« Mohasin | News Index | Leaving Kurmuk »
June 19, 2006
The Beauty of Birth
Many of you have had newsletters of e-mails from us regarding the darker side of life i.e. death. But we wanted to share some exciting wonderful moments we have recently had here in Kurmuk. Beverly has waited for about 1 year to get to witness a cesarean section here in Kurmuk. Only 8 women a month actually deliver here at the hospital, the remainder delivers at home with either their friend’s assistance or a midwife. So the attending physician leaves for his R&R to go to Nairobi and a new physician from Kenya is holding his spot for the next two weeks. This physician, Dr Martin, had never been to Sudan.
The first night Dr Martin arrived he was quickly initiated with his very first emergency. A first time mother (the wife of one of the hospital employees) had been in labor for 14 hours. She had actually come to the hospital from the beginning of her labor that morning. The hospital midwives had seen the head of the baby come out and go back in many times. The shoulders were too wide and the mother’s pelvis too small. With the mother exhausted and the baby also they called for the physician at 1am. The physician calls Bev to round the theater (surgery staff). Chris is nominated to go with the hospital guard on a quadbike ( ATV) and pick up the three surgical staff members. Beverly gets to the hospital to show the physician where the surgical theater is and round up the nurses to prepare the patient. The first stop for Bev was to go to the maternity ward and pray with our Muslim co-workers and the mother that God would protect the baby and the mother and would give the mother strength to continue. Then the nurses must carry the mother on a stretcher from the maternity ward down the steps, and up the steps of the surgical theater.
.
The patient arrives at the theater and preparation for the cesarean section begins. The IV is started and the surgical staff arrive. Clothes are changed, shoes are removed, and surgical boots are donned. The mother is even more exhausted. The cesarean section begins and the baby is out. But the baby is very white, no breath is coming, no movement is made, but the heart is beating. The midwife and Bev start with the process of suctioning, aggravating the child, and hanging the child upside-down to get more fluid out of its lungs. This process is repeated again and again for several minutes with Bev praying the whole time. Finally after several attempts at suctioning and aggravating and hanging the child by its feet, the Lord breathed life into this child’s lungs, and she whimpered for the first time. The child finally gave a small cry and was breathing from then on. Less than ten minutes later the child opened her eyes and was just quietly looking around at her father and her mother and all who were breathing sighs of relief. The mother’s name is Hannah, and she was so pleased to see her daughter’s face and to see her breathing on her own. This reminded us that the breath of life does not come from us but from God.
Beverly and Chris Crowder here in Kurmuk Sudan
Published at June 19, 2006 01:44 PM
