Month of Firsts

December 2010 was full of firsts for the new maternity unit at ABC Community Clinic! We had our first delivery.The baby needed lot of resucitation but both mom and baby did very well. Besides using all of our equipment for the first time to do a delivery and newborn resucitation the pt was in labor during a huge rainstorm which caused a leak in the ceiling in our one fully functional private delivery room! Thankfully we were able to get the leak fixed before she was in full on labor so she was able to use the room for the delivery.

We also used our Operating Theatre, (OR) in american terms, to do 3 D & C's all of which went well without any complications. It may sound like a simple thing but for us this was a big step towards getting the theatre fully operational. After working on the set up for the better part of a year we were able to have anesthesia fully coordinated, all the equipment working properly and the staff trained for these procedures.

Another huge first for us was the c-section that we did on the 30th! A C-section is a major case compared to a D & C because the abdomen is fully open and a baby's life is at stake. There are also many more complications that we have to be prepared for compared to a minor procedure. The C-Section went very well and even though the baby needed alot of coaxing to have any respiratory effort we were able to stabilize the baby. We used our new ambulance that was donated by a family of a patient here to take the baby to another hospital that has pediatricians. After a short time at KCH (the big govt hospital down the road) where the docs from Baylor saw the baby and started her on a sepsis protocol both mom and baby finished their recovery here at ABC with no further complications. It is so exciting to have the Operating Theatre finally up and running with good docs and anesthesia available to provide much needed services here at ABC!

Another first was finally being able to bring home a child to foster. Most of you already know that Chisomo has been with us since right before Thanksgiving but we finally had our homestudy done and filled out our paperwork to foster him. I never thought that it would take a year to get paperwork and a homestudy done and then to find a child since there are so many children here that need a good home but looking back it seems that God saved our family for Chisomo! It was perfect timing for us to be able to go out and be involved in his re rescue from his home village. Then when there was no "guardian" available to take him to the hospital when he was so sick (malaria, sepsis, diarrhea, severe malnutrition, loss of developmental milestones etc...) God allowed he crisis nursery to let me be his "guardian" and provide the intense care that he needed here at our home and at the ABC Clinic. Miraculously his family has signed the paperwork allowing him to be fostered. Even though we haven't heard " officially" from social services after turning in our paperwork it seems that he is now ours until about a year from now when we will start the actual adoption process. Systems here are so much different than at home in the US but we are trusting God that he has a perfect plan for Chisomo and for our family. He is doing so well now. He is not sick at all, he is walking and starting to run. He eats great (not picky either), and is talking more and more every day. Ryan and Kimmy are both so good with him and are very happy to have a little brother to play with and take care of.

It has been so great amidst all the challenges of working here in a 3rd world country, especially in the healthcare sector, to see God at work through us! It makes it all worth while!

Please continue to pray for us as we forge ahead with the maternity services here at ABC as well as the fostering and adoption process with Chisomo and a big THANK YOU to all who support us and the work that we are doing here in Malawi!

Becky