at work :)

Sudden rainfall brings refreshment.

Yesterday I spent my last day in the labour room of the hospital in India.

It was a nice calm day.. I spent it sitting by a labouring woman's bedside talking to her through signing because neither of us understood each other's languages. She did not deliver her baby during my shift so I was not able to assist, but we did have a nice day together.. laughing, and feeling her baby kick, and listening to the baby's heartbeat. It is so nice to share those moments with women as they prepare to become mothers :)

It started raining hard as we were leaving the hospital so we all got soaking wet as we ran to the street from our building - I stood by the curb trying to catch a rickshaw (transport) in the pouring rain just laughing, so happy because I love rain and laughing because I was getting SO wet due to the fact that the rickshaw drivers were being difficult with the price; I kept getting wetter as we couldn't come to an agreement.. Then finally one man agreed to a fair price to take us home - and we gratefully squished ourselves into his rickshaw dripping water everywhere!!
I snapped a couple pictures as we drove through the streets as they were quickly filling up with water that was ankle deep.

I leave India on Good Friday and will arrive in the Philippines to continue studying antenatal, labour and delivery, and postnatal care for pregnant women.
Thank you to everyone who has been praying for our team!!

I snapped this on the drive home from my last day at the hospital -
I am leaving India in two days.
Someday I hope to come back to India...

Fear of the Lord

Hello to all,

Yesterday I had a great day in the hospital -
I felt so happy being there, and being able to help.
I will miss India so much when I leave in two weeks to head to the Philippines with my team.
Being here has been a fulfillment of a long held-in-my-heart desire..
This place has been intense in so many ways, and being in the hospital has given me a clear picture of what India is like.

I attended a birth on Tuesday for a first time mother who delivered a beautiful baby boy in the early afternoon.

I cut my first episiotomy for this mom and then I did the suturing too.

Today she went home with her family and newborn son, and as I passed them all in the hall she smiled at me for the first time! I think she was so happy to be leaving the hospital!

Yesterday was an interesting day..
I was in the post-natal ward (that is where women go after they deliver) following up with the mom whose birth I had attended on Tuesday - and while I was there I noticed another woman laying on a bed in the corner of the ward near the wall..
she smiled at me and then I felt the Holy Spirit prompt me to go over and meet her; so I walked over to her bed and said "Hi".
Surprisingly she spoke very good English and started telling me immediately about the pain she was feeling. After talking with her for awhile, and reading her case notes - I decided to get permission from the doctor on duty to examine this woman more thoroughly. I was concerned that the episiotomy she had may be infected. I got permission to examine the patient and this is how I discovered that the stitches were actually loose and some were coming out; there was a gaping bit where the skin wasn't connecting. It was opening up even into the muscle. I reported this to the sister on duty in the ward who then gave me permission to bring the woman downstairs for re-suturing. I brought her down with the daima and was able to clean the wound and stitch it back together. Then I taught the mom how to clean the wound with clean salt water twice daily to prevent infection.
This experience is important to me because God helped me to find her.. in a busy room full of women, alone I would not have known that she needed immediate attention, but with God helping us, my team and I are learning that fear of the Lord is an essential principle that we must build our midwifery practice upon. Being sensitive to obey the Holy Spirit's prompting; we will be better midwives.

I am thankful that God used me to help that woman and teach me a valuable lesson about hearing His voice in the hospital. God is able to see what I cannot -

Today I checked up on the woman who needed the re-suturing and she is doing much better. She said her pain is less today and she would be going home soon. Then I got to share God's love with her in a story about the lost sheep and the Good Shepherd - who I introduced later on in the story as Jesus, God's son. I told her how much Jesus loves her, and how valuable she is to God.

Thank you all for all your prayers. God is good.