This was a week of losses. A difficult week for me in Maternity. A reminder of this sorrow on earth.

The 26-week premie that I've been taking care of died yesterday. She hung onto life for about a week, which was amazing. I had been spending so much time caring for her and was sad to see her go. My heart aches for her parents - teenagers who can't even afford their hospital bill.

Here is a picture of her when she was three days old:

This week I delivered my first baby who never even took a breath. The mom was very sick and had come from way out in the village. It was her first baby - a boy, and we did absolutely everything we could. I went home with a sick, heavy feeling. I knew this was going to happen at some point, and I know it will happen again, it's just part of life here. But it hurts just the same.

Yesterday another girl was admitted for a miscarriage of a 17-week old baby. She hadn't been able to deliver the baby so we gave her medicine to open her cervix. I have seen moms die here from their babies staying inside too long. They can easily go septic from this.

When she finally did dilate enough to push the baby out, the other midwife and I helped the baby out. I don't even have the words to describe it. This baby was perfectly formed, fingers and toes and everything. Somehow it reminded me how horrible abortion is - and it was disturbing to see such a tiny lifeless body. Somebody so small who shouldn't be outside the womb.

Shortly after that, another mom came in extremely sick, about 35 weeks pregnant and her baby's heart rate was very elevated. I was kind of dreading what would happen - but thankfully she delivered safely and the baby - only a few weeks premature, is doing quite well now.