More Mexican Life :)

Friday was another pretty laid back day. Everyone was getting antsy because there had not been a birth in a really long time, well at least I was getting antsy… With Aurora gone I felt a little bit weird, I felt like I had to re-find how I fit into the family, but that’s ok. Not much happened on Friday. We had some visits and that was about it. I started to feel a little homesick this day, I think just because I had been gone for so long, I was now the only gringa, and there was really not a whole lot to do.

Saturday was a really fun day. The WHOLE family came over for breakfast. That included the two oldest sons and their wives and all of the children. It was a big crew! And of coarse when I say they came over for breakfast that means we ate around 1:00pm and just called it “desayuno.” After we ate, the oldest two son’s families’ invited me to go to a “temescal.” I didn’t know what it was and they tried to explain it to me, but there was no way I was going to understand, I just had to go. They told me it was kind of like a sauna, but boy was it NOT. I mean, yes, it was a hot room that you sit in and sweat a lot, but this was VERY different.

We pulled up to this random, almost farm looking place and I was very confused… I was expecting us to go to something like a spa. We got out of the car and walked down this grassy path to these little mud/igloo looking things. They had some little shacks built around them with cloths hanging everywhere. So the women and the men split up and we all went to go change our clothes. They said I could bring a bathing suit if I wanted, so I did, but everyone else just got naked and put a sheet over themselves. I decided to leave my bathing suit on… haha. So I followed everyone as we crawled into this mud igloo. I was SO disoriented when I first got in. One thing I did not realize was that it was going to be pitch black inside there. So I crawled in and kind of freaked out because I had no idea what is inside this thing, where I was going, or what I should do- not to mention that its all of the sudden a bazillion degrees!! Of coarse in this crucial moment where I am freaking out, I suddenly cannot understand any Spanish! Thank goodness one of the sons speaks pretty good English and was able to give the poor, confused gringa the simple instructions, “Just sit.”

After a little while I was able to figure out what was going on. It’s just a pitch-black, super-hot, mud-igloo that you sit in and sweat. They had buckets of hot and cold water that you could poor on yourself, pieces of Aloe Vera plants that they call “savila” (or something like that) that you rub on your skin, and these special flower/bush thingys that you brush (well more like whack) each other with. Pretty weird right? Oh yeah and they have these different chants that you can sing and breathing exercises you can do. It is supposed to be a kind of body “de-tox”. So it was all pretty surreal because it’s just so dark and so hot. You have the freedom to come in and out as you want and go back to the changing rooms. We did that a few times and that was nice. Whenever someone would come in or out it would let light in and that is when I would realize how weird it all really was. There were little kids in there, very very old ladies, men, women, everyone… and they were all naked… rubbing plants on themselves and each other… and chanting and humming… and sweating profusely… I don’t know… it was sooooooo weird! It all actually felt really awesome though. I really felt great afterwards. Nobody smelt bad either too, we all smelled really fresh from all the plants that we put on our skin. They told me that the “temescal” is a really really old tradition that was started from like the Aztecs! (I think, don’t quote me one that, but its like thousands of years old). Anyways, that was pretty cool.

Later that day, actually at night, one of the sons, Daniel, and his wife took me out for some Cuernavaca nightlife! One of the other sons, Juanito, came too. We had a great time! We got to talk and laugh and dance, it was really fun!

By Sunday we were all wondering where all the babies were! We wanted some births! Haha, but no, there were none. I hung out with the family during the day. Angelina gave me some lessons in medicinal plants and then we made mole. Mole is a pretty typical Mexican dish, it actually just a sauce that you put over rice and beans and chicken. It is special though because it is made with chocolate! It is very interesting. It is like this spicy, chocolately, sauce. Very different, I kind of liked it haha. After we made and ate the mole I went to church with the family. It was pretty interesting. It was hard for me to understand parts, but it was a good experience overall.

Monday was a VERY busy day. We had visits ALL day long. The clinic is only open from 9-5, but if there are people still waiting after five, they will still do the visits. And on Monday we did visits until 7:00pm with very few breaks! And then we had a girl who was in labor who stayed after that! Thankfully she had lots of family and was not that far in labor, so we could all rest a bit. Her water had broken at 5:00am that morning and she had been having contractions all day. When we checked her in the evening when she came to the clinic she was only 1 cm dilated. This was a little disconcerting, but the baby was doing just fine, so we had no reason to worry. They have three steps that they use to help move labor along if it is needed. First, they give the woman a few homeopathic pills to suck on, this helps the women release more oxytocin. If they need something a little more, they have this AWESOME tea (that I am going to get the recipe for) made from the special plants that they have that helps to release even more oxytocin. The tea is amazing and works really well normally. The third step would be to give the woman and IV of synthetic oxytocin (or pitocin). You see this in hospitals very regularly. We went through the 3 steps with this woman, but even after all of it and many hours, she was only dilated to 2.5 cm. It was sort of a group decision by the family and the suggestion of Angelina and Esteban to transfer to a hospital. The baby and the mom were totally fine, it was not an emergency at all, but most likely in a few hours the baby would need to be out. And by the way her labor was moving she was not going to have this baby in a few hours. We all headed over to the hospital around midnight. Once we were there, there was not much Esteban or I could do so we went back home. I have not heard how things went, but my guess is that she probably had a C-section and she and the baby are probably fine.

So then today is Tuesday. I was really exhausted from the day before and woke up a little late. There was not that many visits, but there was one prenatal class. I would not really call it a class though, it was just one lady. I sat in that for a while, but then started to feel really tired and kind of weak, so I went up to my room and ended up sleeping for almost 3 hours! Crazy! I went back down to the “casita” (that’s what they call the little clinic) for a few more visits and then we got a girl in labor! Yay! She was already 8 cm dilated! She was a very calm, little lady for sure. She would be having a contraction and would just sit and talk to me or to her husband anyways! It was incredible! Within an hour or so the baby was already crowning! She barely even said ouch… it was crazy! The baby just slipped right out at natural as can be, she didn’t tear or anything. It was so beautiful! Her and her husband were very excited. It was a beautiful baby girl J. Her husband did not want to, so I was able to cut the cord! Yay! I felt so special haha.

Births are so beautiful.

There is probably going to be a birth tonight! A lady came in around 6:30pm in very early labor and so we told her to come back when things start to progress. We will see though! Yay!

Another Week of Adventures in Mexico

It’s hard to believe a whole week has already gone by! It was a very good week.

Saturday was another go-all-around-town-with-Angelina day. We started at a homeopathic doctor for Aurora because she was very sick. She is very into alternative medicine. Aurora then took a taxi home and Angelina and I headed off. To be honest I can’t remember all of the places we visited! I was feeling sick as well (but just in my stomach), so this day was a bit of a blur. We visited the woman from the very first day I got there to check on her and everything was good. We awkwardly interrupted her family party, but proceeded to check on everything anyway J Angelina is very funny that way. We also visited Fernanda (from the first home birth I attended.) Of coarse, everything was well there too. Post natal visits usually just include checking on the general health of the mom and baby, checking the baby’s belly button for infections, teaching good cleaning of the baby and it’s belly button, and checking on how the mom’s belly is reducing. Angelina knows lots and lots to help stretch marks, saggy skin, or whatever the issue may be! Somewhere between all of this we did lots of shopping. We always do lots of shopping. I have come to understand that when Angelina says “Ok now we are going back home” (but in Spanish obviously) that NEVER means we are going straight home. We will ALWAYS stop at least once, if not more times to pick up a huge back of carrots, tortillas, tomatoes, herbs, or something! It is pretty hilarious.

Sunday was a pretty cool day. I was able to sleep in a bit. Angelina made AWESOME pancakes and that was a very nice surprise. We all got dressed up and ready to go to a wedding! It took me a while to figure this out, but Angelina and her family are Jehova’s Witnesses and the couple that was getting married were from their church. They explained to me that they had a different kind of wedding ceremony in their church and other things I should look out for. I was excited for the new and interesting experience. We left around noon for the wedding. The church was a really small multi-purpose room, nothing special, and the wedding was a very simple interesting ceremony. I could not really understand what was going on most of the time, but the couple sat a table in the front of the church facing a man who I assumed was the Pastor and he talked to them for a really long time. Then the stood up and said some vows to each other and that was it! Afterwards was the fiesta and that was really fun. It was in the huge, covered sports court/ auditorium kind of thing. There was lots of food and lots of dancing. I had met the bride and groom and some of their family a few days before the wedding at the house so I was able to hang out and talk with them for a lot of the time. Well, not the bride and groom, but the family. They were around my age. Anyways, the wedding lasted all day! Aurora and Esteban stayed back home because they weren’t feeling well and someone needed to be home if there was a birth. So I just went with Angelina and her husband Juan. It was really fun! Lots of Latin dancing, I love it!

Monday was a busy day! I got woken up early in the morning, around 7:00am, by Angelina because there was another home birth! We were not in a hurry, so we got ready, ate breakfast, did some chores, packed up all of the supplies, and headed out by 9:00am. Thankfully the woman lived in Temixco very close by. When we got to the house, the husband greeted us and let us in. He looked kind of Pacific Islander or something and was shirtless with lots of Hawaiian looking tattoos and jewelry. The house was very nice and really big. He lead us upstairs to where his wife was laboring. She was Canadian and spoke Spanish, French, and English. We all just spoke Spanish though.

WARNING: The following contains graphic material that may not be suitable for the faint of heart or weak of stomach.

When Angelina and I got to the couple’s room, she was fully naked and fully in labor. Her and her husband had clearly prepared themselves for the labor. He was very much into to helping her and she felt very free to do whatever she needed to feel better. Angelina, Hector (the husband), or I would use counter pressure (pushing on the woman’s hips from behind and moving back and forth like you are dancing) for each contraction. This is a really good technique that we use a lot here. Somewhere in that time Maria’s (the mama) water broke… kind of all over everyone haha, not really, but it did get on my feet because I was behind her give pressure during the contraction… oh well. She labored for a few more hours and we tried different things and Angelina checked the baby periodically. It was obvious things were moving more rapidly because Maria was in a lot more pain and she was bleeding more and more. At one point, after Angelina was checked on the baby’s heart beat, Angelina stepped outside the room with me and said “El bebe no esta bien.” I FREAKED out inside. Angelina usually never makes a big deal out of anything so for her to say that was like…. AHHHH!!! So I just followed her instructions and got all of the emergency oxygen and other equipment ready. During one of the contractions Angelina gave Maria a quick injection of Pitocin which is the synthetic form of Oxytotcin, a hormone that women release in labor that brings on contractions of the uterus. It’s also a hormone that creates bonding and attachment and is sometimes called the “love hormone” but that’s a whole other thing. Back to the story. Angelina did not say anything to the family about the baby’s slow heart beat, she kept saying lots of positive things, but the way she was working with Maria was clearly different. She was definitely in we-need-to-get-this-baby-out-of here-mode. By the way Maria was laboring, I thought she would give birth standing up, most likely, but Angelina asked her to lie on the bed. Angelina reached in and proceeded to assist in getting that baby out. She had Hector start to do “fundul pushing” which is when a person pushes on the top of the uterus to help get the baby out. It was a pretty high anxiety moment… there were lots of things running through my head. Finally the baby’s head came out, and boy was it big!! Maria and Hector were both able to touch and feel the baby’s head and face. Within a minute or two more the rest of the baby boy was born and of coarse the rest of him was huge too!! He was pretty blue, but he looked the same as the other babies I had seen. He started to cry right away so that was a HUGE relief. After that everything was fine J. If the baby stopped crying, Angelina would rub his feet or something to help him cry some more to get some more oxygen in his system. His color returned and was very health looking relatively quickly. It ended up not being a big deal after all! The new family was absolutely beautiful. Hector was an adorable mess at the sight of his first son. There was no rush for anything so the new family had lots of time to kiss and cuddle and love each other right when the baby was born. So beautiful!!! We then cut the cord, delivered the placenta, and started to clean up. Angelina was, or coarse, very excited about the placenta and wanted to make placenta tacos! Oh yay… So we went down stairs, we cleaned up the placenta and she put me to work sautéing onions and garlic. And then, since I was already cooking everything else, she just threw in the placenta and I cooked the rest of it. Yep, I cooked placenta tacos. I would just like to say, for the record, I did not eat the placenta tacos. Only Maria, Hector, and Maria’s mom ate them, and they really enjoyed them too! It was interesting to say the least.

Maria had torn a little bit so she needed some sutures. I was nervous about this, but I knew this was a very normal part of a midwife’s job and that I needed to experience this. She had not torn vertically, rather laterally on both sides of the inside of the labia. I just helped by getting things for Angelina and holding different things in different places while she stitched. Oh by the way, don’t worry, we totally used a local anesthetic. Just like the kind you get when you get a filling at the dentist. The stitching took a while, but it really was not all that gross, especially because Maria could not feel a thing. After that was done, we did all of the paperwork and foot-printing, measuring and weighing… and a bunch of other stuff haha. It was all really great in the end.

We got back to the house in the afternoon and I rested. There were some consultations at the house and I found out that there had been a birth while I was at the homebirth! I went to bed pretty early because I was totally wiped. Aurora came in the room later that night and told me that there had been another birth! She said she was going to come get me, but the lady was 5 cm dilated when she checked her and them twenty minutes later the baby was born! NUTS! They didn’t have time to come get me. Oh well J

So Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty similar days. No births. Lots of little visits, pre and post natal. I learn a lot doing the visits too, so I was not sad that there weren’t any births. As usual I went out and ran errands with Angelina and did some home birth post-natal visits. On Tuesday there was a prenatal class that some of Angelina’s friends put on, so I sat in for that and learned some more there too! I did lots of good hanging out with the family and Spanish practicing, nothing too crazy though. One lady who was pregnant with twins came in and that was fun!

Today is Thursday and there are no visits on Thursdays. Aurora left today and we almost were going to drive her to Mexico City because they wanted to go to this great and really inexpensive medical supply store there anyways, but it didn’t end up happening, so she took the bus. So sad to see her leave!

The youngest son of the family, Angelina, and I all went out and did errands today instead. We stopped by Angelina’s sister’s house and ate some food and then went to Maria and Hector’s house. The baby and the mom are doing really great! The baby’s belly button was a little infected so we taught the family how to clean it properly. Angelina has a theory about bathing babies, she says its better to bathe them in a more vertical bucket kind of thing rather than a horizontal bath because it’s more similar to being in the womb. So Hector got a bucket and we gave the baby his first bath! You have to really hold on to the baby if you give one a bath like that, he really did seem to like it though! After that we went to downtown Cuernavaca to buy the youngest son his books for school. That was kind of boring because I was really tired, but it’s all good. Angelina insisted on buying me a frapaccino (I am not sure how to spell it) before we left so that was a really awesome and unexpected surprise!! And once we came home I just headed to my room to relax and have some alone time and write this blog J

I love you all and miss you guys!

New Adventures in Mexico!

Wow. So much to write and so little time! I am in Mexico now and I cannot even tell you how different it is here! I am really enjoying myself though.

The last few days in Costa Rica were really sad. I really had a great last week though! My classes finished out well and I was able to spend some good quality time with my friends. I am starting to feel a little homesick for Costa Rica. I miss it a lot already! Going to the airport and through all the customs and security and all was annoying and a hassle, but it all went very smoothly, thank goodness!

My dad met me in the airport in Mexico and it was really nice to see him after so long! We both took a bus from Mexico City to another big city called Cuernavaca. I feel asleep on the bus because I hadn’t slept all night! The bus was really nice and played a movie for everyone. Once in Cuernavaca my dad and I took a taxi to Angelina’s house in another town called Temixco (teh-mees-koh). I was really nervous because my Spanish is still not all quite there, but there was not much I could do! Angelina came out and greeted us right away! I can’t really explain to you the kind of woman Angelina is, but she is pretty incredible! She greeted us really warmly and invited us in and my dad just stood smiling. She took us through the side of the house and up some outdoor stairs up to my room that I would be sharing with the other girl who is staying with Angelina named Aurora. She is 24, studying to be a midwife and speaks fluent Spanish, kind of a HUGE blessing haha. The room is really nice and I have a pretty large bed, a desk, and room to put my stuff. The bathroom separates Aurora and my room from Angelina’s and the three of us share it.

I had some time to settle in and then, sooner than I expected, we all headed out to go for lunch/dinner with some other midwives in a city called Zepotztlan. We had some really interesting, but yummy, organic food. It was a very interesting meal because I was not understanding everything that was going on, just parts, but Dad was totally lost. Poor guy! Haha. Still fun though. Angelina’s family, Aurora, Dad, and I all went afterwards to visit a woman who had given birth the night before in her home and they wanted to check on her. She had bled a lot and fainted after the birth, but thankfully recovered just fine! (Angelina and I went back again to see her two days ago and she is doing even better and the baby is beautiful!)

Angelina has a husband, Juan, and 5 sons! The youngest three live at home with her and the older two are both away married and have children. The oldest of the three that live at home is also a midwife! It is really something! He is really smart, loves midwifery, and helps me out a lot! There are lots of other people here at the house all the time too, its nuts! Angelina’s father is not mentally well in his old age and he lives here and everyday Angelina’s sister comes over who is also not mentally well. There is a cook/house keeper named Estella who is here every weekday and lots of other people… its crazy! And that is just the “house” part of this place. In the front yard is the birth center where women come to give birth and for other women’s healthy and pregnancy needs. They wait in the driveway if it is a busy day.

On Sunday my Dad and I went into Cuernavaca to see the city and be tourists. We walked around the city went to a cathedral, a museum, and a zoo! Later we went back to Temixco to eat dinner at my Dad’s hotel and walk around Temixco. It was really nice! I got to get to know the town around Angelina’s house and pick up a few necessities along the way. Later we went back to Angelina’s and hung out with the family. We talked (well tried to talk) and Dad played a little guitar and taught one of the sons some songs, it was really fun! Later we played a game called “Basta” which is the Spanish version of Scategories! It was tough to play in Spanish, but all the gringos were allowed to write words in Spanish and English haha.

Dad had to leave on Monday and that was sad, but I was able time to catch up on some much needed sleep and that was good. I observed and helped out with a few prenatal visits on Monday and Tuesday and hung out with the family. It took me a while to figure out the flow of life around here. I am still adjusting to it even now. There really is no normal flow of life. People come and go constantly; women come to the clinic for different reasons; if there is a birth, than there is a birth; you eat and sleep when you can and do everything else that you need to do somewhere in between all of it. AH! It’s a little nuts.

On Wednesday, around five in the morning, Angelina came into my room and told me there was a women in labor who was having a home birth and asked me if I would like to come and of coarse I said yes. So I quickly got ready and we packed up the car FULL of different supplies and headed out to Cuernavaca, which is about 30 minutes away from where we live. I was extremely excited! The house was a nice little condo that was very modern and clean. When we got there the woman, Fernanda, was laying on the bed while her husband was filling up buckets of hot water to fill up the inflatable tub they had set up in their room. Fernanda was in early labor and dealing with it all beautifully. She would take a deep breath in when each contraction began so we would all know to come and support her and the fall asleep when it was over. She was very calm and quiet and very much concentrating on her baby. Angelina and I were doing lots of different things, she taught me different foot massages and pressure points in the feet and ankles that help release hormones that speed up labor, we set up lots of “just in case” things around the room, and assisted the husband with the different things he needed as well. After a few hours of labor Fernanda changed her clothes and got in the tub. I was put to work getting more hot water from the shower. While I did that, Fernanda’s contractions came closer and closer together and before I knew it the baby was crowning! We all came around her, with Angelina at the edge of the tub ready to catch the baby, and she pushed the baby’s head out quietly beneath the water. She gave one more good push and the baby came out! It was about 9am in the morning with a little light coming through the windows; it could not have been more beautiful. The baby was very blue and covered in lots of “baby cream”. Angelina immediately placed the baby on the mother’s chest and everyone was in awe. It was an amazing moment! The baby began the cry very soon after the birth and Angelina helped to suction out some of the fluid from the baby’s nose and mouth. The baby was a beautiful baby girl named Camila. Everything moved very slowly and calmly before, during, and after the birth. It was really a beautiful thing. The baby’s color turned a nice pink tone within a few minutes, Fernanda began to breast feed and I helped to take lots of pictures and videos. Angelina said that the “baby cream” is really good for the skin so all of the grandparents wanted to have some on their face! Haha that was pretty cute… and weird. Fernanda got up after being in the tub a while and moved to the bed to deliver the placenta. Since she began to breast feed really quickly this allowed the placenta to come out quicker and easier (because of the hormones breast feeding creates). Angelina prepared the umbilical cord and Fernanda’s husband cut it. So beautiful!

As the family oogled over the baby, Angelina and I began to clean up. Of coarse, Angelina wanted to keep the placenta to give it to her friend… so we went out to the backyard to cut out the pieces that were good to keep and put it in some tupperwear… It was interesting to say the least. After that I began to take buckets of the water from the tub and pour it into the garden. I made like a million trips and was kind of sweaty and exhausted by the end, but its all good haha. The family fed Angelina and I some breakfast tacos and we all hung out for a while. Angelina went back to the mother and baby later to weigh the baby and test her reflexes, measure her, do all of the paperwork, and put her in a nice little outfit. That was very fun.

After a while Angelina and I packed up our stuff and headed out to give the placenta to her friend. However, if you go with Angelina to do one thing, you have to be prepared to do a million other things as well. So first we had to go to the store to buy Angelina a new shirt because she had gotten it all bloody. And of coarse we walked through the whole store (its was like a Costco/ Wal-mart kind of store) and bought a million other things and spent a really long time there. THEN we were on our way to drop off the placenta, but we drove right by the home of a girl who Angelina attended the birth for a few months back so we had to drop in and say hi. She was very young and super cute and they lived in a little adorable farmhouse. After that we headed out again and stopped at another lady’s house, the same one who had bled a lot that we had visited the first day, and she was doing great and so was the baby. We checked on his belly button and it was healing well. Then we finally headed out to the lady’s house to give her the placenta. It was REALLY far way up in these gorgeous mountains in this interesting gated wilderness community. Angelina asked me to hold the tupperwear with the placenta in my purse so we wouldn’t freak people out and some of the placenta blood totally leaked out into my purse, through my purse, and onto my pants… awesome… all of the dogs really enjoyed coming up to me and smelling me… ugh, that was pretty gross. So we hiked up this hill to the lady’s house, she turned out to be American and actually did not want the placenta… AYE! Que lastima! That was a lot of work for nothing. Oh well haha. So I was exhausted by this point, but we were not done yet! We made about three more stops on the way back to pick up MORE food! Hahaha INCRIEBLE!

We finally headed home around 5 pm and I grabbed some food and headed for bed. I slept for about 5 hours only to be woken up again that there was another birth! I was excited still though. Esteban (the oldest son who is also a midwife), Auroa, and I all helped with the birth because Angelina was getting really sick. The girl was 17 and was there with her mom and her sister and her boyfriend. I stayed with them and I did lots of labor support and helped her through the pain while Aurora and Esteban slept. I was a little nervous to stay with her by myself, but I just counted the minutes between her contractions and looked for signs that things were moving along more quickly. Esteban and Aurora were just steps away if I needed them. She labored beautifully for 3 or 4 hours, not that long after had a beautiful baby boy! She had him on one of the beds in the birth center and Esteban caught the baby. It was about 3:30 in the morning. I went back to bed shortly after and Esteban stayed with her afterwards since he had been sleeping. We all worked together so that we could all sleep a little. It was great!

So on Thursdays the clinic is closed (except for births and emergencies) so it was nice to be able to hang out and catch up on a little bit of sleep. I didn’t do much, hung out around the house a lot. Slept a lot. Ate a lot. Studied a lot. Nothing that exciting. At night, around 9 or 10, a women came to the clinic in early labor. She was doing well so Aurora suggested that I go to bed and they would wake me when things moved more quickly. She labored a lot of the time on her own with the father of the baby. Angelina went down to see her around 3 am and then came and got Aurora and I (because Aurora had gone to bed too) around 4 am and we helped prepare everything that was needed. By the time we got there she was very close to having the baby. She was using the cloth they had attached to the ceiling (I don’t really know how to explain it better than that) to move through the contractions and the contractions were very close together. Angelina had me run into the house to grab something for her and by the time I came back they head was already out! Within a few seconds the baby came out too! It was extremely quick! She was standing up the whole time so the baby practically fell out! Aurora caught the baby and she told me later it came out so quick she thought she was going to drop the baby! The baby is a girl and her name is Sarah. She is just as beautiful as her mother. The placenta took a while to deliver and was a bit of a struggle, but it came out fully intact and looked lovely haha. Angelina got a piece of paper and made a print of it for the new family after Aurora and I cleaned it up a bit. We all helped clean up after the birth and everyone, including the new mom and baby, went to sleep.

So today is Friday and it was another slow day. Gracias a Dios! A few women came in for consultations and one lady who was pregnant came in because she had a lot of pain and it turned out she had a urinary track infection. The woman who had the baby last night stayed most of the day and we filled out paper work for her. Angelina and I were going to go to visit the lady who had the water birth, but Angelina has been really sick so we did not end up going. I had a lot of free time to myself today so I rested and wrote out this whole thing haha. Who knows what will happen tonight, maybe another birth or maybe just time to hang out with the family? We will just have to wait and see.

I am learning so much! My brain is always tired because I am taking in so much Spanish and so much new knowledge about midwifery! I am loving it all though. All of the births have been absolutely beautiful! None of the women have torn or needed sutures yet, which is really awesome! I am sure I will experience that at some point, and I am excited to learn about it, but for the sake of the women I think it is great!

I know this is an extremely long update, I hope you all enjoy it because it took me a long time to write! Hahaha. Please excuse my grammatical errors and typos if there are any. My brain is too full of Spanish to be able to worry a lot about English. Apologies! Much love from Mexico! Besos!