Cannibals, Chirstmas, Ugly Dresses and Babies

Whoops this whole blogging business has kind of been neglected, meh, I seem to update photos and stories more often on facebook so if your interested just add me as a friend on fb. Well, so so so much has happened in since I moved here 5 months ago that I could pretty much write a book. Actually, speaking of books, our last research assignment on Labor Provision Care turned out to be a book, I wrote 89 pages and 48,585 words! Hovering on the same theme, the most recent book I read for our monthly book report was "Peace Child". Incredible, I highly recommend it. One man, called by God to evangelize the cannibalistic Sawi tribe in former Netherlands New Guinea, and One God, who laid the allegorical foundation for their understanding of the gospel generations ago through the parallelism between their Peace Child and His Jesus Christ. Here is a picture from our tribal birthday in January...I think it may adequately resemble a cannibal!
This past month, being it was December, we also celebrated Christmas:P It was my first Christmas away from home and it was such a joyous occasion I think I will stick around for another year, (I wish you could read the humor in my voice!). During prenatals for the week before Christmas we handed out presents of rice and noodles and some canned food to each of the buntis-pregnant women.Christmas Eve a bunch of us went over to the birthroom and had a candlelight service. My beautiful mom and dad sent me a honking huge package across the Pacific Ocean and it was so awesome to experience some of home. Proud to say, I made it like 2 weeks without peeking in the slightest. I didn't actually realize how much I missed them until I read my Dad's stellar tear-jerking letter and began to bawl, and so did nearly every other girl as the red letter complete with cartoons was passes around the circle. (Ya I am a beaker, I asked for a Taber's Medical Dictionary for Christmas!)

Christmas dinner was over at the green house, a mere jump over the cement wall, except it is actually too tall to jump so we are downgraded to the use of gates :)

Then Sarah and Serena were taken out by some of our Filipino friends to a Christmas musical that evening. As the sun set and darkness blanketed us, it found Sarah and I dog-piled on the couch watching "Holiday Inn" and drinking oober fresh buko(coconut) juice.

Well then, being that the end of December marked the end of 2008, we celebrated the New Year with an outrageously ugly dress party complete with horrendous makeup and ridiculous hairstyles. If you ever get the urge for a genuine, knee-slapping, head-bonking good time, gather together 20 midwives in ugly dresses who love Jesus and throw a party!
Well now to the climax of my story and the focus of my life, midwifery, babies, women, new families, placentas, IVs, Fetoscopes, scrubs, and lots and lots of prayer.

TABUK October 13-31 2008

Ahhhhh, Tabuk! It is there that I fell deeper in love with midwifery, the Filipino people and my Savior.
Tami and I flew to Manila, bussed 12 hours through the night and then got off into the rain and dark and honking tricicabs……at the wrong stop!

Georgia Macad is a Canadian from the lower mainland who began the Abundant Grace of God Maternity Clinic in October 2006. Her ministry there is astounding and far-reaching and it was such a blessing and honor to join her for 3 weeks. We lived at the clinic with Georgia, her tribal husband, Achao, their baby, Emmaus, two young Filipino midwives, some Filipino students and countless others coming and going. Pregnant woman would come from the surrounding villages and stay in georgia's house/clinic for a week before and after giving birth. It gave me a whole newperspective on the relational blessings of midwifery. Georgia’s hospitality, generosity and heart for the women was so inspiring and I learnt so much from her about what it means to be a missionary midwife. Cathy had her baby the first night we were there, it was pretty intense because she had a shoulder dystocia!

One of my highlights was going on day trips to the nearby villages where I led devotion and we gave the women a health teaching, a prenatal check-up and then stayed to eat and fellowship with them afterwards.

And of course, tons of babies!!!!

Early morning we were roused out of bed for a 17 yr old labor, Marziza, the morning was beautiful!

Mariza delivered at 10:31am that morning

Me, Mariza, her baby boy and Belyn- the primary midwife for her birth

Late one night as we were up with a beautiful young labor named Alma God worked a miracle. The minutes were intense, the umbilical cord was wrapped four times around the baby’s neck, the shoulders were stuck, the baby’s face turned blue but God intervened and she gave birth to a miracle baby boy. Praise God.
I am left…..speechless.

His still small voice

Oh the joy of being a midwife in the Philippines; Brand new babies, beaming mothers, long exhausting labors, sleepless nights, tribal villages, waterbuffalo, traditional dancing, rice four times a day, robberies, death, devastating fires, muggings and lots and lots of prayer.

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.”

If I were to write about all of the babies from October, I think I could write a book, so instead, here is a glimpse of one of the most precious moments. A very pregnant first time mom had come to Mercy that morning for a prenatal but then had been rushed down to the birth room because her baby’s heart tones were dangerously low and her blood pressure was very high. She had been lying on the bed with her IV for a couple of hours when I heard God whisper for me to go and check on her. She wasn’t my patient but I opened the curtain, crouched by her bed, looked into her eyes and asked her how she was doing.

Bethany inserted her very first IV into my hand......and I turned pastey white!

FIRE, SUNDAY OCTOBER 5TH

It was Sunday evening, about 6:30pm. I was sitting in the study room working on my assignment when, bang, everything went dark. The power went out. As I was shutting down my computer I heard the scramble of feet and urgent voices come from upstairs. I knew there was an emergency. Quickly I ran though the door into the living room and then was swept with the rush of girls out the front door and onto the street. FIRE!!
Across the street about 3 houses and a few little shacks down, flames licked the night sky. The girls from our house were the first people running onto the scene. Joy ran over and alerted the clinic and, because the fire was spreading fast, they transported all of the labors and post partums to Jenn Germain's house, (a married midwife with seven kids.) I have never seen a fire so big. As Serena and I ran towards the flames I prayed, loud and urgent. The whole corner where you turn off Dacudao to Mercy was up in flames. About a dozen families were scrambling to save what they could from the lower floors. A woman was sitting by the ditch wailing, "my balay, my balay" (house) as she watched it get devoured by the flames. Seeing the need, a few of us began grabbing the piles of clothes, blankets and shoes from the street and throwing them into the grass on the other side of the street. Four or five young Filipino guys kept running into their house and throwing armloads of anything they could salvage onto the road for us to throw away from the fire. My perfuse effort and the heat from the fire made my head feel like it was going to explode. We worked for about 8-10 minutes before the first fire truck showed up. Quickly I ran onto the sidewalk beside the fire truck just before it started spraying. Serena got blasted a bit from the water. By this time there were hundreds of people gathered in the streets. Another fire truck came, then another, soon the street was crowded with 8 or 9 fire trucks.

The darkness of the night was sliced open by the ominous flame engulfing charr-broiled frames of what used to be homes, and by the urgent flashing of a what seemed to be a million red lights. The silence of the night was sliced open by the yells of the firemen, the crackling of the flames and the shriek of the sirens. But, what sliced the darkness and the silence the most was the dark, silent look of hopelessness on the faces of those who had just lost everything.



Within a few minutes, the spray of the water overpowered the flames and they were drenched into submission. Slowly the crowds sauntered away to their homes, and slowly the fir trucks packed up and left the scene. Slowly I leaned my tired shoulders against the telephone pole on the corner just below the Mercy Maternity Sign and looked with a heaviness at what was before me. Mangled heaps of ancient washer machines, baskets, pots and piles of clothes were on the street opposite each place were a door had once stood. On each heap sat the victims, shoulders slouched, eyes fixed on the devastation, clothes reeking of smoke. There was nothing more for me to do than pray. My bare feet sloshed through the flooded street to my home three doors down, the pavement still hot from the flames, my face still burning from the heat. I estimate about 12 families lost their homes tonight. The whole corner was burnt and there were shacks stacked upon shacks that went up in flames. Please, please, please pray

Marchell a Marathon and a Merciful God

It was a beautiful, (hot- of course!) day as I made footsteps to the clinic to begin my swing shift at 2pm on Sept 24. Little did I know that the beauty of the day would not even compare to the beauty I was to witness. Later that afternoon a radiant 17 yr old came to Mercy......so young,......so beautiful. Her bana, (husband), was also 17 and they had a peace about them that was uncommon for parents their age. God bless Ritchell and Marvin. I labored with her all afternoon and evening.....the hours pressed on and so did her baby:) (catch that play on words all you mothers!) Then 10 pm came along and the schedual said that it was time for me to go home.....but, my heart said that it was time for me to stay. She was too precious and I knew that her birth was one that I did not want to miss. Lovely excitable Janelle was endorsed Ritchell and the Filipino supervisor on night shift gave me permission to stay!!!! And so, this is the tale of my first birthroom marathon! Janelle squatted on the bed and expertly guided a tiny head out of an opening that still seemed too small! (oh dear, I am tired, I shouldgo to bed before I stain the pages with midwife lingo). Ritchell and Marvin had their baby girl just before midnight. It was absolutely beautiful. They and named her Filipino style; Marchell…..a combo of both their names. Marchell was placed on mom’s tummy, nursed and then gave us a print of her little footprints.

By two in the morning the patter of my footsteps could be heard as I walked home, overjoyed, blessed beyond description and praising God for his abundant Mercy. Mercy that a new life was added to this world and mercy that I got in the door that night. For I while I was considering sleeping in the laundary room because the house was all locked up, I couldn't get my key to work, I had no load left on my cellphone to text anyone and, besides, it was 2 in the morning and they were all tucked snuggly in thier beds.

Prayer and Praise was on my lips all night. Everyday, as I serve with Newlife and witness the miracle of life, I am given a Newlife in Christ.

Marchell Magapundag
Born: September 24th, 2008 @ 11:44pm
Weight: 6.5 lbs

JUNIOR

I arrived for night shift at 10pm on Wednesday September 10th and a beautiful newborn was “endorsed” into my arms…..where he would remain for the rest of the night! He had been born earlier that evening but, not even an hour after his birth, his mom had been transported to the hospital due to retained membranes. Nameless, little “junior” was left at Mercy. It was so honouring to be this brand new baby’s only source of care and love for the first long hours of his life. A second yr midwife had just had a baby of her own so she pumped us some of her breast milk for junior. By about 1:00am, since there were no labors, we began to go to bed but I couldn’t sleep a wink; junior was too wriggly, I couldn’t keep my eyes off of him and I couldn’t stop praying for him. At quarter to three he started to cry so we tiptoed across the hall to the kitchen for some milk. As I stood there with a brand new baby sucking happily I was overcome with the Love of God. Everything was perfectly silent. A warm breeze crept from the darkness, through the screen door, and into the light of the kitchen bringing with it an orchestra of night-time scents. This is why I am here, for such a time as this.

“Junior” and I had just lied back down when the screech of a taxi interrupted the silence; I heard the slamming of the doors, the creak of the gate and urgent footsteps scuffle down the hall. Sure enough, a moment later, the guard poked his head in and snapped all the sleeping midwives into action with his one famous word, “LABOR”. The hours that followed are ones that I’ll never forget. As I held junior and charted for Menjie’s labor, she kept looking with longing at the bundle in my arms. By 5:06am the longing was gone from her eyes and the struggle was gone from her breath…..she had one of her own!

SIGH......THE BEAUTIFUL LIFE OF A MIDWIFE!!!

After night shift, Janelle and I whipped up some spicy noodles and watched our little alley wake up as the sun rose over Davao.