We had a rush of babies... new babies born in the community and sick & malnourished babies brought in for care. Micheline's older sister, Nanuke, gave birth to a healthy baby boy. And that was after a 15 month pregnancy, but that's a whole other Haitian story ;-) Micheline came in the morning asking if we could go and pick Nanuke up and take her to the clinic in Titayen. She said Nanuke called and said she "soufrir (in pain) since last night". We wasted no time since this was her 3rd child. We dropped them off at clinic around 7 am, took our team to the airport for their flight back to the US, did some business in PAP, and picked Mom & baby up around 3 on our way back home!! Her I.V. wasn't quite finished, but Doc said no problem- you can finish it- well, OK then- why don't they do it that way back home??
This baby was brought in during Bible school. The mother said Glavens was sick, had a fever, won't eat. He was sick alright... he only weighed 13 pounds and was at least 18 months old- probably closer to 2. He was very weak- couldn't support his own head- too weak to cry or even suck a bottle. I asked the mother if she would leave him with me. I knew if she had allowed him to get in this condition she either couldn't or wouldn't give him the very intensive care he would need to survive. Tylenol brought his temp down, but even syringe feeding him every couple of hours all afternoon and through the night, I had only managed to get less than 8 oz in him by morning. He seemed to have a lot more going on- very bad thrush & his mouth would bleed every time I tried to feed him. His temp was a rollercoaster. He hated me messing with him- it was as if he wanted to be left alone so he could die. I decided to take him to our friend Lori- a nurse with a medical ministry (check the links for her blog). We picked up the mom- she didn't want to come with us- said her aunt was sick and she needed to cook for her. We convinced her that it was more important to care for her dying baby and headed for the mountains. The trip to Cazale is difficult and best undertaken in a 4-wheel drive vehicle, but we made it! We would come upon steep mud-filled mucky stretches where we would get bogged down and have to unload everyone & push to get through. On arrival, Glavens had a fever of 105F. Mom's story changed when questioned by Lori. It seems both the mom & baby had already been diagnosed with TB and rather than get the treatment recommended, she was trying to see who she could get some meds from. Lori said it's common, rather than address the real problem, to just keep trying to get more meds for the symptoms and the child never gets better. She told the mom to take him to a hospital with a ministry to TB patients and told us NOT to give her any more anything or she would never take him. Haiti is so hard.
This baby was also brought in to us for a sick baby once over. He was just 6 days old- his umbilical cord had not yet fallen off. He was a pretty, delicate looking baby. The first thing you noticed about him was how white he was. Haitian babies are born with light colored sin that gradually gets its full color in a few days. But even for a newborn this baby had very white skin- it wasn't just white- it was a very odd color. Mama said baby cries all night and keeps her up- well, duh- he is a baby!! No, silly lady he stiffens up and screams, like his belly hurts. Do you have belly-ache medicine for baby? No, I tell them, I don't have any medicine for a baby this little. I agree with them that something is not right with this baby and try to convince them that they must take him to the hospital- right away- the baby is very sick. They asked for neither a ride nor money- I don't offer unless they ask- the dr visit will cost $5 Haitian and the ride to town less than that around $1US (the meds are what costs them more money). They didn't go. I got word the next day the baby had died.
Haiti
Life and Death
Fast and Slow
Wonderful and Terrible
Ebb and Flow
Hard, hard, Haiti
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