Slow Day

Arrived at the hospital this morning to find that the woman from yesterday had delivered her baby overnight, a big but initially floppy baby ("mama say she take the kastom medicine befo she come") that looked healthy by the time we saw him.

No babies born while we were there today. More baby measuring, gauze folding, doctor-and-midwife following. The midwives shared some breadfruit with us, all pudding-y and wrapped in leaves. Encouraged us to "kakae moa." The student nurses we've befriended were having their last day, which was disappointing to us; one in particular had been trying to teach us Bislama, and they had been happy to share their work with us.

We left somewhat early. I contacted my family, finally, by Skype, and have settled in with my senior paper.

Missed Triplets! Argh!

(internet is punky, updates may be scattered...)

So after that last post we hiked up to the hospital, said hello, handed over some instant coffee, and left. We went snorkelling and sat reading over senior paper materials while a rainstorm passed.

In the meantime, triplets were born at the hospital. Both the doctor and the midwife thought of us but had no way to reach us. Triplets and then a set of twins.

We could kick ourselves. Probably will.

Both T and I are hoping that our trip is not defined by this...oh yeah, Niki and T went to Vanuatu and they missed triplets because they decided to sit off their jet-lag at the beach!

Yesterday, a full 8 hours at the hospital with nothing more exiting than a woman who was 1cm walking around like she was in full-on labor when we got there, and only making it to 3cm by the time we left. We washed a couple of babies, discharged some women, restocked things, learned to use the EFM, made boards full of little ripped-up bandages, and called it a day. We sweat heavily the whole time. So fucking hot.

In the meantime...

After my last blog post, it started to rain. And then it RAINED. Like I haven't seen in years, like a big push-up-the-stormdrains Hawaii storm. Kids were running down the driveway and steeper roads sending little boats made of bits of trash into the new-made rivers. We sat in our little cabana-thingy and waited, sleepily, for the rain to abate. Which didn't happen. Intent on beating the time change, we refused to fall asleep, and instead went to the pool and swam as the downpouring rain began to overflow to the deck.

A bit over an hour later (time really can crawl when you're trying not to fall asleep, can't it?) we made the decision to walk into town, rain or no rain.

This may have been a mistake. Ankle-deep fast moving water all over the roadways carrying god-knows-what. We got a few encouraging words from the locals: "you beat that storm!" in addition to the usual "hello." As we passed a school, a bus (van) sent up a mighty splash, soaking the last bits that our umbrellas were protecting. This amused the children greatly, but the way they laughed and waved felt friendly rather than mocking.

Despite all that, we had a good outing. We went into Port Vila:





We walked through the main town, made our way to the waterfront, and made a portion of our return trip along the water. There, the rain let up enough to take pictures:



Although not quite enough to explore the open market we saw there. We re-entered the town strip at the very-amazing market; so much stuff available! The exchange rate is around 120 Vatus per US dollar; the humangous(!) avocados in the picture are less than a dollar. The greens looked beautiful. Many local people were at the market eating or lounging (or doing both of those things while attending tables).






We came back to the "resort" in time to sit with the other guests at the weekly barbecue, drink a beer and have some lovely grilled fish and edible steak. We made our way back to our room (all 50 feet away), exhausted, to finally sleep.

I didn't sleep well, but I did sleep.

The coffee maker we requested apparently went to the (happy recipients at) next cabin over, so we're drinking coffee brewed in a pot until the grounds settled and then poured off the top, courtesy of T. Brilliant, I say. Who cares if it's chewy, it's caffeinated! I made some omelettes. We opened an avocado and discovered that it needed a while yet to mature.

On to the hospital today to make ourselves known.

(I don't know why some of the pictures are showing up smaller than others, sorry).

In Vanuatu

Here I sit with my classmate/travel partner/friend (hereafter to be referred to as T) in a lovely little cottagey-"resort" room thing, after nearly 24 hours of travel time. From Seattle to LA, and there, we had less than two hours of time for us to get our bags, get rechecked and through security and onto an international flight...I don't think I've run that much since I was actually in track and doing it on purpose. And I enjoyed it way less than I used to. Luckily, we then transitioned into a hella-long (I am not even sure how long that flight was, 11 hours maybe?) flight to Fiji, which was mercifully empty; so much so that we each took a row and slept the flight away (well, most of it anyway). On to Vanuatu.

I have sweat more in the last 24 hours than I have in the entire last year. Pathetic, really. Comfortable now.

We have been to the market already. Plotting a trip to the pool later this afternoon. We will present ourselves at the hospital in the morrow, and see how that goes.

In which Niki cleans her bathroom floors...finally

I have discovered that the surest route to a clean bathroom floor is a good old-fashioned toilet overflow incident.

Ah, the squeaky-cleanness.

Once the kids' bathroom floor was scourged, I of course had to do my own. Procrastination is a lovely thing so far as my housework is concerned.

I am a mush of conflicting emotions today. Irritated because the kids aren't getting along very well and keep bickering, satisfied because I have clean bathroom floors, frustrated because of a missed connection this morning, happy to be off call. It is odd that I can't shake an uncommonly high nervousness today. I think what I really need to do is stop procrastinating, worry over when I am going to pull out the LOs and start studying in earnest is not helping me in the slightest. Procrastinating, though, is so much more fun.

Of course

Of course, primip births over the weekend that my MIL, my weekend "if-I-get-called" babysitter, is out of town.

Had my first experience with a placenta that just *would not* (not after an hour, or after a crapload of drugs, or after manual removal) come out. Finally extracted a gnarly-looking most-of-a-placenta that obviously had a cotyledon missing. And off to the hospital. Luckily the 9lb babe, postterm by examination, was happy and healthy.

And I officially hate prelabor rupture of membranes when the woman is GBS positive. UGGGHHHHH. Can I officially *detest* it when she lives over an hour away, so it isn't like I can just zoom in for a dose of antibiotics and a pep talk?

I'm not feeling quite so lost at this new place now. I suppose you could say I've settled in a lot more in the past week, having done a lot more and talked a lot more with my preceptors, but I remain uncomfortable there for a variety of small reasons that aren't particularly important, but add up. I'm also not sure whether it is about a mismatch on some level or about my complete readiness to be done with this whole schooling thing. I'm not saying that I don't need more experience; I'm just saying I'm tired and ready to be done living this way.

Head Above Water

Three births last week. Our "not busy, taking it easy" month. There are more women in dates, only one of them actually overdue, but I have felt curiously at ease about this weekend not involving any of them.

I am feeling like a real idiot at times in this new practice. A lot of that is about not knowing how they think some things should be handled and some of that is about getting thrown a few situations I've never seen before, but that are so common that my preceptors have assumed I'd know what I was doing.

Went to an NNR renewal course on Thursday, and school on Friday, but then got home early enough to go out with ~L~, something that pretty much never happens and was really great for my mental health. I did assorted house things and grocery shopping things and played tennis with the kids yesterday (Saturday), and today I am stubbornly refusing to leave the house until the Christmas stuff is properly stowed away in neat plastic bins. Currently writing while eating hummus and very salty chips. Listening to Bob Marley and packing away Christmas decorations. Entertaining.

I lost a chunk of my senior paper when my computer died (like, it won't even power on) last week. That hurts so bad that I'm not even wallowing about it, I'm just trying not to poke at that bruise until it is mostly healed.

Pondering whether I might manage to go to Vanuatu after all.

Busy beyond busy. School assignments are falling by the wayside in the desperate scramble to get enough time with my family to make this whole thing tolerable. Somehow managing to find time for most of the things I need to do, but no energy left to think about the future, something that I really do need to get around to.

Yum

I am making a massive batch of black bean soup and it smells gooooood.

Yesterday I canned apples and they smelled good, too.

I finished a bunch of school work, which didn't smell good, but was gratifying.

And I unpacked a few more boxes, which also didn't smell good, but was also gratifying.

My Christmas tree is up, and I think that's pretty pathetic. I still have school work I'm avoiding, also pathetic.

Girliness is back from Hawaii with a mystery rash (probably viral as her lymph nodes are swollen), a bit of a tan, and many happy memories.

I Don't Waaaaannnnnaaaaaaaa

After 12 hours of clinic a day, with a one hour drive time each way, I do NOT want to do schoolwork.

I just don't.

Bite me.

MWHWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

*silver lining* I like the new clinic building. A lot. *silver lining*

The weather sucks right now.

I have a massive headache and PMSy crampy hormoney issues, and came home after 8 tonight STARVING to find absolutely no prepared food in the house. ARGH.

/random headachey thoughts from Niki

Found my Camera! Christmas pics!

Well, we were snowed in - and others snowed in at their respective places - so BittyPrincess turned 4 with just our family and a little homemade heart-shaped cake. She was ever so thrilled, so I guess the fact that we had to cancel the BittyPrincess Birthday Solstice Superparty didn't hit her so very hard. I think our friends - snowed in for a week or more - were harder hit than the birthday girl was. I can't believe how big she's getting, how fast.

Girliness made her a snowman, and Boyness grilled her some salmon burgers:



Our Christmas went off without a hitch. It was nearly perfect. Despite the fact that we didn't bring out nearly all of our decorations (in particular, we only lighted the patio and we definitely had enough lights to have done up our front yard), the effect was lovely and very happy-making for us.





Christmas morning happiness:







A few days later, Girliness was picked up by my dad and they flew together back to Hawaii, where she is having a solo visit for a week. She's my independent one and I'm certain that she's fine. Building memories, having fun, probably missing her mom and dad only a little bit, enjoying lots of attention from her grandparents and aunt and uncles.

On Monday, I dive back into four days a week of clinic, 9-7. I learned this holiday season that it takes me approximately two weeks of normal life to recover completely from a big burnout. I am ready to go again. Not eager...but ready. I am wanting to be done working on other peoples' terms already. I know I'm not quite ready for that yet - so off I go. The practice moved recently and I hope the new location is better. *Sigh* I can do that. 1 month down, 8 to go.

Kid Snow Fun!

Miscellaneous snow pics

A bit of crazy

This insanity needed a post all its own. You would think that after a week of getting snow every day, it would get at least a little old. Maybe not "I hate snow" old, but not exactly "YAY it's snowing RUN OUTSIDE BAREFOOT!" anymore.

Well, that's what I thought anyway.

But I was wrong.

Deck and Backyard Trees, a week of snow

Front of the house, a week of snow