The Postnatal midwives

 Our  postnatal  midwife,  Gerta, saw a woman six days after her delivery at Ste. Therese Hospital. This woman had a cesarean section, and she is here at the postnatal clinic for her 6 day visit. When the woman first came in, the baby was hungry, so Gerta helped the woman with positioning the baby at the breast, and did her teaching before examining them. As you can see from the pictures, the baby got very fussy when Gerta tried to examine her, so the baby went back to the breast, and Gerta listened to her breathing and heart rate while the mother kept her happy at the breast.

 These midwives are graduates of our program. It was very gratifying to see how competent and thorough they are, and how much they teach the women, They also treat the women with respect and kindness. They listen carefully to the women, and answer their questions to reassure them.

Our postnatal midwives have a registry of every woman who had a baby at the hospital, and they try to see the woman and her baby at 6 hours postpartum, 6 days postpartum, and six weeks postpartum. Because we now have three postnatal midwives, there is someone in the hospital every day to see the women before discharge. Most women are discharged about 6 or 7 hours after the delivery if it was a normal vaginal delivery without complications. The midwives make an appointment to see the women at the postnatal outpatient clinic on the hospital grounds.

Two postnatal midwives share the office, and see two mother-baby dyads at a time. The picture shows Gerta and Illa finishing up newborn exams. You can see from the size that one baby is six weeks old, and the other baby is only 6 days old. They weigh the babies, see if they are growing properly, and advise the mother on a healthy diet.

Handy Husbands

HANDY HUSBANDS

This was the title the men had during their week in Haiti. They painted and repaired cabinets at the hospital. We called them when labor and delivery was empty, so they could come in to remove the cabinet doors and paint the cabinet fronts. Invariably, they ended up being near some women in labor. Fortunately, the women seemed to be very busy and did not notice them. Now we have some place to store the delivery bowls with instruments and supplies for a delivery, each wrapped in a twin bedsheet. The sheets were donated by my co-workers at the Richmond City Health Department.

 These are the cabinets before repairs.

 The workshop was on the front porch of the Midwives for Haiti house.

The cabinets are almost finished, but then they found out they needed locks.

A Trip to Haiti

GETTING THERE

We were in Hinche, in Haiti, for a week, arriving on Saturday, April 11th. I have now been at work a week since our return, but I have been processing the experience that whole time.  I have been a little depressed, and it is hard to put a finger on the problem. Is it post-vacation blahs? I think it is more than that. I think my problems in the States seem so petty after seeing the problems in Haiti. I think there is more important work I should be doing. I think I am worrying about how Midwives for Haiti can do even more than they are doing. And my work here in the States seems insignificant compared to the work I could be doing in Haiti.

A RECAP:

April  11, 2015  Our flight was late arriving, but our guide, Ernst, from Midwives for Haiti , was waiting for us outside customs. We walked through customs easily, even with our 4 duffel bags full of supplies and tools. We had three extra duffel bags that were filled up at the Midwives for Haiti (M4H) office, donations from other volunteers. Ernst led us to the M4H vehicle, where we met up with our friends, Wendy and Greg Dotson, a new volunteer from New Zealand, Pippa Lloyd, and our faithful driver, Ronel. Ronel has been with M4H since the early days, when he drove his old Toyota pickup, and we rode in the back. The Land Cruiser seems luxurious by comparison, with bench seats in the back, air conditioning, and a large rack on top suitable for carrying all the bags of supplies from the States.

We also carried in a few bags of tools. Wendy and I cooked up the idea of having our husbands accompany us, and finding a building project for them. Nadene and Steve found the project before we left, so the guys knew what to bring to accomplish their task of painting and repairing cabinets in Labor & Delivery in the hospital. It was David’s first trip to Haiti, and he wanted to make sure he was useful.

Nine of us filled up the van pretty tightly, and we headed out of Port-au-Prince immediately. Th,e trip took about 3 hours, as expected, even though we encountered a heavy rain in the mountains, which made new creeks appear, as the rain ran down the hillsides, and rocks tumbled down with the water. The new paved road from Port-au-Prince that they built after the earthquake is very impressive, but the rains and tumbling rocks made us remember that we were in the eroding hills of Haiti, and it was a little scary. Ronel is a good driver, and he got us home safely, with our piles of baggage.

David and I sat in the front seat, and David saw the sights along the road leaving Port-au-Prince.