Live.Laugh.Love.

Hello everyone!!!

Can you believe that I only have 3 weeks and 4 days until I can see all your beautiful faces!!! I am so excited to come home but I am having such a wonderful experience that kind of sadly just started to actually begin to enjoy without any kind of extra stress to think about.

There was a problem that we had with the organization that we went through and our host family and money problems, but the problem is solved and we never have to think about it again. It was hendering us from actually being completely useful at the hospital and not fully enjoying this experience, and now it is on! The sad thing is that we only have 13 more days at the hospital and we have a lot to do since we just became able to completely pour our entire mind into it.

This week at the hospital we were fully working in the maternity ward which I am becoming really used to the conditions and everything surprisingly. We are actually getting into a groove and now know how to make ourselves useful here. I am obsessed with holding the babies and taking care of them after they are born. The babies are brought to this small little table that is wobbly, and wrapped in a blanket that the mom has to bring. The baby is then given a Vitamin K injection to help prevent clotting and also tetracycline is applied to the eyes to prevent a bacterial infection. This is my job. I am hoping to conduct a delivery this week, but I like being on the happy end of things working with the babies rather then working with the messy screaming part. This week was pretty slow though compared to others. One interesting fact about the town and hospital I am working in though is that is has one of the highest birth rates in the WORLD!!! Literally when I say babies are popping out right and left…that is just what I mean. Since the majority of the week was slower we were able to really sit down and talk with some of the students that we are working with. They have taught us soo much about the culture here. Stories about walking with the witches, we learned about the evil eye, etc. These are long stories that I can tell later. Friday came along and we were hoping for some excitement at the hospital since it was a little down the past few days and boy we were not expecting to see what happened next.

We walked back to the labor ward and everything looked like it usually does, 3 beds filled with women prepped for a c-section. They all had their fluid drip, catheters inserted and saline ready to go. There was one woman though who was in the process of being prepped because of extreme fetal distress. The doctor that we always see in theatre (operating room) all the time, Dr. Jared, was even there checking the fetal heart rate because it was so low. So he immediately left to go get ready for surgery and they were to prep her immediately for an emergency c-section. As the student was inserting the catheter tube though she began to push and the membranes started to come out…which means the head is inside the birth canal and she is ready to push and not able to go to theatre anymore… At this point we saw someone come around the corner who seemed to be her friend who brought her to the hospital and she explained to us that she doesn’t even know her and she is just helping her because she is a visitor in this town. She is from Tanzania and her husband is a pastor and they were here on a trip. We all became extremely worried for the health of this woman and of her unborn child because everyone was running around and trying their hardest to get this baby out as soon as possible. The main problem was though that the mother was in such shock that she wasn’t able to push and was just too tired. Dr Jared had to come back and basically pull this baby out of her which was extremely hard to watch and she screamed like I have never heard anyone scream before. The baby was ok and I took care of it like it was my own until she got back from theatre because she had a cervical tear that she needed fixed. (Sorry if this is graphic but it’s real!!) Everyone was praying the entire time this woman was going through all of this and it was such an emotional roller coaster than none of us were prepared for. After the baby was born, there was so many people that know the pastor that wanted to come and visit his new son. We are hoping to go back tomorrow and go visit the mother and baby and make sure she is ok. That was for sure the most emotional moment of the experience at the hospital so far. This week we will still be in maternity since this is where we feel the most comfortable and we are now getting to know how to become useful.

This week I also donated my extra mosquito net to the maternity ward to put over the table where the babies are received because there are flies everywhere that land on the new born babies that can not happen so they should be putting that up soon. They were so thankful and we also gave them our gloves that we brought because they have a huge problem with not having enough sterile gloves available at all times.

The little boy in our house, Allan, told his grandpa that there is someone in the house that loves him…that person was me. He is the most adorable thing in this world and I can’t wait to show you all a picture of him. His grandpa told him though that he might have to wait quite a few years for me since he’s only 6 haha. But he is happy to have an american girlfriend. We even named a baby after him at the hospital.

That is another thing. Whenever we ask the mothers what the baby’s name is they always say, “you tell me.” We seem to be good luck to these babies. So we told her that her baby boy should be named Allan and she loved it!! haha

Well I think this is all I have time for now because we are going shopping in town for some skirts and some fabrics!!!

I love and miss you all like crazy and the rest of the time is going to fly by!!

We are so excited to be going on our safari to Masai Mara in about 2 1/2 weeks and we bought a bottle of wine to celebrate the 4th of July there!!!!

I will talk to you all soon!! Miss you!!!!!!!!!!!!!! =)

Ashley