Two Babies and One Local Chicken

(Katherine)

Today at St. Peter’s Hospital, we welcomed two little ones to the island! A baby boy was born by C-section around 8:30AM while a baby girl was born vaginally at 2:05PM. I received both babies, under the supervision of the nurses, dried them, weighed them, and prepared them for their mothers. What a privilege! I found that I was really excited for the births. Other than the fact that I am always excited for babies, I have been put on call for deliveries, but hadn't been called yet! Anticipation definitely had been mounting. 

Both births proved very interesting. Like the C-section I attended last week in St. Peter’s operating room, one of the clinical officers, trained as a nurse, performed the operation. Also, the baby boy who emerged from the womb did take a little resuscitative efforts from the nurse to get him going. But, unlike last week, the mother had severely elevated blood pressure when we entered the delivery room. In light of this, general anesthesia could not be used safely. The clinical officers chose to use lidocaine (a local anesthetic) to numb the front of the woman’s abdomen and diazepam (a sedative) to calm her. Really, with the amount of diazepam the woman received, I don’t think she would have cared at all what was going on! She remained nearly unconscious for the whole procedure and did not feel any pain. Overall, the surgery went very well compared to the one I watched last week, and compared to what I was expecting.

Since the mother was sedated so heavily, her baby boy could not receive “kangaroo care” or nurse right away. Selfishly, I like the time after a C-section when part of my job is to keep the baby, who has been dried, wrapped, and assessed, warm and calm until the operation is finished. Cuddling with the new baby boy for the first hour of his life, right next to his mother undergoing major surgery, definitely brings mixed emotions.

After the surgery and after helping with the family planning clinic held at the hospital every Tuesday, I returned home for lunch. I went back to the hospital at 1:50PM because we had one young woman, 17 years old, in labor with her first child. We expected we would need to check her dilation around that time. Walking in to the labor ward I was surprised to find all of the nurses gathered around and dressing for the delivery. The woman had progressed quickly! Not 10 minutes later, the woman delivered a beautiful, though underweight baby girl. She came out kicking and screaming, actually causing her young mother to be quite afraid of her. The mother even refused to touch or hold her until she was cleaned.

My eventful day ended with joining a local family for dinner. Derek and I have become friends with a woman named Beatrice and her husband Kingsley. We met Beatrice while we stayed in Mzuzu when she came to visit St. Mark’s church there. She has since taken us under her wing and introduced us to many people on the island.

Beatrice and Kingsley are both from Likoma, met in secondary school, and now have a family together. They have three biological children, but also raise three children born to family members who have been deceased. Beatrice came to pick us up from the Bishop’s house and on the walk to her home we were pleased to discover we were headed to the east side of the island on the lake. All the way, Beatrice talked about her family and what she would be cooking for us, including “local chicken,” one she raised from just a tiny chick and had slaughtered to share with us earlier in the day.

Beatrice and Kingsley are a very interesting couple. They enjoy their family very much and like many Malawians are always filled with music. However, both are active community members. Kingsley works as the local Likoma public librarian, but also is the keyboard player at St. Peter’s Cathedral. To our amazement, Kingsley spends his spare time recording music in his home studio (in a room of his house!) and teaching his eldest son, Confidence, how to play backup keyboard. Beatrice is a house wife and an incredibly active member of the Daughters of the King and Mothers’ Union groups at St. Peter’s. She frequently travels to Mzuzu to conference with other members there, and next week will attend the national Malawian meeting for the Daughters of the King. 

(Derek)

On Tuesday, I got a haircut! For what I think is the first time in my life, it is mostly shaved off. I was tired of having to do anything with it in the morning (we don't have a mirror), and I was getting too warm with a full head of hair. So, I walked down to the local barber shop and had the barber shave it off! Katherine and I don't think it looks too bad. He charged me a grand total of about $1USD.

Derek's new haircut!

The Dean of St. Peter's Cathedral has 6 puppies he's trying to find homes for! Aren't they cute?! They were sleeping in this big heap when I walked by. If anyone wants one, I'm sure it can be arranged :)