A tour of Mercy.

I have gotten a bit out of the habit of blogging with a new, busy schedule. There would be no way to possibly write everything the Lord is doing and all that I am learning, but I will attempt!

August was a great transition month--learning to ease back into filipino culture, learn more of the language, and begin to adapt to ministering to expecting mothers, the birthroom, and all that comes along with caring for a woman and her family. Getting to know my housemates, classmates, and all the staff at Mercy Maternity has been so fun, too!
Now it's almost the end of September and I am really beginning to find my place here. I am scheduled ~3 shifts a week up at the clinic. The majority are in the birthroom, where I am learning all about labor and delivery, postpartum care, baby checks, and newborn screenings. I love these shifts! Here are some pictures of the birthroom area:

This is a patient's bed. This isn't the best picture, but usually there are curtains down that separate the beds into cubicals when we have patients.

Supply cabinet where IV stuff is kept, bed linens, suturing kits, and array of birth stuff.

This is the little baby check area and where a lot of our paperwork, etc is stored.

Our patient's board--we write our patient's name there and important info about their labor and delivery. When I took this picture, we had a really slow shift with no patients (which is pretty rare!).

Just another corner--the patient's CR is there, an outside cleaning area, sink, and autoclave.

This is the midwife hangout area--just where we sit, eat, talk, nap, read, etc.

Postpartum Area across the hall--there are 5 beds in the area. And you can't see it too well in this picture, but to the right is a door where the staff kitchen and CR (bathroom) is.

 So if I am not on birthroom shifts, I am scheduled every other week or so for prenatals. We have a lot of women who come and listen to a health teaching, have worship, and get individualized care from our staff. Learning how to ask the patients questions in Visayan is fun and seeing women and their babies at all different stages of pregnancy is so neat. I am definitely learning and loving it all.

Prenatals happen on the second floor of the clinic.

Below are a few pictures of one of my birthroom shifts.

Patients of ours and all their info!

Our patient, her bana (husband), and her new baby. On the left is my supervisor Sylvette and on the right is my other supervisor Claire. We had to document this birth because it was our first one all together. (We had an on-going joke that we were the "bad luck crew" because a lot of our shifts together seemed to be slow, but we FINALLY had a birth!) 

Swing shift crew! (Left to Right: Jamie, me, Sylvette, Claire, and Ate Elsa)

 So things around the clinic are going so well--I love all the staff and the ministry really is helping women and their families to have healthy pregnancies. Twice a month, I am scheduled for an outreach to the Badjao people, as well as a Muslim population here in Davao. I will have to remember to post pictures of that sometime soon!

At our home, we all take turn on "chore-teams" to keep things tidy. This past week I was on kitchen team, which includes shopping at the market and store, making dinner for the house, and cleaning. Thursday, I decided to be a bit ambitious and use all the fresh vegetables available here to make a chicken pot-pie. I think it turned out alright!

Me with my dinner creation!

So as October rolls around, I will continually be learning, adapting, seeking, and serving. Please help me pray that the Lord will offer grace upon grace to me to communicate and care for these families. Pray also that I can be bold to share not only with actions, but also words, the life-saving truths of the gospel.

I am so thankful for each of you who faithfully pray and give each month. Without your support, none of this could be possible! Until next time,

--Brittany