shifts

Well... I had my first clinic shift and my first birth room shift... they were amazing, and eye opening, and emotional, and wonderful.

Thursday was my prenatal day, and it started at 7:45 with a staff devotional. While we were there, we could see the ladies already sitting in the waiting room so they could get in early. Cause the earlier you get in, the earlier you get in... or seen, it just made me laugh to say that... I'm kinda tired. So then, we have praise and worship with the ladies, and a short devotional and teaching. Then they start filing in. They all have their blood pressures checked, and are weighed and stuff like that, and some of them have their iron levels checked as well. I was with another new student, Michelle (we are on the same team, so we always work together), and we were assigned to BP's and iron checking. I was on the blood pressures and I did about 40, she had done some while I was watching something else. And a then I did about 12 hematocrits. Then all 70 women were finished and we went into the exam room. We got to feel some babies and find some heart tones. It was wonderful to see the joy of the moms' faces when they got to listen to the fetoscope and hear their baby's heart beat, maybe for the first time ever.

Today (friday), I had my first shift in the birth room, and it was... well... interesting. I didn't see any births. But I saw different stages of labor. When we got there they were about to transport a lady because of high blood pressure. We had another lady in there from that poor village I talked about going to last time, and her water had broken early. Her labor wasn't moving, and we ended up transporting her, as well, because it had been too long. And then our last labor was active, and we discovered that she had never had her hepatitis screening. So we ran her to the lab, real quick (which was a short ambulance ride away), and she was back. The lab phoned the results over, and she tested positive for hepatitis B... so we transported her too, because we aren't allowed to deliver moms who have tested positive for hep. Transporting was really hard because of the conditions of the hospital. It was really bad. When I was in the hospital in Africa it was really bad in the general ward, but I had to go to the pediatrics ward so it wasn't THAT bad, this time I was in the general ward, and it was awful. There were people laying everywhere in various stages of sickness and dying. It was really terrible. And I understand why the women don't want to be transported, it's not only about the money, it's about the whole situation there. And how the women are treated, and how the whole atmosphere is there... it's a hard situation.

And that brings us to now. I just had a great dinner. The girls at this place are amazing cooks... and it's time to start on the homework again. So, here we go! Have a great weekend!!
~Sarah