Malange

Early thursday morning Stephanie and I were woken up by the guard saying that there was a woman in labor at the clinic. Malange was standing outside with her partner and a few friends. Malange is a well known lady in our program. She is seventeen and pregnant for the second time. Last year she lost a baby 6 months into her pregnancy due to preeclampsia. This pregnancy we followed her very closely in prenatals. She fortunately has been fairly healthy. Malange seemed to be in good labor at first impression. Contractions were close together and lots of moaning due to the pain. After 4 hours of laboring at the clinic Malange gave birth to a baby boy. Later in the day our pregnant ladies showed up for the prenatal program. They were all excited to hear Malange delivered. After the health teaching the ladies went in and visited with her. It was really cool for me to see this. The women have been told that they can deliver with us now, and too see one of their peers just delivered with the baby gave a new sense of hope. Please pray for Malange as she adjusts to being a new mommy at such a young age.

Simone Pelle

Last wednesday we held a mobile prenatal clinic in Simone Pelle, an innercity slum. Upon arriving I was informed about the significance of us being there. Lisa told me that a couple years ago this area was completely closed off by the UN cause the area was so unsafe. One of our guards at Heartline Ministries lives in Simone Pelle. He was the one who organized this prenatal outreach. This is the second time the team has gone in. We are planning on going in once a month to do education and prenatal checkups with the ladies. We are limiting the program to 30 women. This last week we accepted 2 women into the program cause two other women delivered within this last month.
Last month the clinic was held in a house. This time we had the privledge of using a church building. We started out by greeting the women then I gave a health teaching on preeclampsia. Preeclampsia is a serious condition some women develop during pregnancy. Preeclampsia is a common killer among pregnant women in Haiti. You can reduce your risk and even reverse signs of preeclampsia with a diet high in protein and salt. The women seemed receptive to what I taught. After the health teaching the women had their vitals checked by Beth and Lisa. After vitals they had a prenatal checkup by either Stephanie or I. I really enjoyed getting to do brief check ups on these women and encouraging them by giving them time, affection, and knowledge.

One of the ladies I saw had symptoms of preeclampsia. She also seemed to be carrying twins. It is interesting being in a position of having minimal contact with these women, only seeing them once a month. I doubt they are getting any prenatal care beyond that. It was humbling telling this women the warning signs of late preeclampsia. All I could do was offer nutritional advice and hope and pray that she will follow it and get better, or at least not get worse. Please pray for this women with me. I don't remember her name but God know exactly who she is. I will let you know how she is doing next month when we go back. I was honored to get to go into this community. Walking down the windy congested paths reminded me of being in the slums in the Philippines. Though they live in conditions that are unimaginable for some people, they have community that is unimaginable for some. That sense of community lights me up inside. Until next month Simone Pelle!

New Beginning

Yesterday morning we had our first birth in the clinic with Beth, Lisa, Stephanie and I. This was a birth of significance. Natasha has been in the prenatal program here at Heartline for most of her pregnancy. She has a special place in our hearts because of her circumstances in life. She has 5 children, 3 living with relatives, her 2 youngest living with her. She contracted HIV from the father of this baby. After becoming pregnant and finding out she had HIV she became very angry and wanted to abort the baby. She continued with the pregnancy with the decision to give her baby up for adoption. Towards the end of her pregnancy she began to develop acceptance of her situation in life. I only met her a couple weeks ago when arriving in Haiti. I had a soft spot in my heart for Natasha the day I met her. She is meek, has a smile full of crooked teeth, joy in her heart, and pain in her eyes. I was excited that she had the option of delivering in the clinic now that there are midwives here.

Monday night Stephanie and I were busy putting prenatal vitamins in pouches while watching tv shows on the computer when the guard told us that Natasha was here in labor. Stephanie checked Natasha while I informed Beth that she was here in labor. Beth and Lisa made there way over to the women's center in good time. Natasha was still in early labor so it gave us time to talk about the circumstances. Because there is the possibility of bodily fluids flying around during birth we need to be extra precautious handling birth with HIV. Also because Natasha had decided not to keep the baby, we needed to be sensitive to her emotional needs. Natasha stayed at the clinic overnight in early labor. Contractions got more intense in the morning. After a couple short pushes the baby was born around 9:30am. He gave a couple cries initially then calmly rested in my arms. Natasha had some problems with bleeding initially but did fine in the long run. She decided before the birth that she didn't want to see the baby. She wanted to know though if it was a boy or girl. A couple hours after birth she decided she wanted to see him. She held him for a while and gave him the name David. At the end of the day we took Natasha home and David to the baby home with Heartline Ministries.

I am still in awe of the significance of the birth. We are here for women like Natasha. I was so proud of Natasha for taking such good care of herself during the pregnancy and growing such a healthy baby. He weighed 8 lbs at birth. Please pray for Natasha and she adjusts to the reality of giving up a baby.

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.

Breech Taxi Birth

This last week while on shift we had a memorable birth. The four of us working, Lois, Medea, Jane, and I arrived on shift at 6:00am. We had our first birth just after 7am. Unfortunately the baby wasn't responding well to life on the outside and we had to transport him to the hospital for further care. While that was happening I heard some commotion outside the clinic but didn't really clue into what was going on until 3 women ran into the clinic screaming in pure panic. I realized that that probably meant that a women was delivering in a taxi outside of the clinic. I grabbed gloves and tools for a birth and headed out the door. When I got outside of the clinic I saw Laura in the back of the taxi assisting the mother. She had just gotten off of night shift and heard the taxi from our house and came over to help. I stuck my head in the taxi and was horrified to see that the baby was breech and the body was already delivered and the head was stuck inside. Laura was trying to deliver the head but wasn't able too. Susan (one of our filipina midwives) came down from the 3rd floor of the clinic to help. Laura and her were able to deliver the head. We resuscitated the baby in the taxi on the mother and he came around pretty quick. His first cry was loud and powerful as if he was saying, "I am ALIVE!!" By that point there was quite a crowd around the taxi. It seemed as if everyone at the same time sighed in relief when he started crying. We brought the mother and baby into the clinic to continue caring for them. Later the mother told us her birth story. She said she woke up that morning in pain but wasn't expecting the baby to come for another couple of weeks so she wasn't really convinced that she was in labor. Then in her bathroom her water broke and she could feel the baby coming down. At that point they hopped in a taxi and headed to our clinic. The baby started coming out on the way to the clinic. For those of you who know Davao she said that the body was already out by the time they passed fairlanes. Her friend who came with her also had a 2 month old baby which she brought with her. She said she was holding her baby in one arm and the half delivered baby in the other. Everyone involved was happy and relieved with the ending. This story could of been a devastating one, yet God protected this little boy. He even brought the extra hands we needed to help.
This picture is of Laura and the baby. He was born frank breech meaning that while still in utero his legs were straight up leaving his feet next to his face. After frank breech babies are born they are kind of awkward. They find it unnatural to bend there knees. Breech babies also have a swollen bruised bottom from the birth process. This little boy was most comfortable laying on his side with his legs straight out in a 90 degree angle. He was so cute. The next day Lois and I were mimicking him for fun laying in that position and saying, "Who am I?"

Oh the rain!

Over the past week we have had some substantial weather. The rains have come to Davao. A few days ago I was riding a motor bike to the store to buy groceries. It takes about 5 minutes on bike to get to the store from where we live. About halfway there the rain started pouring down and it came fast. My driver and I were stuck, the only thing we could do was to continue straight ahead. When we got to the store we were both soaked. I was very thankful I was wearing a black shirt cause I still needed to shop. When rain like this comes the city floods in a matter of minutes. Davao does not have good drainage. Our neighborhood in particular is one of the worst. It is very common to have standing water midway up to your knee after an evening down pour. It makes life a little more of an adventure here, especially if you are out stuck somewhere. Life most of the time gets put on hold until the rain stops cause transportation is very hard to find.

As far as clinic news goes, seasons are changing around here. We are having a midwifery class graduate at the end of this month. It is exciting seeing another class reach completion. Are other students who are now half way through their training are going on their 1 month break in the next couple of months. So many girls are leaving, some are coming back and a new school will be starting this August. During the summer months when we have so many girls leaving, we invite midwifery students from the states to come and intern at Mercy. We have 6 women coming to help out during the summer months. The first two will arrive at the end of this month.

I am also excited to update you about baby Kian. He came into the clinic for a check up this last week and he is already finished his corrective cast therapy. He only needed 2 casts to correct his foot. His doctor said the club foot was postural. This is great news. He should be fine from now on.

I'm Back!

Hello everyone!
I am back to blogging after taking a long break, too long actually. I apologize for not keeping you updated on what has been going on in the Philippines. Below are various entrees that I have failed to post. Hope you enjoy!