week thirty- ANC

lectures as usual on monday and then thursday night as well. but thursday we had clinical practice in blood taking and IV’s, and who is it we practice on? well each other of course! i was pretty impressed that i allowed others to stab me with needles but it actually went fairly well, a few bruises and a bit of swolleness but all was well. i think taking blood is my favorite! getting to draw back and see the blood in the syringe. such a moment of proudness!

i was in anc this week. it was challenging and at times frustrating but was able to spot a few fevers and pre-eclampsia (a disease that entails extremely high bp, and can lead to fits, extremely dangerous for mom and baby). but caught early enough both mom and baby have a higher rate of living. one day i took several women to ultrasound. the ultrasound tech’s are not a fan of it when we come with many women so i went ahead of time to warn them i was bringing three, possibly four women with me. they said, ‘only three’ but who am i to say no to a women in need of ultrasound? i did end up only needing to bring three. but one of whom was terribly weak. Celia (one of the other students) came with me and had to help her onto the examining table and the women nearly collapsed. her HB levels were so low (blood) and she had no energy. she needed fluids but there were no IV lines. also we had a women who needed an indwelling catheter and the nurse says ‘she needs a catheter’ me ‘okay do we have any?’ nurse ‘no we don’t have’...... not very helpful when women are in need of these simple things. who knew going to the toilet during labour was so important for the whole process to continue safely. after delivery the women's uterus needs to contract to a certain size. if there her bladder is full then it can not contract properly and the women will continue to bleed. this particular women was getting ready to go home when i noticed her getting into the cab having to be escorted by family because she appeared in so much pain she could not walk. to top it off she was deaf. we grabbed a staff who communicated with the family that she can not go home in this state and they assisted her back into the hospital. it was her who needed an indwelling catheter.... we did manage to find a canula (for IV) for her so we could begin to put fluids into her. that was the story this past week, ‘this women needs this but there are no supplies’ when this happens either the women's’ family goes to buy them and if that is not possible the women is left without the care she needs. our team bought several canula’s and catheters for the hospital this week and are trying to figure out a way to be able to provide more supplies for the hospital. it is government ran but its not the ‘highest level of care’ hospital and things are not provided well.

friday i was able to go with Celia to a different hospital were the mom’s we can not treat get transferred to. apparently the mom i delivered a week ago with the baby who was not doing well but was better the next day, she again was not doing so well and her mom brought her to this hospital. i was able to find the mom after much searching and we also found four other moms we had in some way or another helped at the hospital where we work. we were told that their babies were kept on the floor below in a separate ward. we entered the hallway and asked permission to find these babies. the staff there were quite confused why we were there. they kept asking ‘what is it your dealing with?’ we had to explain that we had delivered/helped these babies/women and we only wanted to check up on them. they thought it was neat that we would come and do that and were granted permission to search the rooms for the particular babies. there were six rooms, four of which were filled with babies, some sick and some okay. it was neat but also sad to see the sick ones fighting for life and then to see two with charts labeled ‘new orphans’ i think that got to me the most. to see this little girl squirming and knowing that there was no one who would come to hold her. we located four out of the five we were looking for. the only we could not find was the one i had delivered. i was disappointed but had searched the rooms twice. (the other two rooms were the primi rooms. with such little ones unlike anything you’ve seen. some could have fit in my hand) i said goodbye to my mom and told her i couldn’t find her daughter, she explained where she was but it was past visiting hours and we weren’t allowed back in. i have her phone number and she mine, so i will be staying in touch to see what is happening.

this weekend has been relaxing, which is really nice. next week i’m in icu. i’m a little nervous, not sure what i’ll see but i like being able to learn more about cases that are more serious.

till next time...