Miércoles, 16-Julio-2014
Today was all about the babies!! Natalia is a miracle worker and somehow coordinated us seeing everything possible all in the same day.
Live Birth
Casey and I arrived at El Carmen just in time to see a live birth! It's always hit or miss if you get to see one because it's not like moms will schedule their deliveries around our schedule. This mom had a heathy baby boy who weighed a whopping 4 kg (8.8 lbs). All the nurses kept talking about how big the baby is and I realized that a 9 lb baby is huge for 4'10" Peruvian women. One thing that has surprised me about women in labor here is how quiet they are... No one yells even though most of them don't have epidurals!
Neonatal
It's very hard to get into the neonatal unit since you need sterile coats, masks, and hair covers. I was really fortunate to be able to go inside since the 4 other girls were all in Caesarian surgeries. Angelica took me to the neonatal unit and we saw 3 different rooms. The first room was where the incubators are for premature and/or sick babies. All of the babies were so tiny!!
The next area was a lactation room so the babies can still feed off their moms milk. The last room we went to was where the immune-compromised babies go. There are UV lights and everything is very sterile to prevent them from getting sick. I continue to be impressed with the doctors and nurses who care for these tiny frail babies.
Caesarian Surgery
There were 3 Caesarian surgeries schedule for this morning so I elected to wait until the last one which was risky since sometimes they don't all happen. Well the first two went as planned but the Caesarian surgery I was going to watch got canceled. Fortunately some lady came in and had an emergency Caesarian surgery so I still was able to see one.
I scrubbed into another 1950s era operating room and watched as the surgeons successfully birthed the baby. She was a heathy baby girl that had simply gotten turned around so that if a natural birth were to happen the baby would've snapped her neck.
The thing that surprised me the most was that the mom was awake the entire time!! She had an epidural but that was it. Considering how I saw the surgeons open her up, I would've passed out in pain. There is no gentleness in the operating room...
167 year Anniversary
El Carmen was celebrating its 167th anniversary today! There were lots of statues of Mary set up around the hospital since all hospitals are catholic and maternity hospitals are dedicated to the Virgin Mary. There was a large procession, big speeches, and balloons everywhere!
Best part was seeing our host grandma, Jhus, in the procession. She's a night nurse at the hospital!
BREAKING NEWS:
WE'RE GOING BACK TO THE JUNGLE NEXT WEEK!! I can't wait to be warm again!! Huancayo is wonderful but I'm just tired of being so cold in July... During the day the temperature is 60-70s but at night it goes down to 30-40s. Can't wait for some balmy 80s to end the trip! We'll be in La Merced next Wednesday to Friday :)
Open House
The newest set of volunteers are here for 1-2 weeks and are being hosted at Elena's house. In order to get to know them better and hang out as a big group, we were invited to an open house at Elena's.
The new volunteers made some delicious snacks and sangria. They also provided some traditional Peruvian entertainment: Cuy (guinea pig) Racing. Cuy is a very popular dish amongst Peruvians and therefore they are bred heavily. As a way to entertain people, someone came up with the idea of setting up an obstacle course and betting on which guinea pig would win. Our obstacle course didn't work out so well but it was fun to watch anyways!
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