here is the outside of my humble abode, lovingly known as the ashram. right now 5 ladies live here, all volunteers.1 midwife, 1 chiropractor, 1 student midwife and 2 untrained volunteers. i can show you more later. but for now lets finish the birth story from last time. so, the mama in early labor did some castor oil (ladies don't try this at home w/out midwife advisement) and we hung out and waited...all day. at 4pm she was 2-3cm, her water broke, at 5pm she was 4cm and at 5:30pm we had a baby! i was gloved and ready, attending to her in her room. she went to the potty and she got up to walk back to the bed, i stepped out to grab my water bottle and heard a yelp...i walked in to find a head being delivered and student midwife, mandy, catching the baby with no gloves on! the mama even delivered the placenta without a single contraction or grimace and with the most minimal blood loss i think i have seen yet! wow! talk about a natural birthing mama....she is it! i do think the baby is a little early...maybe by 3 weeks...however, he weighs 2.5 kg. he just weighed in at the "limit" for a low-birth weight baby. tedak apa apa, as they say here...no worries! we just did the 3 hr check which involves cutting the cord, giving vit k shot and measuring and weighing the baby. in this case we weighed the baby at birth b/c we were concerned...but he isn't having any breathing difficulties and everything seems physiologically correct, so...oh, and yes, they leave the cord attached until 3 hrs p.p. and then it is cut.
let's see what is next?
this is what we like to call...the baby package. parents arrive with a lovingly purchased baby set...if it is your first baby the set is brand new, usually still in the plastic. if it is your 2nd or subsequent baby...maybe the set is used and a little faded. i will offer you more pics of these sweet little baby get-ups. but for now this will have to suffice.. here is a proud new papa and his new package. all bundled up and ready to go...you would think it was 30 below here, but no, it is a cool 80 out today.now for my favorite baby ever!!!
i think all of us want to snuggle this baby, but don't want to give birth to her!!! i knew the parents were going to think i was crazy...otherwise i would have buried my face in her cheeks and just snuggled her like there was no tomorrow. this baby was a lot of work for the mama and resulted in a 3rd degree perineal tear. the woman was very small and we worked with her a lot to help support her in the delivery. she also, has a pretty severe hemorrhage and a prolapsed uterus. ugh! however, all is well. the mama and baby are doing well...they went home yesterday. no i.v. necessary and the mama really bounced right back. the highlight of this birth for me was the older brother, who is now 3.5 yrs. his father brought him into the room just as the head was born...he looked down and saw this giant purple head and burst into tears. he literally jumped into the arms of tonya, one of the student midwives, who held him and rocked him and told him everything was going to be alright. it was the most beautiful thing! needless to say tonya had made a buddy for the rest of their stay and the little guy could be found listening to tunes on tonyas laptop while tonya was checking her e-mail:) gotta love it!
this one has got to be shared...since i arrived the place in the back of us has been doing some new construction. most of the construction is homemade cement and local rock or cinderblock. over the past few days loads of black sand and black lava rock have been dumped onto the street and then carried by hand, or by head i should say, by some of the strongest women i think i have seen in my life. here you see one of them, who is pregnant, carrying a couple lava rocks on her head! oh and yes, she is barefoot...so if any of you pregnant ladies think you can't get up and get out for a walk today...well...it goes without saying that i am constantly in awe!
one last pic for tonight...here is mandy, student midwife doing an exam on one of the mamas...this mamas #1 bayi (baby) was a little concerned about her mama being so far away...so i put her up on the bed and she stoically looked me in the eye with what i think was a thank you? mandy is measuring the mamas arm. we do that to check weight gain and monitor potential malnutrition. it is amazing to learn that many of these women who live very close to the land as farmers eat very nutrient rich foods, even though maybe not much food at all...but a little bit of nutrient rich food goes a long way. i still amazed by how they pack these 7lb babies into these tiny little tummies!!! that is all for tonight...sleeping at the clinic tonight so hopefully we will have some visitors...
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