another morning in the hospital:)

This morning when I arrived at the maternity hospital, it seemed quiet and not as many patients as usual. I thought it would be a slow, rather boring day but all of a sudden women starting coming out of the woodwork and just about every delivery bed was full! At one point during the morning there were 3 women delivering in the same room, side by side and all screaming at the top of their lungs. The nurses started laughing because they couldn't hear each other talk. Because there is only one examining table for the newborns, all babies from the 3 delivery rooms are whisked into the one room to be examined. There are usually at least two babies on the bed at the same time and sometimes more. This morning there was no one with the midwife to help so I grabbed the baby and wrapped him in a cloth and took him to be examined. One of the women had no one to care for her, to bring the baby's clothes or anything. After delivery her baby lay on the examining table for almost an hour wrapped in a doctor's gown. The mother also had no clothes or supplies so they literally taped 2 baby diapers to her! Oh my heart. I can just imagine how painful it will be to peel that stuff off afterward. Someone finally came and we got the baby changed into his own clothes and everything squared away. Another woman had "placenta previa" at 31 weeks and was in a lot of pain. Come to find out, her husband had died suddenly a month ago. They planned to observe her and possibly do a C-section if she bled anymore. I never saw the woman shed a tear; you'd think that someone who lost her husband and now was in danger of losing his child would be totally grief-stricken but everything here is "God's will" and they just accept it as that. I had my camera with me today so I snapped a couple pictures to show you the labor room (notice the rusty delivery table) and the baby bed with 2 babies being examined. I probably assisted in no fewer than 10 deliveries this morning! My body feels so beaten up and bruised. But I love every minute of it and can't wait to go back in a few days.