There was a point in the afternoon where I felt truly pitiful--lying in bed, with my intestines cramping, I moved in a weird position and ripped my shirt. Disgusted with my thrashing around, I went downstairs. The other midwife immediately noticed that I have a spot of ringworm on my arm (what!?) And in that instant, all of my "germaphobe" fears were validated....I generally try to just close my eyes when I see the cooks doing something I'd rather not think about or with clinic workers who have questionable hand-washing records despite all the nasty skin things and infections we see. But oh no....I will no longer feel crazy in my seemingly OCD handwashing. Indeed with rodents and skin diseases and the heat and moisture to breed anything on any surface, it only seems smart....When I got here the other midwife had staph infections on her leg and some upper respiratory virus and GI issues. No thank you....this can be avoided, people! (And No I am honestly not a germaphobe--ask anyone I travel in Peru with: I eat everything I see on the street--but compared to people here, who have literally never considered the concept of parasites, bacteria, viruses, etc, I feel like serious germo).
Anyway, beautiful Melinda slapped a clove of garlic on my arm over the ringwormed spot and covered it with a band aid. I don't doubt its efficacy, but I've subsequently reeked of garlic all day...though I'm growing quite fond of it at this point, and am thinking I'll carry it around on my arm like a patch all the time to ward off evil spirits and such, since apparently that causes much more illness here than "germs" :)
The best part of my day occurred shortly following the above incident. Here as well as in the DR, ladies wear incredibly tight pants and actually admire the "muffin top" look that is so disdained and avoided in the US. One of the apprentices came to sell some clothes she had bought in Port au Prince that day (a side job for her), which of course included some bling bling shirts and TIGHT ass pants. I had no intention of buying them, but was encouraged to try them on. Part physical exhaustion from sickness and not really eating for a few days, and part practical issue of the tininess of the pants, I had to stop several times in my pursuit of trying to get them on. We were all dying laughing. Toward the end, I was literally jumping them on. At last they came to a point where I could button them, and indeed the muffin top look was achieved. The girls loved it. They thought I looked fabulous.....they made me buy them...I don't know how it happened....I'm not proud, haha. I've decided I can write it off as a bday present to myself since we didn't get to go out to dinner, and I barely spend $ here anyway. And it was certainly worth the laughter. + Now I can "fit in" at the HUGE Carnival celebration this weekend (ha!).
And to finish it all off, right before midnight hit, I caught a baby. Good stuff! So to review--today I turned 26, continued to empty myself into a Haitian toilet, did prenatal exams, got ringworm, walked around with a clove of garlic band-aided to my arm, bought some $20 sexy pants that I can barely pull on, had a cup of tea, caught a baby, and now am going to bed!
Trying to get the damn pants on...seriously it took a good 5 minutes!
Melinda (Canadian Midwife) Ninotte (apprentice and Administrator) and Me in our fancy pants!
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