Beth's January 2015 Haiti Trip Day4

Haiti Day 4 Monday January 26, 2015 Well tonight we finally got Internet back up.  Seems like a silly thing to be worried about in Haiti, but it is so nice to be able to connect back home a bit.  I got to Skype with Josh and the kids for a while tonight so that was fun.    Today, Ann and I were working with the MFH students in labor and delivery.   Boy was that place hopping today!   We were working with 2 midwifery students but there were also 4 RN students and 4 auxiliary nursing students all buzzing around the cramped area with 4 little exam tables and torn shower curtains separating them. In addition to helping the students Ann and I both got to catch a baby of our own too.  At one point there were so many laboring patients that we had to quickly get one mom off of the exam table so the one that arrived crawling on her hands and knees in the doorway could have a place to deliver.    We were happy to start off  the day with a trickle of running water at the hospital, but that was gone by the time I had to try to clean up after my delivery.   Haitians make do with what they have.  Most everything in the unit is broken.  IV poles are missing half of their wheels, and drawers only half way close.  Most of their sterile instruments are far from sterile.  Most women are to hot and exhausted to want to cuddle their baby after delivery so their babies end up sitting on the scale or counter top waiting for them to be ready to take them and walk to the post partum area.  After a very busy morning we hopped on the back of a motorbike to ride home for lunch.  We then spent the afternoon helping Pat put donated new women's underwear into the 200 hand made Days For Girls packs that she brought. They are kits for girls and women here to use when they are on their cycle.  Otherwise most don't have access to pads or underwear of any sort and will miss lots of school and work due to no way to conceal the bleeding.  We are so excited to get to educate the women on these washable pads and liners and hand them out! Such a simple thing to help girls to get an education.  We spent the evening all swapping birth stories and comparing practices and of course a little rum and coke and lots of laughing.