I think i can, I think I can, choo-choo...

Okay, there's been a slight change in plans. I've decided to extend my stay at Casa for just a few extra days. I paid for an entire month so I figured I should take advantage of the time I paid for. When I initialy made my arrangments I realized that Mothers day was on the 11th, being the sap that I am I thought there was no way I could be away from my kids over Mothers day so I decided to cut my stay a few days short here. After going over the schedule with one of the midwives here she made me realize what a not so wise idea it would be to leave 6 days early...She pointed out to me that i'd be missing out on almost an entire week of shifts - Which is alot more hands on experience (again, that I already paid for). I'm here so I'm just going to suck it up and do it. I was already begining to pack my bags :-( I cant believe I'm staying longer, wow! I remember when I first arrived here I called my husband and asked him to find me the next flight out of this hell hole. I then phoned Tracey (my prior preceptor & friend) and cried my heart out...ha-ha-ha! I never said I was rational or sane! I'll now be getting home on the 17th.

Sending my love to you all. Keep me if your thoughts and prayers and send lots of good baby catching energy my way!

BTW - Did I mention to you all that I ruptured my very first bag of waters...I never thought I'd say this but it was sssoooo cool! Of course I dont plan on making a habit out of it but I can so see why docs love this stuff. I can now "offically" sign off on that skill for NARM. Corny,I know but it's the name of the game.

Hugs,

~Kim

babies, babies, babies

Last night I worked the night shift as 1st on. We had two more babies born on my shift. Their births were so wonderful!! We have a visiting midwife here that's filling in for the next few days for the staff midwives that are typically on schedule...She's WONDERFUL! What a blessing in my last week here :-) She's totally hands off and completely allowed me to work with the clients in a way that allowed me to utilize my own practice style and incorporate the needs and desires of the families I was serving. A few of the other interns here that have never seen anything else but "Casa birth" were completely blown away by the hands off approach...As an observer though all you can do is sit there and watch, and so that's exactly what they did (and technically so did I)as these Mama's pushed out their babies without a skid mark on their perineum's! When the time came to cut the cord I was able to voice that I didn't want it cut yet and the staff midwife completely accepted my request. So we had delayed cord clamping for both babies...at least until the Placenta was delivered!! I think I personally needed to see birth untouched again as it so renewed my spirit!

I have seven days left here...I cant wait to be back home and see my kids! I miss them so much. I hope the weather is warm back home, it was snowing a bit the morning that I left. Hugs to you all and I'll post again soon!

Much Love,
Kim

I officially have only eight days left here at Casa. It amazes me how quickly the time has passed. As horrible as it felt when I first arrived I'm already able to look back on the time spent here with much gratitude for all that I've experienced and learned thus far. There are friendships that I've made here that I'm certain will last a lifetime. I have a friend from Hungry that's here, she currently lives in Indiana but will be relocating back with her family to Hungry in June of next year. She has incredible plans for the families she will serve back home. Another woman is here from California that works with families in Africa's Sierra Leone. She trains traditional birth attendants on how to provide safe maternity care for the families in their village. She's invited me to come down for a trip with their organization...Perhaps I'll be in Africa twice next year...we'll see :-)

I've learned that there truly is no such thing as a "language barrier" I'm confident that the women I've served have walked away with all their questions answered and with nothing less then optimal care. When i first got here I was so worried that I wouldn't be able to adequately provide care to these families due to my lack of Spanish. I'll tell you what did it for me...It was the first day I was on my own and i had to do a speculum exam on a woman that didn't speak a smidgen of English. It was a MUST that i explain to her what I was about to do, I couldn't just walk up to her and shove this spec in her gyna!! I was seriously so nervous that I went through two sets of gloves because my hands were so clammy I couldn't get them on :-) In the best Spanish I could muster up, including my own made up words (that sounded like Spanish to me) I explained to her what I was about to do. She thought it was hilarious, which totally broke the ice for me. I showed her the speculum - How it opens and closes and explained what I was looking for. I managed to somehow find out that this woman had never seen her cervix before so I happily showed it to her with a mirror once the spec was in place. I hope I'm not grossing any of you out...If so, I'm sure you'll get over it.

Anyhow, I've since learned the importance of getting creative and doing whatcha gotta do to get your message across - weather that be demonstrating it, drawing it out, speaking spanglish, whatever, ther're so many ways to communicate. So that was my big epiphany while I've been here :-) My spanish is really coming along - I can make an appointment completely in Spanish now...he-he!

I should get to bed. I'll update again when I can. Much love to you all and I'll see you soon!

~Kim

last of the pics...

and more pics...

More pictures of Mex...

My second trip to Mexico!

I spent the day in Mexico again...It's hard not to when your so darn close! I must admit, I havent walked this much in a looonngg time, It feels so great. Anyhow, I really explored much more of Juarez this last trip. I ventured into their main market area...It's so wonderful! There was live music, clowns, people flooded the streets, the churches were wide open throughout the day with people wandering in and out of them...it was like a festival...but it's every weekend in Juarez!

I took lots of pics this time so I'd like to let them tell you more of the story of what my day was like yesterday...Enjoy!

Love,
Kim