Packing Bags and Getting Ready!

We leave on Sunday morning for our medical missions trip to Rwanda, Kibogora Hospital!

Please feel free to follow our blog or view our photo page to keep track on what we are doing.

Google Photo link: https://goo.gl/photos/PwKgyJ1m5g7euyA9A

We're back!

While some decided to extend their trip, most of us arrived this evening at Mobile County Airport safe and sound! Thank you for all your support and prayers! This experience changed each and everyone of us in different ways, and we will remember this experience for the rest of our days!

We're on a boat!

Headed to kumbia for relaxation

This was a rough day

Today was a crazy day...

Community clinic is a time where two students get to go out in rural satellite clinics to help the doctors there and see what they do. So Gabby and I (Anna), rode up and down the most rocky and hilly terrain you could imagine. I've never gotten car sick, but I think that has changed today! Once we get there we split up and I went to the delivery service. At these clinics the doctors mostly evaluate the clinic staff on how well they medically manage patients, but today was a little different.

A young 17 yo girl was in labor with her first pregnacy. I listened to the baby's heartbeat with the horn and it was fine, but I felt that the baby's head was up, not in the pelvis. So, next the midwife checked to see how dilated she was and when she placed her finger in "there", pop, out rushed a gush of GREEN fluid. Oh crap, is the first thing that came to my mind. When the doctor asked the girl how along she was, we got that she was 34 weeks!

So next we are getting the transfer papers ready, so she can go to a facility with a NICU, when all of a sudden mom starts laboring and out pops a foot! (Oh crap, oh crap! I said in my head...) At this, the doctor says, "well, we must deliver baby, no time now" since the the nearest NICU is an hour away! I said to that "ok, but first, pray to Yesu?", meaning we need some prayer for this one, so we did...then WE GOT IN THERE!

I was in the most extreme delivery I've ever seen... A breeched birth! They pulled and pulled. Mom being so young, and since she never had a baby before, was freaking out (rightfully so). Finally, after some maneuvers and holding mom down, we got baby free, however, he was blue and floppy (not good). We took baby to the warmer, and started to dry and suction. I ran around looking for an ambu bag to breath some air into baby's lungs. FOUND IT! I ran back and gave some breaths and stimulation. Finally, after some stressful minutes, we heard a loud gasp, and then "WAAAAA!" I've never been more happy to hear a baby cry! Baby (which is what I named him, since they don't name baby's until weeks after they get home) went from Blue and floppy, to pink and flexed! (Not even retractions were noted for those medical minds in the audience!) We concluded that the mom's estimated gestational age was way off, and baby was a term infant.

When I got back, I heard that a child was next to a fire, had a seizure and fell into the fire pit. This apparently is not a rare occurrence here, since many children with epilepsy seem to be triggered by different events (such as flickering lights). She is a 10 YR old girl and she has 3rd degree burns over 30% of her body. Mainly her face, torso, and arms are affected. Her airway began to swell and close so an emergency tracheostomy had to be done. She is currently breathing on her own with the help of O2 and her trach. We will be taking shifts to keep an eye on her tonight. Please prayer warriors, PRAY FOR THIS GIRL, HER FAMILY, HER HEALING, AND PRAY FOR HER MEDICAL TEAMS SKILLS!

THANK YOU FROM KIBOGORA.

Maternity ward!

So I have been on the maternity ward for the past two days and it is a wonderful time. Seeing mothers bring life into this world is wonderful and you don't need to know what they are saying to see the happiness and glow on a mother's face when she is able to hold her baby for the first time!

So yesterday was crazy. We did a c-section on a patient, that the doctors said was "complicated", but it was the most non-bloody c-section I have ever witnessed! The patient lost probably less than 300 cc of blood (which is excellent for this procedure). What skills they have!

After the section I went into the labor and delivery room. Outside it was thundering pretty hard, so I prepared myself by putting on my head lamp. At this, the nursing students laughed because of my preparing for the storm. To note: We are in a rain forrest, and almost every time it rains here the lights go out, so I did not care about being made fun of. No one wants to be catching a baby and the lights go out on them!

Anyway, it started to pour down hard! I mean really hard, and the nursing students came and got me and told me in broken English, "the mother, she has to pee". I said "uhh, ok get a bed pan". They didn't know what I meant by bed pan, so I put on some gloves, showed them the pan and proceeded towards the mom, who was standing up, bent over the bed. I lift up her skirt and LORD BEHOLD THERE'S A BABY HEAD STICKING OUT OF HER VAGINA! I PROCEED TO FREAK OUT IN MY HEAD, and calmly say, "uhhh, there's a baby down here guys!"

So we get the midwife, and as he (the midwives are men) is delivering that baby, the other lady starts shouting!

In the end, I help bring a baby boy and a baby girl into the world, and got to deliver the placenta. The doctor said, "that's what happens in the storms, the low pressure makes them labor!" What a crazy day!

Citron

This is literally the best fanta flavor around! I will miss Fanta Citron when we leave!

Blessed

Have you ever sat back, took a deep breath, and realized how blessed you are? I mean, look around you. Look where you live. Look at your clothes, your food, your clean skin. Then look towards the sky and say “Thank you”. We are so incredibly blessed to live in such a rich, 1st World country. God could have just as easily placed us in a country like Rwanda where water is contaminated with parasites, toilets are a hole in the ground (not to mention no toilet paper), showers are nonexistent, and a meal with meat is rare. I cannot express how grateful I am to God for giving me much more than I need. I cannot express how good we have it. I cannot express how much my heart aches for these people. I can, however, express that we are all God’s children, and we all need love. God sent Jesus Christ to die for all of us, and because of that, we can all rejoice.
My favorite song is “Blessed Be Your Name” because it tells us that no matter what we are going through, be it good or bad, we can and should praise God. We are living so comfortably here in Kibogora in gated community, with people literally right outside the gates with nothing, yet we don’t see the need to thank God for all He has provided to us. Blessed be His name for giving us so much, for allowing us to be born in a country with opportunity and wealth. On Sundays, even though they lack material items and hygiene, the Rwandans praise God. They thank Him for what they do have. I don’t know how sincere they are, but at least from the outside, it looks genuine, beautiful. 
One verse in “Blessed Be Your Name” says, “Every blessing You pour out/
I'll turn back to praise/When the darkness closes in, Lord/ Still I will say/ Blessed be the name of the Lord.” That is what I see when I watch the Rwandans worship.  They praise God for what they have, and even though they have seen darkness, they still say, “blessed be the name of the Lord”. I think we can learn from these people more than they can learn from us. So let me ask you again, have you ever sat back, took a deep breath, and realized how blessed you are? If you haven’t, maybe you should. It can change your view on life.

PS- Happy Valentine's Day