Wild Israeli Kittens! and the Day that Changed My Life

Hebrew Lesson
I love cheese- Ahni o-hevet gvinah
     This is byfar the most imporant phrase for me to lean in every language...
How much?- Ka-ma
Good night- Lila tov
No problem- En-by-ah

Kittens!
Oh shoot... I think I just orphaned two wild Israeli kittens.  I start my afternoon after classes with my first go at meditation on the lawn.  Just as I close my eyes and start the breathing exercises- envision breathing in white smoke, pure thoughts, and breathing out black smoke that dissipates into the air in front of you, bad, toxic thoughts- I'm approached by two students carrying two kittens, so small they fit into the palm of my hand.  I melt a little inside when one of the students places the kittens in front of me as the other puts down a dish of milk.  The bigger of the two, grey with white paws and ice blue eyes, I determine is the oldest, much more reserved and aware of its surroundings.  The smaller one, taupe with brown spots and a striped tail also with blue eyes, wraps me around its tiny paw immediately.  It is the outspoken one, purring at every passer-by and nuzzling up against my knee, climbing up on my travel journal as I try to write.  A total mamas-boy.

The students and I make small talk for a few minutes while the little nuggets entertain us- climbing over our feet, wrestling in the grass, occasionally rolling down the hill- when suddenly they say
"... Well, unfortunately we have to go.  So these are yours now.  Bye-bye!" 
Excuse me?  I am the least domestic person you will ever meet, I overflow dishwashers, how am I supposed to take care of two day old living creatures??  I stare at them for a few moments, totally helpless, and think Stick with me kids and you are doomed...  Just as I am contemplating what to do with the little tykes another student approaches me, probably due to the excessive meowing the kittens are doing, and quickly informs
"Do not touch them... You will alter their scent and the mother will reject them."
 Who knew?  Seconds after he leaves, I see a black cat with white paws slinking through the grass towards us.  This makes the babies go berserk!  They meow up a storm calling and whimpering next to me, so I can only assume this is the mother.  The grey one bounds up to the cat, purring and nuzzling.  The black cat carefully sniffs and inspects the kittens... then WALKS AWAY!  The kittens yell out to the "mother", running on their wobbly new-born limbs, not fast enough to catch up.  After the "mother" cat is out of site, the kittens return to my side, curling up on my blanket, slowly breaking my heart.

And that is how I orphaned two kittens...

OB-GYN, Neonatal, and Maternal Ward- Saroka Hospital
Today's visit to Saroka Hospital in the Negev was enlightening to say the least.  Our day started with two guest lecturers- a midwife/ nurse named Hillary and a third year medical student named Annie.  Lecture turned into open discussion and these two women alone had so many interesting stories about life, the birthing process, post-partum, global health... The works.  Many women of the Bedouin population as well as super traditional and orthodox religions have an average of seven children.  AVERAGE.  Some women have up to twenty-plus.  There are many reasons for this such as more hands to help with the livestock or around the house, but many believe that if it is God's will for them to have a child, they will have a child. 
Fun Fact #1- One of the more interesting things I found out was that sex, to both Muslims and Jews, is seen as a form of pleasure (after marriage of course) and not as a sin.  A woman can actually divorce her husband if he does not make her happy in bed! 
The most important thing for health professionals in Israel to understand, as well as around the globe, is what the community really needs compared to what they want/ their agenda.  For example, the Sudani immigrants to Israel come here to give birth because they want an Israeli ID number for their baby so they will receive their universal health care benefits for the rest of their lives.  That might not necessarily mean that the mothers themselves want the pre-natal or post-natal care the state gives.

Annie's story interested me most.  She is part of the Columbia/GBU medical school program, so she got her Bachelor's degree in Oregon and came here to study medicine.  Before that she traveled the world with a program focusing on AIDS and HIV research in Peru, Argentina, and all over South America.  This chick is awesome!  I never realized that was even an option- you don't need a medical degree to make a difference in the world.  Don't freak out mom and dad: I still want to go to medical school, BUT now I know that there is an option to travel and do what I love (help people) before school.

After a short run down if the inner workings of the OB-GYN, Neonatal, and Maternity ward areas we finally got our tour.  I've never seen a hospital behind the scenes, so up close and personal, even when I went to medical camp in high school (yes medical camp).  The very first thing we did was essentially scrub in to the post-partum area, sterilizing thoroughly so as not to infect any areas.  And then came the fun part- something I never thought I'd be able to do as a student- we had the privilege of going into the nursery.  There laid out before us were six brand new, fresh out the oven (literally), perfect little babies.  Ten fingers, ten toes, swaddled in blankets and sleeping soundly; all but one who was getting its first bath... Ever!  We cooed and awed at the tiny humans in front of us.  It is definitely days like these where it's a good thing we are a group of nine girls. 
Fun Fact #2- Many cultures traditionally do not give birth on their backs.  Some do it on all fours, squatting, or even standing holding a rope attached to the ceiling.  It is all about your environment and what you're given to work with.  Giving birth on your back is a very western tradition and it is actually harder on your body.  When the midwife Hillary was helping with birthing abroad, a woman came into the clinic, looked around and asked "Where are your ropes?"  She responded that if there were ropes attached to the ceiling and someone hung from it, the roof would collapse!  So it is all about your resources. 
I find childbirth so fascinating... How different cultures approach and view it, the importance placed on having a family, the process leading up to and afterwards.  It was said that "Life consists of three things: Being born, giving birth, and dying.  Those are the three milestones."  Though I may not agree completely, that there is definitely more to life than that, it gives one something to think about. 

There was a common theme in the day’s topics of discussion and what I got to view first hand: We are health professionals, we do not pass judgments.  Although each country may have their own laundry list of ethical issues, we are here to know the facts, be educated to provide the best care to everyone- not to judge them or try to change their way of thought and cultural beliefs.  Yes, we must try to educate them so that they are healthy, but in terms of tradition and personal beliefs, it is not our place to change that or impose our own customs.  When you have a patient who is competent, it is up to them to choose their own destiny.