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.