much faster with my suturing skills here, which is a sweet relief b/c spending time hunching over a mama is tiring for me but also interferes with mama/baby bonding. So now my clients will be able to get to mothering sooner, rather than later! Nice! Also, there is no time for slow stitching around here...b/c we need the beds:) No sooner did I wrap things up with this family before I found myself at another birth! It wasn't the other Ibu who had showed up last night, we actually sent her home b/c her labor fizzled out, it just wasn't time.
I ran over to the ashram to grab a shower and breakfast. I sat here at the clinic eating my breakfast, filling out paper work and debriefing about the birth. Then I headed into the post-partum room to put away some breast pump and bottle parts I had cleaned. I heard a commotion outside...whe you hear a commotion around here you grab gloves, it is instinct! So that is what I did. Just in time to help a groaning and sweating Ibu out of the taxi with her husband. BabyTime! Fifteen minutes later I was catching another little chunker. I guided the sister-in-law who accompanied her to get behind Ibu to help prop her up, she was pretty much a wet noodle! She pushed so gracefully and delivered a sweet little dude with a perfectly round head. Five baby boys in a row around here. Good Luck for sure!!!
I guess you could say this is my ideal day so far...but next walked in a sweet old guy from a village 3 hours away. He had gashed his wrist big time! Time to put on the gloves:) I just helped this guy clean his wound, changed the bandage and gave him some bandaging supplies for later and some anti-biotic ointment. The local midwife gave him some antibiotics as a preventive measure. Preventive measures are big around here b/c infection is pretty much a given! The local midwife didn't want me to send him home with a roll of the nice first aid tape that is waterproof, I tried to convince her but she wasn't going for it. We have a ton of the stuff and we just told him to change the bandage regularly. So what is he gonna do tomorrow or the next day!? When the midwife walked away I snuck a roll into his friends breast pocket and winked. The guy looked at me and winked too and said, "Makasi (thank you)." Enough Said!