As I mentioned in my last blog, I was scheduled to translate for a midwife from Denmark. The first day of clinics we were able to see many pregnant women and even do ultrasounds on them. It was quite an emotional experience seeing their faces when they saw their baby for the first time. I joked around wondering if we would have any deliveries during our 5 days of clinics...well, that brings me to the "not so ordinary Tuesday"...
The day began just like any other day. We were up early and arrived at the clinic about 7:30 to be greeted by huge lines of patients waiting. As Christina (midwife) and I arrived in our room, one of the local nurses came announcing that at the other end of the building a lady had just given birth. We quickly ran down to the room where I had the privilege (had no choice haha) to see up close the process in the first couple of hours after birth. It was a stretch for me as I don't like hospitals and blood but at the same time it was an amazing experience (once my head stopped spinning haha). That was just the beginning of the adrenaline for the day. For the rest of the day several women came in with labor pains. One was sent off on a speed boat to get an emergency C-section as her baby was breech. Around 4pm a woman arrived in extreme pain and wanting to push. The problem was that she was only 7 months pregnant and Curuá doesn't have the adequate facilities for a pre-term birth. She was only dilated 3cm. but it was her 7th child which worried the midwife and a neo natal nurse on the team. With the river being very dangerous to go by speed boat, our only choice was to take a pickup truck with all of us (driver, midwife, neo natal nurse, pregnant woman and myself as the translator) piled in for a 2 1/2 hour bumpy ride to the nearest city with a hospital and pray to God that the woman didn't give birth along the way. We prayed that God would stop her labor as we started our journey. We got to the city of Obidos around 8pm and praise the Lord the labor had stopped and she was still only at 3cm. They decided to admit her to the hospital though to keep an eye on her and the baby. We made sure she was taken care of before stopping to get some dinner and heading back for another 2 1/2 hour bumpy ride back to Curuá. We arrived around midnight and I was exhausted. That's what I call adventure in missions! Here are some pictures from the trip:
The team in Curuá
Stay tuned for the next update next week about my 3 week trip to Parintins with the ORU team...thanks for all prayers and support!
Claire
