DELIVERY!!!

Yup.. 8 AM we got the phone call. Delivery at the clinic! 8 cm dilated! We sprinted and got there just in time for the action to begin. It was quite an experience. Terrifying, horrifying, and miraculous. It was on a table with a cushion. No sterile feild, no sterile gloves- only regular gloves splashed with bleach water, no fetal heart monitor, no EKG, no ultrasound, no epidural. Oh she did have a bottle of IV pitocin that we manually controlled- literally hanging from the window and counting the drops and adjusting the rate with our fingers. By the end of the delivery the pitocin was spraying everywhere out her hand. We could only periodically check up on baby's heart beat with the fetal dopler. We heard the beat slow down with the contractions and I could picture the decel's on the fetal heart monitor and Professor Richmond testing me on the spot. Enough boring nursing stuff...When we saw the baby's head, we told mama to push! She was trying and trying, but the baby wasn't coming far. Michelle felt tuberosities sticking out of her pelvis into the birth canal and she was really concerned, but the mom had delivered a child previously so we had hope. The mom pushed and pushed, and finally, the head emerged, but nothing else was coming. The body was stuck and I was so scared. Michelle whispered to me, "I think this is my nightmare." and I felt the same way. I'd seen fetal demises in my clinical rotations, but they were not my patients and I had never witnessed someone dying before my eyes, especially a baby! Michelle ordered us to get the suction and infant ambu bag ready for resuscitation. It seemed like an eternity, and tears filled my eyes and I had just about given up hope, when the mom pushed with all her might and the baby was delivered! Michelle suctioned her and she cried! We dried her up and warmed her and wrapped in a donated matching blanket and beanie and it was so amazing. We let mom rest, then cleaned her up a little and handed mom her baby! Her kenyan name is Cheptipken (or something like that) and it means She who took a long time. Mom and baby laid and rested together for the afternoon and mom breastfed her little by little. The delivery was truly a miracle! I'm so blessed to have witnessed that.

Later that day I saw a malnourished baby with white, thin, fuzzy hair, and a pregnant mom with an oblique positioned baby, then gave lots injections. The next day, I saw a couple patients with arthritis and nobby joints, and a woman who came in complaining of coughing, and we found her pulse of 46 (really low) and blood pressure 170/85 (really high), so we thought possible congestive heart failure and referred her to a cardiologist. And many more malaria and typhoid. It's been fun! I saw a precious little girl named Dorcas and she had white polka dots all over her bald scalp and I was concerned and then found out that they were tan lines from the braids she used to have in her hair.

Sorry for the boring nursing stuff, on a different note, Somerlyn got electrocuted twice in one day! Once, in the shower by touching the electric heater (she's a smart girl), and second, ironically by trying to move the lamp away from the leaking window during the most intense thunderstorm we've had all month. Her choice words were quite entertaining... I felt bad laughing but it was hilarious. I'm laughing out loud thinking about it again... O somey. She is totally fine now, but she had a twitching issue for the remainder of the day.

And on another different note, my digestion is backed up like the LA freeways on friday afternoon rush hour. Fricken Ugali. We are buying mangoes today to clear the traffic. (See somerlyn's blog for more details). Haha, sorry if that's too much information. Just keepin it real!

I'm off to celebrate Somerlyn and William's birthdays at Kairyo View! Just a bit more than a week to go.... I'm so excited to end strong and see what this week will bring. Then I have a safari, and home sweet home. I will keep in touch!!! I love you all! Thanks for the love and prayers!!!!