Sometimes I have trouble sleeping. Most of the time its because theres a lot on my mind..other times its just because im a light sleeper. But on nights like tonight it pays off because im thinking so much and need an outlet…like writing it down..
Its my last night in Dhaka..last night of outreach.. last night of many nights that have been in a developing nation. And ive just been recapping my experience of this past year..of what I have gone through..of doing 30 deliveries and everything else that goes with that. How I had moments of doubt..then glimpses of courage.. moments of giving up.. then glimpses of hope.. moments of anxiety…then glimpses of peace. I can say that God was behind the scenes on every aspect of life that I saw this past year.. when I wanted to give up he handed me something that He knew would keep me going even if it was for just another day, another hour, another minute.
Even though there were so many moments where I felt alone.. i was never alone.. I guess what im saying is I experienced God in a whole different way this past year and it wasn’t in a ‘quiet time’ way. It was in a real way.. an unscheduled way…every moment..every day..the ugly .. the good.. the mediocre.. the bla..LIFE.
I know that even though right now at this moment I don’t feel like anything radical has changed for me..it will when I find myself in a place where everyone around me isn’t doing the exact same thing as me.. im excited to take the next step. To share with others the crazy year ive had which to me has become normal but know where I come from, not so much.
I head to Australia on a big jet plane in 19 hours.. am there for a week of debriefing and rejoin with the other team which has been in india.
I will be in perth for about 2 weeks to be with friends that I haven’t seen since last September. Then I’m planning to head home for 2 months since I haven’t been home in almost 2 years and would like to see family and friends. I am coming to the end of the blessed year of having all of my finances paid since September. I am putting my need out there just so people are aware in case you do want to give/pray!
I need…
-Finances for my time in Perth- $300
-Finances for flight home- (I have $1000) $800
-Prayers for transition and managing time well while home and in perth
Small tutorial on how to get Liz home…
-pray!
-send a check!
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.
bless you.
Liz
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
life and death
Heres a story that I wrote a few months ago…that is hard for me to talk about..hard for me to write about..so much that I delayed on blogging it…but here it is because I know the importance of sharing it.
February 1, 2011
“A million children are left motherless each year as a result of maternal death.”
Today. The first of February. A week ago I would have told you that I have never seen someone die, but this past week was different from any other I’ve faced so far. Im beginning to understand the reasonings behind the fact that there are a million children left motherless each year, im beginning to understand that im not the only one that feels the pain when I see this take place before my eyes.
Last week I was working in ICU (intensive care unit). It was our first day and we clean the rooms the women are in for an hour before we begin our case studies. While we were cleaning, there was one women who was eclamptic and she had 5 doctors around her. She looked like she had passed out and the doctor’s and nurses looked worried. A few minutes later she died. They put the sheet over her head and wrapped her. The baby died as well. We are doing case studies on eclampsia so I wanted to take up this case with Jenny who was my partner. We sat down with the doctor who was in charge of the case. The doctor was devastated, and didn’t want to work the rest of the day. She seemed so vulnerable and real and at that moment I realized how much it not only effects me as an outsider looking in on these situations that could be avoided in so many ways in a developed country but looking at a Tanzanian doctor who did her best, who did everything she could to care for this woman and bring her back to life… who knows that the country I come from, it can be avoided. The doctor’s and nurses here know that their people are uneducated and poor which are some of the main reasons why there is situations and cirumstances like this.
The mother that died had no other children and wasn’t wed. she had one sister who we were able to sit down with and counsel through the news.
Although the next story is hard for me to tell..it needs to be shared. It gives people a glimpse . This week I was working in ANC and there was a woman who needed to go to the theatre for a cesarean. So Jenny and I went to take her and be there to assist with taking care of the baby when it came out. As we were wheeling her over, there was another woman, Josephine, right behind us who was also getting wheeled to get a C-S. Josephine looked like she was in shock and her case seemed more important than our woman. She went in before us, I looked at her and she was staring at me with terrified eyes, I’ll never forget those eyes. They wheeled her in. we went to get changed into our C-S scrubs. I went in to see how Josephine was doing. I saw her fresh beautiful baby boy wrapped in a kanga laying on the table. I picked him up and welcomed him into the world. he was sucking and wanting milk. I went in to the theatre and asked how the mother was doing. They told me she was having cardiac arrest. Jenny and I began to pray. We waited for news of any changes as they rescucitated her, but no changes came. The doctor checked her pulse, looked at the other doctors and shook his head. Some of the doctors had blank stares…while the others tended to her and stitched her back up from the cesarean. She died from an amniotic fluid embolism.
What made it difficult for me was to know she had 4 children that just lost a mother and a husband who just lost a wife from something that is preventable. Knowing that the doctor’s know as well and knowing that they go through this over and over again.
I wasn’t there when the father was told and counseled but we were with the baby the rest of the day. We got some formula that will probably only last one week, but it’s a start. I got the name ‘Joseph’ after his mother and Jenny got the name ‘Moses’.
Josephine had 4 children and a husband. In most cases in Africa, the father doesn’t look after the children, but rather Aunties or the Grandmother take the responsibilities of caring for the children. I was never able to do follow up for the family even though I tried many times to do so. We did get money together that day at the hospital to get the baby 2 tubs of formula but I wanted to do so much more..we all wanted to do so much more.. but everyday has cases like these..the need is soo great to focus on just one…or is it??
I may not ever see baby Joseph Moses ever again, but he’s so close to my heart and forever in my prayers.
February 1, 2011
“A million children are left motherless each year as a result of maternal death.”
Today. The first of February. A week ago I would have told you that I have never seen someone die, but this past week was different from any other I’ve faced so far. Im beginning to understand the reasonings behind the fact that there are a million children left motherless each year, im beginning to understand that im not the only one that feels the pain when I see this take place before my eyes.
Last week I was working in ICU (intensive care unit). It was our first day and we clean the rooms the women are in for an hour before we begin our case studies. While we were cleaning, there was one women who was eclamptic and she had 5 doctors around her. She looked like she had passed out and the doctor’s and nurses looked worried. A few minutes later she died. They put the sheet over her head and wrapped her. The baby died as well. We are doing case studies on eclampsia so I wanted to take up this case with Jenny who was my partner. We sat down with the doctor who was in charge of the case. The doctor was devastated, and didn’t want to work the rest of the day. She seemed so vulnerable and real and at that moment I realized how much it not only effects me as an outsider looking in on these situations that could be avoided in so many ways in a developed country but looking at a Tanzanian doctor who did her best, who did everything she could to care for this woman and bring her back to life… who knows that the country I come from, it can be avoided. The doctor’s and nurses here know that their people are uneducated and poor which are some of the main reasons why there is situations and cirumstances like this.
The mother that died had no other children and wasn’t wed. she had one sister who we were able to sit down with and counsel through the news.
Although the next story is hard for me to tell..it needs to be shared. It gives people a glimpse . This week I was working in ANC and there was a woman who needed to go to the theatre for a cesarean. So Jenny and I went to take her and be there to assist with taking care of the baby when it came out. As we were wheeling her over, there was another woman, Josephine, right behind us who was also getting wheeled to get a C-S. Josephine looked like she was in shock and her case seemed more important than our woman. She went in before us, I looked at her and she was staring at me with terrified eyes, I’ll never forget those eyes. They wheeled her in. we went to get changed into our C-S scrubs. I went in to see how Josephine was doing. I saw her fresh beautiful baby boy wrapped in a kanga laying on the table. I picked him up and welcomed him into the world. he was sucking and wanting milk. I went in to the theatre and asked how the mother was doing. They told me she was having cardiac arrest. Jenny and I began to pray. We waited for news of any changes as they rescucitated her, but no changes came. The doctor checked her pulse, looked at the other doctors and shook his head. Some of the doctors had blank stares…while the others tended to her and stitched her back up from the cesarean. She died from an amniotic fluid embolism.
What made it difficult for me was to know she had 4 children that just lost a mother and a husband who just lost a wife from something that is preventable. Knowing that the doctor’s know as well and knowing that they go through this over and over again.
I wasn’t there when the father was told and counseled but we were with the baby the rest of the day. We got some formula that will probably only last one week, but it’s a start. I got the name ‘Joseph’ after his mother and Jenny got the name ‘Moses’.
Josephine had 4 children and a husband. In most cases in Africa, the father doesn’t look after the children, but rather Aunties or the Grandmother take the responsibilities of caring for the children. I was never able to do follow up for the family even though I tried many times to do so. We did get money together that day at the hospital to get the baby 2 tubs of formula but I wanted to do so much more..we all wanted to do so much more.. but everyday has cases like these..the need is soo great to focus on just one…or is it??
I may not ever see baby Joseph Moses ever again, but he’s so close to my heart and forever in my prayers.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
my last delivery! #30
he was a cutie .. i thought id document the last one with lots of pics
Delivery #30
It was my last week and Jen ad gotten dehydrated the day before and had to go back home. Bek came to take her place so I wasn’t stranded there on my own. A woman came in a 5:30am and so the nurses came knocking on our door to wake and notify us there was a delivery, but I was incoherent and in a deep sleep. Bek went to check on her and saw she was only 5cm. so went back to sleep. We checked her again in the morning and saw she was only 7cm. she didn’t progress all morning, so she was given misoprostol to speed up the delivery at 10:30am. At 2pm she was at 9cm but cervix was still felt on the left side of the baby’s head so we waited. At 2:40p we put her in the squatting position to help the baby’s head to descend which helped a lot. Once she was crowning we layed her on her back and the baby came out quick… it was a baby boy!! He had a long body (50cm.) and was aaaaadorable. He had a perfect Apgar score 10/10 and I was so happy that the baby was good and healthy and the mother didn’t tear.
I got the name Demetrius for him which means productive one and prayed over him that the Lord will bless him in all that he does. Deuteronomy 16:15 ‘For the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete.’
I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect last delivery. It was a beautiful way to end my experience of delivering babies on the Birth Attendant School.
#28 and #29
Delivery #28
This delivery was an interesting one. Jen and I got to Kapastanga (the other hospital we work at but its sometimes not as busy) and we started our busy day by doing ANC checks with the women. Palpating their bellies and checking the position of the baby, how many weeks they are, if they are having any problems and so on… an hour into working we heard there was a delivery… i went to check it out and the mother was fully dilated.. I went to tell Jen and see if she wanted to do a delivery and she said she did.. but 20 minutes later after Jen was coaching the mom through the contractions Jen felt faint and had to sit down. I was sitting on the bed behind the mom holding her up when Jen said she needed water. I went to get off the bed and the mom grabbed me and pulled me back not wanting me to leave so I was really torn but knew that Jen needed water so I went to get her water, came back and the head was coming out. I gave her water and the nurses were there supporting the baby’s head and Jen got up to pull out the rest of the body up and onto the mom and then had to go lay down bc she felt like she was going to faint. We found out later that Jen was dehydrated so I got someone to put up a drip in our room bc she wasn’t able to drink water. I finished the delivery and did baby and moms vitals.
Although I wasn’t able to pull the baby out, I was glad to be a part of the rest of the delivery and felt like I really connected with the mom and knew she appreciated my care as I saw her for the next two days and she would be so happy when I came to check on her and the baby. It was a baby boy and I got the name Christian for him!
Delivery #29
This delivery was late at night and the mom had chicken pox! I was falling asleep in our room next to the hospital when I heard a van pull up and commotion outside which usually means a woman has come who is ready to deliver. I went out and checked on her.. I did a VE and saw that she was 9 cm. so i counseled her through contractions and knew she was exhausted. Since its hard for men to see their wives in pain, they want something to be done as quick as possible to make it go away. So I heard the husband yelling from outside the room ‘C-ZAR!’ which means c-section wanting her to get a c-section which at this point she is too far along to get one since the head is already engaged into the pelvic cavity. Every time he yelled it louder she would push harder.
Her perineum was tight and the baby’s heart rate was dropping so it was necessary to do yet another episiotomy. After cutting, the head descended and came out quickly.
It was a cute baby boy and we got the name Eli and Alex for him which means Jehovah is God and helper of mankind. Psalm 83:18 ‘let them know that you, whose name is the Lord-that you alone are the Most High over all the earth.’
Monday, May 23, 2011
26 & 27
Delivery #26
I did this delivery in a new location, Kapastanga. The hospital that we go take turns going to each week, 4 of us stay back while 2 of us go to a very small, more remote hospital that probably gets at the most 4 deliveries a week. But the week tiffany and I were there, they got 8 deliveries which is lots of babies from this tiny remote place. They were all girls except one!
I had the opportunity to do 3 deliveries before this mom delivered, but wanted Tiff to get a delivery in, then another delivery was a stressful situation which involved my hand getting pushed out of the way by the head nurse and quite chaotic, so I walked away from that delivery since they had 4 student nurses there who were fully capable of doing the delivery and another delivery but it was a still birth and I didn’t want to do a still birth since I haven’t done one yet and it really affects me, so tiff did it. the chord was wrapped 4 times around the neck and one time around the body. It was a beautiful baby girl who had only stopped bleeding the night before. It was hard to see the mom weeping afterwards while she was recovering.
After that delivery, I prayed over the delivery room and spoke life over the room and the bed that the women deliver on bc out of those 8 deliveries..2 babies didn’t make it.
The delivery that I did was midday and quite normal.. I was walking with the mother up and down the outside hallway when she was at 7cm to speed up the delivery.. when we did another VE an hour later, she should have been fully dilated, but wasn’t and the head was having a hard time descending even though she was in pushing mode and had been pushing for 20 minutes… so banuka who is the head nurse decided that she needed an episiotomy but told them it wasn’t time yet because the head was caput, and she wasn’t fully dilated yet.. but she wanted to give it anyways so she did and we waited for another 10 minutes .. gave her a cannula of 1000ml. saline with oxytocin 10 IUIV but they put it in wrong and her arm started swelling up .. they had put it in her muscle.. so they had to remove it and stick it in her other arm. This helps with speeding up delivery and give the mother strength to push. The head then began crowning.. once the head came out, I felt a chord around neck but it wasn’t too tight ..baby came out with chord a bit tangled around her but she was breathing and doing fine. It was a nice delivery and once we cut the chord, the baby started crying and was doing fine as well as the mother who had done well the entire delivery. The baby girl was beautiful.
Since she was given an episiotomy, I did a suture internally muscular and an outside stitch. It was a piece of cake after my first experience suturing with the crowd at Bollophur.
I got the name Amelia for her which means Industrious one and prayed over her that she would serve the Lord and know God. Colossians 3:23-24 ‘Whatever you do, work at it with all you heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.’
27th delivery
This was an unexpected delivery for me. I was up late one night and Amy was over at the hospital monitoring a mom and I went to go check on how she was doing before I went to bed.. she then told me that another mom had come in at 6 cm. and she was going to deliver soon. So either way I would have a delivery since there was 2 moms. She was only 4 cm at 2am, so I decided I would get some shut eye before she was fully dilated. I got woken up at 5:15am because she was fully dilated, so I went over to the hospital. She was doing well but had a really tight perineum and I was worried she was going to tear, I began stretching it and it took 20 minutes for the head to finally come out ... the babies heart rate was low and I didn’t want to but felt she should get an episiotomy bc the head wasn’t coming any farther out. Just as we were going to cut, the head began to come out and I stretched the perineum more as it came farther, then it finally popped out. The chord was wrapped around the neck twice so I needed to cut it and get the baby out as quickly as possible. We clamped and cut and I put the baby on the mom’s stomach.. it was small and frail and not doing well, it had an Apgar score of 1. It was pale, had no reflex, no muscle tone and no resps, only a faint heart beat. Amy did chest compressions and he was doing better at 5 minutes. He was weak but doing a lot better than before. Amy, Bek and I were praying the entire time and speaking life over the baby boy.
I checked on him an hour later and he was doing great. Good, healthy and beautiful, looking like a little monkey because he was a primi. I got the name Charlie for him which means ‘man of God’ and prayed that he would know God and put his trust in his eternal father. Psalm 73:28 “But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.”
#24 & #25
Delivery #24
Yeah..its been 3 weeks since I did this delivery and am having a really hard time remembering what happened but it was a pretty normal delivery in the afternoon. The baby was taking awhile to come out and she had a small perineum so we needed to do an episiotomy. After given the baby came out quickly. I did the suturing which was my second time suturing here in Bangladesh. Probably my worst experience bc there were 15 student nurses watching me, the head nurse and my staff. Because they don’t do things the same way as us, the head nurse was telling me in Bangla everything I was doing wrong and trying to take over for me while my staff was telling me I was doing fine and to keep going. I was shaking and felt so much pressure from both sides and began to feel light headed. I almost fainted but kept going with the suturing and was a bit delusional through the entire process. Yeah..don’t want to go through that ever again.
I got the name Adella for the baby girl which means noble and of good cheer. Psalm 23:6 ‘surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.’
Delivery #25
Well .. this was a late night delivery… but not as late as some other deliveries I have done.. I was worried about the mom because she was so small and frail..she was probably 85 pounds pregnant!
The baby girl delivered at 9:55pm and I was a bit frustrated bc they do things differently here in Bangladesh and they take over if they don’t understand what your doing or if you are waiting…it’s a bit frustrating but am learning how to work alongside them and being more aggressive myself or I won’t be able to do anything.. like delivering the baby, giving the baby a bath, delivering the placenta, suturing etc. I was able to deliver the baby and give it a bath but I’m learning to get a heart for what they do here and that the nurses are being trained well to help their own people physically to the best of their ability. In the deliveries that I am not able to do it fully, I do get down on myself and disappointed because I have been taught to do so much more than I am able to do here…learning through each and every experience different things and training the local nurses what I know. The baby was 2.2kg (4 1/2 Lbs.), the smallest baby I have delivered at 38 weeks but not surprised considering the mother was so small.
I got the name Antoinette for the baby girl which means strength and abounding in love. Psalm 96:4-6 ‘for great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary’
22 & 23
Delivery #22
There was strong thunder and lightning one night as often happens here, probably once or twice a week.. when it rains it pours…. and thunders…. and lightnings like I have never heard before (I also grew up in San Diego though where it probably rains only twice a year) anyways.. we have seen it speed up many deliveries.. it was 9pm at night when one of the nurses came knocking on our door telling us that there was a delivery.. out of the 4 of us that were at the house I was willing to do the delivery so I got changed and went over to the hospital to see how far along she was. The mother was very tired and I went in to do a VE and felt the head was caput… meaning the head was a bit swollen and the skull was farther back so she was not fully dilated yet.. sister Gillian, who is the one in charge of the hospital…who is 80+ years old… who is British and has been here in the Desh for 40+ years and was our contact to get here..who is the only white person for miles (besides us), she came in and said that the woman needed an episiotomy which is the first one I have been a part of ..after she did the cut the chord was around the neck so we clamped and cut and then pulled out the head and body and put it on the mom’s stomach.. The baby needed stimulating as it was having difficulty breathing… after a few minutes he coughed and started crying.
I got the name Joseph for him which means ‘the Lord adds’ and prayed over him that there would be an increase and double portion over his life. Deuteronomy 16:15 ‘the Lord shall bless and increase all the works of your hands.’
Delivery #23
She was in labour for 53 hours, which is called prolonged labour and is dangerous to the mother and child. So we used misoprostol to speed up the delivery. The head came out and the body came out easily with a perfect Apgar score which I was excited about since it would be my first baby to have a perfect Apgar. I got the name Genevieve Eden which means courteous spirit and delight. Psalm 40:8 ‘I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.’
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Delivery #21
celia, me and chantal on the way to the village! completely unrelated to the story below...
During my first week I was waiting at the hospital for a mother to do a checkup on but no women were coming or were in labour… so I sat and waited and waited and waited.. a few hours later a woman came on the back of a bike who was about to deliver..and I had the opportunity to deliver her baby.. I was really excited as I get on all deliveries.. but excited just by the fact that we sit there and wait for hours and hours for women to come who are about to pop and its one opportunity a week to get a woman and baby who need you..they come to us with their need and we are able to help deliver their baby to the best of our ability..
Helped her to the delivery room and did all the proper preparations..did a VE and felt that she had a swollen cervix so I pushed it back during contractions…but she was still taking awhile to push the baby out..she was exhausted and realized once the head came out that the swollen cervix and the chord around the baby’s neck was making it more difficult for the head to descend.
But the baby came out slowly but surely.. it was a baby girl and Bek and I got the name ‘Marta’ for her..which means compassionate spirit and prayed over her 1 Corinthians 13:13 “but now these three remain: faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love.”
Delivery #20
My first delivery in Bangladesh! I found it to be both rewarding and exciting to do a delivery here in this land that is so foreign and unknown to me..in some ways I feel like im having double culture shock.. I got so used to the ways of Africans that now I have to get used to the ways of another people it almost in some ways is quite exhausting..but fascinating at the same time.
It was my first day in the hospital here in the Desh.. we actually live within the compound of the hospital. I have afternoon shifts from 1-7pm and nothing exciting had happened all day. The people here are quite interested in us white people.. mostly because the area we are probably the only white people they have ever seen.. I know this because it’s almost like they don’t know how to treat us..we go to their internet café (which is one sad little computer) and when its time to pay the owner tells me I don’t need to pay..because friends don’t make friends pay.. im like I just met you when I came to use your internet.. they are a sweet people that want you to be their best friend and if they could they would adopt us to be apart of their family.
Anyways.. I had a slow day working at the hospital and it was 5 minutes till my shift was over when one of the nurses ran up to me calling and telling me there was a delivery.. I was so in shock that there was actually a delivery bc I had been sitting there for 6 hours waiting and the moment had finally come! I went into the delivery room and saw that she was all ready to deliver.. I realized as soon as I walked into the delivery room how differently they do things here from Tanzania.
They are so much cleaner when preparing the woman for delivery.. give her an enema which cleans her out and then we wait for the baby to come..because there are so few deliveries each week all of the nurses in training will watch the deliveries on their shift, so I had about 6 nurses all crowded around watching me do the delivery 2 assisting me with it. I was getting a bit claustrophobic and asked them if it was okay if I do the delivery. I thought it was already clear that I was doing the delivery, but I guess not because they were pushing their hands over mine. They backed off a bit when I asked which helped the delivery go a bit more smoothly. It took 7 pushes for the head to deliver, then the head came out and the body shot out after it and was glad I had a firm hold on the baby.. I placed it on the mothers stomach and it began to breathe.
They give no medication to assist with delivery of the afterbirth, so it usually takes a bit longer for the placenta to come out.. I had been waiting 20 minutes for it to come and it hadn’t detached fully from the uteran wall, so I went to do a set of vitals on the mom while I waited. As I was removing my gloves and washing my hands I turned around to see the afterbirth coming out and one of the nurses who had no gloves on had it in her hands! I had never seen that before because we always wear gloves.
The mother was doing great as well as the baby boy. We got the name Matthias for him which means gift of God. He was super cute and I loved taking pics of his different face expressions. Here is his verse… Psalm 118:21 “I will praise you, for you have heard me and have become my salvation.”
Sunday, May 1, 2011
17..18..19..
this is a bit late.. but havent had the best internet connection here in bangladesh. so these were some of my last deliveries when i was in Tanzania..
Delivery #17
It was my last week in Tanzania and I was excited to do a delivery. We had just arrived there and went to go look for a woman who was progressing. I saw a nurse with one of the woman who was 10 centimeters. I asked if I could do the delivery and nurse was relieved I was taking over the delivery. The first thing I noticed about the woman was that she had FGM (female genital mutilation) but it didn’t prevent the baby from coming and the head was crowning. The baby came out quick and cried right away. It was a beautiful baby girl and was caught up in the moment. She was a perfect little girl with the cutest cry. i got the name Lauren for her which means “victorious” ..1 John 5:4 “for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.”
This particular delivery really got to me as our intercession focus later on that week was on female genital mutilation in developing nations and as I remembered the face of the mom as she held her baby girl. She was beautiful as her eyes lit up and a smile spread across her face as she looked at me with gratitude. I couldn’t help but think of the future of this baby girl and whether she would have to go through the same thing her mother did. I prayed and continue to pray that there would be education on female genital mutilation for these people and their communities. That the next generation wouldn’t have to go through the same thing their mothers did.
Delivery #18
This delivery was pretty quick..i came upon her during 2nd stage and the baby came out pretty quickly.. I think mostly because she had 8 previous pregnancies. She had a very quick and good delivery and the baby had an APGAR score of 8/10… she only had a blood loss of 50 ml. with a perfect perineum. I got the name Rebecca for her which means steadfast and faithful…1 corinthians 15:58 “be steadfast, unmovable and always abounding in the work of the Lord.” I prayed that she would grow to be an influencer and loner of her eternal father.
Delivery #19
This was my last day in the labour room and I came upon the woman in the morning.. she was really tired of pushing but I came back at 12:20pm when I saw the head coming. The baby was a bit flat on arrival and there was lots of meconium staining…so we did deep suction and baby’s lung sounds improved.. the baby had an APGAR score of 5/9 considering the condition of the baby when it first came out was not good. She expelled completely with no tears. The baby was 2.8 kg and I got the name Peter for him meaning “rock of strength” Psalm 62:7 “God is my salvation and glory” prayed that he would grow to be a man of strength in God.
Delivery #17
It was my last week in Tanzania and I was excited to do a delivery. We had just arrived there and went to go look for a woman who was progressing. I saw a nurse with one of the woman who was 10 centimeters. I asked if I could do the delivery and nurse was relieved I was taking over the delivery. The first thing I noticed about the woman was that she had FGM (female genital mutilation) but it didn’t prevent the baby from coming and the head was crowning. The baby came out quick and cried right away. It was a beautiful baby girl and was caught up in the moment. She was a perfect little girl with the cutest cry. i got the name Lauren for her which means “victorious” ..1 John 5:4 “for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.”
This particular delivery really got to me as our intercession focus later on that week was on female genital mutilation in developing nations and as I remembered the face of the mom as she held her baby girl. She was beautiful as her eyes lit up and a smile spread across her face as she looked at me with gratitude. I couldn’t help but think of the future of this baby girl and whether she would have to go through the same thing her mother did. I prayed and continue to pray that there would be education on female genital mutilation for these people and their communities. That the next generation wouldn’t have to go through the same thing their mothers did.
Delivery #18
This delivery was pretty quick..i came upon her during 2nd stage and the baby came out pretty quickly.. I think mostly because she had 8 previous pregnancies. She had a very quick and good delivery and the baby had an APGAR score of 8/10… she only had a blood loss of 50 ml. with a perfect perineum. I got the name Rebecca for her which means steadfast and faithful…1 corinthians 15:58 “be steadfast, unmovable and always abounding in the work of the Lord.” I prayed that she would grow to be an influencer and loner of her eternal father.
Delivery #19
This was my last day in the labour room and I came upon the woman in the morning.. she was really tired of pushing but I came back at 12:20pm when I saw the head coming. The baby was a bit flat on arrival and there was lots of meconium staining…so we did deep suction and baby’s lung sounds improved.. the baby had an APGAR score of 5/9 considering the condition of the baby when it first came out was not good. She expelled completely with no tears. The baby was 2.8 kg and I got the name Peter for him meaning “rock of strength” Psalm 62:7 “God is my salvation and glory” prayed that he would grow to be a man of strength in God.
you know your in the middle of nowhere when...
Hey! I havent blogged since I left tanzania a month ago.. the internet here is almost non existent.. we are in the middle of nowhere.. I don’t think I have ever had the opportunity to be as far from civilisation as I am now… heres a few things to give you an idea of where were at..
You know your in the middle of nowhere when…
-if you want a good meal, you befriend people so they invite you over for dinner
-the only dairy product is in the form of powder
-your listening to your ipod when a teenage girl comes up to you and asks the name of the foreign object in your hand that plays music
-if you want to eat meat, you have to buy a live chicken/fish and kill it at home (at least its fresh).
-you get excited when the electricity turns on.
-they don’t know what a washing machine is.
-you have to build a fire if you want to cook your food.
-your house is overrun by animals..birds build nests in the walls, bats in the rooms and bathrooms, huge spiders and cockroaches, rats in the toilet (tried to poison to no avale), cats and dogs come in when they please and monkeys chill out on the roof.
-everyone stares at you everywhere you go and if you stop for any reason you will have a crowd of 20 within seconds.
-you’re the first white person they have ever seen..
-there’s only one computer in the entire town, and you can only use it when there’s power
-you make children cry bc they don’t know what you are
-fastest mode of transportation is biking
-people bathe in the river as their social outing
-everyone laughs at you bc when you attempt to speak their language, you say everything wrong
-your easter brunch is french toast made from hamburger buns and the only thing to put on top is sweetened condensed milk
-you paint your easter eggs with nail polish
-its completely normal to pump water from the well outside and carry the bucket inside when you want clean water.
on another note...
I have been reading one of donald millers books and thinking about my life this past year. He talks about how life is better when its harder. He states…
“God is saying.. enjoy your place in my story. The beauty of it means you matter, and you can create within it even as I have created you. If one of the reason we fail to acknowledge the brilliance of life is because we don’t want the responsibility inherent in the acknowledgement. We don’t want to be characters in a story because characters have to move and breathe and face conflict with courage. And if life isn’t remarkable, then we don’t have to do any of that; we can be unwilling victims rather than grateful participants… if the point of life is the same point of a story, the point of life is character transformation.”
This has made me reflect on how although my year has been hard and challenging and not easy. When you make it through all that, the experience almost makes it worth it. Making it through some things you thought you would never make it through transforms us and makes us feel more alive than ever, because I know when I go home I will appreciate the things I never appreciated before..like opening up the food cabinet and having food and a stove that I can cook it on, like understanding people when they talk to me and them understanding me when I talk to them, like walking along the street and not having 20 people crowd around me if I stop for 5 seconds.. the things I grew up knowing but have now become a luxury bc I have realized how much I do have but then also learning how much I don’t need to be happy…content… stress free…
When I go home, I will probably want to grab people and be like… appreciate your life! Your life is so good ! you have it so easy…but now I know some people won’t realize this bc they are fed daily that you aren’t satisfied till you have the latest and the greatest and they will have to go through something hard and challenging to appreciate things and God beginning to show them areas they need to set right in their lives so they can begin living again.
thats all for now.. Bless you!
You know your in the middle of nowhere when…
-if you want a good meal, you befriend people so they invite you over for dinner
-the only dairy product is in the form of powder
-your listening to your ipod when a teenage girl comes up to you and asks the name of the foreign object in your hand that plays music
-if you want to eat meat, you have to buy a live chicken/fish and kill it at home (at least its fresh).
-you get excited when the electricity turns on.
-they don’t know what a washing machine is.
-you have to build a fire if you want to cook your food.
-your house is overrun by animals..birds build nests in the walls, bats in the rooms and bathrooms, huge spiders and cockroaches, rats in the toilet (tried to poison to no avale), cats and dogs come in when they please and monkeys chill out on the roof.
-everyone stares at you everywhere you go and if you stop for any reason you will have a crowd of 20 within seconds.
-you’re the first white person they have ever seen..
-there’s only one computer in the entire town, and you can only use it when there’s power
-you make children cry bc they don’t know what you are
-fastest mode of transportation is biking
-people bathe in the river as their social outing
-everyone laughs at you bc when you attempt to speak their language, you say everything wrong
-your easter brunch is french toast made from hamburger buns and the only thing to put on top is sweetened condensed milk
-you paint your easter eggs with nail polish
-its completely normal to pump water from the well outside and carry the bucket inside when you want clean water.
on another note...
I have been reading one of donald millers books and thinking about my life this past year. He talks about how life is better when its harder. He states…
“God is saying.. enjoy your place in my story. The beauty of it means you matter, and you can create within it even as I have created you. If one of the reason we fail to acknowledge the brilliance of life is because we don’t want the responsibility inherent in the acknowledgement. We don’t want to be characters in a story because characters have to move and breathe and face conflict with courage. And if life isn’t remarkable, then we don’t have to do any of that; we can be unwilling victims rather than grateful participants… if the point of life is the same point of a story, the point of life is character transformation.”
This has made me reflect on how although my year has been hard and challenging and not easy. When you make it through all that, the experience almost makes it worth it. Making it through some things you thought you would never make it through transforms us and makes us feel more alive than ever, because I know when I go home I will appreciate the things I never appreciated before..like opening up the food cabinet and having food and a stove that I can cook it on, like understanding people when they talk to me and them understanding me when I talk to them, like walking along the street and not having 20 people crowd around me if I stop for 5 seconds.. the things I grew up knowing but have now become a luxury bc I have realized how much I do have but then also learning how much I don’t need to be happy…content… stress free…
When I go home, I will probably want to grab people and be like… appreciate your life! Your life is so good ! you have it so easy…but now I know some people won’t realize this bc they are fed daily that you aren’t satisfied till you have the latest and the greatest and they will have to go through something hard and challenging to appreciate things and God beginning to show them areas they need to set right in their lives so they can begin living again.
thats all for now.. Bless you!
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