A Challenging Day

Most of you are FB friends with me, but if you are not I posted something today that I would like you all to know about. My post read:

Hello everyone! I need your help today! I have some good news and some bad news that both include a lot of prayer involved. The good news is that: The mother of the twins who hasn't been producing a lot of milk is now starting to pump. With some help from Becky and I she is learning to properly care for her babies (pump, skin to skin contact for warmth etc...) Also another set of twins was sent home last night! This is great news and we rejoice that they were well enough to be cared for at home! The bad news is that: They lost two babies at the hospital last night. If you read my blog you remember the baby that I helped diagnose with Dr. Alyssa, the one with thrush. That one unfortunately did not make it. There was also another baby in that same room who did not last through the night. I ask that you pray and rejoice for the babies sent home and the babies still striving, but that you also keep the other mothers in your prayers as they mourn the loss of their newborns. I also ask that you continue to pray for the mother of the twins who is still left in the room. There is no one there with her and she seems lonely. I also ask that you pray for strength for Becky and I. We are trying our best to help this mother, but some things are not registering because the culture is so different here. It's also hard to be in that situation and saddens us, but we continue to trust in the Lord and know that His will, will be done! Thanks all! Love from Burundi !

So as you read above today was a big challenge for me. My heart broke for each family and rejoiced with them as well. We are helping as much as we can with the twins. They don't have incubators here so they've designed their own version of it. It's kind of scary for me to see because I fear even more for the health of the babies. Let me explain. An African incubator (that is what I've named it in my head) is a cardboard box with 3 or 4 blankets on the bottom, then the baby, then 3 or 4 more blankets, then the top is closed and another blanket on top. Now you can see where the fear comes from, the baby could sufficate! Unfortunately, this seems to be a very popular method here, but sometimes it works very well or so it seems since some babies were sent home. It is ideal that the babies maintain a normal temperature and not get to cold, which can be very hard to do with preemies, even in the states. We talked to the nurses today to find out what their temps were and we were shocked and a bit scared. The normal temperature for a preemie should be about 36.7-36.8 C (98.06-98.24 F.) These babies were both different temperatures, one worse than the other. One was 34 C (93.2 F) and the other was 35 C (95 F.) So as you can see we could not stress more that the babies should share skin to skin contact time with their momma, even while she was sleeping. The boxes might help a little bit but without their own body heat it won't do much. This skin to skin contact will help warm the baby as well as hopefully trigger the mother's body to produce more milk. We're trying to relay this message to her and so far she has been great at listening to our advice. We were able to visit twice today and also deliver some hard-boiled eggs. We're trying everything we can but the best thing we can do for her is pray and ask God to send this family some grace and hope. With that being said I leave you with lyrics to a song I sang last year with my touring choir! Goodnight all!

"Hope Is the Thing with Feathers" by Emily Dickinson written in the style of the song by Susan LaBarr Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul, And sings the tune without the words, And never stops at all. Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul, And sings the tune without the words, And never stops at all. And sweetest in the gale is heard; And sore must be the storm, That could abash the little bird That kept so many warm. I've heard it in the chillest land, And on the strangest sea. Yet never in extremity it asked a crumb of me. Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul. Hope never stops at all. Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul, And sings the tune without the words, And never stops, and never stops, And never stops at all.