Weeks 5 & 6

Hi all!

It's the fifth /sixth week of adjusting to my life in Mukono and there have been some incredibly high highs and some very low lows, many taking place at my practicum site (will explain later). At school, it is midterms week (yes, that happened wayyy fast) so I am writing many papers and have lots of opportunities to reflect on my time here thus far. At home, I have several new family members. I talked a bit about Nevi and Betinah last week, but Night arrived this week from the village. She is my host mama's sister, and is only a few years younger than I. She is staying with us as she attends secondary school (similar to high school) and has been such a blessing to me, teaching me how to be more Ugandan and laughing with me as I fail. This coming Sunday, my host brother Benja (12) will be leaving to go to boarding school until May, and it makes me very sad to say goodbye to him. I have learned to make several Ugandan staples this week including chapati and amatooke, but replication will be an issue because everything is made my adding a taste of this and a pinch of that. On Wednesday, I will be traveling to Kampala with several other students to renew my visa so that I am an official student for my whole stay here. Maybe I'll just ask for a 5 year visa? (Sorry mom, I am just teasing).

If you have been reading my posts, you know that I am placed at a health clinic in Mukono. I am there all day on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and am primarily situated in the Labor and Delivery ward, however I hope that in the next few weeks I will be able to rotate through other areas so that I can have a more complete picture of the incredible work these healthcare providers are doing for Mukono and the surrounding areas. But I definitely do not need to rotate to learn something new everyday... the delivery room constantly offers me the opportunity to witness something different and ask questions at every turn. Also, among the 50 or so births that I have already observed, not one is the same, which continues to keep things very interesting for me. I am surrounded by unbelievably wonderful and knowledgeable midwives and midwife students that are eager to encourage me in my learning and have been great support systems as I am witnessing aspects of delivery for the first time. One of my favorite (and really just shocking) moments from the health clinic this week: a laboring mother crawled into the labor and delivery room on all fours and into one of the three beds in the room. She had been in labor for several hours and had been sent out of the ward fifteen minutes prior to walk around in the hope that gravity would help her labor progress. As she crawled up into the bed, she rolled over on her back, and with one push BAM that baby was introduced to this world. I have never seen such a fast delivery, it almost reminded me of the automated baseball pitching machines. The midwives did not seem to expect such a fast delivery either, as the assisting midwife for this mother only had time to pull one glove on as the baby was being born. So, the caught the baby by pulling up the sheet the mother was laying on and creating a barrier like a net, if we are continuing with the sports metaphor. No other way to describe it but exhilarating.

Pretty close to the top of my favorite moments from this week was being able to hold another newborn. But, not because I asked to this time... After a mother gives birth, the baby is cleaned up a bit, the cord is cut, and the baby is carried to the counter to be weighed. Once weight, the baby is wrapped in a sheet (or 6, depending on what the mother provides) and left on the counter until the mother has been cleaned up and moved into postnatal to recover. This was initially very hard for me to understand at first, but would love to discuss that one more over coffee at a later point in time. However, there is only enough space on this counter for 4 newborns, if they are laid shoulder to shoulder. So, when there were 5 babies all born within the same 20 minute period, my roles were: student, observer, baby-holder. I will gladly take on these roles any day (: However, much more of a challenge to hold a newborn on one hand and tear cotton with the other than I was expecting.

These highs are incredible and it always brings me much joy and excitement when a new life is brought into this world. But, being in the labor and delivery ward, not every birth is a story of success. This week I had my first encounter with death and I am still finding a way to process the sadness and frustration that comes along with this. Hence, the "low lows" of this week. I witnessed the birth of a stillborn, full-term, who passed during the early stages of labor. This is heartbreaking for me to think about; knowing how close this mother was to meeting her child, and how close this child was to living a life outside the safety of the womb. I did not understand at first what was happening, why the baby was not breathing, and why the midwives were not rapidly attempting to resuscitate the baby. But, as I found out later, they were all aware before the baby was born (from scans) that the baby had died before they had a chance to do anything about it. This week I also witnessed a procedure that happens after an incomplete abortion, where excess tissue and fluid is removed from the uterus, allowing it to return to normal size and function. While abortion is a hot-button issue in the States and I will refrain from passing my own judgments during this blog, it was incredibly challenging to me to witness the pain and suffering that the mother was experiencing during this procedure.

My experience in healthcare in the States is limited, as I have yet to begin nursing school. But there are many challenges here that are not as prominent from what I have seen in the States, and the creativity and servant heartedness of the midwives at the health clinic in Uganda has given me a whole new level of respect for these hardworking women. It is all I can do to hope that one day, I can show God's love to people as well as these women do. Everyday I am amazed and inspired by them, and I am so thankful for this opportunity to learn from them.

So, wrapping up this blog post, emotionally I am all over the place after this week of observing at the hospital. If any of you have any recommendations of how to function in the midst of death and suffering, I would love to hear your insights. However, through these low moments, I am constantly reminded of how loved I am by my host family here, the USP staff, and my friends, both at home and abroad. I am also incredibly thankful for my parents in CO who have listened to me day in and day out and have loved me though my roller coaster of emotions. How lucky I am to have such a powerful and supportive community.

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support, as always I am reachable at velie.emma@gmail.com. Well, except for this coming week... starting on Friday I will be leaving for 10 days to stay in a rural village. So, I will not respond during this time, but expect the next blog post about that experience!