High Adventure

Over the weekend I traveled to Jacmel with Sarah Wallace, a friend from the Philippines. She was in the first midwifery class of Newlife in Davao City, Philippines. Sarah started an organization named Olive Tree Project (http://www.olivetreeprojects.com/) She had been in Port au Prince a few days getting some stuff done. It was great to see her and catch up. It has been 2 years since we have seen each other. Thursday night she got a call from a girl in her woman's program who was due to deliver. It sounded like she could possibly be in labor. Friday morning she said her pains were coming often. I was able to go so the both of us headed south east to Jacmel on public transit. After a 2 1/2 hour drive in the back of a packed van we arrived in Jacmel. From the transit station we hired motor bikes to Sarah's house. Jacmel is a beautiful part of Haiti, lush with trees and an amazing ocean line. After a quick lunch we headed out to Crismine's village. She lives in a 2 room cement house with dirt floors. Upon arriving we were greeted by a bunch of kids. There was much excitment in the air in anticipation of a new baby arriving. Crismine was lying on her bed smiling with a few older ladies around. This is Crismine's first pregnancy, she has had the opportunity to be at a few births in her life and felt pretty confident that she was going to do just fine. Crismine layed there quiet, grimacing slightly through contractions. Her mother was in the room and started telling us about how loud woman are in labor when it starts getting serious. She thought Crismine was still early in labor. After watching her we decided the same thing. We were planning to go home and get some rest thinking that we possibly could be up in the night at the birth. On our way out we stopped at another house of a girl Sarah delivered earlier this year. Crismine and the little girls went with us. It was great visiting with them and seeing how big and healthy this baby was that Sarah caught.
We got word that there was another woman that wanted to see us. When we arrived back at Crismine's house there was another girl there in labor, and she looked like she was going to deliver soon. She had come to one of Sarah's classes in April so Sarah had some information on her. Marie Anj had been in labor since the night before and looked like she was going to deliver sooner then later. So we stayed for her birth. She lived in the house next to Crismine.
It was great seeing how the older women acted around these girls in labor. They were excited and loud and joked with them. While waiting for the birth Sarah and I were served 2 coconuts each to drink from then eat. It was great, we were both feeling dehydrated. Every once in a while we'd go check on Marie Anj, she was in her house laboring on the floor. The ladies layed a blanket on the dirt floor for her to deliver on.

Sarah and I walked down the road to meet a friend who was bringing some supplies we forgot. When we got back to the Marie Anj's house a lady came out and said she was inside pushing. Marie Anj was semi-squatting on a cement block on the floor pushing. Here in Haiti it is customary for another woman to "hold" the woman during the delivery. Basically meaning having a woman being behind the one delivering supporting her. Within 10 minutes Marie Anj gave birth to a little girl. Everything went well with the birth. We stayed for a little while after the birth to make sure everything was going well. We were rushed out because of the weather. It was looking like it was going to rain. On our way back to Sarah's the rain came down hard enough for our bike drivers to decide to wait it out. We took shelter at the texaco station. It was crazy, instantly like 100 haitian's crowded there for shelter.

I really wanted to take a picture but haitians are pretty sensitive towards foreigners taking random pictures. Fortunately there was a haitian guy we overheard saying he wished he could take a picture of the scene cause he thought it was picture worthy. I gave him my camera and he took a couple shots. It was great! When the rain died down we made it back to Sara's for some cards and then off to sleep. About 30 minutes after falling asleep Sarah got a phone call from Crismine's sister saying her water broke. So we got up to head back to her house. A missionary friend of Sarah's came over to drive us. On the way there Sarah got another call from Crismine's sister to say that she already delivered. We were pretty bummed to miss out on the birth. We arrived about 20 minutes later to Crismine's house. There were probably 10 women in the small room surrounding Crismine's bed. Crismine was laying there with a big smile on her face with her baby boy at her side. All the ladies were bubbling with excitment from the activities of the day. Sarah checked Chrismine and the baby, both were well. We went home and back to sleep. On Saturday we went back and check on the moms and their new babies. Everyone was doing fine. It was great to see how Sarah has made relationships with these families. They all love her. I was blessed to get to be a part of it. Sunday Sarah traveled back with me to Port au Prince. I will for sure go back to Jacmel to visit her before returning to the states in December. Crismine is pictured on the left and Marie Anj on the right.