Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Trip Recap

Midwifery Internship-
Mercy Maternity Center, Davao City, Philippines-
Summer 2010
I spent the first few days being oriented to the birth clinic and the dormitory. I found that the supervising midwives (mostly Filipino, some American missionaries) were all very kind and of course, extremely knowledgeable. In fact, one supervisor even has a brother that attends NSA in Moscow- small world, eh! It was really incredible to see how Newlife International School of Midwifery is meshed with Mercy Maternity Center- a charity lying-in clinic. The students’ tuition money goes directly to running the clinic and providing quality services to these poverty stricken people in Davao. (And it IS quality care, believe me! I saw the hospital that they would have to otherwise deliver at: overcrowded, dirty, disgusting, NO privacy: picture a gymnasium filled with hundreds of beds, family members holding IV bags, mothers nursing babies, laboring women, family members, body fluids, 90+ degrees and 90% humidity, no curtains, occasional rodents/bugs, etc.) So the students are being financially supported by their home churches and communities as missionaries. It is a fantastic system! Kent and I hope to learn more about how they operate the clinic and midwifery school. Perhaps we will be able to make a short term missionary trip back to Davao in a few years over the summer.
I received excellent education during my time in the Philippines. I watched expert midwives (who have attended literally thousands of births- Mercy does 150+ births per month!) suture and got to practice myself. I also got to practice placing IVs. These two skills are what my preceptors at Spokane Midwives asked me to work on specifically! I also organized a pelvimetry class. After observing and assisting at several births the first week or so, I then got the privilege of actually catching babies and managing births. I delivered 11 babies which count as “Primary Under Supervision” births according to NARM. This puts me well on my way towards my goals of being certified by Sep. 30, 2011 and licensed in WA state a few months later!
My time in Davao City was very meaningful to me spiritually. I knew that I would have clarity and focus for these four weeks to hone in on God’s word and spend time in prayer, without the normal household responsibilities and busy life distractions that I usually have at home. I went on this trip seeking answer to specific prayers- and God answered those prayers! I came back to my life here in the Spokane Valley renewed, refreshed, invigorated and inspired. Also, having never been to a third world country before, I was really impacted by the poverty I saw in Davao City. It has done wonders for my contentment. I am so thankful to God for the material blessings I have in my life and in this country. And despite many complaints we all have with our broken health care system, after seeing what I saw there, I can not complain. We are truly spoiled Americans.
Thank you all for your support of my trip to the Philippines. I could not have done it without your financial support, your prayers, and your encouragement. Kent and I are truly blessed to have such a loving community around us. We love you!

Terri and Kent Young

For pictures see my Facebook albums:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=260927&l=abe1ef6ebe&id=512900843

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Monday, August 16, 2010

Comfort amidst troubles

I am just in awe that I am really on my way. This is the trip of a lifetime for me and SO many friends and family have blessed me along the way!! My cup runneth over and I feel your prayers for me. Please keep them coming.

We already had quite the snafu, that I pray will be our only mishap for the trip. Kent, the kids and I all drove out to Seattle (about 4 hours from Spokane) for my flight on Saturday. We left on time and felt the little road trip would be fun for the family as we listened to Narnia and enjoyed our time together. Unfortunately, upon arrival at SeaTac airport, I opened my passport carrier and realized it was empty. Kent had taken it out to photocopy it and had gotten distracted and left it on our printer at home. We paid fees and got my itinerary changed to leave on Monday, but it was still too late to overnight ship the passport. SO, we drove home that night, feeling rather foolish. Also, we decided to book me a flight from Spokane to Seattle for Monday morning. This was roughly the same cost as driving to Seattle and back, but without the risk of car trouble.

Thus, Kent and I had another day together and did several things around the house yesterday that I did not have time to do before Saturday. This morning we prayed before we left our driveway to take me to the Spokane airport, and tonight I discovered an encouraging letter of scripture and comfort from Kent slipped into my carryon. During my time at SeaTac I met a lovely Christian woman from Colorado who prayed for me and my trip. I sense the hand of God over me, despite our bumps we've had already. My flight to Manila leaves in an hour and a half and will be about 12 hours. I'll post more in a couple days!

"You who have done great things; O God, who is like You? You, who have shown me great and severe troubles, shall revive me again, and bring me up again from the depths of the earth. You shall increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side. Also with the lute I will praise you." Psalms 71:19-22 (NKJV)

Sunday, August 8, 2010

In 7 days...

I will be en route to Davao City, Philippines. My dear friend Julie is loaning me her Mac for my trip so I will be blogging, on Facebook, and email. This is my test post to see if it posts to my notes on Facebook. Follow along to keep up with my adventures! I will journal and post photos.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Ask and you shall receive....

Friends and family have already been supporting us by giving me textbooks, Amazon certificates, midwifery bags and equipment, and by donating to Birth Journey Prep classes and doula services, over the past year or so. But this past week Kent and I laid our plans and dreams out there for God like we never have before. Stepping out in faith, we asked our friends and family if they would donate towards an internship for me in the Philippines. We needed a minimum of $2,000. We decided that if we did not have over that exact amount by July 11, then that would be our clear answer from God.

Here is the timeline of what happened:

  • July 2- We posted on Facebook, this blog, and the Birth Journey Prep blog. When we received a couple of pledges, Kent told me to get to the post office right away, so I did and applied for my passport. It should arrive just in time. =)

  • July 5- We had reached 75% of our goal, and that was over the 4th of July holiday weekend! My family was all gone and busy at a reunion, and we had not yet emailed our church family. We were amazed!!

  • July 6- Our email went out to the church. By 10:00am we had $1,600. That's 80% of our goal!

  • July 7- Crazy day! 11:00am $305 short. 8:00pm $200 short. 11:30pm $20 short of $2000!!!! So then I'm chatting with my friend online about how we are $20 short and she says she will donate whatever is in her Paypal account. She goes and checks- there is $19.98 in the account. 8-o
    We were $.02 short with four days to go!

So that's the crazy five days we had this past week. Now I am packing, studying, getting Kent and the kids ready for a month without me and school that starts as soon as I get back! My ticket is booked. I leave on August 14 and return September 15. Here is the link to Mercy Maternity Clinic in Davao City, Philippines where I will be.

We are so thankful to God for His clear direction and His gracious provision for us. And we are overwhelmed by generous friends and family that abundantly love and support us! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Our Letter

Terri has attended over 120 births since 2001. First hospital births as a doula, then in 2004 she trained to be a midwives' assistant. Assisting and doula work has been a side income for our family, despite the fact that I would prefer we not rely on Terri's income. This past spring, we had three months without any paid births, and we saw what an impact the lack of that income had on our budget. Terri and I feel that the increased income we would see with Terri being a midwife, rather than an assistant, would be a good supplement necessary to our budget.

We have a good plan for her midwifery education and have blogged about it here. In September, Lindy and Corbin will be at The Oaks full time with me and Terri will begin her apprenticeship with the Spokane Midwives (Linda Morgan and Beth Morrill, birth center on Euclid). Upon completion of her certification and state licensure (approx. one year), Terri will have lots of flexibility and time off-call from births working with the Spokane Midwives that would allow her to keep our young children her priority. This is a huge blessing! And yet, Terri would still get to do what she loves and is so passionate about: provide good prenatal and postpartum care for women, and have the honor of attending births. We praise God for such an opportunity!

Recently, Terri has applied and been accepted into NewLife International School of Midwifery's Summer Short-term Clinical Internship Program. They are an approved out-of-country site for NARM, the national certifying body for direct-entry midwives. Therefore, this opportunity would give Terri a boost in her skills and birth requirements toward becoming a Certified Professional Midwife by putting her ahead 6-8 months in her route.

We believe that this summer we have a window of time that is ideal for this month-long internship for the following 3 reasons:

1.) Terri would go approximately August 11-September 14. This is before school starts, and after music camp. I will be with the children, and/or Terri's parents are close by with the lake house and lots of love and spoiling for the kids.
2.) Terri and I would like to have more children, Lord willing. She can not imagine traveling to a tropical country far from home while pregnant, or with a baby, of course. And, she is not pregnant yet.
3.)Both Terri's current preceptor, Margaret Lipton, ARNP, CNM, and Linda Morgan (Marks), CPM, LM of the Spokane Midwives, have recommended that she do an immersion training at a high-volume clinic. That is what this internship would be for her. She would have ample opportunity to get hands-on experience and gain confidence in the specific skills that she needs before beginning her preceptorship as a student midwife.

Of course, having painted this as the perfect opportunity, the Lord has not yet provided us with the money for this. As we continue to pray and believe that the Lord will provide the money for us if He wants Terri to go, we also step out in faith and ask if any of you feel led to help us out by donating air miles, or by joining us in prayer. The cost for a month at this internship is only $700 and that includes room and board. We have saved the money for the internship cost. However, it does not include travel expenses. It seems that the flight will be about $2000, and that is the kicker. We intend to make a final decision by July 11th and thank God for the opportunity to trust Him whatever the outcome.

Sincerely,
Kent Young






Sunday, February 21, 2010

THE plan (part 2)-

Wayyyyy back on June 1, 2009 I posted about my plan for becoming a midwife. Since then the plan has remained essentially the same, however Kent and I have fine tuned some of the details and the Lord has opened up a few doors for me along the way. Thought I would share:

1. I have found a simple online AFFORDABLE midwifery course that can help to keep me organized as well as fulfill my educational requirements for Washington state licensure. Yay- I am officially enrolled in the Midwife-To-Be course for home birth midwives. I am so thrilled that I will be able to report to people how far along I am in my coursework when they ask! Midwife-To-Be has thirty modules that are self-paced. I intend to complete one module per month, resulting in my completion in 2 and a half to 3 years.

2. I have a study partner! Another doula and friend is doing the Midwife-To-Be course with me, and we will meet weekly to review and track our progress. This is very good for me, as I really lack self-motivation and can really use the accountability. We also intend to put together some skills workshops and study sessions with a larger local group of midwifery students. This will also help to promote unity and professionalism within the local midwife community. Generally, the current local midwives do not respect one another, nor act professionally towards one another. Instead they seem to be largely territorial. We can change this all-around attitude and further promote more safe and healthy birth options in our community by establishing a new generation of midwives- supportive and respectful of one another as different, yet valuble health care providers. Go us!

3. I have officially ordered my Portfolio Evaluation Process (PEP) packet from NARM (the North American Registry of Midwives) and can start to dig through the paperwork and get my skills signed off on, one by one. This will allow me to get my Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) certification and then license in the state of Idaho in early Spring of 2011, even though my coursework and apprenticeship I will continue for likely two years beyond that. This will allow me to attend births in Idaho and financially support the rest of my education and set up for my solo homebirth practice.

A new nephew!!!


Isn't he so handsome? I long to hold him and see him up close!!! Too bad they live so far away... :(

The girl-




Here she is with Santa (she was very serious about Santa this year!), in her splint and with her rainbow-colored cast. Yes, she broke her arm. Jumped off the top bunk and landed on a toy. She will have the cast on for six weeks. Woo-hoo! Our first Young family broken bone. Two actually- the radius and ulna.

The boy




This photo of our son is a good description of him- kind of a nerdy...animal. Hee-hee!
And check out the Lego lynch mob he set up. Hilarious!

Christmas 2009










was fabulous. It was a third Christmas, and every third Christmas (from the time I was a little kid), my entire mom's side of the family gets together. So, since I am local, this means that my sisters' families come to town- yay!!!

It was a wonderful time! Lots of gatherings, sledding, feasting, singing, all-around conviviality celebrating our Savior's birth!!

I tried....


Here's a photo of the felt advent calendar that I vivaciously (yes, vivaciously!) started sometime the first week of December. Yes, it was after the first week of Advent. I made great strides and did not give up. In fact, days before Christmas I was embroidering numbers on the pockets. I got to about 13, I think. I have now put it away, and hope to vivaciously pull it out BEFORE Thanksgiving next fall. We shall see, eh?

My new favorite blog-

"Doesn't urgency over everything imply that God's in control of nothing? Or do we secretly like blustering about perpetually stressed --- because we suppose it's evidence of the pressing importance of our work? And yet if I'm on edge, doesn't that mean I'm not centered in Him?" Ann Voskamp, Holy Experience blog

This quote is from an old post called "Real Stress Relief" on her blog, just an example of her lovely journal.

I will add this to my list on the right. Five days a week I check this blog and am deeply touched and moved by the raw beauty and truth that she posts. It is a true encouragement and you would be blessed to go there with me

Saturday, February 6, 2010

A Walk to Beautiful



Kent and I watched this tonight and were so inspired. What a tragedy for these women! How we take for granted having roads, cars, instant access to hospitals with surgeons and technology right when we need it.


We long to be out of debt and free to serve wherever God is leading us. Please pray that we will persevere and be faithful in our efforts.

Cover letter for my midwifery resume

To Whom It May Concern:
I am becoming a midwife because I have seen too much to not become one. Over the past five years, since I had my daughter at home and started attending home births (and the occasional birth center birth), I have seen a better way, and I need to spread the word. I had been working as a doula attending hospital births for three years prior, and truly had felt called to help empower women and the families to achieve their desired births. But I now know that that was just a stepping stone on my midwifery path. Since then, I have seen numerous beautiful and safe births at home…
I have seen a young 20-year-old woman sail through the transition phase of labor in the jetted tub at the birth center, and then beautifully deliver her own daughter while lying on her side on a queen-sized bed. I have witnessed the serene birth of a couple in their thirties who spent most of the labor of their first child outside under the stars in their hot tub. The mom then calmly entered the house, only to deliver her baby crouching in the 4:00am moonlight streaming from the window. She immediately, yet slowly pulled the baby to her chest, so quietly. I have seen a 42-year-old home-schooling, goat-raising mother of ten rejoice in her first waterbirth. My doula clients of over five years ago have no idea that this world exists, that this kind of birth is even possible. I had no idea when I had my son. But now I have seen too much to go back….
I have seen a lot- good and bad, wonderful and terrifying. I have seen shoulder dystocias- handled expertly by midwives, then gruesomely by an OB. I have seen severe maternal hemorrhages, an inverted uterus, an umbilical cord snap upon delivery, mouth-to-mouth baby resuscitation, malpresentations, thick fresh meconium, preterm labor, partial placental ruptures and a complete breech (undiagnosed) home delivery (on a primip!), ALL of these complications handled perfectly by a skilled midwife. I have seen that good, wise midwives can handle these events appropriately or transfer care to the hospitals when warranted. I am going to be one of these midwives.
So I want to become a midwife. I hope to serve families in my community by providing them with safe, yet beautiful birth experiences. I want parents to truly learn what informed consent is and what their rights are; as consumers, as patients, as parents. This will empower them so much as they become bigger families and go on from their birth, to hire pediatricians, family docs, or any healthcare service provider in the future.
I want to help women learn to take responsibility for their own health and diets, during pregnancy and throughout the rest of their lives. Their nutrition and lifestyle can affect their health, for good or bad. Too often I’ve seen healthcare providers fail to teach women this. It is all pathology to them and the answers are all too often pharmaceuticals or other technologies. They don’t trust birth. They don’t trust the design.
I trust the design. I have “what it takes”. I have good math, science and problem-solving skills. I am very relational, and have a keen sense at all times of what my role is in situations with other people. I consider myself to have a very observant nature in general and pride myself on my ability to remain calm in crisis. And as my maid of honor pointed out at my wedding, I am very loyal. Completely reliable. Ask the midwives I have assisted in the past.
I am first and foremost a child of God, secondly my husband’s wife, and thirdly my children’s mom. But God has given me a passion for birth and I firmly believe that midwifery is my calling. He has provided me with the honor of being present at each birth I have attended. I will go where He next leads me on this path.