"CQ Balfate! We need help in the labor room NOW!" Visiting midwife Abigail's normally calm, nothing-phases-me voice came calling on the radio in complete panic one evening in June. I jumped over the mattress that a friend and I were trying to pull up my apartment stairs tripping the rest of the way down and ran out the door. "I'm not wearing shoes! Where are my shoes?" I run back inside, grab the nearest pair of flip flops I could find, run back out the door and across the two suspension bridges to the hospital. If Abigail was panicking, then something had to be really wrong.
The baby was being resuscitated by Dr Isaac on the baby warmer when several other of the doctors and I entered the room. He was massive. This was no baby. He was a full grown todddler! "Brutus" (affectionately nicknamed by Dr Ryan) weighed in at a whopping 10 lbs 1oz. He was so big, compared to the average 6lb Honduran baby, that his shoulder was stuck behind his little mom's pelvis for 4 minutes after his head was delivered. Brutus was purple and required help breathing for the first several minutes after he was born. When I arrived he was breathing very rapidly on his own, limp, and pale with his eyes wildly darting around in his head. He was in shock from such a traumatic delivery. It took almost two hours to stabilize him enough to move him out of the labor room to the inpatient ward where he was on oxygen and IV fluids.
His poor mother had a 4th degree tear that took an hour to stitch up. In the midst of her pain and not knowing whether or not her baby was going to survive, his mom sang worship songs praising God for Brutus' life whether he lived or died.
Brutus did live. He spent only a few days in the hospital before he was well enough to go home.
The morning after Brutus was born, I was finishing a night shift when a community midwife brought in a woman in labor fully dilated in the bed of a pickup truck. Her first baby was stillborn and this one was premature. That baby came flying like a football into my hands as Dr Ryan and I were still trying to set up the room for delivery. It was tiny baby boy. "Oh, no! This does not look good!" Ryan exclaimed when he saw how small the baby was. That instant "Tiny Tim" let out an ear piercing screech and immediately let us know he was hungry. Phew! Four and a half pound Tiny Tim spent the next couple of days as Brutus' roommate side-by-side in their baby cribs. Both babies went home happy and healthy after a few days. Praise God for new life!
It is hard to believe that I have been serving at Hospital Loma de Luz for a year now. Time flies! I would not be here if it was not for the prayer and financial support of every one of you. Working as a nurse here is not a paid position, all of the doctors and nurses who work here are volunteers. The only way I can stay here is by the financial support of YOU! It costs me about $1,500 a month to cover my living expenses here. Would you prayerfully consider a monthly donation of $100 that would allow me to continue serving with this ministry? Below is the link to my donation page.
http://www.healthservicecorps.org/author/martin/
I am so blessed by everyone of you! Love you all!
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