Reunion and relaxing

This is Natalie writing from Jinja, as everyone came from their different cities to have a little reunion in Jinja for a workshop as well as just to relax, and see each other, since this will be the only time our group will get to be all together during our time here.

On Wednesday, Quinn, Angela and I decided we would do a half day on the wards before making our way to Jinja. The morning started off slow, and quickly got extremely busy. It seemed like women were making their way in waves, everyone arriving pushing at the same time, and everyone having their baby at the same time. We would have to ask labouring moms or moms who had just given birth 20 minutes before to leave their beds to make space for others who were pushing. As I was finishing up with one mom, and Quinn was monitoring another, Angela thought it would be a good time for her to run a quick errand.

Soon after, a mom walks in and her water breaks and sounds pushy. Quinn quickly looks around for a bed, and finds one for her. We quickly get her up on the bed, and I do a vaginal exam, and my fingers have no idea what they’re feeling. At first I think its the cord, but its attached to something, so it can’t be. Then I think I feel toes, but its not that either. I ask Quinn to check, and she think shes feels toes too...but something about what we feel is telling us something about the whole picture isn’t right. Either way, we need Angela! We send our friendly Danish nursing student running to go get her, as we tell the mom not to push, but she can’t find her. Then we remember we can call Angela, and luckily she picks up and comes quickly back. She listens to our story, and as we watch the baby come lower and lower, it quickly becomes evident this is no footling breech. As Angela assesses, we see a pair of lips looking up at us, and we realize we have a face presentation! The mother pushes beautifully, and Quinn catches a lovely girl.

Then, Angela calls me over to a mother who is having her 9th baby. The baby is coming out very slowly and the mom is very tired, so Angela pulls some tricks out of her sleeve to help the baby come. The baby needs a bit of resuscitation (managed by Quinn!) but comes around quickly. It was so wonderful to attend this woman’s birth - most women here are very stoic after having their babies, and this mom was just thrilled  and so happy. She hugged everyone who attended her birth (a first!), which touched me deeply. We all shared a laugh as she looked at me and said in her limited English, “Big baby? Massive?” and it was - 4.1 kg!

In the afternoon we made our way to Jinja, a 3 hour drive between everyone hopping on and off, people sitting on top of each other, and chicken flapping their wings at my feet. It’s a beautiful road, where we get to see lots of green fields, traditional homes, and families.

Thursday and Friday we gave a workshop to nurses and midwives on obstetrical emergencies. It was great to see how much they learned and how confident they grew. Saturday and Sunday we all came to a beautiful resort  by Jinja to relax after two very hardworking weeks. It has been so wonderful to see all our friends again, share stories, laugh, hear about ups and downs, and connect again. It’s hard to believe tomorrow we will be back to the wards again...