The Midwoof

There are angry mangy dogs everywhere in Bali, and organizations called “I *heart* Bali Dogs” try and save them from their potential miserable lives. But I’ve decided I don’t love the dogs, or the monkeys who try to steel everything from you; cameras, food, sunglasses, I’ve heard about them picking up burning cigarette butts and put the wrong end in their mouths. But they chase, and bite and hiss, they are nasty. They live in the Monkey Forest Sanctuary which I walk through if I need to get to town from the village I’m staying in: Nyuh Kuning village which means “yellow coconut."

There is one dog who has decided for some reason that he needs to walk me from the clinic to the ashram if it’s during the night after a birth. I just learned that his name is Highway, and he’s considered the “midwoof” of Bumi Sehat. Ah, I love it.

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This week there was a grand ceremony holiday called Galungan, and it's been described as the Hindu Christmas, meaning it's probably the biggest holiday of the year. It's mainly for the children and each family compound spends days building and creating a beautiful and uniquely decorated HUGE branch from the forest and sticks it upright in the ground with dyed palm strands and lanterns and flags and amazing floral and fruit arrangements hanging all over it. You can see in the photo of the street (from in front of the clinic) that it's lined with these overarching "Christmas trees." The kids eat a ton of sweets, traditional Balinese meals are made, and family's spend money they don't have to put it all on. I've been told that bellies, cupboards, and health tend to go without for a few days before and after in order to make it work financially.

What was very striking to me was that the clinic was very busy the day before the holiday, chock full of primips (first-timers) in very early labor and multips (not first-timers) who were drinking lots of young coconut water in an attempt to get labors going. There were 8 babies born the day before the big day. Then... nothing. Then a flood of births came on the day following the holiday! I think that's hilarious. It's been amazing, but exhausting. The number of volunteers has also dwindled, so my own workload has picked up. I'm doing a lot more clinical tasks than on top of the labor support, which is very good for keeping up my nursing skills, it's been great. And, I consider this kind of thing a bonus or perk to this job, I saw a baby born in the caul for the first time. This happens when the membrane of amniotic fluid never rupture during labor, and labor progresses fine without the need to have it ruptured which is soooo common to have done. So the baby is actually birthed still in the sac--face all smooshed up. It's imperative to break the sac at that point but it is considered very spiritually lucky, in many cultures. It was exciting for me.

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Also posted is a photo of Robin Lim and her daughter Déjà. We were privleged to see the very first unofficial "premier" of Déjà's new documentary Guerilla Midwife. The film is about Robin and her incredible life's work to bring peace on earth with every gentle birth. She and her organization did a lot for the Tsunami victims in Aceh on Sumatra, the stories in the film told by survivors are horrendous and beautiful. I can't wait till the film is available for everyone, it's a "must-see."