Delivery

The change of pace for Kris's medical work has required a bit of adjustment. This is a small rural clinic that only averages 10 patients a day, and maybe 10 deliveries a month.

Most of the people come to clinic with little problems or for OB care. Kris is trying to take the 'extra' time to do more of a spiritual history. She has tracks to hand out. She also has more time to discuss with people the risks that they are taking with lifestyle choices. But somehow these just don't seem to be as 'important' as the drama of deliveries or 'snatching people from the jaws of death' in emergency situations. Working on the attitude adjustment.

Drama is much rarer here than on LaGonave. But not this day. A rainy day means not many people will come to clinic so I didn't expect much as I walked down the hill. Because of the rain I wore scrub pants-having first Ok'ed it with the leadership. I was glad I did. On the table to the right I found an 18 year old woman yelling in pain.

This was her second pregnancy. She was ready to push but at the end of her strength. I coached her a bit but it was evident that the baby's head wasn't dropping lower. She begged to get off the table-not a problem with me. After about 20 minutes of squatting she insisted on moving outside.

At this point I'm getting very nervous-she had lost her first pregnancy at 5 months and hadn't a clue how far along she was. I didn't think that the baby was very big but for all her pushing nothing was happening. We are over an hour away from the nearest C-section capabilities. My prayers increased as she walked a bit.

Outside we had quite a few by standers-most with a piece of advice. While I was praying and wondering how in the world we would get her transferred to a bigger hospital, I'd look now and then to see if the head had come down. The baby's hair was visible but not advancing.

After another 20 minutes or so of praying there was a little progress. Time to move inside, but she wasn't budging. Talk did nothing so after a while I had them bring a towel and the delivery tools to us. I noticed a little gal about 2 years old with huge eyes watching this whole thing and asked that she be lead away.

Delivering a baby while the mom is squatting on the sidewalk is not an easy task. I'm thankful that I had scrub pants on for the job. At last the sweet cry of a newborn baby girl filled the air. She was OK despite the delay of delivery, no pre-natal care, and delivering outside.

The nurse took the baby while I tried to talk the mother into the delivery room. Nope-first the afterbirth. Once in her bed in the hospital I was relieved to find that she didn't need any further medical treatment. Baby girl checked out fine as well.

Praise the Lord. Not quite like a State-side delivery but the outcome was OK. If the mom wants to go home in 6 hours and is able to walk, they will leave. And I had the good feeling of having accomplished something.