update

Hola mi amigos...I pray you are all doing well. It was sweltering heat here for a few days...like 103 degrees. Then once again a cold front came in and we had a terrible storm..hail galore! Many people in the mountains had never seen hail before. It was very exciting. The weather has been so crazy here. People say it's never been like this before. We were really worried about our lettuce/parsley/swisschard/cilantro in the garden.. but as you can see from the pictures below God really protected it. I mean it hailed steady for about a half an hour, so it's a miracle that there was no damage at all.

It was a good size hail

miraculously saved

After raining babies here at the hospital for a while it's been kind of slow. I guess because of the weather, moms are waiting until the last minute to come in. We had one baby outside on the grass. Then we had one with the head out in the waiting room...so that was a pretty exciting night. The nurses and doctors here are so calm. They do not get excited about anything. I guess that's easy when there is hardly any thing you can do to get in trouble. Unlike America, the threat of a lawsuit or even a complaint is almost non-existent. It makes it less stressful to practice and to learn from these ladies, but at the same time...you feel for the mothers. And that's all I'll say about that..since this is now public and I'm still here.

Last night all the nurses, doctors, guards...even some of the moms were trying to watch or listen to the game on the TV. Honduras was playing Panama futbol which is our soccer. The whole town was obsessed with the game. I couldn't even get the hospital van driver to stop long enough to take me home...so I walked. It's suppose to be a no-no for me here at night. But between the game and the pouring down rain, there was no one on the streets so I figured between the two, I would be safe.

Well Glesni is leaving next week..so my little translater, tech helper and friend will no longer be with me. So I will be going it alone on the blog. To make matters worse, the little brand new netbook I borrowed from a friend down here was dropped and stepped on. Yes, by me!. I think it's that unconscious love/hate relationship I have with technical things. I just seem to drop them. So now this big black hand like thing is creeping across the screen. I don't know how long I'll be able to see anything...but I will keep going as long as I can.  We're in the bakery on wifi again. It doesn't take an hour and a half to eat one piece of carrot cake I buy, but the lady doesn't seem to mind us hanging out here on our computers. Oh...and I almost took a cold shower today..so I'm getting close to getting under. They say it will get hot enough where it will feel good, but I figure if 103 degrees didn't do it! I will conquer it before I leave. Thanks for your encouraging emails..I will try to answer whenever I can.  Gotta go...adios amigos, I miss you and hot water...love Heather

Just wanted you to see the size of the lemons on the tree in front of my house. It seems they have several types and sizes of lemons here

Checking In

Hi everyone, all is well down here.  It's definitely summer here. I'm sorry about all the trouble with the blog...I did try to warn you though about my tech skills.  If Glesni wasn't with me I don't think there would be a blog at all. These youngsters have to help us old folks with technology.  I really wanted a private blog..but I didn't like what they required you all do... like get a gmail account...so now it's public...so I have to be more careful of my pictures and comments.

There was no water in all of Santa Barbara for a whole day and a half. Some people have tanks I guess...but generally no one skipped a beat...businesses..restaurants. hospitals etc carried on as usual. We would have been in major crises mode in America...everything would have shut down. We Americans went out and bought big bottles of  antibacterial solution. But here...these people just accept and adjust.
 The last few nights it's been raining babies at the hospital. Almost all boys..I've been letting Glesni catch since she will be leaving in a two weeks.  We had another set of twins there..surprise..the mom didn't know she had twins, neither did whoever did her prenatal care - if she had any - but I guess it's good because she would have had a C-section. We also had a little preemie. His mother did not have the money to take the baby to San Pedro Sula to the big Hospital in an ambulance so the baby just died here in the hospital.  It was only $60..if I had it on me I would have paid it myself. I will be sure to carry money next time in case someone needs an ambulance. The huge medical treatment would be free if the baby just got there, but not being able to afford the ambulance keeps them from getting it.
 I will be catching a baby up in the mountains any day now. Th word got out that there is a partera (midwife) up here. Anyway it's not what I planned.... to come down here and be on call. Anyway I just want to do what God wants me to..and he seems to be leading. In some ways there is not much to work with but as far  as drugs..I can just walk in the local drug store and get any thing I want for almost pennies. Lidocaine, pitocin, suture materials. IV stuff etc. You can even get morphine, steroids,  really hard stuff...anything without prescription.
Well... continue to pray for me mi amigos, especially my Spanish. I was hoping to be chatting with you Nina when I get back in Spanish, but as it's going... I don't know.  That's all for now. I have to come over to this little bakery, buy a pastry, and then I can sit here for as long as I want and  use the wifi. I see the American kids from Andrews who work at the REACH orphanage here..we compare notes of our Honduran adventures.
Well...here are some pictures of some of our babies.
.

the babies were coming so fast we had three to a warmer

another one of our precious moms right off the delivery table

lot's of babies

these are our sweet little surprise twins

Talk soon....love hw

First Weeks at the Hospital

Believe it or not, we are inside the hospital compound. It doesn't look like a hospital at all!
Everything is very poor and very crude. 

Well, here I am at the hospital.

This is Glesni Mason. She's from Idaho. She only 19-years-old and her parents let her stay to work with me in the hospital for a month to gain experience and exposure to birth. She speaks some Spanish, so that's been really a big help to me since I'm still struggling to understand what people are saying.

They had the sweetest little twins here. The mom was very young.

Here are your baby bundles at work. 

Hardly any of these ladies are  over 30...even though they look it....most are 20 or younger and some on there 3rd child.

   If the ladies don’t look happy after the birth there is a good reason. They really are thankful for the bundle...but this poor little girl just went through torture after a really easy birth. They cut really big episiotomies for almost every lady. They are sewn up with very little anesthetic. Thank you again for your gifts. These ladies are right off the delivery table. No husband, friend or relative by their side. It’s really nice to be able to dress their babies in something bright and pretty after what they have been through. The nurses and doctors have been great and are willing to let me do whatever I want. I’ve been observing so far mostly and believe it or not appreciating hospital births in the US. Birth here is brutal and sometimes hard to even watch, but nobody is being mean… this is how birth is here and it is accepted.

The women are usually laboring flat on their backs and alone. The nurses let us circulate around and help. We try to get them to stand and walk to help shorten labor and encourage them with our few practiced Spanish phrases. It seems overwhelming at times because help is so foreign to them.. but just knowing we can show some tenderness to a few ladies and they can know that someone is there for them and cares.  Hopefully it is a blessing.​

We are trying to offer as much TLC as we can. A back rub and and encouraging word is very foreign to them in labor. Things are looking up though. More ladies seem to be trying to walk and letting us help. We usually attend about five births a night.

These are some of the nice nurses that have been letting us do IVs and catch babies.

These are some of the doctors doing their social service here for a year. There is usually one who speaks at least some English every night and can talk us through procedures.