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