#15 and #16

Delivery #15
An hour later after Nigel said hello to the world.. I delivered Nalani. I had moved the first mom off the bed and hadn’t even been able to fully clean it when they put another mom on the bed.. I told them that they needed to wait until I was fully finished and cleaned everything off before they put another mom there..the hospital staff nodded and agreed with me but never took the time to clean off the bed..i didn’t have time to get frustrated or clean off the bed bc the head was coming and the next mom was delivering..the baby was still wrapped in the membranes but came out successfully and beautifully at 11:40am. I got the name Nalani for her which means from heaven!
Nalani’s verse… “You shall guide me with your counsel and after receive me to your glory.” Psalm 73:24



Delivery #16
Today I had an 18 year old Primi (first child). She had been fully dilated for 2 hours so they gave her oxytocin through a drip to speed up contractions which worked quite well. I had around 10 people watching this delivery since it had been slow all morning in the labour room. It was a textbook delivery (perfect) and a baby boy. He seemed to be in a good mood the entire time which I was happy about. 5 minutes after she delivered the placenta, she got up..cleaned up her stuff and was ready to go.. I had to race after her to get a picture with her and the baby before she drove off! I got the name Jason for the baby boy which means the healing one.
Jason’s verse… “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me, to preach

#13 & #14

#13
I remember quite vaguely this delivery it was a few weeks ago but it was a fun delivery! I was checking vitals on a baby and turned around to see a mom not making one sound but a baby’s head was coming out still inside the amniotic sac..looked like an alien! Since it was still in the sac it made it easier for the entire thing to slide right out and that’s exactly what it did. I only had one sterile glove on so I grabbed the baby with that glove and waited for my secondary to get sterile so we could continue with the delivery. It was exciting and quick..my favorite moments!
Delivery #14
It is my last week in the labour room here in Tanzania and I am so sad to go but also excited that I get to do some of the final deliveries. Yesterday I did 2 deliveries on the same bed! We arrive at the hospital ready work around 10:30 so I was monitoring one woman when another woman began to deliver. Since I was sterile I did the delivery. It was her 3rd delivery so I am assuming that is why it came so quickly…I looked everywhere for her records and they were missing. So I had no information on her and had to call one of the nurses over so I could ask her questions about previous history. She delivered a beautiful, healthy baby boy at 10:40am and I got the name Nigel for him which means ‘consecrated to God’ which I liked since my name means the same thing. Prayed over him that he would be dedicated in all that he does and he would grow to know his heavenly Father.
Nigels verse… “I have set the Lord always before me because He is at my right hand. I shall not be moved.” Psalm 16:8

baby #14

kenya.

Kenya-
Last week was a trip to Kenya. Mostly to get visas but also to meet up with Janika who is an American married to a Kenyan . she lives in Nairobi with her husband Martin and their 2 children. Janika works with Traditional Birth Attendants (TBA) in the slums of Nairobi and we were able to go visit the slums and teach her valuable hands on skills since she is still in training to be a midwife. The first 2 days I was working out visa stuff with the Bangladesh embassy so I was only able to see one TBA the last day we were there. when we visited the largest slum in East Africa. We walked through poop and dirt and children excited to see white people…up down and through rickey homes till we finally arrived in the dark, quaint home of the TBA and what most people would call pieces of scrap metal put together to create 4 walls and a roof, they call home. It was quite dark inside seeing as there was no electricity or windows. we sat down with her and talked to the TBA how she was trained and how many deliveries she does monthly. She seemed like she was trained quite well bc every question we asked her she knew the answer thoroughly and seemed to take the right steps through a delivery. She had been working as a Midwife since 1982 so we figured that she had done 1800 deliveries up till now. It was an amazing experience.
As far as the visas go, Bek and I spent 3 days running from embassy to embassy trying to get visas approved. I only had one full page left in my passport and was hoping it would be good enough for my Bangladesh visa but when we crossed the Kenyan border they put a stamp that covered my last page. Bad news for me, but good news that they had an American embassy in Nairobi bc the 2nd day I had to run over there (2 hour drive) and get more pages put in my passport. After 3 days of running from Bangladesh to America to Bangladesh again..i got my pages..and everyone going to Bangladesh got their visas. Praise the Lord! Then we drove the 12 hour bus ride back to Dar Es Salaam and passed Mt. Kilimanjaro on our way back down. Africa is a beautiful place with beautiful people.