Going Home

I have finally come to the day where I am on my way home. Yesterday I started my journey up to Manila where I stayed with 2 old friends of mine that were students the same time I was, Naomi and Nicole. It was great to get to see and visit them. I haven't seen them for over 3 years now. This morning I woke up and headed for the Manila International Airport. Something amazing happened that I would never to expect at that airport. I made it through check-in and immigration in about 20 min. You are told to arrive 3 hours before the flight to have enough time to make it through all of that. So it was great I had 2 1/2 hours to relax before having to board. Now I am in Hong Kong awaiting my flight to San Franciso. Then I fly to Portland from there. I am excited to go home for a break. I get 2 months in Oregon!

The last couple weeks in Davao have gone by really fast! 2 days after I wrote my last blog AiAi delivered. Unfortunately she had to deliver in the hospital. She gave birth to a baby boy. I went and visited her the next day. She had a normal delivery, the baby was doing okay also. Thank you so much for your prayer and support this year. I will keep you updated on my summer activies back in Oregon. I am planning of going back to the Philippines at the beginning of August. I am commited through the next summer, although there is always the possibility of staying longer :)

2 babies in 1 day!

Today I saw Che Che for a post partum check. It has now been 4 days since she had delivered. Both her and baby Lester are doing well.
Yesterday I delivered 2 babies! I average about 1 a month so 2 in one day is pretty exciting. I worked night shift on saturday night. We were pretty busy, having 3 babies born on our shift, and 1 right at shift change. I ended up staying a couple hours after shift to finish up caring for my patient and her baby. I ended up getting home around 10 in the morning and quickly went to sleep since I didn't sleep that night. Around 3 in the afternoon I was woken up by a text. One of my continuities (Rose) was in labor and wanting to come into the clinic. I went to the clinic to meet her. She was in good labor, having contractions just a couple minutes apart. By 9 pm she delivered a little, well rather large baby girl! I was so excited for her. She named the baby Angel Grace. I was at Rose's last birth when I was a student here in 2003. I got home by midnight, very tired, but happy with how the day went. God was good to give me strength to make it through.

Ai Ai & JB

This is my friend Ai Ai and her son JB. JB was born in November 2005. Ai Ai is very precious to me. I have known her for 4 years and have seen her pregnant 3 times. Now she is pregnant with her 3rd baby. She is due the day I am flying back to the states. I am praying that she will deliver before I leave. In January JB got a really serious pneumonia. He was hospitalized for 5 weeks. We did not know if he was going to survive. He suffered brain damage from lack of oxygen and high fever. Since he has gotten out of the hospital he has made amazing progress! He is now making eye contact with people, smiling, reaching for things, and making noises. I am amazed by what he is able to do. Please pray with me that God will keep healing his little body. That one day he will be able to walk and talk. Please pray also for Ai Ai that she will have a normal birth.

Hammocks

One of Sarah's friends (the one in the purple) know how to make hammocks. Last night he brought over 3 for us. These are really cool cause the double as sleeping bags. They are made with a zipper to zip up the sides. We were having a lot of fun with them last night.

Finally the baby has arrived

Early this morning at 4:16am, Che Che gave birth to this little boy who at this point is still without a name. This birth was an answer to prayer. Che was developing complications. She came for a prenatal yesterday and I didn't know if she was going to be able to deliver at Mercy. At 1 am I got a text from her saying that she her labor started and she was headed to the clinic. When I got to the clinic she was already there and seemed to be in a lot of pain. Everything checked out okay and she was able to stay. Her labor progressed well. It actually was almost exactly like her last one, as in the way events unfolded. I was so excited when it was finally time for her to deliver. There is always the possibility that a women will have to be taken to the hospital if problems arise during labor. I was happy that her labor was coming to an end and everything was still okay. We did not know the sex of the baby before he was born. Che che's previous 2 babies are girls, so having a boy was a great suprise. Everything continued to go well after the birth too. I am thankful for God's faithfulness. He blessed Che Che with a normal birth, and a healthy baby boy weighing in at 6.02 lbs. Please continue to pray for this family that both mother and baby with stay in good health and the transition will go smoothly.