7am Tuesday 11/13
Yesterday was a long, productive day, filled with satisfaction and the harsh realities of what it is like to be an African woman. Jane and Olga arrived at 8:30am for a lecture on Ultrasound Concepts, including physics, scanning technique, etc... Jane is an RN who became a midwife 11 months ago, Olga has been a midwife for 3 years. Both women have children to take care of, as well as a very full schedule as a midwife. Typically, they will start seeing patients around 9am, will sometimes get a break for lunch, but often work straight through to the early evening. If they are schedule for the overnight shift, they will work until the following morning, delivering babies. In a perfect world, pregnant mothers will come to the clinic during their first trimester, for dating of the pregnancy, and return for follow up in the second and third trimester as needed. The reality here is that if the women come in, it is because there is a problem or they are ready to deliver. In Pabbo, Lacor clinic had built room specifically for women preparing to deliver, in hopes that pregnant mothers would come in before they were in full labor. Unfortunately, it is never used because the mothers are needed at home to take care of the other children, work in the fields, take care of the home, and take care of their husband. There is no such thing as bed rest for a Ugandan woman, and because of this there is a lot of loss. When we are training, the midwives do all of the scanning, while Shallon and I teach. Yesterday we were done training, but there were 4 women who had been leaking fluid and needed to be scanned, and Jane and Olga wanted to observe our scanning technique. All of these women had been leaking fluid for at least 2 days, but were not able to come in until today because of responsibilities at home and 3 of them were in their 2nd or 3rd trimester. Two of the four women no longer had viable pregnancies and one of these was a set of twins, one of the four had a second trimester pregnancy with no fluid. These women were told of their situation and an ambulance was called to take them to the main hospital for continuing care. There is no NICU care here, or at the main hospital in Gulu Town. A baby without fluid is a baby that will not make it to term. Fetal demise is common here, because of maternal illness, domestic violence, and the fact that women do most (if not all) of the physical labor involved in maintaining a home. They must walk to the closest water pump, carrying the large jerry cans on their head. They walk to the market for food. They work in the fields. They are the hardest working women I have ever seen. Not one of them cried when they were told about their lost babies. They were resigned and exhausted. It was a very long day for all of us.
Jane and Olga will arrive soon for another lecture, and we have just lost power...again. I awoke early, listening to the world around me start to stir. Just when I think Uganda cannot get more breathtaking, I am greeted by a spectacular sunrise. I am grateful for another day.
oxox MB
Yesterday was a long, productive day, filled with satisfaction and the harsh realities of what it is like to be an African woman. Jane and Olga arrived at 8:30am for a lecture on Ultrasound Concepts, including physics, scanning technique, etc... Jane is an RN who became a midwife 11 months ago, Olga has been a midwife for 3 years. Both women have children to take care of, as well as a very full schedule as a midwife. Typically, they will start seeing patients around 9am, will sometimes get a break for lunch, but often work straight through to the early evening. If they are schedule for the overnight shift, they will work until the following morning, delivering babies. In a perfect world, pregnant mothers will come to the clinic during their first trimester, for dating of the pregnancy, and return for follow up in the second and third trimester as needed. The reality here is that if the women come in, it is because there is a problem or they are ready to deliver. In Pabbo, Lacor clinic had built room specifically for women preparing to deliver, in hopes that pregnant mothers would come in before they were in full labor. Unfortunately, it is never used because the mothers are needed at home to take care of the other children, work in the fields, take care of the home, and take care of their husband. There is no such thing as bed rest for a Ugandan woman, and because of this there is a lot of loss. When we are training, the midwives do all of the scanning, while Shallon and I teach. Yesterday we were done training, but there were 4 women who had been leaking fluid and needed to be scanned, and Jane and Olga wanted to observe our scanning technique. All of these women had been leaking fluid for at least 2 days, but were not able to come in until today because of responsibilities at home and 3 of them were in their 2nd or 3rd trimester. Two of the four women no longer had viable pregnancies and one of these was a set of twins, one of the four had a second trimester pregnancy with no fluid. These women were told of their situation and an ambulance was called to take them to the main hospital for continuing care. There is no NICU care here, or at the main hospital in Gulu Town. A baby without fluid is a baby that will not make it to term. Fetal demise is common here, because of maternal illness, domestic violence, and the fact that women do most (if not all) of the physical labor involved in maintaining a home. They must walk to the closest water pump, carrying the large jerry cans on their head. They walk to the market for food. They work in the fields. They are the hardest working women I have ever seen. Not one of them cried when they were told about their lost babies. They were resigned and exhausted. It was a very long day for all of us.
Jane and Olga will arrive soon for another lecture, and we have just lost power...again. I awoke early, listening to the world around me start to stir. Just when I think Uganda cannot get more breathtaking, I am greeted by a spectacular sunrise. I am grateful for another day.
oxox MB
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