Rainy Days and Happy Endings

It's a little easier to write a blog post if you have a definite subject in mind to write about.  I don't really have one.  I just told Marcille this afternoon that I would take her turn for blogging today if she takes my turn for Friday since I'm planning to go out with Donny's tomorrow and won't be here Friday.  When she asked me if I had something to blog about, I said, "Eh, I'll find something."  So please bear with me on this rather scattered post, because I'm just gonna wing it. ;o)

For starters, it's good to be back.  After six months at home in the states, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect when I got back, but in a lot of ways, it feels like I never left....a lot of the people have changed out, but we once again have an amazing team here.  And I have enjoyed being back and working at the clinic again quite immensely.  The last month has been quite busy, but it seems to be winding down a bit, and the relentless rain this past week has definitely slowed our days even further.  The rain has also contributed to making our short walk to the clinic and back each day quite the adventure, as we slip and slide through the mud, praying that our feet don't betray us and send us crashing to our doom.

I was in the process of cleaning our house and Whit was washing dishes, when Ro called down from clinic yesterday afternoon to announce that a woman in labor had just come in.  Since it was Whit and Mali's turn for such things, Whit headed that way, and as soon as I finished sweeping, I followed, to see if there was anything I could help with.  The woman in labor was a little sweetheart, who simply wanted to sleep, regardless of the fact that we needed her assistance to deliver her little baby into this world.  She had been in labor since the day before, hadn't been able to keep anything down (something we found out when we tried to give her something to drink and it all came right back out), and was just basically totally exhausted.  She perked up a bit when Mali got an IV running and after repositioning her a bit.  Sometime later, after an immense amount of encouragement, we were greeting a blue and unresponsive little boy with a suction machine and oxygen mask.  He was covered in meconium, and his cord had been wrapped around his neck twice.  The three of us worked with him feverishly for several minutes until his color improved enough that Whit could take the time to cut the cord and move him to a easier place to work, then Whit and Mali continued working with him, while I stayed with his mother and prayed that nothing else went wrong.  Five minutes later, I was calling for Ro while trying to stop a growing pool of blood beneath the little mother.  Thank God there was no major problem, and after we had her lying in her bed, the bleeding stopped, for which I breathed a giant sigh of relief.  In the meantime, Whit and Mali were dressing a much-improved little boy who weighed in at five pounds and four ounces.  We ran up to the clinic this evening to check on how they were doing, since we were keeping them here for observation, and I couldn't help but marvel at how alert he was.  Thank God for happy endings, and may we never take these beautiful new lives for granted.

In other news, Mis Leda is back, along with her little baby.  She's only been working part time this week, but it's been wonderful to have her capable hands and beautiful voice around again.  And her little baby is cute. :o)

In still other news, we were working on doing some cleaning, organizing, and inventory-taking in the depot this week, and in the process I stumbled across a urinalysis machine.  We've been discussing the need that we have for more lab equipment, and this find was exciting enough to me that I was practically hopping up and down with glee.  And it works perfectly!  We're about running out of paper for it, but that's a small problem, and easily fixed.  Now we just need to find a few other treasures elsewhere...speaking of which, if any of y'all know of a place where we could get our hands on some old lab equipment, we would very cordially welcome hearing from you.  :o)

Once again, thanks for following us, and for all the prayers that are sent up on our behalf.  Sometimes I think that y'all will probably never know how sorely needed and much appreciated they really are.  We could not do our jobs without them, of that I am convinced.  So thank you.  And may God bless each one of y'all as you serve Him in your own little corner of the world, wherever that may be.

-Kindra