Day 136

I have computer access! Connecting to the wireless internet was painless, and I am now able to post to the blog and send email from my laptop. I finally feel settled in here.

When I arrived on Wednesday, I came straight from the airport, put on scrubs, and went to work. I planned to just continue working as long as I could, so I could take advantage of every moment here. Apparently, that wasn't the healthiest of plans, because a birth early this morning (after a sleepless night and only 2 hours of sleep the night before) kicked my butt and I was completely useless by 7 am. I came to bed and slept until the afternoon, only to wake up with a massive migraine and the shakes that only come after a long birth and not eating well. I was miserable. I hauled myself into the shower, forced myself to eat, took some excedrin, and tried some self-acupressure. By the late afternoon, I was much better. I got to talk to Louis, my parents, and T, and I did my first load of laundry. I tidied up my room, finished unpacking, and chatted with the interns.

Now that it's almost 10:30 pm, I feel great. Of course, I also feel wide awake, so that could be a problem.

I know everyone wants to know about any drama with interns, but I am so happy to report that there currently isn't any. Oh, there are quirks here and there (some have more than others), but mostly it's a good group right now. There are four interns and one resident (that's me) who are living in the intern house. My first trip here, there were as many as seven interns, so the house was much fuller and more chaotic. Four is a good number, because only two are left in the house at any given time, allowing for more privacy and making access to things like the bathroom and kitchen much easier.

Two students are from Canada; one is from Quebec and I can't remember where the other one is from. Another student is from southern California and there's one from Atlanta, Georgia. The Canadian students both speak French, with the one from Quebec speaking limited English.

The non-Quebec Canadian is kind of a trip. She's my age but seems younger. She is the sweetest, most generous person who also tends to be quite innocent and a little aloof. She has a little bit of difficulty staying focused, which became slightly annoying while we worked together at this last birth. She has a tendency to ramble on and on about something totally unrelated to a given conversation, so I'm learning to avoid asking her any questions unless I think she can give a short, direct answer.

My first day here, I arrived wearing my new beaded earrings from the Stanford pow wow, which everyone oohed and aahed over. This student asked me right away if I was Native American and then went into a whole conversation that was totally unrelated. The midwife and I made eye contact from across the room and kinda shrugged.

The next day, talkative student showed up wearing a beaded Native American necklace. Still unaware of her quirks, I complimented her on it and asked where she got it. I swear, this is how the conversation went:

Me: Hey, nice necklace. Where'd you get it?

Her: Oh, do you like it? Oh, thank you! I wore it today because I thought your earrings were so pretty. Oh, I have a whole bag full of jewelry I brought and I have some orange beaded earrings, and you can totally wear them whenever you want because I think they would look so good on you. I mean, you might not like orange, but I think it would be a good color. So, anytime you want to wear them, just let me know.

Me: Um, ok. Thanks.

Her: Oh, so I love your hair and how long it is. See, my hair used to be long but then I had dreads and now it's thin and shorter on one side and I'm trying to grow it out and I just really love long hair. Are you hot here? See, I noticed that with long hair, you can get really hot, so you should try what I'm doing. I wear a bikini top under my scrubs and if it's just hot enough, I get my bikini top wet and then throughout the day it helps keep me cool and you should totally try it.

Me: Um-

Her: -So, when I was in Oregon I was homeless and then I had this friend whose family owned a thrift shop and they let me work there and well, they paid me seven dollars an hour, which was really okay and then they let me live there. So I lived in the thrift store and it was really cool. And so, maybe I got this necklace there but I can't remember. But, if you look close, you can see that there's a string that is missing some beads, but I still really like it. And yeah, so I really like this necklace and I think it came from the thrift store. And I think my earrings did too, and you can totally wear them. The orange ones. Okay, now I have to go switch the laundry.

As she left, I just stood there thinking, "What the heck just happened?"

Last night, when the midwife the clients refer to as "La Morena" came on, we had a nice few minutes alone to hug and reconnect and I asked her what was up with all the white girls! I missed her! We had a hilarious politically-incorrect moment as we joked about how they all look the same and we're having a hard time telling them apart. White girls with dreads, Asian character tattoos, yoga pants, thrift store flowy skirts, and cardboard-like health food. Ay, dios. Student midwives are sometimes such a cliche.

Anyway, with this same midwife (we'll call her LV), I got to catch a baby this morning. It was so wonderful to feel her support me in my role with the total freedom to run the birth the way I wanted. I realized it was really only because there was a mutual respect that it worked so well. It is really an honor to have earned the respect of a woman I so much admire. She was so supportive and encouraging of my skills at the birth. Afterwards, she came up and told me it was good for her to see me get back in the saddle. I am so glad we get to work together.