Clinic

I've had my first experiences with the medical work here at OMO.
Caleb's mom, Donna, is a nurse who works a lot with the Daasanech women and
children. She helps to run prenatal and immunization clinics, and also
responds to people's calls for help during difficult deliveries. This
morning I went with Donna to run a clinic at a village across the
river. We had 29 women come to the clinic, and it was amazing to see how Donna
works in this environment. I couldn't help but laugh, remembering my own OB
visits with both of the kids, where everything is so sterile and high-tech,
and then here we are, listening to fetal heart tones with a wooden
feto-scope. I loved my first encounter with what I hope to be doing here when we're
done with language school.
Later that afternoon a woman came to see us, saying that her daughter
had delivered a baby around noon and hadn't yet delivered the placenta (it
was around 5 pm). So Donna and I took the truck down to a nearby village to
see the woman. Donna worked with her for about an hour, finally giving her
a medication to help start her contractions again to be able to deliver
the placenta. We left soon after, with instructions for the family to send
word in the morning what had transpired during the night. If the woman had
still not delivered the placenta, we would take her to the health post and
attempt to manually extract the placenta. The next morning we got word that the
woman had delivered the placenta soon after we had left the evening
before. I have to tell you that I stand in awe of Donna and all she does here.
I have much to learn.