Friday, June 08, 2007

Sorry for the delay...

I wrote this over a week ago, forgot to publish it, and have been traveling, and without internet access for several days! Sorry...
It has been one crazy week (or two)!
Last week I went to Salta and Jujuy for two days. We saw several cute indigenous pueblos, and the famous Mountain of 7 Colors- amazing! Gorgeous! We also saw the ruins (named Tilcara) of an ancient civilization which was conquered by the Incas, and later by the Spanish. Part of the ruins were restored. It was interesting to see, and the area was very beautiful. At the bottom I posted a link to some pictures from the trip with explanations of what they are. Sorry- I have to warn you, the pictures did not upload in any particular order, so they kind of jump from place to place.

I have had some good experiences in clinical in the past week. We have been able to do some labor coaching and support in "La sala de parto" (delivery room). Postpartum and the NICU have been good too. I am not going to write all of those experiences here, but my favorite experience was in labor and delivery, supporting a woman who had no one with her at all. Maybe because I felt like I was making a difference to her, maybe because it was the coolest birth I have ever seen! Like all the other women here, she received no anesthetic- it was all natural. She labored mostly standing, bending at the knees (up and down) during her contractions. I am always so proud of the women after giving birth- they are so exhausted afterwards, but they really work hard to get that baby out (naturally!). When she was close to delivering, the doctor helped pull her up so that she was sort of squatting on the edge of the bed. This helped the baby descend quickly, and she was able to deliver right after that, with no episiotomy or anything. (I can't stand episiotomys, but don't worry, I won't get on my soapbox about that right now. I will just say that the research shows that they are almost always unnecessary.) They let her nurse right away, and cleaned her up quickly. It was the best birth I have seen the whole time I have been here.

*I had better publish this now, before I forget again, and I will publish a more recent update as soon as I can. By the way, I will be coming home this week! See many of you soon!



Salta, Jujuy trip

2 comments:

Mustang Suzie said...

You did sneak this one in--I had been watching and never saw it! I'm thinking that all these birthing experiences have given you ideas about what you would want your own to be like :-). So many of us are completely at the mercy of someone else's decisions--and we have "battle scars" to prove it! I'm anxious to talk to you a whole lot more about all of that. Congratulations, Rochelle, on a wonderful trip. I know you have gained much value and have made the most of your opportunities. See you soon! Mom Taylor

Anonymous said...

I would also like to hear more about this next time I see you! Like BJ said...Wow!