The next day we started the morning at a place where you go on a "giraffe walk", it is a piece of land 3500 acres where giraffes and antelope run free. There is a guide who leads you on foot to where the giraffe are, the guide had been working there 9 years and has even seen one of the giraffe born and touched it. We were able to get within 15 feet of one of the giraffe and it just stared at us- crazy! Altogether we saw about 8 giraffe.
After that we went to a lookout view called he Rift Valley. It was gorgeous!! There was a little restaurant and pathway where you could walk and take pictures. The Rift valley is huge- we actually kept catching view of it for like 3 out of the 6 hours of our journey to nairobi- pretty crazy!
Lastly we went to a place called Neema. Talk about amazing- Neema was started by a Christian Kenyan couple for HIV + children who have been abandoned or left for dead. The children live there and Neema also has a school for both HIV + and not children. Out of about 45 children that live there, 27 have aids and are currently in a program called ampath at the local hospital. They are currently trying to build another facility for babies so that they can take HIV + babies from the hospital when they are abandoned because they have no where else to go. The children were gems, after hearing the story of how it all started from the husband and wife, we played with the children for about an hour and sang, danced, laughed, and played. Their smiles and laughs were precious.
The last day in Eldoret we headed back to the hospital for another 2 hours to play with the children and help care for the babies. The baby I held both days was named Esther. What a precious child. She was in the hospital because her mom had been admitted in the adult ward, so Esther was placed in the pediatric ward until her mother is stable enough to care for her- so far it had been about 3 weeks. Imagine- having a healthy baby and placing it in a ward full of infection and disease. And although separated from her mother in a place thats not home, she never cried but simply smiled and stared up at me.
We arrived late back in Nairobi Friday night and unloaded the car.
This morning the group split- Allie, Jill, Maria, Josie, and Mary went to a place called Kids club for the afternoon- which is kind of like a VBS that happens every saturday.
Me and Molli headed to Fatima.
Fatima is a clinic, orphanage, maternity ward, and nursing home. We will be going there on Wednesday, but Molli and I really wanted to see if they would let us hang in the maternity leave so we ventured there today.
After introducing ourselves to the head nun and explaining our hopes to volunteer for the day, she directed us to the maternity ward where we met the nun that runs that ward. She sat down with us and the doctor came in and we showed him a snapshot of our nurse licenses. He said we would only be able to observe and we assured him we didn't expect anything more than that. We were given a short tour and then left with a nurse in labor and delivery.
At the time 3 were in the unit. 1 was 8 cm dilated. 1 was 2-3cm dilated. and the last was 1cm dilated. As she began checking for heartbeats and checking fetal heart rate with the doppler, we found our the first pt was now 9cm dilated and the head was dropping. We also discovered the 2rd pt's fetal heart rate was irregular- jumping up high and then coming back down. The nurse began and IV and stared Normal saline in the second pt, called for the doctor to examine her, and moved the first patient to the delivery room.
Then the excitement really started. Right before our eyes, two of four people in the room- 2 nurses and me and molli, a baby was born. It happened so fast, the head was out and there was the baby, so sweet and beautiful, a little girl- perfect. The nurse weighed her and then I placed her under the warmer and returned to tell the mother. Because the nurse (midwife) performed an episiotomy and the pt had a tear, the nurse sewed her up. It took a while but then we wheeled her to the maternity ward and returned.
When we returned we found the three beds full, another pt had arrived- this pt was going to have a C-section d/t a big baby. the 2nd pt with the irregular fetal heart rate was up first however for a C-section. As I watched the nurse round however, we discovered pt in bed 3 fetal heart rate was becoming rapid as well. Me and Molli looked at each other and were like- 3 C-SECTIONS!!! WHAT!?!? Sheesh our luck- 1 vaginal and now 3 C-sections.
Due to time constraints we only were able to watch 2 of the 3, but they were amazing.
I had seen a C-section in clinicals in the USA, but this was different, it was fast, efficient, and we were right there!! We were both so impressed however with the doctor, anesthesiologist, nurses, sterile procedure, and just the skill of the whole staff. We almost forgot we were in a third world country, amazing the resourcefulness and intelligence of the staff, we were blown away- just proves how wrong our assumptions can be sometimes about situations, because even though they may not have had all the same nice equipment that we have in the states, they made what they had work and they did it amazing, and the product- a beautiful baby and healthy mom- We were totally impressed. In nursing school I had seen some hysterectomies, a spinal fusion, and a c-section, and that doctor- he was awesome, he sewed stitches so fast u almost missed it if you looked away! I guess when you have one operating room- you learn to move quick in case an emergency situation arises. But within 1h two babies had been delivered and the doctor was already sewing up the second mother.
So far- we have seen so much and been so blessed by this trip! Thank you all for continuing to pray for us.
God bless you all!!
Kuzuri beads- from day 1 of trip
Hashema & Amani- day 2 in Nairobi
Eldoret
