It has been another busy couple days in Piura!
Sunday started out with a bang, or should I say an HOLAAA! As previously mentioned, 50 missionaries (mostly high schoolers) are here this week. On Sundays, we usually get to sleep in an extra hour. The new group arrived a little on the early side... but they are very nice and will be doing awesome work here, mostly building houses. They actually remind me a lot of my youth group mission trip days.
After mass, we all (as in 65ish of us) went to Catacaos, a village just outside of Piura, to do some tourist-y shopping. We didn't buy a whole lot, but it was fun to walk around and see the area.
We spent much of the afternoon at Madre del Redentor, a home for at-risk girls who are mostly 12 and up. They may be identified as vulnerable because of neglectful/drug abusing parents, an environment in which physical/sexual abuse is likely, or inappropriate behavior themselves. The girls live and go to school at Madre. As soon as we got there, the girls grabbed our hands and wanted to get to know us. The girl I spent the day with is named Blanca, a shy 13-year-old. They danced with us (Shakira & La Macarena of course), and performed local dances for us. I hope to go back to see them again soon!
Sunday night it hit me. By it I mean traveler's illness. All that careful eating & brushing my teeth with bottled water didn't do the trick. I think at least half of us have been down with upset stomach problems since we've been here.
I woke up this morning significantly better but pretty dehydrated/dizzy. I was originally put on social services for the day (which would have been building a house), but thankfully someone was willing to switch with me while I was sick. I got to go to a clinic to be with a midwife for the morning. Marisol (the midwife) taught me to do Leopold's maneuvers (feeling where parts of the baby are sitting in the uterus), measure fundal height (to see how baby is growing for how many weeks gestation mom is), find & assess fetal heart tones, and check the cervix/do vaginal exams. I am about 86% sure I want to be a midwife at some point so this was very exciting! Most of the patients were in for prenatal wellness checkups, but in another room was a woman in labor with her 3rd child. 'Precipitous labor' is an understatement. We left her at 5cm to see another patient, but the appointment was soon interrupted by a nurse frantically pounding on the door. If my Spanish is correct, she said something about how the woman was going to deliver within 5 minutes. After rushing to gown up, we got there just in time as she was brought into the delivery room. Fathers are very rarely in the delivery room in Peru, so I gave her my hand. Also, epidurals are never used unless the delivery is by C-section. The baby was born in two short pushes, it was un hijo (a boy)! My instructor & I got a little splash of amniotic fluid in the process. Not to be gross, but a beautifully intact and large placenta followed. Unfortunately, the heat of the gown and dehydration was starting to catch up with me and I started feeling sick. Faint count is still ZERO, but it was a close call (I have POTS- google dysautonomia if you are really curious).
After our siesta, I was in the Pro-life clinic for the afternoon. A nurse named Cecilia sees women of all ages here for prenatal care, wellness visits, and any problems someone may have. When a pregnant woman comes to her and is unable to take care of her baby, Cecilia assists in setting up an adoption. Ashley & I did some exams and learned more about the women in Piura. All in all good day. Again I have no pictures, a combination of my camera dying on Sunday and it being totally inappropriate to take pictures today at the clinic.
¡Buenas noches!
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