Te amo madre!

Although I'm not there to celebrate with my dear madre on this Mother's Day I still wanted to tell her how much I love her! I miss our long phone calls while I'm here in Ecuador. She gives me the best advice and always cracks me up! She really is one of my best friends. About a month ago we got to take a little trip to Arizona and it was so fun just to spend time together. She is such an amazing example to me- always serving others, caring for all of us kids, working in the community (she's STILL on schoolboard!), and making our family so happy. I can't wait to see her in a little bit and catch up on everything! Here's some memories.... 

Colbie Calliat and John Mayer concert last summer

Ward party during our family trip to Manaus, Brazil last summer

This was when Mom and Dad came to visit me in the Dominican Republic

I love you madre! 

¡Vamos a la playa! y RCP

Saturday we had a play day! We drove for two hours to go to the beach as Salinas. 

It was so fun to just relax and play at a pretty beach. 

 We also got to go on a little boat ride on the ocean! 

We mostly sat in the bow of the boat and soaked up the sun. 

Casey and I were in the same ward last year and now we're playing in Ecuador together! 

She's adorable and just put in her mission papers :)

As soon as we got back from the beach we ran over to a two stake health fair for the Church! I was in charge of teaching a 20 minute CPR class (RCP in Spanish). I was super nervous and stressed about it. One of our instructors, Debbie, teaches Basic Life Support and Advanced Cardiac Life Support in the US so I had her help me, especially with the Spanish vocabulary. We had a few different classes and the people switched every 20 minutes. The first class I taught was pretty rough! I even taught something out of order (I think I switched up when to open the airway and when to check for breathing)! But the rest went a little more smoothly. I even cracked a few jokes in Spanish and got a few laughs! They probably laughed hardest though when I had to sing "Staying Alive." You may remember them doing this during the CPR training on "The Office." Well it really is what they teach! This song matches the rhythm which you should do CPR to (100/minute) so I sang a lovely rendition while doing compressions on a dummy. I told them now they know why I went into nursing and not singing! 

Here's the whole group! Some of the stake members and BYU Nurses

Mi casa es tu casa

On Friday I had quite a test for my handyman skills... we built a house! 

At my apartment I am known as the "hubby" because I am often the one to kill the bugs, tuck everyone in (mostly Trisha), and do little projects like fix the blinds or hang a picture frame. These menial tasks failed to prepare me for constructing a bamboo house on stilts. Needless to say, I wasn't the most helpful volunteer. My fellow nurses convinced me to try to hammer in a few nails but soon they allowed/banned me to be the official "nail-giver/photographer." 

In our time down here our group will build four houses for Hogar de Cristo. I explained this program earlier but here it is in a nutshell. Hogar de Cristo employs construction workers to build the walls of the home at the "planta" or factory. People come to Hogar de Cristo to apply for a home. There are many steps to getting a home like a family interview, finances review, and current home visit. Some are living with other family and some may be homeless. The approved families pay for their house in full ($800) over three to four years. They make monthly payments of $15-20. 

The day was HOT and the work hard but we did it! The family we built it for was adorable! They have been together for nine years (quite a feat in Ecuador), he has a steady job as a gasolinero, and they have three beautiful children! 

Lifting up the heavy walls

This was our group of nursing students turned construction workers! 

Half the neighborhood gathered to watch the entertainment... 

gringos trying to build a house :)

These are the two daughters of the family.

 The baby girl's name is Allison (but they called her Allie) so we had a very special bond :)

Pretty much cutest girl ever with her new house! 

Here's the whole bunch! The family, BYU Nursing kiddos, and Hogar de Cristo volunteers

So my skin has discovered that the country is named Ecuador because it's on the freaking EQUATOR. The sun is crazy strong. I put tons of sunscreen on but I now have a perma v-neck tan line from that day. Grrreat! 

Oh and Brett- pretty sure I was representing your dear Alma Mater, Yale, that day! Check out my shorts in the picture with the girls. Go bulldogs! 

iguanas, the temple, and CPR

Tuesday we visited El Parque de Iguanas. Basically it's a block of the city with trees, benches, and TONS of iguanas!!! We saw them all over the grass and then we looked up and they covered almost every branch in the trees. We didn't have hand sanitizer with us so we were kinda leery of touching them (not that I wouldn't be leery of them anyway!). Reptiles aren't really my thing, but hey whatever floats your boat.... 

Then on Wednesday we got to go to the temple! It was such a relief after a few crazy days. I also love hearing the baptismal ordinance prayers in Spanish. 

Finally, on Wen we had another fabulous day at Sotomayor (the maternity hospital). We actually got to help teach basic life support (similar to CPR) to the nurses and doctors! At first they were a little timid to participate in the simulation situations but I think they were excited. Our instructor, Debbie, teaches basic life support, and advanced cardiac life support classes down here. She's awesome! Oh funniest part of the whole lesson- we taught it in the labor and delivery room with patients and all! We were following the charge nurse to do the lesson and she took us right to the room where all the patients are laboring. Luckily it was a slow morning so no one was actually giving birth yet. Usually in the US we do inservices and training behind closed doors but in Ecuador we do it in front of our laboring patients! :) 

Debbie is on the left and you can see the nurses frantically reviving the dummy on the right! 

On Thursday we showed up and the Baby Factory was bursting at its seams! We turned the corner after changing into our lovely green capri scrubs to see every inch of the hallway filled with stretchers. I guess they had a busy night! 

I couldn't believe it when they said they had 25,000 births per year at the hospital but now I do! 

One last picture! I ran into my patient from the first day on the postpartum unit. She and baby Jeffrey are doing well. :) 

Things I love.

The Baby Factory

On Tuesday we started our clinicals in the maternity hospital, Sotomayor. It is so interesting.

This hospital services Guayaquil and much of the surrounding area. About 25,000 babies are born there per year! I couldn't believe a hospital producing more babies than Utah Valley Regional Medical Center, but they've done it! It is very much a baby factory.

Because of the high number of births, they have a very different system from ours. It isn’t better or worse, just different. They start out in a room with about ten to twenty other women, all lying in stretchers. There are so many women that there is no room for spouses or family. Each woman is totally alone! They do not receive epidurals unless they have a special circumstance. Also, the nurses do not perform labor support.

As soon as we entered, we found a woman alone in the corner wailing in pain. I went with my instructor to see what we could do. The woman was eighteen years-old and having her first baby. We started counterpressure (pressure on the knees during contractions), massage, and just talking to her. Soon I turned into a doula for this young girl. Three times she sat up and collapsed into my arms. I had no idea what I was doing but I guess maybe it was nice just to have someone there. I turned into a cheesy, Spanish motivational speaker whispering, “Si se puede!” J She gave birth within an hour or so.

The birthing room is also neat- just a row of fifteen beds with stirrups!

 Despite the different facilities, their nursing and medical care is very up-to-date. The birth was similar to those I’ve seen in the states. After, they go into a room with twenty other women to recover and sleep. Their stretchers are just feet apart and they are all out cold snoring! It’s awesome.

The baby is not given to the mother for a few hours because it would be too hard to supervise all of them together. I felt bad for these new moms anxious to see their babies so I became the baby photographer! I would take pictures of the babies and then go to show the moms in postpartum.

Here's one of my favorite baby shots. He's not too happy about being in this world yet... 

Me with the angry cutie

All in all it was a fabulous day of clinical. We aren’t here to “save” these people- they are thriving in their own way under their difficult circumstances. I was impressed by how much they do not waste equipment. Even every wrapper for sterile gloves was used as a drape for the baby scale. Most of the nurses and doctors are also very friendly towards us, always wanting to chat and work together. I love doing clinical with them! 

Ecuadorians are tiny people! Here's us in our L&D scrubs... more like capris on us! 

And some of our friends on the L&D staff

 It’s been fun to use my Spanish and witness a world of birthing very different from a labor and delivery unit in the US. I will be there all week!