June 15, 2011

Tuesday was a very busy day.  The was clinic was super busy, full of people with a wide variety of problems.  Tuesday night was the prayer meeting held by the missionaries.  The prayers were in the traditional Baptist style, long!  It was a lovely meeting with hymn singing and prayers.  Today, Wednesday, was a slower day.  The hospital has scheduled it so that every Wednesday is a "break" in the middle of the week.  Dad and I spent most of the morning checking on a woman in labor with twins.  It was her first pregnancy. She was over 40 weeks pregnant with twins!  She is so strong.  She labored from 7:30am until about 1:10pm when the first baby was born.  She had no IV, no pain medication (aside from one shot of low grade pain medicine at about noon), and no heart monitors for the babies.  She was uncomfortable all day, but barely made a fuss.  She pushed the first baby out, not much pain medicine and no epidural, without making a peep.  The first baby was a healthy 5lb. 8oz girl with the cord loosely wrapped around the neck.  The second baby came about 10 minutes later, but was in worse shape.  We never could hear the heartbeat of the second baby after the first baby came, so we were worried.  She came out with the cord around her neck and leg.  She was very blue, so my Dad and the nurse/midwife had to resuscitate her.  She ended up doing fine and weighed 5lbs.  The mother was so strong but exhausted by the end of labor.  Her sister-in-law was her only family member with her, and she was so excited to see healthy baby girls.  This afternoon we rested and swam in the nice pool that is on the compound.  We are having a great time with all of the missionaries!