49 mosquito bites

That's the going count on just my lower legs... Good thing is that it is not yet the rainy season! It's been sunny here every single day. Mmmmmmm.

Two nights ago, I went to my first 2 birthing dome births! They were both having their 5th babies so things went relatively fast, I think they were only an hour long each! Both babies were in the early 6lb range which is the normal birthweight here. It's been so really fascinating to learn about chinese medicine/homeopathy remedies for different pregnancy or labour-related things - here they use Yunnan baiyao as a herb to stop bleeding after the birth and rarely have to use oxytocin (all you birthing folks will know what that means). We also do cord burning rather than clamping and cutting cords, since it cauterizes the cord and prevents infection from tetanus and other bacteria since most babies are going home to tents right now and are much more exposed to infection. The process involves 2 people burning an area on the cord with candles, and eventually the cord breaks away. Virtually no cord is clamped and cut before the placenta is delivered (which happens also very fast here from what I've heard and seen). It was really quite serene to be in the birth dome with Eliana with the new mom and baby and sit quietly in the darkness only lit up by our two candles and two lanterns and wait patiently for the cord to bun through. The babies don't seem to mind either! They are SO incredibly cute by the way.

Yesterday was a day off, so Eliana and I and one of our many friends and helpers here at the house (Ambroise) headed out to the beach again, this time on scooters. They are pretty much the craziest drivers ever! But the trip was awesome - wind blowing through my dusty hair, past the corn fields and banana trees... Everything outside of Jacmel was fairly untouched by the earthquake, and I had never envisioned Haiti to be so lush and green given all of the images of broken down cities and debris and rubble that are everywhere on the internet. We ate fish and plantain chips on the beach, and swam in the most beautiful ocean EVER. The water was so warm and salty that you could just float around in the sunshine for hours probably. There were heaps of local children swimming around, and fishing. I think it's funny that when I tell the local women to swim in the ocean to help with their swollen feet, they always laugh at me! The other trend on my two beach days so far has been that we eventually get squeezed out of the main beach area in favour of the soccer players.

Today was another prenatal clinic day. The workers set up a tent outside for all of the women who were waiting today to shield them from the blistering sun! I'm sure it was already 30 degrees when we headed up there at 9am... Their patience is astounding- some women wait 3 hours to be seen, and don't ever complain. Virtually everyone here is anemic but we don't have much to give them besides prenatal vitamins and a bit of Floradix which we will run out of soon. (On a side note, my mosquito bites are SO itchy right now that I am scratching my legs off!!)

So now I am off for a nap and maybe some Haitian shopping. They have beautiful dresses here.

I hope you are all well and enjoying the cool, rainy weather! I am missing it just a bit right now... xo