Who knows why God has opened so many doors for me to work at the clinic. The midwives are more than willing to let me jump in and deliver a baby, even though I am not trained. As I continue to learn about labor and delivery, I like to encourage and pray for the women and children. I have now attended eight births. One of the needs for this clinic is hemostats and scissors. They only have two pairs of each, not enough to get them sterylized between deliveries if they are back to back. If you could help meet that need, this little clinic would sure appreciate it. I also give a newborn baby outfit to each new baby when I attend a birth. If you want to donate used newborn clothes, that would also be well received.
Showing posts with label clinic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label clinic. Show all posts
Sunday, June 19, 2011
A Day in my Life...
Monday dawned humid and hot. When will we get relief from a rainstorm I wondered . The plan for Mondays is for me to spend a couple hours in the morning at our neighborhood medical clinic. I'm trying to get to know the women and learn some Bambara. Getting out the door is always a challange. After starting some laundry, greeting a few visitors, buying some mangos from a merchant girl, and preping my house help for the morning... I was off. My bike is the perfect transport to whip around our neighborhood. It keeps me active and my feet out of the sewer filled street. When I arrive at the clinic there is a long line of brightly clad women and babies, waiting for their turn to get their free baby vacinations. They greet me warmly and chatter happily amoungst themselves. After many clients have filed through I ask about one in particular who has not moved, nor has she recieved any shots for her baby. Oh her baby is tounge tied the nurse responds to me. I asked the woman how old her baby was. She said, "One week old.... No, ten days." she corrected herself. A few minutes later the nurse came out with scissors in hand. (You are not really going to clip her toungue right here on this porch are you I wonder?) Sure enough... she smacks the babies foot to make her cry, holds her toungue up with her fingers, and clips with the scissors. The baby fusses for a mintue and her mother offers her the comfort of her breast. All is well... the scissors go back to the delivery room for cutting the cord of the next newborn. (After being sterilized of course!) All in a days work!
Who knows why God has opened so many doors for me to work at the clinic. The midwives are more than willing to let me jump in and deliver a baby, even though I am not trained. As I continue to learn about labor and delivery, I like to encourage and pray for the women and children. I have now attended eight births. One of the needs for this clinic is hemostats and scissors. They only have two pairs of each, not enough to get them sterylized between deliveries if they are back to back. If you could help meet that need, this little clinic would sure appreciate it. I also give a newborn baby outfit to each new baby when I attend a birth. If you want to donate used newborn clothes, that would also be well received.
Who knows why God has opened so many doors for me to work at the clinic. The midwives are more than willing to let me jump in and deliver a baby, even though I am not trained. As I continue to learn about labor and delivery, I like to encourage and pray for the women and children. I have now attended eight births. One of the needs for this clinic is hemostats and scissors. They only have two pairs of each, not enough to get them sterylized between deliveries if they are back to back. If you could help meet that need, this little clinic would sure appreciate it. I also give a newborn baby outfit to each new baby when I attend a birth. If you want to donate used newborn clothes, that would also be well received.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Birth Number 2
I was called to another birth on Friday. It was 4pm, not even the middle of the night. So I thought I better jump on the opportunity to go help out. When I arrived I found out this was an 18 year old girl delivering her first baby. She was outside walking around and had been found to be 8cm dilated.
She wanted to have a rest and came back inside to sit down. They checked her again and had me check her. Again I am no good at this part. I must need much more practice. Aparantly she was 9 centimeters. Shortly after this she expressed a desire to eat something so her friend went off to find some food. When it arrived she sat down to have a snack.
After that she was tired again and wanted to go in and lie down. She was told she need to walk to get her contractions going. They were coming, but not real close together. Like any first time mother, she did not want them closer together or to feel any more pain. But she was very brave.
Here sit the three midwives/nurses waiting for things to progress... When she got so tired she had to lie down, they hooked her up to an IV and gave her some pitocin to make the contractions come along faster.
Here came the difficult part of the delivery for me. As we had checked her the nurse commented on her circumcision. It is very common practice here in Mali for a girl to be circumcised in her childhood. Unfortunately for this girl, she was sewn up too small to allow for this baby to be born. As the baby began to crown the midwifes had to perform an episiotomy to allow the baby through. This makes me so sad. It is a very traumatic experience when a girl gets circumcised, and now in childbirth it becomes more traumatic again because of this. There was no anisthetic used to aid in pain relief either.
A healthy girl was born around 6:30pm. I asked them what the sex was so that the mom could hear. Then after the baby was weighed and left on the scale, I asked if I could hold her. I took her over the the mom and showed her beautiful baby to her. That part gave me great joy.
Pray for me as I plan to talk to the midwives about working on educating their patients about the negative effects of female circumcision.
She wanted to have a rest and came back inside to sit down. They checked her again and had me check her. Again I am no good at this part. I must need much more practice. Aparantly she was 9 centimeters. Shortly after this she expressed a desire to eat something so her friend went off to find some food. When it arrived she sat down to have a snack.
After that she was tired again and wanted to go in and lie down. She was told she need to walk to get her contractions going. They were coming, but not real close together. Like any first time mother, she did not want them closer together or to feel any more pain. But she was very brave.
Here sit the three midwives/nurses waiting for things to progress... When she got so tired she had to lie down, they hooked her up to an IV and gave her some pitocin to make the contractions come along faster.
Here came the difficult part of the delivery for me. As we had checked her the nurse commented on her circumcision. It is very common practice here in Mali for a girl to be circumcised in her childhood. Unfortunately for this girl, she was sewn up too small to allow for this baby to be born. As the baby began to crown the midwifes had to perform an episiotomy to allow the baby through. This makes me so sad. It is a very traumatic experience when a girl gets circumcised, and now in childbirth it becomes more traumatic again because of this. There was no anisthetic used to aid in pain relief either.
A healthy girl was born around 6:30pm. I asked them what the sex was so that the mom could hear. Then after the baby was weighed and left on the scale, I asked if I could hold her. I took her over the the mom and showed her beautiful baby to her. That part gave me great joy.
Pray for me as I plan to talk to the midwives about working on educating their patients about the negative effects of female circumcision.
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