Hurts, Joy, Miracles and Sorrow

         Where do I start? My week has had a lot of ups and downs; hurts, joys, miracles and sorrows. Things I don’t know what to do with, but God does and that is what matters!

 Monday morning dawned early with a knock at the gate around 5:30am…. A lady in labor. And it’s my turn! J She had already made lots of progress in her labor before coming to us and I expected the baby to be born in the next several hours, but she was a 1^st time mom so you never quite know. I had noticed some variability in the baby’s heart rate but nothing to major so I just kept monitoring it.  She labored, but not hard, throughout the day. She was making slow progress; in the evening I thought the baby was about to come but, oh not yet. I left her for the night with instructions to come call use when they needed us. A knock never came in the night, though I thought and dreamt about her. So I made my way down around 6-6:30am, baby’s heart rate was really good but he still wasn’t making his appearance. I came back to the house but around 7:30 we were called again. This time baby was ready to come!  Though it as still a long process… we found ourselves with some complications. Baby’s heart rate dipped into the 80s and 90s and the second time it happened it wasn’t coming back up. NOT GOOD! I went and talked to Alyssa. We thought maybe the umbilical cord was around the neck… It was. Thankfully we were able to slip it off and over his head. But, still we knew this baby had been compromised and needed to deliver. Through some hard work by the mother and prayers by the nurses he finally made his appearance but limp and white, not breathing. Alyssa, Katie and Sharon whisked away with the dear little angel to try to revive him. But, it wasn’t to be. They worked on him for over 45 min, trying to get him to breath on his own but he wouldn’t. At one point they even lost his heartbeat and proceeded with compressions and his heart started again. The decision was made to stop resuscitation, there was nothing more to do! It was so hard! His strong little heart kept beating for hours.  I gave him to his mother to hold, his father and others took turns. I explained there was nothing more for us to do but that it was in God’s hands. I left the baby, his little heart still beating away with the family and came home for a break. (That birth and everything involved took most of my clinic day.) I went back down later in the afternoon just to see how things were going and was very surprised to hear baby sounds coming from the hospital room. Here was our lite angel breathing on his own.  It was irregular and his muscle tone was still not good at all but it was enough to turn him pink and give us hope. And there was his sweet young mother with hope in her eyes. We had hope, yet reality was still there… he had been without oxygen to long and there was no way from a human stand point that he would have a normal life even if he did live. I explained again to the family that it was all in God’s hands! His little heart kept on till about 4:30 the next morning, and then he went to be with Jesus! Where there is no more pain, suffering or heartache!

The little angel after he pinked up some

With his Mama

Wednesday afternoon during my on call shift a set of twins were brought to me, needing some love and care! Their mother is ill and they had not been getting proper nourishment and care. Mashed up spaghetti, crackers and sugar water is not proper nourishment for a 3 month old! One of the twins was definitely doing better than the other but still hungry. The one baby was very weak and dehydrated. I put him on oxygen right away (which helped him perk up), and attempted and IV. The IV was unsuccessful so I decided well try oral fluids first and proceeded to find some formula. That seemed to help.  I then successfully placed and IV in the little guys foot and he perked up even more. (What a miracle to get an IV catheter in to a vein that tiny!) The dear little things had a bad odor and not very proper clothing so I told Katie to get some things to wash them up and went and found some better clothes. Katie was so excited when I told her that yes we can bath them put lotion on and make them smell good!  Oh they were so sweet and squish-able! It felt so good to have some babies to hold and care for after just losing one.  We got them stable sent them home with a little formula, and told them when that is out to come with some money to buy more.  And to bring the ill mother to clinic! I was crushed to find out 2 days later one of the twins had died and the other one wasn’t doing well, but that and aunt took it out to Port-Au-Prince.  Why God? I don’t understand! I am grateful to know he is without suffering, but it still hurts me!

James giving one twin a bath, the little one doesn't look very impressed 😉 

Isn't he adorable!

This is a glimpse of a few things that have filled my time and heart recently…. God doesn’t give us an easy road to walk but he gives us his hand to hold!

His servant,

                    Mis Kayla

 Extra Thought.....
      What kind of a sermon are you preaching, what sort of Bible are you walking? These kind of thoughts have been going through my head a lot recently. You know everywhere we go people are reading us like a book, what do they see? It’s often not what we say that matters the most; it’s how we act, react, respond and just plainly how we go about life. Be a book that points people to Christ, preach a sermon that reflects God's love! And you may not even have to open your mouth. 😉

Happy nurses with the twins!