A sack of eggs

To understand the gravity of this story you must go back and read the story of this birth that took place a year and half ago. At the time of the birth, I knew that I had no idea what I was doing. Then I went to Midwifery school and realized that I HAD NO IDEA WHAT I WAS DOING. But God was merciful to us on that day and brought that precious life into our hands. Not a day has passed that I don't think of sweet Jesula and I love my Jesus more.

Licia surprised me this week by giving Jesula and her mom an appointment to come to clinic while I was here. Jesula was dressed in her best white dress and frilly socks for this special occasion. I can't explain the joy in seeing this precious and healthy baby today. Then mom whipped out her boob and started breastfeeding her and it was like total Midwife ecstasy. Not that I am responsible for her continuing breastfeeding for 18 months, but I'd like to think that getting her started those first two days helped. We got to spend some time together and Jesula played and laughed and walked, things I never ever thought this child would do. They passed through the clinic and then we went to snap this picture, but Jesula had fallen asleep so she doesn't look too happy. I promise there were many smiles.





While this was such a joyous reunion, it was also one of the most humbling moments of my life. One of the times I walked past them while they were waiting today, Jesula's mom grabbed my arm. I turned to her and she reached in her bag and handed me this sack of eggs. You see, this is her incredible gesture to say thank you. To me and to Real Hope for Haiti and to God. I froze. How could I take eggs from a poor Haitian woman who lives way up in the mountains when she could feed her family for days on this precious resource? I can't even quantify what this gift would translate to in the world you and I live in. I don't think twice about getting in my SUV and driving to the store to purchase a dozen eggs at home. I couldn't help but think of the woman who poured out her expensive perfume on the head of Jesus. To those watching it seemed silly to waste it when she could have sold it and made more money, but Jesus saw her humility. I told Lori and Licia how uncomfortable I was accepting the gift, and they quickly reminded me to humble myself, for I am no better than this woman with the eggs. We both need Jesus the same.



Lord, I pray for less of me and more of you.

Being with woman in Rural Haiti

Being a Midwife means a lot of things to me. It literally translates to mean "with woman" and being with woman looks different everyday. Sure it means getting to attend births and sharing in the joy that is new life, but sometimes it means screening for cancer, helping women make choices to plan their family, or prescribing blood pressure medication. Other days it means listening to a women who carries many burdens, educating women on protecting themselves in relationships, or walking with a family through the loss of a baby. It means championing efforts to promote healthy lifestyles, healthy families and healthy communities, because women are worth it.  Here's a glimpse of what being a Midwife in rural Haiti has looked like this week.

Each month a new education topic is chosen for the bulletin boards in the patient waiting area in the clinic. Roughly 800 patients come through the clinic each week and as they pass through the line to be seen, a staff person gives a 15-20 minute talk on something relevant to public health education. This weekend I wrote some material and gathered information to create a presentation on "Danger Signs for Pregnant Women." I gave the first few presentations with a translator yesterday so that the staff person could learn the material and now she will give the talk for the rest of the month. We covered topics like eclampsia, hemorrhage, labor dystocia and signs of infections. The majority of women here give birth at home, and most births are not attended by anyone with skilled training. The challenge for me was looking at prevention of  obstetric emergencies and how you deal with them in a place with very limited resources and access to a higher level of care. We work with a very rural population and the closest hospital is 1-1.5 hours away, which makes dealing with potential emergencies very difficult. The best treatment in these situations is recognizing the danger signs early enough to get to a place where they can be taken care of.

One of the patients asked me in front of the group what to do if a woman who lives in the mountains is having a baby come with the feet first? Being from the mountain means you are anywhere from a 1 hr-10 hr walk from the clinic here and even further from a hospital. This is a small glimpse of the dangers women face in Haiti. Praying that this teaching will fall on ears who will share what they have learned and it help save lives of women and babies in Haiti.

Let's catch up

***Don't scroll down if you can't do blood and guts

I have sat down to write an update several times since Friday and each time something more important came up. The weekend was good. I got to work with the community group in their nursery on Saturday cleaning up and filling sacks where seeds will be planted to grow trees that will eventually be planted in the community. That afternoon we went up to the new land to see the progress of the new Cholera Treatment Center which will open very soon. It was overcast that day, but from the back of the CTC you can see this beautiful landscape and the Caribbean Ocean on the horizon. I love the peace and quiet in that place and look forward to many more evenings watching the sunset from this spot.





We have a kiddo who was burned over the weekend after he pulled a pot of hot cereal on him. Sweet thing is the stinking cutest kid and he is already healing nicely but would you continue to pray for his pain that it would be minimized and that he his wounds would continue to heal.



Saturday night we lost sweet Pearalson who was admitted last week. He had severe kwashiorkor and even though all of his fluid came down, his little body had just been through so much that he was unable to recover.

Sunday was spent taking care of the ICU kiddos and a few cuts that came in, and working on an education project I will share later.

Monday was the day of nasty cuts to be sewn up. First thing was a bad machete cut to the hand that a visiting doctor worked on. This little lady fell down and it her face on some kind of branch or stump. That long skinny piece on the left side of the cut is a vein. She busted through all the way to her gums and it took quite some time to clean out all of the pieces of wood inside the cut.










The day was crazy busy and as we finally sat down to do some work last night, an old lady came in who had fallen at her home. She knocked her head pretty bad and kind of made us worried she was having a stroke. She follows here in the clinic for high blood pressure so we kept her overnight and she was well enough to go home this morning.




And the best news of all is that while I was doing some teaching this morning, Licia came and told me that one of her ladies who works in the RC was in labor and she was going to come over. A few minutes later I saw an uncomfortable pregnant lady heading for the toilet. Let's just say I have learned enough to know that means grab your gloves and follow her. She was already pushing and by the time we got her up on a bed the head was on the perineum and we had a beautiful baby girl just a few minutes later! In true Haitian style she recovered and got up and walked home an hour later. This was baby #51 for me and my first baby as an official Nurse-Midwife.

I walked back up to the house to eat lunch after the baby was born and when I walked past the ICU I saw a woman sitting in a chair with empty arms sobbing. She came to visit her baby and found that her Pearalson had died over the weekend. Such as life is in Haiti, the land of contrasts, that in a moment you are celebrating life and the next you ache for the starving child and his mother who simply couldn't feed him. This doesn't ever get easier. Pray for his sweet Mama who goes to sleep tonight without her baby.

In other news, Trey found a baby chick and adopted it for a day until the owner came looking for it.

Wensky

Nadia had a good day and is eating really well. I even got a few smiles out of her after sneaking her some ice chips.

Meet Wensky. He has had a really hard life. Both of his parents are dead and he has two siblings that he has not seen in years. His mother was sick for a long time and was told her illness was not one for doctors but for a Voodoo priest. She died from HIV under their care and Wensky was living with cousins when he became sick a few months ago. He was told to go to the same place his mom did, but he did not want to so 12 year old Wensky snuck on a boat from the island of LaGonave with only $2 in his pocket and found some of his mom friends to help him. He was brought here to Real Hope for Haiti a few weeks ago where they discovered that he too is HIV positive. He weighed 36 lbs and was very near death, unable to walk. He began to eat more and get better little by little, but last week he came down with one of the worst case of shingles I have ever seen. His poor little body is so immunocompromised that he has had a horrible time with it. He is in an incredible amount of pain and has spent almost all of the last few days in bed. We have tried to keep him comfortable with medication so that his body can rest and try to heal.





Pray for sweet Wensky that his pain level will come down. Pray that he will be well enough to go in for further testing and begin ARV treatment this next week. Pray for his appetite, and mostly pray for his little heart. In his 12 short years he has been through more than most of us will experience in a lifetime and we are praying that He will come to know how much God cares for him and how precious his life is.