Day 62/63: 4th Baby/Massage!!!

Night Shift went pretty well...one gal came in for labor and had her baby at 12:10am, delivered by Hannah. Meanwhile, another labor came in--an 18-year old primipara buntis (first-timer). We connected immediately. Her bana, a little bit older than she was, was extremely supportive. She was nervous about what to expect with the labor, and I had a really neat time explaining it all to her, while I took her vitals, felt for position, and did an IE. The position and IE felt different than normal, but I thought it was probably still head. Ate´ eSteph was super, and she came and re-checked the position and IE, and after really feeling around and palpating, she announced that the baby was in Breech position!!

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Protocol for transport, is to always try to get an IV started before transporting, which we did (not me this time though). This particular IV cannula, instead of following the vein in like it was supposed to, kinked and cracked--IV Failure--making it extremely difficult and very painful to extract, and with the potential nightmare of part of the cannula breaking off into her bloodstream. It was pretty scary for everyone involved, knowing that we might have to transport her like this (a cannula stuck in her arm, which would not be a good remembrance on MMC with the SPMC)...Ate´ asked me to run up to the Filipino quarters, and get another Super to come down and take her place, while we both went to the SPMC with our patient. Unfortunately, most of them were either gone, or didn't answer, so Sylvette came down and helped take charge, as did Joy (one of the American midwifes).

By the time I got back from getting a Super, Praise the Lord!, Ate´ had gotten the IV cannula extracted with no casualties, and we got and IV set up in her other arm. Ate´ had just decided that it would be okay for me and another girl to transport her, because everything seemed to be going well, when the patient had SROM--2 minutes before leaving!! So, Ate´ and I ended up going, hoping that she wouldn't deliver on the way there...rolling her out in a wheelchair, and bringing into the SPMC on a gurney.

It was really neat, because Ate´ really let me be the primary with my patient, and let me have the time I needed with the patient before we left MMC, so that I could pray with and encourage her. Poor girl, she was so courageous during the whole ordeal, but she was crying heartily when we left MMC....I can only imagine all the thoughts that must have been going through her mind, and it was truly heartbreaking....

I prayed for her the whole time we were in the ambulance, as well as before we left SPMC....Ate´ eSteph and I had a really good talk on the way home about what actually happened with the whole IV situation and prayed for her and her bana, as well as thanked God for allowing the IV cannula to come back out, without any part of the plastic breaking off in the vein.

After I got back, another patient--Romylyn, a G3P3, 23 year old--came in at 1:40am. She had come for a prenatal this morning and referred for hypertension, thankfully, that resolved. At 1:52am, she had SROM, right before me and Ate´ eStephanie did an IE. It was completely unexpected, and got me a good bit. There was no staining, and the IE showed that she was already 5 cm dilated.

When I went out to get her bana (husband), I wasn't for sure that the word "bana" only applied for husbands, not both, and so I told him his 'bana' needed him...he was a young guy, and he got a huge smile on his face, and said "I am the bana!", upon which, I said, "Oh, right...." lol He was extremely supportive during labor and afterwards which was a huge blessing.

"Melyn" did really well pushing, and after 7 minutes of real pushing and a 13:15 hr labor, she gave birth to a beautiful 7 lb 6 oz lalaki (boy) at 2:59 am, who had Apgar Scores of 9 and 9 and was 21.5" long. After a long discussion and much teasing :), they decided to name him "Devon James". During the newborn exam, I found that his heart liked skipping beats irregularly, but so far, thankfully, it hasn't seemed to cause him any long-lasting problems.

LITTLE FACTS: Melyn gave birth laying supported by a wedge, and did not tear except some skin splits which did not need repairing. Her ebl was 500cc, so we inserted a D5LR IV. The cord was extremely short, and the placenta had marginal insertion, which means that the cord attached to the side of the placenta instead of the top of the round part.

After she had her baby, her bana's sister came in, and we had a blast...both her and Melyn's bana spoke very good English, and there was much 'joke lang' done... During labor, I wasn't sure how much English "Melyn" understood (of course, she was in labor, so to try to translate everything into her own language was hard), but afterwards, her bana confirmed that she did know English, she just understood it better than she spoke it.

During their teasing of me and the baby mostly, she kept quiet, but kept laughing, and in fact, we had so much fun, that my Super actually came in and asked us to be a little more quiet, since there might be other patients sleeping...that was actually very funny, because we went from Hannah sometimes translating for me during labor, to all of us chatting in Filipino English non-stop afterwards!! lol

Shift ends at 6am, but I stayed and tried to finish all the paperwork with them, because I liked them so much, and so didn't leave until almost 7am. I then ran home and took a shower (boy do I love cold water!!), before going back to take pictures of the happy family. In Immediate Pospartum, we had discussed a Bible verse, and I had promised that when I came back, I would bring my Bible and we'd look it all up. It was really neat, because they openly acknowledged that they didn't read the Bible too much, but they wanted to learn.... At Mercy, each couple gets a New Testament Bible given to them, and boy do they appreciate it!!

I then came back, took a nap, talked to my little sister Rebekah, family, and cousins for a couple hours, took another nap, moved all my stuff to my new room (the Barnett girls' room), made mexican dip for dinner, and then went for a massage at 7pm with Ashton and Joy.

I've always wanted to experience a massage, but at home, they're SO expensive....and my famliy gives really good ones, so I just never have yet.... Well, here, you can get a 1.5 hr. Aromatherapy Massage for 300 pesos, or $6.00!! Wow! Was it amazing!!! The only thing that would have made it better, would have been if I could have stayed where I was, and slept for another couple hours instead of having to walk back home!!!

Afterwards, we decided to stop by McDo and get an icecream and water....you sure get dehydrated with them!!

WHAT I LEARNED:

- God is always there in the worst of the situations.....we prayed hard when we had IV complications, and God answered our prayer...

- It is not often I see a truly heart-wrenching situation (in my mind), but this transport was one of them....seeing all of her hopes and dreams for this delivery wash away, as well as the stability and assistance she would of had here at Mercy disappear...especially as we had so both hoped that I'd deliver her baby... but God knew best.

- It is the most wonderful thing to have wonderful supervisors....ones who truly love the Lord....
- It is wonderful to be able to communicate with your patients...it opens up so many doors, and so many ways and thing to share about.
- Massages are "grabeah!" Just come to the Phils to find out!!!