Assisting Midwives

The wall right outside the Mama Baby Haiti gate reads:
Prenatal and Postnatal Care
Center for Birth
Family Planning
Breastfeeding support

Since mid-October, I’ve been assisting the midwives at Mama Baby Haiti in Morne Rouge with births, post-partum care, well baby visits and transports to Justinian Hospital. I’ve also been providing reproductive health education to women on Friday mornings including a brief discussion about NFP. I still volunteer at Hospital St. Francois de Sales 3 days a week;  providing health education, working with the doctors and nurses to provide care for inpatients and for those who come to the a.m. clinic.  
I usually give a talk to all the patients before their vitals are taken about sanitation, cholera prevention and lifestyle choices. Today I spoke about diabetes. Many Haïtians eat a very high fat, high salt diet and I see a lot of patients come in diabetic ketoacidosis and hypertensive crisis. Today, I transferred an elderly woman to Justinian hospital who's blood sugar was 486. I knew the doctor who was on the receiving end at Justinian and hope she'll  find the care she needs. 

Mom and Aunt of baby boy who was delivered this past Saturday.
It's wonderful to support the moms and midwifes! 

This past Saturday, I was about to go for a walk with one of the midwives, when I was told a client at Mama Baby Haiti was about to push! I was happy to standby to assist and to watch the midwife and director of the center, Sarah Taylor, go into action. The baby had a shoulder dystocia, but Sarah was calm and provided the care needed to deliver a big baby boy!