gthemidwife

It has been a while since my last post so I thought I would give a quick catch up on what has been happening at the clinic.

Baby John Lester

We are continuing our support and follow-up for baby John Lester as his last operation was not a success and he has to undergo another operation. Please pray for things to go well this time and that he would have lots of improvements this year. Although it is quite shocking to see his enlarged eye, he is quite a smiley and interactive baby now as opposed to before the first surgery when he was continually crying.

Baby John Lester before his second surgery.

I love Austrian Midwives!

We have had the opportunity to work with three wonderful ladies from an Austrian midwifery school this past month. They have been so much fun to teach and also to learn from! Marlene, Manuela and Johanna contacted me earlier this year about the possibility of coming to intern with us. Although we had never had Austrian midwives before it sounded like a great adventure to me. It is so interesting to hear how different midwifery is in Austria; they are very hi-tech there! They seemed to really enjoy our low-tech methods here at the clinic though – and we enjoyed them!

Manuela on prenatal day

Baby Ashley

We delivered baby Ashley at our clinic a year ago. Soon after birth she was experiencing breathing difficulties so we referred her to the hospital for further care. Ashley’s family lives far away and after they were discharged from the hospital we didn’t see them again – until this May. On May 4, Ashley and her mom Julies came for a Well-Baby Seminar which we hold monthly at the clinic as a way of following up on babies and moms after their six weeks of postpartum check-ups. We were really worried about Ashley as she was so thin and seemed to be having a lot of trouble breathing. Her mother said that she had been sick on and off since birth and that they often didn’t have the money to buy the prescribed medications for her so they stopped going for check-ups. She also said that Ashley had to sleep sitting up or she couldn’t breath!  We offered to help them and the next day we accompanied Ashley and her mom for a check-up at the local pediatrician. She was diagnosed with massive pneumonia and had to be hospitalized. Julies and her family are with a government program which enrols them with the national health insurance. She knew that they were enrolled in the program but didn’t know how to use the benefits. Our social worker Kate was able to help them figure out all the paperwork and red tape and Ashley was admitted the following day for treatment. She recovered from her pneumonia after two weeks of treatment and we are continuing to follow up with Ashley to make sure she continues to gain weight and stay healthy.

Baby Ashley with her mom Julies

Well-Baby Seminar Attendees

A trip to Bugnay

On a personal note, we finally took Zion up to Bugnay to meet all his relatives! We had a great time and they boys loved all the attention that they got. Zion had his “soob” which is a tribal birthday party for all Butbut boys. The whole village came out to celebrate (well it sounded like the whole village at 3am when I was trying to sleep 😉 ). We have such a special family up in Bugnay and I am so thankful for the incredible culture that my kids get to be a part of.