A New Day- Haiti Day 5

Day 5- Feeling refreshed

I woke up this morning with a new outlook on the day. Our alarms were set for 7 and we all meandered out to the kitchen where Cindy had already made coffee. We are so grateful that we don’t have to wait for our coffee in the morning! The coffee pot broke and there are not the means to just run to the store to grab one, so they have to wait until someone goes in to Port Au Prince. Cindy calls it cowgirl coffee and if it is shaken at all, all the grounds with rise up. Regardless, we are happy to have it! After breakfast, we all start to get ready for the day. Today I have the opportunity to teach NRP (Neonatal Resuscitation) to 16 of the midwife students that will be in the classroom.  I am so excited that I get to teach this to them because it has the potential to save SO many babies if they can execute it properly. Soon all the students file in, and they begin the day in song and prayer. The sound they create when they sing is angelic. After the song is over, they pray together. Only then can class start. I love that they all come together and set their intention for the day. The class is split up into 4 groups and they rotate through different stations. I am set up on the patio of the house with baby mannequins, some NRP supplies, and a translator, Edison.  NRP here is very different from the states. There is rarely oxygen available, no one can intubate, and supplies run short. Part of what I am supposed to teach is how to best resuscitate a newborn with limited supplies. HOW THE HECK DO I DO THIS!? After the first group came through, I was amazed at how incredibly intelligent these students were. They caught on quick, were not afraid to answer questions, and took direction so well. The thing that stood out most to me was their teamwork and communication. They want everyone of their classmates to succeed and to know what they are doing. They know that is everyone is prepared, they will do the most good. I remember being in nursing school and the constant competition that came with grades and classes. Who had the best grade in the class, the bell curve, how much GPA mattered. Not here. It’s a simple pass or retake; because at the end of the day it is not going to matter what the grade was, as long as they can safely delivery a mom and baby. I truly enjoyed working with and teaching the students. We had so much fun on the patio together! Instead of just giving them a scenario I acted them out. I stuck the baby inside my shirt and pretended to be in labor. They had to gather all the information they needed from me, deliver they baby, and then work with the other students to resuscitate the infant. After I did one scenario they were all quick to be the “laboring mom”. WE laughed hard! Tomorrow I will be finishing checking off their skills and some newborn assessments.

The bell rang at 2pm and lunch was ready. Today lunch was some sort of soup with carrots and potatoes. At lunch, we catch up on how the morning went. Winter and Jessica had been at the hospital and they updated us on our ICU mom. She had woken up! Although she was not out of the woods yet, we were all very glad to hear she had regained consciousness. She had been given one unit of blood and was supposed to be getting another. It’s amazing that it takes two days to be given two units of blood. They also told us that they had to resuscitate and infant after delivery. They had a busy morning at the hospital! Megan had gone to the mobile clinic and raved about how great her morning had been. I was so glad because she was really struggling after our rough day at the hospital. Shortly after lunch, Megan and I were scheduled to go on home visits. I looked outside and Stecy, the volunteer coordinator, was pulling all our laundry in from the line and bushes. I asked her if she needed help. She said that it was supposed to rain and she didn’t want everything to be soaked. We got all the clothes in just in time before the downpour came. Wednesday and Saturday are laundry days. One of the house staff washes all of our clothes by hand and then hangs them to dry. There is no such thing as a washing machine or dryer and she is incredibly fast at her process. We had to wait to go on the home visits until the rain slowed a little. While we waited Megan and I put together clean birth kits for Matron training on Friday. I will explain more about Matrons then. Home visits might be my favorite program we are able to participate in. We take the motos and a translator to the homes of women who recently delivered and provide postpartum care and support. It is an honor to be welcomed into the homes and eye opening to see how they live. We are unable to get all the way to the first house by moto. The roads are too wet and muddy and it is at the end of a long hill. We all get off and start walking. When we arrive at the house we are greeted by the mother’s mother. We remove our muddy shoes and walk inside. The mother is in her room on the bed with her 4-year-old daughter sleeping and her new baby. I am excited because I took care of her the first day in the hospital and we worked on a lot of breastfeeding. The baby looks so much better and his skin is not nearly as dry as it had been. We do an assessment of the mother and baby and answer all of the questions she has. Megan focused on the mom while I focused on the baby. All of the sudden Megan turns and says that she is going to need to repeat her blood pressure. It was 190/120. Perrine, one of the midwifes says let’s leave the cuff in place, let her sit and relax, and then we will retake it because it can be slightly stressful to have three white people barge into your house. After we finished our other assessments Perrine wanted to retake her pressure. No change. She was able to give her a fast acting BP med and a long acting one and then we would follow up. Without the home visit and untreated blood pressure that mother could have become eclamptic. It made us realize how important these home visits really are to this community. The mother asked a lot of questions about MFH and continually thanked us for all the work we do. It was awesome to hear how much she appreciated everything and said she was looking forward to our next visit. As we left her home we went out to put our shoes on and realize that they are clean! Her mother had cleaned our shoes for us while we helped her daughter and grandson! What an awesome and kind gesture.  Off we went in the mud to our next visit. They have been visiting this mom daily to make sure that things are moving in the right direction. She is a young, young mother battling serve postpartum depression.  On the first visit, they discovered that she had not fed her baby all day long. Her mother told us she would not get out of bed, care for baby, or eat anything. Today she was doing slightly better. She was feeding the baby a little more and ate lunch. This family was extremely poor. There were 6 people living in a one room house. The room was split up by curtains hanging from the ceiling. The kitchen consisted of one shelf with all of the plates, cups and utensils on it. The grandmother was cooking on what looked to be like a camping stove. We completed our assessment and were pleased with the little progress she’d made. We reinforced our teaching and told them when we would be back next. The grandmother was again grateful for our work and we headed back to the house. It was so fulfilling to feel like we were making a difference in the community. Back at the house we were ready for dinner. Tonight, we had pasta. After dinner, the staff decided to make banana muffins and we played games. We first played 2 truths and a lie. And then we played watch yo’ mouth. We laughed so hard that someone actually peed their pants, but I won’t say who! The fellowship in the house is awesome and makes you realize how important it is to support each other as we navigate giving care in Haiti. Today was a good day and I am looking forward to the rest of the week. Although we have only been here 5 days, it seems like we are all very comfortable in our roles. Off to bed I go!