#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.

kenya. among other things.

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.

the team.

our beautiful team in tanzania


our smaller team that will be heading to bangladesh in less than a month!

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.

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