My first transport

When I arrived for day shift today, there was a 1st time mom beginning to push. She did such an amazing job, and pushing for her took almost 2 hours. She pushed on her back, she pushed standing up, squatting on the bed with her bana (husband) behind her, she also pushed using the birthing stool. She even stood on the bed to sway her hips back and forth in order to get this little guy to move down! Finally, after pushing, her baby boy barely crowned and then came flying out! He came out straight up OP...sunny side up! He was staring straight at the ceiling (instead of his head facing toward the spine, which is the more common and favorable position). The entire time during her labor the fetal heart tones were great. Just before he was born the begin to drop a little (from about 140 to 110) and the midwife wanted that baby out fast! She got her wish, he came out VERY fast.

Anyway, as soon as he was born, he was not breathing well. His 1 minute apgar was 2, his 5 minute apgar was 6. He was limp and blue at birth. They immediatly started to suction (since there was some slight meconium staining) and administer oxygen by PPV. He began to pink up within minutes and soon he seemed just fine. He was a little over 6lbs and the mom did extremely well.

During his newborn exam, though, he was having some chest retraction. And even after breastfeeding and hoping to clear out his lungs some, his chest kept retracting and he was having a hard time getting his breaths. He wasn't turning blue or anything, but with his chest retracting during breathing the midwives said it was not a good sign. So, the supervising midwife said we would need to transport the baby and the father to the hospital. Michelle, one of the student midwives, asked if I would like to go on a transport to see DMC (Davao Medical Center). I agreed, though I had heard DMC is a hard place to be. It's a government hospital, so the services are cheaper at this hospital compared to some of the other nice private hospitals in Davao. So, this is the hospital where the poor come to and it is often over crowded.

We stepped into Mercy Maternity's transport van and went took the little baby and his daddy to DMC. On the way to the hospital, the baby's nose started to flare with his breaths and when we arrived his pink color was starting to slowly become more pale.

When we got to DMC's emergency room I felt like I was watching a film about poverty on TV. People were lying everywhere. Beds were backed up to more beds. I saw flies landing on people's bodies. There were people who looked like they were dying everywhere I turned. In the resuscitation room where people go who need oxygen, family members had to pump their family's oxygen to keep them alive because of lack of equipment and also lack of staff. (Michelle told me, though, that this was very common for many Asian countries). The hospital smelled so rancid. I told Michelle I needed to step outside just only after a few minutes. I felt like I was going to throw up. Once I got outside I felt better. Here I was, a white girl standing by myself dressed in scrubs at a hospital where they are so short staffed. I could see it in people's eyes, they were looking at me with the look, "why aren't you doing something to help?". They looked at me with such a sadness in their eyes. (they had no idea that I was not a doctor or a nurse or even a midwife!). And there was nothing I could do to help them.

I stood there at the entrance to the ER and watched 2 taxi's pull up. In one taxi, a mother got out carrying her very limp 2 year old. The child's eyes were rolled back in her head and she was pale and limp. She looked like she was either dead or close to dying. Michelle also saw her and told me she was suffering from SEVERE dehydration. The next taxi was a mother and sister carrying their adult brother in who looked so sick and couldn't walk.

Michelle and I talked on the way back to Mercy about how most of these problems and sicknesses are a result from the family members not being educated in how to care for their family. They have no health education. And so much could be prevented if they were taught and educated.

On a completely different note, I am doing well overall. I'm definitely looking forward to coming home and seeing my husband and girls! I had a really dizzy spell yesterday while I was taking a day off at the beach with a friend, and come to find out I have sort of an inner ear/ sinus thing going on. So, I'm going to try and get that under control before I fly out on Wednesday.

Hope all is well with you and yours!