more babies...

Hiya,
so Susanne and I "worked" the night shift last night from 11pm-7am. We got there at 11pm and there were two first time mommas who were in early labor. We made about a million cotton balls (all the cotton balls and gauze are hand made here) and then the midwife in charge told us to go home and sleep and she would call our mobile if the mommas were ready to push.

At 3:30am we got a call and ran over to the hospital (a 4 minute walk from our hotel). As soon as we walked into the labor ward a baby was crowning. This was the first baby I have seen born in the cul (the membrane sack has not broken and is covering the face and head). It took a moment with an amniohook to get it off the little baby's face, but he came out happy and no tears.

Moments later another momma (a new one who came into the hospital ready to push) was on the bed and pushing. She came out occiput transverse, but fit just fine. There was a minor perineal tear which I sutured. Yay. Then we got to leave the hospital again (1.5 hours later) and go back to sleep. I felt like a surgeon being called in to do a procedure and then leaving.

Our buggy ride on the island was wicked fun! It was a total mud mess and it rained the whole time, but it was so fun. I drove most of the way, through jungle and on a black sand beach.

Today Susanne and I did our first scuba dives. We did a practice dive in a pool to learn the tricks, then a reef dive. Amazing!! We saw all sorts of lovely coral and millions of fish. We have two more dives lined up for next week. Tonight we will work the late night shift again, so hopefully there will be more babies.

All is well here. Lots of fun stuff coming up, but will post more about that later.
Peace and Love,
Samantha*