Geoff's new best friend Jimmy (she's a girl)
An adorable Yak wool baby sweater at Boudhanath!
Temple at Boudhanath
Quiet Kathmandu traffic
Boudhanath stupa
Boudhanath stupa
Boudhanath stupa
Boudhanath stupa
Boudhanath stupa
Boudhanath stupa
Temple at Boudhanath stupa
Geoffrey posing in front of the stupa
Boudhanath stupa
Garbage man!
My first lunch on my first day at Helping Hands Community Hospital! Note the tomato rose
My favorite picture from boudhanath stupa
Pashupati
Temple we weren't allowed in at Pashupati
Monkeys!Good news! Geoff’s baggage arrived safely…and I have been to two births already! We have been here just over a week and we have managed to go to Monkey Temple, Boudhanath stupa, Thamel, Pashupati and of course Helping Hands Community Hospital. Our first week at the hospital has been a great learning experience. Geoff has spent much of his time in the Emergency Room and I have been mostly in the Labour Room and the Obstetrician’s Office.
The first birth was on Sunday, our very first day at the hospital. It was an intense experience for me and I had a very strong reaction to it. There were about fifteen ‘spectators’ consisting of myself and many Nepalese medical students. She was only allowed to labour on her back, she was not allowed to eat or drink ANYTHING (although her family kept begging for us to let her have a sip of juice) and she was not allowed any support people. When I try to paint the scene again in my mind, I hear the woman being yelled at in Nepali to keep her legs WIDE open, I see her strapped to the metal bed with wrist restraints with no support beside her and I can feel students coming and going out the door beside me asking something like “anything good happen yet?”. Not at all like anything I have seen before.
The second birth was not as well attended by Nepali medical students but there were about five Mountain Fund volunteers and six Nepali medical students. This young woman also laboured on her back and delivered on the metal bed after receiving a mediolateral episiotomy. She had a beautiful baby girl but had not decided on a name yet a day later when I stopped by to see how she was doing. No pictures of either birth, but perhaps next time I will ask if I am allowed to bring my camera into the birth room!
When we were not at the hospital, we have been out and about in Kathmandu. Boudhanath is a holy Buddhist site with a HUGE stupa (a mound structure hosting Buddhist relics) and we spent a significant part of our morning walking around and around (clockwise of course!) taking many pictures before stopping for lunch on the terrace of a restaurant overlooking the stupa. There is a nasty story involving decapitation of a king surrounding the construction of the stupa, but I don’t want to include it in here. You can look it up on your own if you so choose!
Thamel is a beautiful very tourist-friendly area of Kathmandu. Geoff and I walked there from the house and we were we were getting close by the frequency with which we saw foreigners! There are many shops but you have to barter quite effectively to get the best deal. If you know what sort of gift you would like from Nepal, let me know!
Today we went to Pashupatinath temple which is a very holy temple for Buddhists and Hindus. King Shiva built a gold roof on the temple, the temple we weren’t allowed to go in. We witnessed a Hindu funeral (cremation) and took many pictures.
Tomorrow we return to Helping Hands Community Hospital and I will hope for another birth!
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