birthdays and babies

So I officially celebrated my birthday last week and celebrations lasted almost the entire week!  My class really made me feel special and I must say,  so far 23 is treating me very well :)

I started the week off on Sunday by going to a beautiful park that overlooks the city of Perth.

 

Monday was my actual birthday, and it was great! I had class for the majority of the day but truly I cannot imagine a better way to celebrate than being here and learning about mother and child health care. What a blessing to be living out my dream. I get to study midwifery!!! Happy Birthday to me! :) I got to skype with my family who was on holiday in Lake Tahoe. That was definitely the highlight of my day. Thank God for modern technology, hey! So nice to see them.

A sweet friend of mine from Denmark made me a beautiful little birthday breakfast on Monday. Complete with Danish flags and all! I loved it.

best looking family ever. ;)

Tuesday was my American birthday (I guess thats one perk of being 16 hours ahead of my hometown- two birthday days! ) so I continued to feel the love as heaps of friends and family from home sent me birthday wishes.

 On Wednesday my class decided to dress up to commemorate the year me and a few of the girls were born (there were 2 other birthdays as well this week in my class)  so it became a full on tacky 80's day. Yeah to 88'

Future Midwives of the nations, people. 

The birthday girls. In all their glory. Welcome to 23.

 In fact, on Wednesday we had our first "real" antenatal clinic set up. Real pregnant mothers from around the YWAM base came to have a check up and we greeted them in these ridiculous clothes! :) As I shared last week, we learned how to do urine analysis, hemoglobin testing to check for anemia, the importance of a proper diet, and vitals (blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and temperature). We were able to use everything we learned last week to practice on the real mums!  We also learned how to do palpations, which is a way to feel the fetus inside the mothers stomach to be able to determine its position and growth! I never realized you can actually feel the baby inside the stomach and even be able to tell how it is lying! Its incredible.

The remainder of the week we learned about some pretty challenging topics including fistulas and female genital mutilation.  It is a hard thing to hear about, but its vital to know so that we can be apart of making it different. I will be going into more detail on these subjects soon!

I ended the week visiting a National Park where I was able to pet and play with some kangaroos, koalas, wombats, and a bunch of other Aussie animals.  

 

I continue to be really busy with school. I am learning lots and cant wait to share everything, but I just thought I would be a little more lighthearted this week and just let you know I am also able to enjoy my time here in Australia. I just continue to feel blessed everyday that this is my life. Patience and obedience are really rewarding,  and God is just so good.

Thanks for being apart of my journey.

week 3 heyyyyy

Can hardly believe that week 3 of lectures is already over! Time is really flying by. Wanted to share a few things from my week. Had a great time covering some really important and vital information.

We started the week learning to do urine analysis:

and anemia and hemoglobin blood testing:

And finished the week learning the importance of antenatal care. This included everything from proper nutrition to learning how to help mothers set up a birth plan.  I have never considered how important it is for mothers to be properly fed. In third world and developing nations, access to proper nutrition is not always readily available. We had to do some critical thinking to see how we could come up with the right types of food to have a well balanced diet, even in countries where they have very little. A well balanced diet might look a lot different in a developing nation than it does in a developed nation- but its crucial for the mother and growing baby to be properly fed!   

Proper prenatal care is SO vital. It can really save lives. I'm getting more and more excited to go into the nations and put into practice all this amazing information I have been learning....

Below you'll see some photos of a mock antenatal clinic that our class set up to be able practice all the new information we had just learned!

 We finished up the weekend doing a  "sausage sizzle" at a local hardware store to raise money for our trip to Africa and Asia. If you are interested in financially partnering with me I will have information up very soon on how you can do that!

 its a little long, but take the time to watch this video! Its so moving and amazing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfjyYJPJWME

so school begins...

first group shot of the class

enjoying an art exhibit in the city of Perth

Hello! For those of you who are reading this, you probably already know who I am, but in case you do not, my name is Laura and I am currently in Australia studying midwifery with an organization called Youth With A Mission.  I will be in Australia for 3 months of in-depth lecture covering such topics as; Midwifery in developing nations, normal labor and delivery, the hormonal and menstrual cycle, diameters of fetal head and pelvis, medical terminology, nutrition in pregnancy, the spiritual dynamics to birth, breastfeeding, normal postpartum and newborn care, infant resuscitation, world health, HIV, malaria, empowering locals, women in crisis, evangelism, and much more! Needless to say, it will be a busy 12 weeks! Immediately following lectures, I will be moving with my school to a developing nation (still currently unknown) to complete an additional 12 weeks of applied lecture and learning.  After this I will be equipped to go into the nations and deliver babies!! The school will take us to another location to put our practice into work for the remainder of time (an additional 5 months)

Wow, what a journey it has been for me to get here! I really feel like I am finally getting the opportunity to live out my dream! And can I just say- if there is something you are passionate about or something you dream of doing- I encourage you to really go for it, because when you get there (no matter how long it may take you to arrive) its something to really celebrate!!

I am writing this blog because I wanted the opportunity to share my thoughts and experiences with you. I also want to bring awareness to some important issues and ask for your support as I embark on this adventure!

Pregnancy is supposed to be something to celebrate. However, in most developing and third world countries it is a time of great fear and danger.  This year alone 600,000 women will die during childbirth. One million infants will be left motherless, and an additional 6 million babies will be stillborn or die within their first week of life. AND 80% of these deaths will be preventable. This is an injustice. It is not fair that such tragedy results solely due to the fact that there are limited resources and education. We can change that!

One of the most exciting things about this organization is that in addition to providing women with the opportunity to have a skilled birth attendant, it also works to establish birth centers, clinics, and orphanages for children abandoned by their parents. It also trains women in maternal and child health to avoid future problems for themselves and in their community. After hearing all of this I was moved to join and to make a difference for the women and children that the world has forgotten. That is why I am here. I believe that every human being on earth should have adequate and safe health care. I also believe this is something that anyone, from any religion, race, or culture, should be able to agree upon.

So this is my invitation to follow me on my journey… Thank you for taking time to read this. Thank you for being involved.