Mapasa (twins)

Today was long and very busy. I started work in Maternity at 5…people love to get going early and babies come at all times. One mom who had come in earlier for a check up, and was already post term, came in again this morning around 9. We checked the heart beat and position of the baby, which appeared to be breach.

Eventually it was decided the mom would probably need a C-section, so we took her to the operating room (the Bloc) and gave her fluids. 

The family didn’t have money to pay for the C-section. They said they had sent a family member to go sell a goat to get money to pay for it, but we really didn’t think we had time to wait for the goat to be sold…. While the nurse anesthetist (Marie Rose) and I were discussing the situation with our nursing supervisor, and deciding what to do, Rufin (who works in the Bloc) came running to find me and tell me that the mom had delivered a baby, and that there were actually twins. “Come quickly!” I grabbed some diapers and the mom’s stuff for the babies and ran back to the Bloc with him, changed as quickly as I could and went in. 

When I got there, one baby was already born, and Paige and Esther were doing a great job taking care of her. The other baby was also breech, and Edwige, the midwife on duty, and I delivered the second baby. There was quite a bit of excitement. The whole Bloc team cheered and clapped after the second baby was born and we praised God for His mercy. Twins. Both breech. Unexpected. No C-section. No complications. Wow. We have so much to be thankful for. 

When everything was settled down and the mom and twins were back in Maternity, the mom told me she wanted to name one of the babies Kate. It was so sweet because she told me when she had come in earlier for the checkup, and I had been the one to do her care, she had already decided to name the baby after me. It was a special moment.