This week should be a short week for Anita and I as all of Peru will celebrate Semana Santa Thursday and Friday. However, Cherlita, the 16 year-old gestante and her man Riker are utilizing the casa de espera. She hasn’t shown much sign of labor yet, but we will see!
Earlier today it rained HARD and we spent the morning sweeping the rain out of the clinic and our home. Sweeping rain is part of the routine as I have mentioned. Rising early is another part of the routine and I am slowly adjusting. You all know that I am a lady of the night, a night nurse at heart, a morning soul sleeper. In contrast, at the heart of Peruvian Pucallpiño and carretera culture is early rising (even after dancing the night away – another part of the culture, but a part that I LOVE and I dance most Saturday nights until 5am!). Chickens make their morning cawk a doodle dooooooo and I am really good at tuning them out and sleeping just a little tiny bit longer J. Nonetheless, life really does get started around 5am here and so I have begun my morning running routine (not until 6am though). I rise to a beautiful mist of clouds and set off along the dirt road. Life is alive and awake, and not only my neighbors think I am crazy. They stare and laugh and stare some more. One morning as I ran past a lush tree a bird began to make its call in the sound of an alarm! Oooo aaaa ooooo aaaaaaa oooooo aaaaaaa, exactly like an old school ambulance. I laughed out loud. When I run I feel like a show on the road and more recently some of the neighbor kids like to join me, making a bigger and much more entertaining show! It all started with my neighbors Priscilla and Ruben, 17yo and 12yo. Then others wanted to join in and each day I run I have a few more new partners. My favorite partners are the 9yo, Jean Carlos who planted our casa de espera garden and Brisette, the sister of the babe I delivered in Pucallpa a couple of months ago. We race and play and laugh. Last night we ran as the full moon rose up in the jungle sky. Beautiful!
Cherlita hasn’t given birth yet. She is rumbling, but only is dilated to 2cm and hasn’t had any consistent contractions. As I type now Cherlita is sitting next to me singing to the music of Dina Paucar, typical Peruvian music de la Sierra, that we have playing on my computer. She just turned to me and said, “When this baby comes I am going to name her Anita Elizabeth.”
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