Day 9: Dynamite Day

Boy what a day we had! Breakfast club met at 7am for a nice run to start off our great day. Right when we arrived at the clinic there was a woman in labor who was 8 centimeters dilated. We all for the first time were able to check her cervix. Her water broke soon after and she began pushing. The midwife was so nice and allowed us to help her throughout the entire birthing process. We helped to stimulate the uterus and encouraged the mother to push by saying "sindika!" (push in Rutooro). Once the baby came out Remi clamped and cut the cord. We wrapped the baby up, took APGAR scores, and weight. We gave the mom a shot of pitocin to reduce her bleeding by stimulating the uterus to contract. We assisted in the laceration repair and helped the mom get cleaned up. What a great way to start the morning! We then headed off to a nearby village for the "Outreach" immunization day. We arrived to a church where over 30 moms and babies were waiting for immunizations. We all got a lot of practice giving shots to squirmy, screaming babies. They were so adorable! Because of the limited supplies, vaccine administration is very different than at home. Not only were we outside, but we did not use gloves or alcohol swabs.  We had to work with what we had.
Love you all!
Kelley, Remi, and Meg