Special Delivery

So much for a weekend of rest and our plans to all have naps today after a few sleepless nights with our babies. One of our TB patients passed away on Saturday. And then after church we got word that there was a delivery coming to the clinic. After some confusion on my part of what kind of delivery, Annelies and I and a few of the other girls got ready and ran to the clinic to find a woman outside in labor. I think it was the Lord that put it in the hearts of Caitlyn and Leah to pray for us before we went since Annelies hasn't delivered a baby without Anne-Marie. I was like: "I'll just read my 'Where there is no doctor' book on the way down to the clinic!"

Anything is possible in Haiti (theme of the day).

It turned out to be a lot of waiting, probably three or four hours until finally Miss Tony (one of the Haitian nurses) came to help. We ended up giving her some oxytocin because the contractions were weak and far apart. At one point I stood outside the room and realized there were fifteen women all in the room waiting for something to happen. The woman in labor was so strong, almost kicking Annelies in the head at one point and when I was by her side, I thought she would strangle me during a contraction. I was pretty nervous as at times the situation was looking like another experience I had here where the baby died.

When the IV was finished, the mother bolted off the table and obviously wanted to walk outside. Not soon after we hear Dustin yell, "Guys I think she's delivering!" We ran over to the huge crowd that had now gathered around the mother on the concrete waiting area and when I finally got a glimpse of what was happening I saw that the head was already out!! Annelies runs to get her supplies and I looked down again and the baby is out, on the concrete, on a towel! So it was actually the 15+ ladies around who delivered the baby, we were just running there. Miss Tony picked up the baby by the feet, held it upside down, and slapped it on the back. It was blue and the face was massively swollen. I thought we'd lost it. I tried to get in there and finally was able to suction out the mouth and nose. After much patting and as Annelies clamped the cord the baby started whimpering quietly.

Miss Tony whisked the baby inside and I ran after her. Slowly the baby began to pink up. I didn't even know what was happening but I know the Lord was there and just the fact that Miss Tony decided to come in on a Sunday was huge.

Besides the very very swollen face of the baby who had too much of a big head, I believe everything is going to be fine. They stayed one night at the hospital and went home the next day with their baby girl.


So, quotes of the day:
1) "This is crazy!"
2) "I think I need to bleach myself."

Annelies, after a hard day's work

Thursday we acquired another baby. Flaynez is one month old and weighs 2 kg. She may be delayed mentally because she doesn't seem coordinated enough to breastfeed. She also has club feet and we are wondering if she can see well or at all. Right now we are feeding her via NG tube throughout the day and night. So now it's mama Annelies and mama Ryna as we do rounds at the hospital and work at the clinic. We still have the other baby, Wegina. However, Wegina is gaining pounds like a sumo wrestler. I've given her the name Miss Piggy. I think she is going to do fine.

Baby Flaynez

Naptime in the hammock; Wegina and Flaynez

Wegina. 1 month old. With Dustin.

Mr. Belizaire's wound from a moto accident.

July 23, 2008

What I've been working on recently with Annelies:

1) Our baby, Wegina, now weighs 1.9 kg! The feeding tube is out and she is a big eater. We've been splitting night shift for the past couple nights. I've been doing 1-5am.


2) Continuing with our four TB patients (and the possibility of Wegina's mom being one of them now).


3) Mr. Belizaire, our wound guy. Some new skin is growing, but we are facing a shortage of dressings. We're not sure where they are going to come from, so you can pray for that.

4) Eating a lot of cookies in the past few days. Uh yeah, you heard me...Amanda and Ashlee have put their heads together in the kitchen and made some bomb cookies.

Road Trip

Who knew you could get a full body workout and strawberries on your butt from riding a tap-tap to Port-de-Paix and back. Yesterday we road-tripped it to the House of Hope in LaPointe, a home for children who have TB, malnutrition, or physical handicap. The American girls were going in for a visit so Amanda and I hitched a ride too since we had never been before.

The ride, as anyone who has been here before knows, is an adventure in itself. We got some major stare downs as six white girls (all blond except for me) busted down the road in a seemingly empty load (tap-taps are usually piled ten stories high with bags of food, people, and goats tied on the side). Let's just say we had some major protection from above. Getting out of the river was an ordeal. A little road block from a broken down truck, a little mud, a little slip and slide, and no path at all. But no worries since our chauffeur carved a path with his machete and on we went.
Tap-tap full of girls: Leah, Caitlyn, Amanda, Ashlee, Jackie

It was good to visit the HOH finally. I am so impressed with their operation and I was actually content with sitting and holding babies for most of our stay. It helps when they just melt into you. Somehow the two boys I held first were two who had just arrived that day (I learned later on) - one with TB and one with severe malnutrition: orange hair, skeleton skinny with a huge belly. I think we all had a good visit and would have seriously packed a few home in our bags.

July 19, 2008

I'm missing home a lot this weekend; I guess I've almost hit the two week mark.

Anne-Marie (AM) was here yesterday and regulated a little - a lot of people went home - to perhaps come back later or because we can do nothing. Ugg... one boy, 17, with a tumor probably in his lymph below his ear. His hearing and vision are going. AM sent him home to die; he will most likely suffocate. It's really too terrible to think about.

And today as Rob and AM were leaving for vacation (which I learned the only reason they are able to go is because Dustin and Annelies are here holding down the fort), they ran into some new patients at a river crossing. They turned around, brought them back, gave instructions to us, and finally left again. So now we have a one month baby girl weighing 1.65 kg. She looks like a skeleton and her mom seems to be in heart failure; swollen over her entire body, even up to her face.

new baby Wegina

It's been a good couple last days. We had our first encounter with a very large, very fat, very hairy, very orange tarauntula who made camp on someone's towel on the dry line at night. We were all going to bed and there it was, sitting like it was boss of the place. Caitlyn and Leah (um... my heros) got it off and pounded a rock (more like a boulder) on top of it, squishing it. You know I was on top of my bed peeking around the corner.

Anyway, the other highlight - RAIN. And I mean it in all-caps. It's been so dry, many crops have been dying, so this was an answered prayer. But, after five hours of rain that would drench you in twenty seconds, we were all like - ok do you think we should ask God to turn it off now? And the lightning - wow. I couldn't count two seconds between flashes. An awesome light show to say the least.

Insight Into The Haitian

"Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and looking upward, they will curse their king and their God. Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness." Is. 8:19-22

It's funny - in changing bandages there is such an irony. Each person is so particular in how their bandage is wrapped. Mostly concerns with the outside wrapping. Yet they sit there broken, hurting, wounded. But there is still some pride, some standards saying "no, I will not accept my bandage to look anything less than what I find acceptable." Haitian pride.

Settling In

Hi all! The past two days we’ve had the clinic here open and functioning even though Anne-Marie is still away. The load has been really light - we actually were done seeing people by 11am this morning. I think everyone knows there is no doctor. I'm scared for the madness when she comes back.

I've still been following Annelies (my teacher) around trying to learn all she does here and jump in somehow. So far we start the day with rounds at the hospital giving TB drugs to three patients and checking in with the others staying there, which aren't too many in number now. Then we do our wound care with three different men. Two wounds seem to be improving; one not so much since we're pretty sure it is some sort of cancer (it looks like a big pile of extra muscle, tissue, fat coming out of his shin). I don't think we'll be able to do anything for him.

Annelies and I dressing leg wound

Other than that I've been hanging out outside the hospital in the afternoons with the kids around. It's nice: shade, awful creole from me, dodging Ku-Ku (a tank of a three year old), and watching Caitlyn, one of the girls who came with us, paint her mural on the huge wall behind the hospital. It is looking awesome already.

Ashlee and Amanda (post painting session with some kids)

Highlights for me so far:
-all my luggage made it to PC (even your trunk Susan!!!)
-chunky peanut butter
-the 5 minutes after a shower when you feel clean
-only one run-in with a mondo spider so far
-sitting on "the mountain" at night
-the company...

We Finally Made It

Hi all,

We finally made it to Passe Catabois after a few setbacks, but then I remember...oh yeah...I'm in Haiti. We had to spend the night at a hotel in Port-au-Prince because there were high winds in Port-de-Paix and the small planes weren't flying anyone out to the north. I've met up with Annelies, another nurse who has been here for 5 months, Dustin, who has lived here on and off, and Annelies's friend from The Netherlands, Amanda. There are also four other girls from America who will be doing a kids camp for four weeks as well as painting another mural for the hospital.

All of my luggage is in Haiti! But only one so far made it to Passe Catabois. Susan's trunk is still at the airport, but all the stuff inside made it through customs (I was nervous Susan; they took out the pills and were like, what is this!!!??? um yeah, I tried to play dumb and say they were for the hospital and he let everything through... ah!!!) Anyway, hopefully all luggage will come tomorrow.

Anne-Marie is not here yet. I guess she will return from visiting her sister on Thursday. I'm guessing the madness will start then. So far Annelies and I are attending to a few patients with some pretty big wounds... a little overwelming.

More to come later.

(ps Lindsey: I'm afraid there is no apple juice at Auntie Ryna's house. That's my secret message for you.)