So WOW.. a lot has happened in the last 2 weeks. We celebrated Josiah's 3rd Birthday and had 2 full weeks of hospital and teaching with Bruce and I having a little stomach sickness as well as many evening events. It was packed full! We are now entering our 7th week and it is so hard to believe that our total time in India is half way over. In 3 weeks we will be moving to our final destination in India.. a little more of a country/village location.
The beginning of week 5 I had an amazing experience with a birth. I had taken on a mom in the labor room that was only 30 weeks gestation. usually this is not a good thing. Usually the baby that has a strong heartbeat inside the mom at this gestational age has next to no chance of survival. As I shared before, they lack the equipment to help support this little life until its strong enough to make it on its own. A couple of weeks ago I had already experienced this: the baby was doing great inside and once on the outside she took one breath and passed. There was nothing that could be done for her.
So as I took on this mom I started to pray and cry out to God for this little life. I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that I was taking on another heartbreaking case but I pressed in to believe that this little one could beat the odds and that God would protect it from its inevitable fate. The little one made its entrance into this world and was crying even before it was fully out! (which if you dont know is a great sign that the lungs are strong!!) Not only was she crying, she was alert and looking around everywhere. I was filled with glee! Thank you Jesus! I prayed and asked for a name for this little fighter and God gave me the name Caden which means "little fighter"
She is not so pretty as most preemies are not but she was BEAUTIFUL!!!!!
On Wednesday of week 5 I also welcomed baby Ruth into this world! Its really amazing that we get to experience helping these women give birth.
I also spent some time this week in Admissions and have become friendly with a post grad (resident) that has been allowing me to get a lot of experience and knowledge. This is actually a huge thing as usually the relationship between post grads and students can be a strained one here, so gaining favor with one is so helpful in getting to work on skills. Week 5 I was able to successfully attempt to place 2 IV's and give IV medication. Its great to have these opportunities because these skills take practice.
Week 6: I was sick Monday and so was Bruce. We took turns watching the kids and resting. Tuesday and Friday I was able to go with a few team members to teach handwashing in 2 different slums. One of the days we had an awesome experience where a young man had a dream the night before that foreigners would come to his house and his life would change. He was on a path of self destruction using drugs and we had unknowingly decided to stop and do the teaching right out in front of his house! There are next to no foreigners in this city so when he saw us there he immediately invited us to his house to meet his mom and grandmother. After we did Antenatal check-ups with the few pregnant women in the slum we stopped by his house. We had a great discussion with him and with the help of the Holy Spirit we were able to confront his drug usage. He was shocked that we knew of his habit. He decided to give his life over to God and forsake walking his own path of self destruction. We prayed together and were grateful that we were with a local pastor who lived less that 1KM from this slum. He was able to connect with this young man for future discipleship!! God is too cool sometimes!! We could not have planned for this to happen.
I also really enjoyed doing Antenatal visits with the women in the slums. It was great to be in there small homes and bring them care that they may not be able to afford.
On Thursday baby Naomi was almost delivered on a gurney on her way to the labor ward. Her mama came in and in 2 minutes she was out!
Babies all in a row. :) in one morning our BAS girls had delivered 11 babies!
Here are a few pics from the rest of the 2 weeks.
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| A & J doing a Fall craft.. they miss Fall..:) |
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| old rickshaw |
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| We weren't kidding when we said babies ride on motor bikes |
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| The kids have been pretending to be pregnant and delivering each others babies.. makes my heart melt.. this is how I found Josiah one night. he had stuffed all his stuffed friends into his shirt and fell asleep! lol |
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| rickshaw auto riding with Daddy |
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| rest in peace Mustachio!!! It took Bruce saying 4 times to the barber to take it off.. he didn't understand why he would want it shaved off.. lol |
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| Bruce arranged for our team to play cricket on a nearby cricket field for a fun night! |
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| some people have pumpkin patch pictures.. we have cricket field pictures! |
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| We were able to go to Film City. Which is like a small version of MGM for Telugu pictures. It was definitely an interesting cultural experience.. also very amazed at how inexpensive it was! |
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| kids LOVED the bumper cars.. side note.. I've never been in a bumper car in a country where most people do not drive!! It was interesting and we definitely had the advantage!! |
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| These hilarious trash cans were everywhere! |
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| I LOVE APPY FIZZ! definitely will miss this about India! |
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| This was our lost in translation moment for the week. We saw on the map a picture of real elephants and it said "elephant sanctuary". We asked if they had elephant rides and they said "yes, only for small children". We get to the "Elephant Sanctuary" and these were the elephants!! lol so disappointing! |
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| kids had a fun day! |
