Savannah’s Blog 1/4/2016

      Today started out like any other day. We all ate breakfast on our own time and all the nursing students began to crack down on our medication studies. Today’s devotion was on expectations and how things do not always go as planned, especially in the Haitian culture. Honestly, I couldn’t come up with much that really caught me off guard so far this trip. Yes, there were things that were different, but I tried to come into this trip with a clean slate. As the day went on, certain things started to pop out at me (I’ll reference this later).

      Anyways, today’s ministry was a little different. Instead of doing everything as one big group, we divided into three smaller groups: one group of three leading devotions at a church, another working at a nutrition clinic, and my group which visited a maternity hospital. If anyone knows me, you know that pregnancies and babies are definitely my favorite and you can most likely in vision a huge smile on my face. We began our tour of the maternity hospital in the NICU. As expected, the NICU was not like the NICU in the United States. None of the six babies were in an incubator, unlike the hospitals back home. One of the babies had meningitis, another was premature, and another was also born early due to her mom having eclampsia. The other three babies were progressing nicely and seemed to be doing well. Another huge difference I noticed was the labeling of the infants. In the United States, a baby has two bands (one on the wrist, one on the leg), one on the mom, and maybe significant other. In Haiti, the children do not have any sort of band and only the crib is numbered. That being said, just don’t put the baby in the wrong crib! Haha. Next, we moved to the labor and delivery section . . . the most memorable part of today. When, we first came in, it was obvious that men were not at all welcome in the delivery section. Our translator had to hide behind a wall so that he could translate, but also not see what was going on. There were two laboring women waiting to be checked when we first arrived. The first woman was only at 4cm so the nurse told her to leave and start walking. (A little side not, no pain meds are used, PERIOD!. Also, just think about this, the women have to go to the pharmacy and buy sterile gloves, tubing, and all of the above on their own while laboring). The second patient quickly gained my attention and was where my expectations were caught off guard. We walked over and noticed she was contracting and just wanted to push, but obviously she just needed to breathe. Crystal, the head over our missions trip, taught the woman that she needed to breathe. The girl grabbed our hands to help relieve her tension and I was so ecstatic that I could be there to help her in that point in time. The hospital did not have a working dopler so the three of us (Tory, Chrissy, and I) attempted to find the heartbeat of the baby with the old fashioned suction thing. Lol oops…I don’t know what to call it. That was fun for sure. Soon after, the nurse checked to see how far along the woman was (9cm) and also asked if any of us would like to check too. Of course, I couldn’t turn the offer down! That experience was not anything I ever expected to ever have, especially while in Haiti, but it was super cool (I’m not a creep, I promise J).        The day continued with Tory giving babies shots and Chrissy and I stayed in the urgent care center and helped with different wounds. Overall, the pregnant woman touched my heart the most. I cannot imagine going through something that life changing at the age of 19 all on my own. Not that I’ve had a kid or will any time soon, but for life in general, today I was reminded of how grateful I am for all my family and friends who have and are always there for me. I am most definitely blessed!

       On a side not, this week has been awesome! I am definitely excited for a huge salad and a nice warm shower, so heads up mom and dad! Lol!! To the whole family and my Ritchman, I love you all so much and cannot wait to see you in about 3 days!!!! I have so much I want to tell you!! Oh and go Steelers! Dad, the luck was definitely on their side this week; you’ll have to fill me in on how that last game went! Ritchie, I love you and I’m sorry I haven’t gotten to talk to you much, but I am so excited to hear about what has been going on since I left!! And to anyone else, please feel free to comment. Everyone here would love to hear how life is going back home. Oh and Chrissy wanted me to say hi to her mom and Logan, of course!

With Much Love From Haiti,

Savannah