Night shifts:

Bleh.

I absolutely hate night shifts.

Watching 8 babies all alone that are under a year, isn't my idea of fun.

But guess what. I don't have a choice.

Although night shifts wouldn't be my idea of a good time, they are a must do down here in Ecuador. One night a week i get to pack my bags for an overnight adventure. I am driven to the orphanage at precisely 5:30pm. At 6 is when the dreaded shift begins. Myself, along with one other volunteer spends 3 hours in Sala Uno watching/playing/feeding/changing them. Then at 9:00pm we rudely wake up the older children in Salas dos and tres and go through and change each child's diaper.

SALAS:

uno- ages 0-6months

dos-ages 6months-lyr

tres-ages 1yr-2yrs

Waking 25 children up in the middle of the night to change there diapers. Not easy.

Heres the thing.. Down here in Ecuador, their diapers hold no where near the amount of "stuff" American diapers hold. Therefore, without fail, every time we do our nightly diaper change EVERY baby is either soaking wet through all 5 layers of clothing, or poopy all the way up to their necks. Don't you wish you were me:)

Key Point #1: For some odd reason, when it is 70+ degrees in Ecuador they act like it is about -40. The babies wear layers upon layers of clothing at all times, and on top of that we wrap them up in fleece blankets and use a space heater. Even though they look like they are about to die because they are sweating so bad, we aren't allowed to change them into less clothes.

Funny story:

Last night at my 2nd night shift, i returned to Sala uno after the dramatic diaper change and took off my jacket because it felt as if it were 100+ degrees. The worker who worked night shift with me, slowly made her way into the room wearing her scrubs, a thick coat, a wool hat, and two blankets. She then proceeded to tell me "ohh chica de osso, hace hace frio" (ohh girl from osso, its really really cold). I shyly chuckled to myself at the thought that "there is no freakin way she is cold right now in this 100+degree room." But she was.. and she told me this constantly throughout the entire night.

Back to my story.. After diaper change, one volunteer gets the opportunity to go to bed for 4 1/2 hours (9:30-2) while the other one watches the babies all by herself. At 2 you get to go wake up the sleeping volunteer and finally you get to catch a few zzz's (2-6:20). At 6:20 you are awakened by screaming children ready to be changed. The best part is.. we don't have to change them. All we do is brush each child's teeth and wait till morning shift comes so they can bathe each one. We arrive back at the OSSO house around 7:30am, and you have the rest of the afternoon to catch up on the lost sleep.

Night shifts clearly aren't my favorite, or anyone else's here in the OSSO house but we do them anyway. The kids need to be watched during the night and without us doing it, no one would. It's sometimes nice to have a few hours to yourself to think and catch up on some reading. The hard part is when all 8 babies start crying at the same time. When that happens you just quietly whisper to yourself "I am going to be a great mom someday!"