A Life Unfurling

2013-03-03T19:47:00.000-08:00

Its that time again! time to travel to another place only this time it will be for a longer period of time. I am excited!! I will be leaving for Kerala India in June for a year to run a birth center. I will be posting adventures and my journey so keep my blog in a favorite!!!

market day

2012-01-03T07:25:00.000-08:00

A wide range of great produce to choose from!!

Washing clothes in honduras

2012-01-02T13:53:00.000-08:00

A bucket and washboard!!!

Tela

2012-01-02T10:45:00.000-08:00

Tela is an interesting town--a bit smaller than La Ceiba and a beach. Some good restaurants there that have pretty good food but nothin beats the meals prepared by my hostess who always makes fried green bananas!!! These are yummy!! The hospital is smaller and fewer women birth each day; Around 15 versus 40 in La Ceiba.
Sadly the beaches are not very clean and there is a reef so one has to be careful going in. The pollution is pretty bad and getting use to this air is hard--

Happy new year

2011-12-31T18:16:00.001-08:00

and i hope the new year is what everyone hopes it to be. I am sitting in a beachside restaurant waiting for a new years eve dinner.Its off and on raining--so they will set up the tables and new customers will sit then the rain moves them in. Then it stops and new people sit and it forces them in again. It is a never ending lesson in hope!!

on the beach at tela

2011-12-30T09:57:00.001-08:00

Today

2011-12-28T08:32:00.000-08:00

I am heading on a bus to tela-- a more progressive hospital than La Ceiba. i will be allowed to show the nurses alternative ways of giving birth compared to laying in bed. Using the birth ball, squatting, hands and knees and standing. Being allowed to walk around and even getting the baby immediately on the moms chest is not normally practiced here.
I have brought Jose Miguel the baby doll and Natalie the pelvis to give some info to everyone about the mechanics if birth and the pelvis.
and there is a beautiful beach there!!

Where I am staying

2011-12-28T08:29:00.000-08:00

this is Donya the gal who owns the place i am staying at in La Ceiba.Very active fiesty 72 yo and someone i want to be like when i grow up!!!!

Yesterday Class

2011-12-28T08:15:00.000-08:00

Yesterday We had a class on a few things with nurses in the hospital-- laboring comforts, water and other therapies and should dystocia.

Thanks!!

2011-12-26T12:05:00.000-08:00

On christmas eve and day we gave out to the women something for their babies.. so everyone who sent blankies and clothes will be happy to know they were well received!! Some of these women had barely a small short for their new one and having a very clean and nice El Rope (clothes) for the baby was great!!
I tried to spend time with each mama after birth to just be there with her. to let her have some kindness and loving words about her and her baby. Even knowing just a few phrases helped communication a great deal.

Where I am staying

2011-12-26T12:02:00.000-08:00

this is the front of the house where i am staying downtown La Ceiba. Its very unusual in that it has a spacious front yard and even a huge back yard!! My hostess is a 72 year old women who is a chemnist/pharmacist and very active.. she even yelled at me Most every home has a maid and a gardener..the houses are usually built with a small place for them to stay connected to the main house..

Santa!!!

2011-12-26T12:01:00.000-08:00

and carolers!!!! in the hospital!!!

Sambo Creek

2011-12-26T11:59:00.000-08:00

Me with a pina colada on Sambo Creek !! Feliz Navidad!!!

Frutta market

2011-12-26T11:54:00.000-08:00

the street...

frutta truck

Donations

2011-12-26T11:49:00.000-08:00

after she wrapped them: (the pix are posting weirdly so bear with me!!

Here is our pile of donations with Silvia the gal in charge:

Nurses

2011-12-26T11:47:00.000-08:00

A head nurse who is very pro midwife..she is the one who inherits my scrubs!!!

Finally

2011-12-26T11:25:00.000-08:00

Hospital Atlanta

found a place to get internet.. so i am going to try and post pix and stuff :)
the first day was interesting... going to the hospital and figuring out my place here. Sorta a doula but not really. Certainly not as a midwife!! Mainly learning some spanish--just enough to comfort and support women who are really alone.
Women come in and when they are 5 cn go into a bed. they must stay in bed the whole labor..sometimes able to goto bathroom but mostly using a bed pan. Nurse and Drs come by every hour or few and check things.
So I have learned: Bien--good/well, Muy-very, Se Que La Duella- I know about your pain, Lo Siento im sorry and banyo for bathroom, papil for paper, And a few other words to help them through this.
The biggest thing is that they are alone and very often with no knowledge of anything about birth. The medical people do not tell them anything and come in do their checks and walk out.

Acclimating

2011-12-19T19:16:00.000-08:00

Learning new things here about this culture. People have no idea what turn signals are for, its a choice which lane to drive in :)
and it is most common to have a live in maid for just about everyone.
It always takes me a few days to figure out the small cultural idiosyncrasies that make a culture what it is. There is nothing worse than an american coming into a new country and demanding everyone be like them and taking no time to get to know the place they are visiting.
Rarely does anyone make appts since noone keeps to them..people just show up when they can. Waiting and standing in line for hours is a normal part of life here.
I cant wait to find a market and get fruits that i have heard are wonderful here!!

1st Day in Honduras

2011-12-19T13:16:00.000-08:00

I left 610 am to fly into Houston then running over to find the gate to catch the next flight in less than an hour. We leave houston and 2 hours and 22 mins later I land in Honduras. and its HOT!! so off come the sweater and im glad I wore by sandals with no socks--tho at 6 am in huntsville i was freezin!!
Got thru customs and found my ride and off we go to lunch!!

Im just glad my 2 check in bags made it as it as the donated stuff including pelvis and baby!! Otherwise it was an uneventful plane ride!!

So im here and stayed tune for more stories!!!

Making a list... packing stuff up

2011-12-13T19:26:00.000-08:00

The main item i wanted to get to take with me to Honduras were things for Childbirth Ed-- and they really needed a pelvis and a baby model to help teach nurse and women more about the birth process.

So there were enough donations that i was able to buy a pelvis with a model baby and another pelvis with the muscles of the perineum and all female organs attached--needless to say my kids have had many a discussion on these pelvi sitting around waiting to get packed--nothing like female anatomy being explored!!

I have several bags of baby stuff to pack and more to pick up tomorrow. Lots of very cute and nice blankies and other things.

Thanks to everyone who donated money and baby stuff and got it to me!! I am so appreciative and I know a lot of moms and babies will be grateful for something as small as a baby blanket and outfit. Here in this country we take for granted clothes for our baby and good education about childbirth and so making a difference in another womens life is a great bond. I want those who gave to know how much this means to me-- whether I was/am your midwife or a friend or in some cases simply a friend of a friend and you were moved to help (Thanks Women From Tallahassee and Malcolm!!!!). I know it was close to a major holiday and money is tight but truly all of you were truly acting in the spirit of giving and kindness. How can the Divine herself not notice the love expressed?

Peace and Light

D

Honduras

2011-11-21T14:33:00.000-08:00

My next trip is set for Dec20th to Jan 10 to La Ceiba Honduras. Mostly what I will be doing is childbirth education, pregnancy support and birth support for woman who often have noone to encourage them while delivering. I am looking forward to this opportunity to once again step outside my comfort zone of AMerican Pregnant women and help create space for these women many of them less than 16 years old. Learning the language on the job will also be pretty daunting also.

I am trying to collect funds to buy childbirth teaching charts and books to help in the clinics. Please help me out!!

:Update on Honduras: What is needed is childbirth teaching charts and aids and of course in Spanish. I am setting up an account at Cascade --a midwife supply company that has a lot of childbirth aids. I cant create a Wish List but if you send an amount to them with my name as a gift certificate they will hold it for me so I can then order the things to take with me. So help me bring as much posters, charts, pelvis models, breastfeeding and newborn care as I can get by Dec 10th. Call Cascade @ 503 595 1720. I have picked out some things I think would be great to have to teach and the total is about $800.

cool video

2010-06-23T13:39:00.000-07:00

and one i thought was apropos with my trip!!

Morning trip to boracay

2010-06-21T04:44:00.000-07:00

We arrived from the ferry terminal on the smaller green boat at 5 am monday morning. This is the early light scene on the water ways of people being boated about.

Last night in Boracay

2010-06-21T04:08:00.001-07:00

It was almost massive overload to come to this obvious busy resort after 2 weeks of dealing with very poor women and limited local foods. It felt good to not take it for granted and really understand the contrast. Going out on the beach strip tonight to have Italian food and celebrate the last night the Fantastic 5 Ninja Midwives are together. A few are staying to Wed, with 2 flying back to Oregon and 2 others continuing on their trip to thailand and cambodia. We have been discussing travel and how it seems Europeans do more traveling and plan more trips abroad quite often--living in small places and and saving money as the means to traveling a lot. Traveling every year is often done as opposed to lots of material things or owning new cars. Interesting concepts of what is important to a culture.

Birth is Cultural

2010-06-20T19:33:00.000-07:00

Being exposed to pregnant and laboring women has shown that how we respond to birth is cultural based. Our emotions about it and our perceptions of pain even.
Here in the philippines (and even in Jamaica) there is little emotional support nor do women doubt they can birth--it is expected if you are a woman and that your body will work. There is very very little noise made even in hard labor. They are very stoic and quiet even when pushing. but the reality of the risk of them or their baby dying is very very high and very real in the poorer areas. So many women who came to the clinic for prenatals have miscarriage or stillborns or deaths in early life--it is very common.
How a midwife approached the women and their pregnancy and labor is also cultural. Because the population is poor and generally malnourished or anemic their is more active management to the immediate birth and postpartum--this has proven to save many maternal lives as well as a decrease of infant deaths by 22% if babies are nursed in the FIRST HOUR!!!! and another 14% if nursed in the first 24 hours. Breastfeeding is the key to decreasing the infant mortality of the 3rd world countries. The issue is the people buying into not nursing right away cause they have no milk or using watered down formula.
Seeing the cultures and how different they are is eye opening and yet women birth the same and nurse the same and need physical and emotional support when issues come up.