“Hello baby"
Hello, it’s Whitney. Jenna asked me to write about my experience at the hospital on Friday. Me, Laura, and Jenna ventured to the maternity ward: there were a lot of pregnant women there! There were about fifteen beds and they had to put mattresses on the floor: if I had to make an estimate I would say there were about twenty one women in the ward in the process of increasing the population of the Kagera region. At times the nurse would tell a woman in a bed to move to a mattress because another woman was closer to giving birth. One woman had to move to the sterilizing room. With this may women there were only three nurses. They were quite busy and were glad to have us assist them.
With this many women in only a few rooms one would think it would be quite noisy, However, the women were significantly quieter than women in the U.S. when giving birth (or at least when they are depicted on TV). They only groaned slightly when experiencing contractions. If they were too loud they were asked by the nurses to be a little quieter. Another notable difference from the birthing experience in the U.S.: men were not present. The ward was definitely too small to have many bystanders.
We began our volunteering in the crowded ward with cleaning: we scrubbed the floors, bed dividers, and shelves. One of the nurses told me to clean the bottom of the beds while the patients were still in them. A few of the women hardly noticed I was cleaning underneath them but one smiled at me: clearly excited to give birth. We also helped some of the women move their belongings when they were relocated. We halted our cleaning when the nurse said one of the women was very close to giving birth. The nurse coached the woman and we watched as quite a bit of blood came out. Before I knew it I saw a baby’s head-and then a body. In a matter of seconds a beautiful baby girl was on the table. As the baby cried and the woman rejoiced the nurse demonstrated how to cut the umbilical cord. Once the cord was cut the baby was weighed and placed under a lamp. I walked over the small bundle and said “hello baby, karibu (Swahili for welcome)” The nurse than began the afterbirth process: I helped her retrieve medical supplies from the cabinet and put on her glasses for her: her hands were quite bloody. After the nurse was finished we had to move the woman to the recovery room. I got to hold the baby-it was so cute and had a full head of hair. It was then-about twenty five minutes after the baby was born-that the mother was first able to hold the baby. She gingerly picked up the baby-her first child-and I watched as a her facial expression changed from uncertainty to elation. Later I went to visit the mother and baby: I smiled at the mother as she visited with her friend. Seeing a delivery was one of the most incredible things I have experienced. I look forward to volunteering again at the Kagera regional hospital.