A Happy Birthday

Wendy talked to him and found out his wife had a baby the night before and the placenta was not yet delivered. Further questioning brought forth these facts. 1. She delivered the baby Midnight Friday night. 2.Placenta did not deliver still (Sat. afternoon) 3. father did not know sex of baby 4. Umbilical chord was still not cut 5. Their house was very very far. Considering all of this Wendy knew it was probably very important to leave for their house as soon as possible. Well, potluck had not yet started so I ran down to church and told them to go ahead without Wendy. After we ate and as I was cleaning up, Wendy came and got the leftoever food and asked if I wanted to go with her. Of course I wanted to go but knowing it was an emergency and very far I was worried that I'd be more of a hinderance than a help (because I hike slower than most people). Wendy said that it was OK that I hiked slow and she would like for me to come with her if I was willing. So I went. When we started hiking we weren't very sure what way we were going and how far it was so we followed the father of the new baby. Wendy thought we'd go up by Angtak and maybe just past that but she wasn't sure. On the trail we passed a couple people and when they asaked where we were going and our guide told them they only said, "Oh wow, that's far away." We said, yeah, yeah we know but we thought maybe the fact that we were American came into their minds and knew it'd be far for us but not very far over all. Well, we were wrong to assume that because they weren't joking. It was far. Once we reached the top of our mountain we hiked the ridge for a while, crossing over to the other side of the mountain. We eventually came to the other side where we couldn't go any further unless we went down. Grabbing a machete that he had left in a friends' house along the way, our guide apologized because he said there was no trail to his house and it was very hard. "Sigi lang!" we told him. That's OK. And it was then that we started down. Abu'! He literally cut the trial as we went. Bushwacking our way throught the jungle. The mountain was steep probably a 60 degree angle and just as we were starting down, it began to rain. I just assumed get wet and cool off anyways so I declined a banana umbrella at first. We began to plan what to do in the even that the delivery of the placenta was an easy and quick procedure. we knew that the people would probably feed and house us but the further down the mountain we went, the closer we got to Brooke's point where Michel and Becky were staying to help with Bisil the burn patient I wrote about earlier. I suggested that if we were really that close that we just stay in Brookes poin with the gilrs. But we still weren't to the patient and still didn't know where exactly we were going. Further and further down the mountain we went until we were drenched from head to toe from teh rain, the wet bushes we brushed against, and our sweat. The further down we went the more we knew we wouldn't be finding our way back in the dark that night so we'd have to stay somewhere. The big problem was that the next day was Sunday, the busiest day in the clinic. Finally we got to the hut where the patient was and all the old ladies were gathered around comfroting the new mom and taking care of the other 4 or 5 kids she had. Upon arriving we found that the umbilical chord was still not cut but hte baby was wrapped up and healthy looking. *they had not cleaned her though*. Wendy asked if one of them wanted to cut the chord but they all declined because they were to shy. they asked if I wanted to and I asked Wendy if that'd be OK. She said sure and quickly explained how to do it. She gave me a clean blade and dental floss. (you use what you have in the jungle) i tightly tied off a section of chord and cut in between. Then Wendy asked if we could pray first before trying to pu out the placenta. We did so and then she pulled and told the girl to push. She was basically in shock from the pain, her pulse was 148, and BP was 84/50 with respiration of 36. Her eyes flittered around and Wendy feared she's lose conciousness when she pushed. Praying in our hearts, she tried again and the third time it cameout. Thanking Jesus we gave the placenta to them to discard and told the mom to rest. The old women were very happy but not surprised that Wendy was able to help. Everyone seems to believe Wendy can do anything but most people wait way too long to come for help. This family didn't wait too long and that was good. But still, it's only by God's grace that these miracles happen. We gave the mom some ORS and I asked to take some pictures. The people were so excited to see a digital camera with their picture they laughed and laughed as I took picture ater picture. As we were packing up to get ready to leave I asked what the name of the baby was and they said she wasn't named yet. Then they asked if I wanted to name her. I had no idea what name to give but finally decided on Rita, my mom's name. They seemd to like it and it sounded Palawano so they agreed to name her Rita. We talked to the family and asked how far it was to Bing Bilang (the place at the base of the mountain where we hike into Kemantian the village I live in....it's about 20 minutes by trike to get to Brookes Point from there). They told us it wasn't far and that he had a brother there that owned a trike and would take us to Brookes point for free. It was not long until dark so we had to hurry down. The trail was wide and very clear and well maintained. There was absolutely no problem getting down it took us no time at all. In fact we wondered whether or not it would have made more sense to go that way in the first place to get to the patient, instead of having to blaze a trail. We arrived just as it was dark and teh father told us he'd go get the trike. We waited for the trike and discussed how happy and surprsied Becky and michel would be that we were there. Also, we had heard a couple days ago that Bisil (the burn patient from before) badly needed blood. No one was willing to go down and give blood but the doctors said he needed it or he'd die. Finally they found someone who would give half of it to him but he still needed another pint. I wanted to go down and give blood but I was needed in Kemantian and I couldn't go by myself. But now that we were in town anyways, I suggested that I could give blood for Bisil while we were there. Michel had been worried sick about Bisil and had tried everything she could to find people willing to donate, but it's not free to donate...it costs a bit of money and most of the time the Palawanos get dizzy and nausious after they give so they weren't excited about going all the way down to give blood to him. When the man's brother finally arrived with the trike, we quickly found that not only was the man not very willing to take us, he also would not take us for free. settling on a price of 300 pesos (it costs 35 in the day time) we were on our way. Michel and Becky were thrilled to see us (They were a bit bored by themselves for a week) and were very determined to keep us there till Monday. We explained that we wanted to go right to the hospital and give blood and then hike back early the next day because Sunday's are really busy for the clinic and she had to go back. Michel told us that the place that takes our blood was closed and wouldn't open until the next day. We said OK but we were going first thing in the morning. The next morning happened to be Wendy's birthday too, and when we got up and left for the hospital to see Bisil, she was happy we could all be together on her birthday. When we got to the hospital (which is debatable because if I wasn't told it was a hospital I would have assumed it was condemned building) Bisil didn't look great but supposedly he was much better than before. Wendy saw that he was fevering and that his IV needed to be taken out. We told a nurse and I looked around the room that he was staying in. It was smelly and there were flies everywhere and it was hot. There were about 5 other patients in that room and all they had to lay on was the hard wood or a thin thin matress over springs. No sheets, no blankets, if you wanted them you had to supply them yourself. The way their system works in the district hospital is, the care is free but the medicine and equipment you have to pay for. So if you need a bandage, you have to buy one. I fyou need a dressing changed you had to buy one. If there was no dressing then it didn't get changed. And you can't buy it in bulk and have avalable. yOu have to buy it one at a time. The doctor writes a note saying what is needed and if it's medicine you take it down the street to the pharmacy. If it's an IV or bandage or guaze, then it gets charged to the account. It's terribly time consuming and not very efficient for the patient's healh. however, people are poor here and that's the best they can do. We made our way down to the other private hopsital where they'd take our blood after visiting with Bisil. After taking my name and age (that's all the information they wanted) they did the normal pretesting of the blood to see if I had enough iron. I'm usually anemic but that day I wasn't so they said they'd take it. No tests were done to see if I had AIDS, Malaria, etc. A few minutes later, they had taken a pint of blood and after marking on it the type and my name and who the blood was for, they gave it to me to take down the road to the district hospital where they would transfuse it for Bisil. No one asked any questions, looked at any ID, or test my blood for anything except for the hemoglobin and RH. We brought the blood down the road and gave it to the nurses in the nurses station. They said to leave it on teh counter and they'd transfuse it later. I was apalled. We checked on Bisil again and told him he had more blood. he thanked us and we left. Walking by the nurses station, the blood was still there in a plastic bag. The windows in Bisil's room didn't work so they were always open, it smelled really bad, and everything looked dirty. There were absolutely no machines. eveyrone just only had an IV and a bed. I left, shaking my head and watching a Caribow walk through the murky ditch that the kids were playing in right in front of the "hospital". We decided it was best if I didn't hike back up to Kemantian that same day so we spent another night with the girls. Wendy was sad she had missed out on seeing the many patients that were sure to come but we got ahold of someone up there and they said that it was mostly local people and they would surely come back tomorrow. One of the first things I did was get some icecream since it's available down in the lowlands but not in Kemantian, and I was seriously craving it. We hiked back home the next day, and God blessed me because this time it wasn't nearly such a horrible hike as it was the first time (maybe I"m in better shape....). That night we slept soundly and thanked God for the many blessings of that weekend. A safe delivery of the placenta, a healthy baby, a mom that would expect a full recovery, blood for Bisil, making Michel and becky less stressed, and a Happy Birthday for Wendy. God is good. And as for the burn patient Bisil?? Well, thanks to the many prayers, and God's angels, he was able to go home 2 days later. He isn't yet fully recovered but he is over the hump and what looked like an impossible situation in the beginning, is now a praise to God. Thank you for your many prayers, Blessings, Kiana