Our team has the opportunity to go to Kenya for a week to get visas for Bangladesh and also to do health care teachings in Nairobi. There will be 5 of us going Bek, Rachel H., Emily, Jenny and myself. We found out on Saturday night we were going for sure and are stoked to be able to do some teachings there.
After I come back from Kenya, I will be in the Labour room for a week and hope to do 3-4 deliveries and that will be all our last week in the hospital . I’m sure we can all share the same sadness as a team in saying that we will miss the hospital staff a lot! I personally have learned so much from working with them and working with our own staff. I came to points where I thought I wasn’t going to make it through and some days the only thing that kept me going to the hospital was the relationships we had established there.
So I have a total of 3 weeks left…one in Kenya, one in the Labour room, and one week getting ready to leave for Bangladesh and also going to Zanzibar for a few days.
The last week we will go to Zanzibar for a few days as a team as a time of reflecting and resting on all that has happened in the past 6 months (I cant believe I’ve been here for half a year!) Zanzibar is a very beautiful island off of the coast of Tanzania with lots of culture and history.. It will be the last time till Australia that our team will be together since the team is going to 2 different locations (7 of us will be going to Bangladesh and 15 will be headed to India). I am really sad to split from my sisters...those I have cultivated relationships for the past 9 months but I am excited to go to Bangladesh for 2 months!
That is my schedule for the rest of my time in Africa!
my work in Tanzania is volunteer-based. Although my costs have been covered for the school, i am still in need for costs to be covered for my flight home. if you would like to contribute you can follow these instructions.. thankyou and God bless you!
All checks to be made out to YWAM. You can send your
donor-preferenced gifts to:
YWAM, PO Box 3000, Garden Valley, TX
75771-3000.
-Please don’t put my name anywhere on the check but include my name (Elizabeth Huckaby) on a separate piece of paper.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
the team.
our beautiful team in tanzania
our smaller team that will be heading to bangladesh in less than a month!
Monday, February 21, 2011
delivery #12
this was a very smooth delivery. we usually begin our day in the labour room checking each women's vitals and seeing who will deliver the quickest. the mother i checked was Gravida 4 Para 3 .. which means she has been pregnant 4 times and she has 3 living children..always a good sign when none of her children have died. She was healthy and had a stretched perineum. i hadn't fully checked her when i kept smelling poo.. she had pood all over herself and kept wiping it with her kanga. i gave her a good wipedown and went to fill out some of her paperwork. before i knew it Louise was calling me to tell me she was seeing a head. i came over and did the delivery despite a swollen cervix crowding the passageway, the baby's head came through the perineum with only a slight graze.
I am used to doing young mothers but this mother was a bit older and knew what to expect which always helps me especially with the language barrier. Mothers that don’t know what to expect are usually afraid and some think they are going to die but most of the time I don’t know what they are thinking and saying... I had one of the doctor’s translate for me once what my woman was saying because he laughed after she said it…he translated that she said “tell her husband goodbye for her because she was going to die”.. I was so surprised that that was what she was thinking. And told him to tell her that it is part of life to bring new life into the world, it is a pain that she has never experienced before but that it is also natural.
i have hard days here in Africa and i have good days, but one thing that keeps me going is knowing the satisfaction there is in bringing life into the world in the name of Jesus. Reflecting on the testimony of my own life and my genuinety in wanting this child, this mother to know the same God that i know. proper health care is an important part of everyones well being, and GOd calls us to do so and when we do it in the name of Jesus, He is glorified through it and is able to work in these womens lives and in these babies lives. Perhaps i will have no idea the impact we have made but i do know that obeying Gods call is somewhere that i long to be because it draws me closer to him which in turn draws others closer to knowing who He is.
the mother and baby were both very healthy and lively as they were transferred to postnatal. we got the name Sarah-Estelle for the little girls and prayed 1 peter 2:9 over her. that there would be protection over her body and spirit and that she will grow up to know her heavenly Father.
my work in Tanzania is volunteer-based. Although my costs have been covered for the school, i am still in need for costs to be covered for my flight home. if you would like to contribute you can follow these instructions.. thankyou and God bless you!
All checks to be made out to YWAM. You can send your
donor-preferenced gifts to:
YWAM, PO Box 3000, Garden Valley, TX
75771-3000.
-Please don’t put my name anywhere on the check but include my name (Elizabeth Huckaby) on a separate piece of paper.
I am used to doing young mothers but this mother was a bit older and knew what to expect which always helps me especially with the language barrier. Mothers that don’t know what to expect are usually afraid and some think they are going to die but most of the time I don’t know what they are thinking and saying... I had one of the doctor’s translate for me once what my woman was saying because he laughed after she said it…he translated that she said “tell her husband goodbye for her because she was going to die”.. I was so surprised that that was what she was thinking. And told him to tell her that it is part of life to bring new life into the world, it is a pain that she has never experienced before but that it is also natural.
i have hard days here in Africa and i have good days, but one thing that keeps me going is knowing the satisfaction there is in bringing life into the world in the name of Jesus. Reflecting on the testimony of my own life and my genuinety in wanting this child, this mother to know the same God that i know. proper health care is an important part of everyones well being, and GOd calls us to do so and when we do it in the name of Jesus, He is glorified through it and is able to work in these womens lives and in these babies lives. Perhaps i will have no idea the impact we have made but i do know that obeying Gods call is somewhere that i long to be because it draws me closer to him which in turn draws others closer to knowing who He is.
the mother and baby were both very healthy and lively as they were transferred to postnatal. we got the name Sarah-Estelle for the little girls and prayed 1 peter 2:9 over her. that there would be protection over her body and spirit and that she will grow up to know her heavenly Father.
my work in Tanzania is volunteer-based. Although my costs have been covered for the school, i am still in need for costs to be covered for my flight home. if you would like to contribute you can follow these instructions.. thankyou and God bless you!
All checks to be made out to YWAM. You can send your
donor-preferenced gifts to:
YWAM, PO Box 3000, Garden Valley, TX
75771-3000.
-Please don’t put my name anywhere on the check but include my name (Elizabeth Huckaby) on a separate piece of paper.
Friday, February 18, 2011
delivery #11...HIV mom
today i was in the labour room for the first time in 2 weeks as we are on rotation in between ICU (intensive care unit) ANC (antenatal care) and labour room. i had my 11th delivery! it was pretty quick but i came to the mom after i had been checking on a few moms around the room. some of the girls told me they saw a head coming. we asked if it was her first child and she said yes. we could'nt find her card anywhere which tells us important information like her age..if she is married..and most importantly if she has HIV, its code word... PMTCT 1.
knowing that it was her first, i knew she would be awhile. so i went ahead and began to stretch the perineum and praying that there would be no tearing. its not always the doctor or midwife's fault if she does tear. there are many reasons as to why women tear...small perineum, malnutrition, etc.
the mother was very tired and barely had energy to push. so they gave her oxytocin in her drip. she was very close and the baby was taking awhile to come out. babies heart rate was low at this point, but the baby finally came out! A baby girl! i put the baby on the mothers stomach and it was very limp and not breathing .. we rubbed its back to stimulate breathing and used the bulb suction to remove anything blocking the airways. she finally started breathing.. amy took the baby away to do check ups and i remained with the mom to deliver the placenta.
i was pulling on the chord but it was resistant and not coming. so bek came and pulled on it harder but the chord began to rip where we were pulling and blood started squirting all over our arms, we had to cover and reclamp to stop the bleeding..it was a bloody mess. since we already gave the mother oxytocin it should take at the most 15 minutes for the placenta to come out and it wasn't budging. realizing it was a retained placenta, and the cervix was closing we needed to take immediate action. when this happens, it is necessary to do manual removal. one of the nurses came over and stuck her hand in to do it because it is fairly challenging to do. it was painful to watch the nurse pull and tug, but she was finally able to get it out. i checked the placenta by holding it in both hands as we are supposed to do to make sure everything is present. while i was checking the placenta, the doctor who was fixing her IV told me he just told him she had HIV.
yes...we find this out after blood had squirted all over our arms, after i had checked the bloody placenta... and had been in contact with lots of blood. Bek and i both got prayer for protection.
i did vitals on the mom and baby and although the mom had a retained placenta and the baby was crying lots and lots and lots...they were both doing great. please keep the baby and the mother in your prayers as the mother might still have bleeding in the next few weeks because of retained placenta and the baby seemed like it was starting to run a fever.
oh yeah....and i found her card in ANC 5 minutes before we were left and the situation with not knowing important information like if she was HIV-pos could have been avoided if the nurses transferred her with her card.
i crocheted the hat for her..i think she liked it
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