long day

Well my day started with the suturing at 5:30. Well getting up at 5:30 has become pretty normal so after I was done suturing I didn't go back to sleep, I made some breakfast and checked e mail. I brought some of my homemade pancake mix from home. I'm glad I did, because it's pretty slim pickings otherwise. There are plenty of eggs, the yolks break apart as soon as you crack them. The poor chickens here probably don't get any greens. This is true city. Houses are right up against each other, and there are cement porches, but really no yards. So you see these little skinny chickens running around and I'm not sure what they eat.
So back to my day.......
The director of the school wanted to take Monica and I to a certain mall. they have a lot of malls here. So we were ready by 9 am. I actually saw 3 stop lights. Kris explained that everyone knows which ones you need to obey. She said they put a few lights in last yr but found it made traffic worse, so now they blink and no one paid any attention to it.
Probably half the mall is a food booths. there are so many people in every shop to help you. Monica wanted to look for a pair of carpi's. So we asked the 1st person we saw. Within a few minutes we had 6 people trying to find what she wanted and more. Then they come to the changing room with us, and look at everything she trys on, and says "that's pretty, or you need a larger size" and one of them runs off to grab it. Then they were repeating her name "mon-i -c a" over and over. They found it an interesting name. Amazing service! I'm afraid it's a little overwhelming.
Melamine plates are a big thing over here. They have lots of designs and variety. I bought a whole stack of small bowls for about 16 cents each.
Well we had a little miracle that I praise God for. Monica accidentally left her purse in a chair. It had the camera and some money in it. We had gone upstairs and came down 10 min. later without noticing yet it was missing. When this young lady runs up "mam" and brings the purse to us. Nothing missing! People are so sweet here. They call you mam or mum a lot. It's an equivalent to yes mam in the south, but it's done in this certain same tone, and when you go to the stores you hear it about 100 times. They answer everything with a yes mum, or no mum or thank you mum. It's really sweet.
I had to be on my shift at 2 and we rushed back, I had barely enough time to get some scrubs on and run over only to sit and do nothing as there were no lady's in labor again. For the interns that need numbers it's so frustrating when it's slow.
Well eventually someone came in a 1st time mom, Christians and a sweet couple whose husband was so attentive to her. She gave birth around 10 pm, and she tore really bad. Well I hate to see people tear, but it is so good to get some practice with these wonderful midwives working with me. It was 2nd degree, but pretty close to 3rd. Defiantly a the worst tear for me to have to suture. It took me an 1.5 hours, the poor mom. I'm so thankful for the opportunity to practice this skill. It makes me feel so good that I am actually learning and getting confident in it.
Now it's 2:30 am and suturing must have given me an adrenalin rush, because I'm not so tired. We have another mom in labor now. Hopefully she will birth before my shift is over at 6,
One of the interns has a little baby they are taking care of. He weighs only 7 lbs but he's 9 months old. I guess his mom was sick, so the missionary offered to care for the baby till she is better. They have had him for a month and they are trying to get enough nutrition in the little guy. He has the eyes of a 9 mo old, but a body like a 2 mo. when they first brought him home, he couldn't even hold up his head!
My shift ends at 6 am and I'm sure I'll sleep deep as I have had too many short nights lately.