Assisting giving birth and some other things

What a weekend!!!

Starting with the most dramatic and most emotional part:

Assisting giving birth to a baby on a Bangka

It was very hot on the Bangka (an outrigger canoe) today on the way back from White Beach to Batangas. And as seemingly always in the Philippines, the boat was packed. All of the sudden I heard a scream and a few rows in front of me some kind of hectic came up. When I approached the scene I saw a women, pregnant, laying on her back, another white lady starting taking care of her. I introduced myself as a nurse and the other women, Amelie her name, as a physician from France. However, the pregnant women's waters broke already...but still at least 15 min to the harbour. The first idea to try to postpone the birth didn't work since her contradictions where already soo intense and the baby all ready to go. But we haven't had anything, no scissor, no clamps, not much of expeirence...nothing...

The obstetricians team: Bea, me and Amelie

-On the other side trying to suppress the contradiction appeared to be very risky for the baby. Bea joined us in the obstetricians team and translated . We organized towels to cover the sight, scissors, desinfection...it was amazing: everyone was exited and anxious, I called for what we needed and somehow everyone on the Bangka supported and helped us getting the materials together. It was hot, you could feel the tension on the boat and the question: what happens if there is a complication?! It was soooo intense!!!!

But in the end the mother had a final contradiction and there it was: a little baby-girl!!!!!!!

We took care of the baby, and after a few seconds it started to breath itself! Since we haven't had anything else I had to ligature the umbilical curt with hair ties and we cut it.

All went well. And people applauded. It was as if the entire boat was a huge family for that moment. I have never experienced something like that before: whether assisting giving birth in such a setting nor that more than 100 people are all concerned about the lives of two people. It was like in a movie- but reality!

Some friends of mine know how I usually talk about the process of giving birth, but this time, holding the little baby in my arms, making sure that it breathes, checking if the eyes are OK and so on- honestly, I feel just so great!!! I was always scared that I could get into such a situation, but we: Amelie, Bea, the other passengers on board and me- we where just a great team!

When in the end we reached the peer and the paramedics took care of the baby and the mother we finally left the boat. The passengers however, waited for us to leave and as soon as they saw us they jelled, applauded again, soo many people shook my hands, said Thank You, congratulated and everyone wanted to have pictures with the "heroes" (a term they called us- which of course i like a lot!!!!)

Only afterwards I've noticed that Bea and I had blood and other body fluids all over us. I will never forget that unique and once in a lifetime experience. Thank you to everyone on that Bangka today- we helped a little baby seeing the sun for the first time!

White Beach

 
The reason for me being on that Bangka was the fact that I urgently needed a time out from the hectic and chaotic place called Manila. And why not starting the preparations for the Master Thesis in a white sand, turquoise water paradise beach?

The place White Beach is close to Puerto Galera, which is on the island of Mindoro and only 3 hours away from Manila. It is a cute little place with jungle in the back, huge palm trees, some monkeys playing around and water so warm and clear that you don't want to get out of it at all.

At night you can take a swim under the moon while fire dancers at the beach perform with torches or Trannies perform lip singing shows for their audiences.

Next to all kinds of food you can also try national delicacies:  For example "Balut" which

"is a fertilized duck embryo that is boiled and eaten in the shell. Popularly believed to be an aphrodisiac and considered a high-protein, hearty snack, balut are mostly sold by street vendors. It is commonly sold as streetfood in the Philippines." 

You must imagine a huge egg with a little bird inside. You can identify the anatomic structures and sometimes it even has already feathers and beak. Thank you Bea and Jaime  for sharing that experience with me :)

Next to those cultural highlights i should also point out that in that village of course also prostitution takes pace. You see older white guys with Filipinas, or Filipinos walking at the beach- just like people would stereotype it. Since many people are poor and heavily rely on tourism no one is concerned about that business. For me, not morally questioning prostitution it was just kind of interesting to really see basically the Asian sex tourism many people in Europe talk about.

Summing up- that weekend was so much more I could have asked for and again, I am just thankful for each single experience, taste, smell or sunburn! For now and the upcoming week- I will focus again on my intern and the urban poor.