week thirty seven- debrief/zanzibar

monday we said farewell to the hospital and its staff. it was a bit emotional and some of the staff even cried... which is very huge because Africans do not show their emotions very well. then tuesday we had debriefing things as we do as a team and individually and wednesday morning we left for Zanzibar! its an island off the coast of Tanzania which we took a two hour ferry to get there. the ride was a little grueling as i am very prone to motion sickness so after the first hour i went outside the lovely air conditioned room where our seats were and sat on the deck with one of my staff. and sitting there i saw in the distance fins... then they were jumping! yes dolphins!!! i was so very excited!!! i stood up and watched as our boat drove right over them as they played beneath the clear blue water! it was so amazing, i have never seen them in the wild and have always wanted to!

we got to our ‘hotel’ and we’re very pleased to find we had a/c in most rooms! (mine does!) we’re staying right in the city so its loud but its also in walking distance to many restaurants and shops. Stone Town is what they call it here, its kinda like a southern france//italy feel. the windey streets made of stone and Arabic style buildings and doorways make it feel very quaint. other areas are still very african!

they have a night market where there are different street vendors selling different things, one thing being ‘Zanzibar Pizza’ its kinda like a calazone with ingredients inside and fried over a fire. i of course got a nutella/banana one! delicious! we also met these guys who told us a few things to do while we’re here. one of them has his own driving company so the next day a few of us went to this beautiful little resort, very quiet in the jungle that had a pool basically right on the beach. we pay around four dollars (CDN) to stay the entire day! it was a really nice day just to sit, swim, and hangout with one another before we split to different countries.

the next day (for those of you who know my ‘goals in life’ list) was one to check off that list! we got up really early and headed out to the coast on the other side of the island where we got to swim with the dolphins! we got out in a small boat and when we spotted one nearby we’d all jump out and ‘try’ not to scare them off! i was actually really scared at first cuz, well their big, and their animals. but it was really fun. while i was watching a mom and her little baby under me two came up right beside me! it startled me at first but then i just stared at them! just like the movies! haha! it was really fun!

napped the rest of the day and walked around ‘stone town’ had lunch and then decided to go for a sunset swim! it was short lived but still nice to go for one last dip in the ocean before i leave. we had dinner as a team which was nice apart from the three hour wait for our food. but still i enjoyed it!

we left saturday on the early ferry and i slept most of the way home and then me and naomi did some last minute arrends in the city and now we’ve just been packing and trying to get things together to leave tomorrow (sunday)!

i’m excited but nervous, part of me is just done with outreach but the other part still wants to keep going and deliver more babies, learn more and just keep trucking along!
thanks for your prayers as i head into this last leg of the race! i also don’t know what internet will be like, so i may or may not be able to update.

till next time...

week thirty six icu/clinic/home

this week was generally pretty chill for our group. only three of us, on tuesday only two of us went to icu. the morning was really good, got to look into some cases. we went for lunch and halfway through we’re asked to go to theatre to catch the baby of a women going in for cesarian because she had a ruptured uterus. so us two along with our staff went. we took the baby and began resuscitation. bag and mask for quite sometime. she was born full of meconium and even had to suction out her lungs. but even though she was born with a small heartbeat, she never took a breathe and eventually the heartbeat stopped. we wrapped her up and carried her back with us to icu as her mom would be there eventually for recovery after cesarian. it was the second time that i’ve ever experienced death first hand, and the first time i have carried the baby. i’m usually too nervous to touch them but i really felt like i should be the one to carry her and so i did.
its something that i’ve had a difficult time understanding of how we can put so much work and prayer into a little life and to see them die still is so discouraging. but God gave me a picture of all the children in heaven who never took their first breathe and told me, they get far more love there then they ever could on earth. that although their parents would love them deeply, no one could love them more then their heavenly father. it doesn’t take the sorrow away, but it is reassuring that i know she is with her father and he is loving her more then anyone.

after that the week really seemed to be very slow. wednesday i wasn’t feeling well so i stayed home and worked on homework and rested. thursday i went back to the clinic near where we used to live, and went on a house visit with Celia (student from our team) to a mom she had met back in december who ended up having a cesarian because her baby had a ‘big head’. after meeting her little girl, we both thought that something was not right mentally. they were getting normal checkups at a different hospital so hopefully they will get good care for her.

friday we had nothing scheduled for the three of us who were not in the hospital so we went to a shopping centre and got pictures developed, had a coffee and bought some things to make a nice lunch for ourselves! it was a relaxing day, ended up working on our journals for the afternoon while watching a movie. days like that are needed every so often!

after hearing stories from the hospital group it sounded like a crazy week! one baby was born with her intestines outside her body. you could see them in the umbilical cord just outside her tummy. apparently she will be transferred and it can be fixed, so that is good! there was also a delivery in a (can’t remember the african term) but in Thailand they are called ‘tuk tuk’s’ a motorbike with a sheltered seat behind. one our staff just barely got there in time to catch the body! never a dull moment in the hospital!

the weekend was very nice, went out to a tourist area and did some shopping and even found a sushi restaurant! it was a really good day. sunday we had church and said goodbye to one team member who’s going home for a week, but will go to India so i will not see her till we meet in Australia again. we also had a few of the hospital staff over for dinner. it was really nice to see them outside their work environment.

this week is a mish mash once again as we leave next sunday!!!!!! we spend some time here then are going as a team to Zanzibar!! i am very excited, i’ve heard great things about that island! crazy that this time next week i will be at the airport! eek!!!

till next time...

week thirty five-prayers answered!

this week was a little different looking because part of our group had gone to Kenya for the Bangladesh visa’s, and another part went to Zanzibar to do some teaching to some traditional birth attendants and the rest of us (7 students) stayed here. i was one of the few that remained here. at first i was not too happy about this and there is still some confusion in my mind but after the week i had, it was a good one.

it was nice to be a smaller group, we even got to go for dinner one to a place that is kinda like a food court and they have pizza! of course i was excited for pizza! (they have ‘milkshakes’ too but there more like soupy ice cream!) and because we were in a smaller number i was able to go to the labour room twice.

its funny because i have been prayer for certain experiences that i’ve wanted for quite some time now, and this week they all happened. (apart from one that couldn’t happen at the hospital) tuesday the labour room was overflowing once again and women were on the floor, and i got to do a delivery on the floor! a baby boy! it was so quick and i was quite sore after ward from squatting and leaning over but very worth it! the mom was quite excited as well, she tried to pay me, (they sometimes do that) but we always say no, it was our pleasure to help. wednesday i was in ANC and i walk in after transferring a women to the labour room and i see all the women clearing a bed with one women left, legs apart. i go over and the head is crowning. i managed to get one good (sterile) glove on and i was wearing one on the other hand (usually we double glove) but it wasn’t sterile and i didn’t have time so in between calling the hospital staff over the head came out, cord was around the neck, so i slipped it over the first shoulder, then the second and another beautiful little boy was born! i was saying ‘karibu sana’ which means ‘your very welcome’ as in i was welcoming him into the world and the nurse that finally did come over to assist me was laughing saying that the other women were laughing at me welcoming him! while i was still dealing with third stage of labour, a women on the ground began crowning. i called for that same nurse who had helped me and told her that this women was delivering, well the head came with no one there and she got there in time to catch the body! it was quite fast and busy, another labouring women had to help me get certain supplies from the women's bag! and then friday i was in the labour ward and went over to anc to bring a card for a women, while being there one of the students had a women she was transferring to labour ward who had twins!!! yes twins! i have always loved twins, (most of you know that from my mary-kate and ashley days! haha!) i was so excited!! i brought her in and got her set up on a bed and before i could check her vitals she was asking to push, my staff came over to assist and we noticed the first twin was breech. so i got to help guide her out, and it was the easiest breech i’ve ever seen, then only four minutes later her brother was born! a little girl and a little boy, both 2.2kg (4.9 pounds). i’m not sure if the mom knew she was having twins when she came in to the hospital that morning, i’m thinking they told her in anc, but sometimes, more often than not, women are very surprised when they have to give birth to two babies! both were doing well, the little boy hadn’t had a good cry but other than that they were both really good!
so thats the four things i’ve been praying for, on the floor, in anc, breech and twins! i was on top of the world friday afternoon!

another fun story from the week was on tuesday i was leaving the labour ward to go for lunch and i see my staff holding a baby at the end of the hallway (which is ‘outside’ with only a covering over incase of rain) and then i see a cab and she tells me that this baby was born in the cab and one of the doctors is delivering the second twin in the cab right now. i can see the security guard (a women) and what i’m assuming is the women's mother holding khanga’s up as a shield so people can’t see into the cab. so funny! a little girl and boy both healthy as well!

oh and last monday i went on a house visit with naomi, to see the mom that i had delivered just over a month ago whose baby had to go to the hospital and then went home okay. so we went to see them! the little girl was so cute, and her parents both so proud. the dad was telling us a story (they spoke good english) of when the hospital called him and said that he had to come and say goodbye to his daughter because they didn’t think she would make it. but she was healed and she is now okay! he said he was so sad and he prayed and prayed and prayed. his contract for work was up just before the birth and he said he wouldn’t sign another one until she was strong and healthy, four months old. it was encouraging to hear how much he cared for his family and wanted to be with his wife and daughter. the mom was doing good too, it was a joy to see her with her daughter smiling and playing with her and just lovin on her. they named her Sharon (but pronounced it differently then we do) because the dad had looked it up and found that it meant ‘talent and strength’ and he said, she is going to be smart and full of talent. she will be a doctor! they fed us lunch and blessed us abundantly. it was a great day.

so that was my week, it was actually a really good week despite my thinking i was going to be going to Kenya. i thank God for the blessings of this week.

till next time...

week thirty four - ANC

what to say what to say.... i think last week was a tough one. i had gone into the week in high expectations for my week in the labour room and each day was a challenge to get through.

during one delivery the mom would not push, baby was coming, nearly half out and she would not push, all she wanted to do was lay on her side and forget that she was having a baby... we eventually got a good push out of her and a healthy little boy was born! thursday the women i delivered had complications afterward, which were corrected but a little scary. and also she had odd mass’s in her uterus... she was going to be going for an ultrasound within the next few days. friday’s delivery was a blur. this women was pushing facing the wall sitting on the very edge of the bed. i got over in time to semi put gloves on (all fingers were still in the palm) and catch the baby before he fell on the floor. it was so quick and she refused to move even after the baby was out. so the rest of the delivery was also done with her sitting on the edge of the bed. it was this lady’s seventh baby... it was a little sad because she didn’t seem too impressed with her new baby or with me. yup she was not a fan of me. i can’t help but wonder if she didn’t want the baby to be caught?

it was also the first week that i saw pre mature twins be born. i’ve seen pre mature babies before but these were very pre mature. it was thought they were only twenty weeks old. they were so tiny, could have fit in the palm of my hand... crazy to see life so small. it made me sad that even them being only five months old they had little fingers and toes and you could see that they were males. makes you realize how precious life is.

there was also a chance for me to go to Kenya this week and get my visa for Bangladesh. but with limited seats available and five of us wanting to go, i was not chosen. so yes just a few tough things to deal with, but the weekend was relaxing and because people are going to Kenya, or Zanzibar to do teachings, there are less of us here and i get to go into the labour ward again next week!

i don’t really have much to add... i know this is a short update but theres just not much else to add this week...

till next time...