Because the hospital is less busy we can spend a little more time with the moms. On the other hand there is only so much time you can spend with someone when they don't speak your language. Charades only lasts so long before awkwardness sets in. We have also experienced a lot of practices that would make a medical professional in the western world's head spin. It's so tempting to think that these people don't care or are so un-educated. some of the times education is an issue, but with a closer look you see that these people have been doing the best they can with a huge lack of resources. It comes down to this. Is is better to stitch someone up with the same suturing material that you just used on someone else? Or is it better to leave them un-sutured? One midwife had been working in these conditions for 30 years. She then retired for 4 years and then was begged to come back because no one replaced her and she's now been back for 4 years.
We've also been free to wander the hospital looking for things to learn. This hospital is different that the one up north because it's not just maternity. This week I learned how to test for blood grouping and their way of testing Hb. I delivered a little girl on Tuesday whom I named blessing. She was the second girl of this family and several of the family members offered her to me to keep. It took everything within me not to take that baby and say "she is worth so much. I will take her so she doesn't ever feel less than that" finally when the father offered her to me I said to him, "no, she is your blessing not mine." and that's where her name came from. She ended up having to stay in the hospital a few extra days and I was able to check in with the family everyday and it was great to see them warming up to her. By the end when they got discharged they we so happy and thankful that she was well. They spoke little English but I really enjoyed building relationship with them. I even got peed on! By the baby of course.
Blessing with Grandma minutes after birth.
The mom, Chandrakala
The little pumpkin
Few more photos from the hospital:
Hanging with the nurses in the labor ward.
A sweet momma after delivery.
Another sweet momma we met outside.
A grandma bedside of her granddaughter and great- grandson. This woman who's grandma this is was in labor on weds. (She didn't want to be photographed but grandma was ok with it which i was so happy about because she was eat her face off cute!) I was doing normal vitals on this momma and noticed the baby was in distress with a low heart rate. I brought it to the attention of the nurse and she replied 'well, there is nothing that can be done'. I said 'well she can go for a C-section!' And the nurse replied that in these cases why go for a C? If the baby is not doing well and she has a C and the baby doesn't make it then she will always have to have C-sections. This was one of those moments where I wanted to scream "what?" What if the baby does make it??? But instead I stepped back and prayed. Asked my team members to pray and tried to slowly and calmly convince this nurse otherwise. This is a problem of world view. I don't believe this nurse was un-caring or wanted the baby to die. But in a worldview where there are simply not enough resources to go around and having a C-section comes at a large expense to the struggling family and the struggling hospital. So it's looked at as well.. This baby may die but she can always have another. Better luck next time! Thankfully after praying and calmly talking to the nurse she got the Doctor involved. The doctor took one look at the situation and said give her a C-section right now! Thank you Jesus! Momma and healthy baby boy are doing well!
Just another day monkeying around in the post op Caesarian ward! This little beast ran into the ward and then was chased out, someone whipped a banana at him and slammed and locked the door behind him. We found him happily munching the banana.
Everyday walking to the bus from the hospital we walk down the main road. There are so many cool shots and sadly I've missed some but here are a few.
This was outside our bedroom window one day.
Bruce and the kids have been busy homeschooling and making the best of their surroundings. They go on a daily hike to explore the area around them. Getting to town is not easy so they stay on the property. It rained for 2 days this week and they were stuck inside our room, but thankfully its beautiful and we only have a few more days here.
As I mentioned earlier we have been teaching children in a small nearby village simple healthcare. This week we taught them about hand washing, fever care, oral rehydration solution, general nutrition and HIV/AIDS. Bruce went one of the nights and I brought Abigail one of the nights. Here are a few shots from the village.
This is sweetie. She always says in a cute voice. My name is sweeeetie.
This is Priyanka. She is deaf and can't speak. She had a beautiful smile but we could never get her to smile in a picture. So I tickled her.
Hand so much fun making these boys laugh!
I end this post telling you that St. Nick found us in India. Abigail was so happy because she was concerned with all the moving that he wouldn't find her. He left us sweet treats in our stinky shoes.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
No comments:
Post a Comment