God's Providence

I couldn't wait to get to the ward this past weekend. I had been looking forward to going for days so when I walked down the hall towards labor and delivery and heard the familiar sounds of advanced labor, I was excited! Sweet babies! New mamas! A satisfying day filled with back rubs and the bestowing of courage! Perhaps a little too cheerful? 

There were two mamas pushing and doing a very good job. I immediately moved to one bed, that of an HIV positive woman, and introduced myself. Within minutes she said, "I can feel the head!" I took a little peek and sure enough, something was happening! Her membranes were still intact and her baby was crowning still in it's sack! 

The baby's head was born before I could get a nurse's attention so I very awkwardly supported it with one hand and encouraged the mama to slow down and breathe in little puffs. 

The nurse barely had her gloves on when, out came that sweetie, water bag and all! What a gift from God that she was protected from her mama's disease! 

I never want to step on toes, damage the relationship I have with the nurses and midwives or just royally screw something up so I stick solely to my doula job. Thus, I watched for what felt like an eternity while the nurse just looked at the baby lying on the bed! I think she was hesitant to touch it as it was from a woman with HIV. 

I'm sure it was only seconds later, she scooped that baby up by one leg and laid her across her mama's chest. It was only then that I noticed the amniotic fluid pooling on the plastic mattress and dripping down my leg and the front of my blouse. Awesome. And we're only 30 minutes into the day!

The ward was quiet - unusually so and it afforded my friend and I the opportunity to team up and work with another woman for the rest of the afternoon. 

She dilated fully and then rolled over for a nap! After a long rest, she squatted, with the help of my rebozo tied to the bed frame. After much pushing and a lot of encouragement, she delivered a tiny, lifeless baby. And my heart leaped into the back of my throat. 

The baby boy was so small and so white. The nurse took him to the warmer and began CPR. She was struggling to get a tight seal with the ambu bag and wasn't getting good breaths in the infant. A midwife came and started to hook up a nasal cannula but found the oxygen tank was empty. I wanted to scream as I watched all of this take place in what felt like slow motion.

At the time, I wasn't giving these two ladies enough credit (and I can imagine they would've preferred I wasn't watching). They've seen it all and they've dealt with it all. After this weekend, I have a great deal more respect for these tough women!

They worked together and a long 20-some minutes later, color was returning to the hands and arms of the baby and he let out a little cry - the sweetest sound on earth. After some more time and oxygen, while not out of the woods, he was breathing more steadily and looking quite nice and pink.

As we were leaving to go home, I marveled at God's providence. He protected a baby girl by allowing her to be born inside her bag of waters and He kept the ward quiet so that we could pour all of our attention on a first-time mama and the nurses could pour all of their energy and knowledge into a tiny, baby boy.  

It was a good day.