Beth's January 2015 Haiti Trip Day 8

Haiti Day 8 Friday January 30th 2015

We had a good final full day here.  I started out working with the students in labor and delivery.  It started out slow and then we had a bunch or labor checks come in that went in labor. As we were preparing to leave, a women walked in leaning on two men looking like she was in advanced labor.  But when we got her on the table her blood pressure was 200/130 and she a bad headache,  vision changes and liver pain  so within 5 minutes the students had an IV in her and they were pushing IV Mag by hand (see the pic to the right) since they have no IV pumps.  They then have to count drips to make sure this high risk medication is running at the correct rate. When I asked how far along she was and did they get baby heart tones, they said they didn't know yet.    They have seen to many women come in having eclamptic seizures so they don't waste time with basic facts when seconds matter. They sure do things different here, but it works,  she hadn't had a seizure as of the time we left and we did find the baby's heart beat.
 
  We then walked home from the hospital spent a couple of hours at the MFH house with all of the students doing case studies.  Nadene did a great job of making them really work through the medical thought process.  Teaching someone to instinctively think like a midwife isn't easy!

To decompress a bit before we get ready to head home, we drove to Bassan Zim a beautiful area with a fantastic waterfall and some caves that a group of young Haitian boys guided us through.  It was a great afternoon. Then tonight we packed and played a final card game of Aw Shaw.  We are leaving 7am to drive to Port-au-Prince to start to fly home.  There were protests and road blocks near Port-au-Prince today,  so we are allowing extra time in case we run into delays. It's been a great week and I treasure the friendships I have made along with the amazing people I have cared for this week.  Can't wait for my next trip!