After Christmas I went to the beach with Leah, her sister Melissa, and Hope. We visited a spot called puerta galera. It was a very relaxing time and as my second beach trip of my life, I enjoyed it very much. Sailing along on the ferry to and from the destination I understood the power and majesty of the waves as never before. Being from a land locked state it was therapeutic to watch the defiant waves-servant to no human. 

  Vacation was great, but getting back to work was wonderful! Going to the beach was a great break but equally as valuable or more was the feeling that I don’t want to lay on the beach my whole life and I do want to learn, work, and live in the birthing home now. So, coming back the next few weeks were the best 

weeks here of my time thus far. I had energy and was eager to continue living the experience that I came here to live! 

   I have now been in on 33 births and handled (caught) 23 of them! 

   About two and a half weeks ago a girl named Kim came to the birthing home. We hadn’t known when she was coming or really much at all about her. She moved in and it’s been great! We have started a few little rituals 

together including starting the day off well with a nice breakfast and eventually that has turned into us buying our food and eating together, which has helped me to eat much healthier! It’s really fun to make nice breakfasts. Since I have always had night time rituals i.e. adventures in odyssey with my siblings before bed and reading a psalm before going to sleep with my roommates this summer at Summit, we started working on some yoga poses and reading 

a short story by George Mcdonald before bed. We are trying to make a ritual Office watching night, which is so much fun, because I had been watching the office before on my own and didn’t have anyone laughing with me. So, Kim has definitely been a breath of fresh air for me! 

   For my birthday I was really hoping to be able to deliver a baby even though I had some plans for the day with Jeri, Sara, and Deborah. A woman came in close to midnight on the 21st. Her contractions didn’t seem to be very strong so I went to lay down for a few winks of sleep (a habit I’ve since stopped), Lornie came in and told me she was fully and I got up and checked my phone, which said 12:08. Yay! my birthday, right? Well, I go into the room and the clock was about 20 minutes slow, the baby was born about 5 minutes later and 

Kim and I are the only ones to know that this baby though recorded to be born on the 21st was really born on the 22nd! Later that day her mother hemorrhaged and was sent to the hospital so we’ve had quite a bit of baby time with her. Her name is S

amantha and we call her Ebon, which means bird in Tagalog. 

  Other than that great experience I went with Deborah, Sara, and Jeri on a girls day out to Mega Mall, where we started the day off with Starbuck

s, shopped, had some fantastic  noodles for lunch and got sung to surprisingly at Krispy Kreme’s! Then later had a wonderful dinner with Sarah and Uchay at Jeri's house. 

  Currently I am working o

n be

ing more proactive in the birthing home. 

Jeri has been meeting with

 us at the birthing home every Thursday afternoon to discus births and ask questions, which has been so helpful. Both Kim and I are meeting with women who will become our continuity. Though I only have 3 more months (I’m half way, wow!) I will be meeting with these women at each of their prenatal check ups and therefore will have a better relationship with them and will have such greater labor and birth experiences with them as a midwife student. Kim and I have an area on our cabinet door where we put things that will encourage us. Here’s one of the quotes we put up. “ But helping a woman in labor involves much more than these simple tasks. It involves empathy, intuition, and inspiration; it is an art.“ It’s so encouraging to know that though we aren’t midwives officially we do h

ave opportunities to let these women feel loved and valued and give them a great birthing experience. 

   Someone asked me last week if from this experience I was thinking of becoming a midwife. Well, I’ve wanted to be a midwife since I was four, but yes this experience has confirmed it! I love midwifery. I love helping women with something 

so intimate, being such a support in her largest struggle. It is the highest career I could pursue. It’s more than a career. 

  Now, since yesterday we have a new addition to the midwife student team. Her name is Marli. It’s nice to be able to help  others and relate to them and help them with what I also experienced when I first came.