It literally took everything I had to crawl out of bed this
morning. This darn mosquito net is going to be the death of me…literally this
is like the 4th times I’ve woken up in the middle of the night with
it wrapped around my neck! I guess I can’t complain…its either the mosquito net
or Malaria. Which…I’m convinced I have some trace of malaria throwing through
my blood already because I have had nearly 100 bites since I’ve arrived…the
chances of one of those mosquitos having malaria are pretty good, I’m betting!
The past two days at the hospital have been really good, but
definitely eye opening. Yesterday I was with Kimani again, Thank goodness
because he is the only one who has any sort of patience with me and the
inability to speak Swahili. And doesn’t think I’m crazy for not knowing how to deliver
a baby on my own! Yesterday we had a patient who was scheduled to go to the
theatre (surgery) for a c-section. She was supposed to go at 8 but the surgeons
were behind (which is not uncommon at all). Anyways next thing I know I am
being shouted at “Sister, sister (which is what everyone calls random females
over here)…and welp there was a baby being born! The entire department was out
of delivery kits…which meant..there was no gauze, cotton, clamp, scissors…nothing.
So Kimani and I (which was really Kimani I just stood there and pulled the baby
out because I was dumb founded) delivered a baby with literally 4 things. 2
pairs of sterile gloves, the wrappers from the gloves were used as gauze, a
razor blade, and a cord clamp. THAT’S IT! And they make it work…..which is so
inspiring to watch. After that we delivered another baby…with supplies this
time (which is in no way a supply set that you would see in America). After the
second delivery there wasn’t any other deliveries but I still learned a ton. I
was explaining to Kimani how I feel like I know absolutely nothing over here because
everything is so different and in America we would never see circumstances like
this. Then he explained to me how this will make me a better nurse because I
will understand what it’s like without those things and how if I understand
what to do without the supplies we are blessed with I ought to be able to use
those things to promote better outcomes for patients. That was really quite
moving…because these people working in these hospitals could just complain and
be bitter about not having what we have, but they aren’t. They have accepted
that they don’t have the hospital advances that we have and they are okay with
it. Which honestly, is quite awesome because I don’t know that I would be that
positive working in these circumstances every single day. Like today for
example…there wasn’t any water or soap. I can name a bunch of nurses that I
know that sure as heck wouldn’t be caring for people if they weren’t able to
wash their hands after working with them. Crazy. Anyways that was yesterday.
Today I was with a different nurse intern, Faith, who let me
suture a tear after a mother had a baby. Meaning her vaginal opening tore due
to the baby being bigger than the hole (sorry if that was to much information…I
just don’t know how to word it any better). I was nervous because obviously I
have never sutured any kind of a wound before…but she walked me through it and
I did just fine…thankfully. I can only imagine how much pain that mother was in…because
you have to remember they aren’t given any pain meds before the delivery…just
after on the post partum floor (where I was working last week). That was about
all that happened today besides other deliveries…but I can only describe so
many deliveries…they all start to become the same routine so it really isn’t
any different than it was the day
before. We didn’t run out of gloves today, thank goodness. Just soap and water…and
sutures right before I left. So they just let those women heal on there own and
don’t sew the tears. I am learning all kinds of things and I absolutely LOVE
it. I really think I’ve found my “thing” with nursing…I just want to keep
delivering babies forever!
So I’m sitting here at a table outside watching those
monkeys I told you guys about…that are like squirrels. And they are just so
cute…there is a mom and baby playing and they are just really quite silly
animals.
Welp…I’m off to see what the rest of this beautiful day has
to offer me!!
Tuonane,
Abigail
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