We met in Boss’s house a little after 9:00 Sunday morning, refreshed and greatful for a full night of rest. We tried our morning voices out, practicing Le nap mache ak Dieu(When we walk with the Lord/Trust and Obey) to sing in church. By 10:00, Sylvia, Miranda and I had walked up the mountainside to church, arriving in time for the end of Sunday School. Frè Dolph was explaining the passage the church is memorizing. Soon the rest of the Alèg team arrived, some on foot and some with the machine. Sharing time and announcements followed, then singing. And sing we did! One song lasted approximately 15 minutes partly due to the fact we’d sung the first verse twice and the chorus four times before we even reached the second verse. Two or three more verses followed, and multiple choruses. Carlot stood to preach at noon, and he’d decided the service was getting to long, so we’d wait to sing our song on another Sunday. Thirty minutes into the sermon, a wave of exhaustion hit me.
Despite the full night of sleep, I was still sleep deprived from the emergency run Friday night. A man had fallen out of a tree mid afternoon on Friday, breaking his left wrist, shatering his right forearm, puncturing his forhead, and exposing his left knee cap. He was confused and his blood pressure was critically low by the time we were assessing him at 8pm. We gave him fluids and pain meds, splinted his arms, then left at 10pm for Fond-de-Blanc hospital. Due to the rain, we took the longer route in the cruiser, arriving around 2:30am Saturday morning. We’d slept five hours at Brad’s place before returning home, but apparently that wasn’t enough sleep for one night.
I continued fighting sleep for awhile in church, trying not to fidget, when Yevette tapped me on the shoulder. “Ki moun gen ijans jodi a? Mis Sisi?” I replied, indicating that we were on call for emergencies, not Mis Sisi. Yevette said a cot procession was spotted making it’s way down the mountainside. I relayed the message to Miranda, and we both left church, following the procession to clinic.
At clinic, a pregnant lady rested on a chair tied to 2 long polls, eating some soup fed to her by one of the ladies in the procession. She looked comfortable enough. I unlocked clinic while Miranda helped her walk in. Vitals were normal, and she was dialated to 7cm. Miranda searched for the baby’s heartbeat, but couldn’t find it. I then tried, but also couldn’t hear anything. We pulled out the sonographie (ultrasound) iPad and doppler, searching and searching, but not seeing any abdominal movement. I asked the mom when she’d last felt the baby kick. Two days had passed. I explained that we couldn’t find the heartbeat and what her opinions were. We helped her and 2 ladies from the group settle into the hospital room while the rest of the procession headed home. They’d come from over 3 hours away. We told the lady we’d be back in a little bit to check on her, but if she needed us before then, to send someone to knock on our gate.
Miranda and I headed back to Boss’s house, ready to eat some lunch. As we were walking into the compound, my phone rang. Mis Leda wanted to let me know she was sending a man from church down who’d cut his finger. He wouldn’t be able to pay.
We joined the other staff on Boss’s porch for a delicious lunch of rice and chicken, with a side of cabbage salad. Right as we were finishing, Polvèrt approached, saying the man from church had arrived for his bandage. Miranda headed to clinic to help him. I messaged Miranda after awhile to see if she needed any help, and she said she was doing ok, and planning to come back soon. Several minutes later my phone rang. It was Miranda. I heard “Two…blood… man…” and some other choppy words, but the wifi was cutting out and I couldn’t tell what she needed. I sent her a message. “Do you need me to come?” “Yes” was the quick reply. I grabbed my clinc keys, waterbottle and a book, then headed down the trail.
A man sitting on a bench outside of clinic greeted me, and told me there was a big emergency, and a man was bleeding. I rushed into the ER room and saw Miranda cleaning an inch long gash on a man’s knee, a few drops of blood sprinkled on the floor. “It looked a lot worse when it was wrapped” she said, with an apologetic smile. I assured her I didn’t mind coming to help, and started gathering supplies so she could stitch him. She did a beautiful job.
We cleaned up the hospital room, checked the lady in labor again, and we’re happy she was making progress. It was slow progress, but it was progress! We decided we’d come again in 2 hours to check her, unless they knocked first.
I’d slept for a little over 30 minutes when Miranda knocked on my door. The lady in labor was asking for us. We headed down to clinic, and found she’d made a little more progress, but was getting exhausted. Stillborn births often take longer than other births, plus this was her first child. We started pitocin, hoping to speed up labor.
Miranda and I each called our families, catching up on home life while we waited. Supper time came, and we decided to let the lady rest awhile, while we went back to eat.
Supper was just finished and I was asking Marcille if she was ready to go with us. She’d worked here as a midwife before she was married, and I knew she was wanting to help at a birth again.
“Clank, clank, clank, clank”
Miranda, Marcille and I headed to the gate, curious if the gate knock was for the lady in labor or a new patient.
A neighbor man said someone had a lot of pain, and they were coming down the trail with him right now. Could we come see him? Yes, of course.
Upon ariving at clinic, we saw a crowd of guys surrounding a young man, holding onto him. I recognised our gate guard John Wilner among the group. He told me the patient was his little brother. I asked what happened, and about 5 of them tried to answer. I saw the patient drenched in sweat, writhing, and grasping his abdomen. He was yelling out in pain.
We opened the door to clinic, and he was carried in and layed on the bed. He writhed aroud, sitting up, laying down, moaning between his yelling. We gave him pain meds while his family answered our questions, which only left us with more questions. I called a Doctor friend for help diagnosing him.
During the phone call, Mis Sisi, Mis Leda and her son Andy arrived at clinic. Mis Leda talked with the patient and family, and told us she thinks it’s a spiritual problem, and is just manifesting itself physically. I stepped out of the room when a spontaneous prayer service got so loud that I was having trouble talking on phone. The doctor and I discussed several options for plan of care with the small selection of meds we have, then I thanked him for his help, and hung up the phone.
I found Mis Leda, Mis Sisi and Marcille and filled them in on what the Doctor was recommending. Mis Leda and I talked to the family, and we started treatment.
Meanwhile, Marcille went over the the hospital room to check the lady in labor. Miranda was drawing up some vials of meds for the young man, and I was cleaning up the ER when Marcille told me 2 more ijans (emergencies) were waiting outside.
I stepped outside and saw a lady sitting on a bench, a blood soaked cloth wrapped around her leg. I told her to come inside, and the men with her quickly told me the other arival was worse off- take care of him first. I saw him sitting over on another bench, and motioned for him to come in. His friends gathered around him, lending a hand wherever they could. I asked that only 1 person enter with him, but 4 found their way in. He sat on the emergency bed, while Mis Leda donned gloves to examine him. His knee was wrapped in a dripping red bandage, and he said he’d sliced it with a machete.
I got a bed in the hospital room ready for the young man with abdominal pain, and checked on Marcille. She said the lady in labor was progressing, but progress was still very slow.
I stuck my head in the ER room to check on Mis Leda. She said it looked like the bone was cut and wed need to send him to a hospital for surgery. I turned to grab some supplies when Miranda told me the lady who had a leg wound was being carried inside. A crowd of people surrounded her. They set her down on a bench just outside the ER door. I stepped back the hall a little to make room for John Wilner and his family as they carried their sick brother past the lady and towards his bed in the hospital room. Suddenly there was a sound of vomit hitting the floor. I watched while John Wilner and his family tried stepping over the mess while still carrying their brother. It had happened right in the middle of the hallway, leading into the 3 main rooms we were using. John Wilner looked at me, apologized for his brother, and asked where a mop was. I grabbed my keys, unlocked another front door, and and stepped outside to find our mop bucket.
I brought it in, tried chasing some of the crowd outside, and more than half of them listened. I filled the mop bucket and John Wilner started mopping. I went back to check on Mis Leda, and she told me the bone wasnt cut, but the tendon was. I helped her finish wrapping his knee, and asked him to move over by my desk so we could use the bed for the next patient.
I cleaned the bed and Mis Leda started transfer paperwork on the guy at my desk. I got called into the hospital room to talk to John Wilners family about them spending the night, and as I headed over to that room, I passed the lady hobbling her way into the ER.
When I returned to the ER room, Mis Leda was examining the lady’s leg. She too had cut tendons. We washed the wound and bandaged it, then prepared paperwork for her to go to another hospital. Miranda took some vitals on the new patients. We made Ti Kats (clinic ID cards) for them both and collected payment.
I checked on Marcille and she had the same report for the lady in labor- more progress but extremely exhausted. She didn’t need help at the moment. Everything was quieting down as people left for their homes.
Mis Sisi, Mis Leda’s son Andy, Miranda and I played a round of Uno while they waited on Mis Leda to finish up. Mis Leda soon joined us, and we taught her Uno, despite her doubts she’d be to old to learn how.
The Hatian nurses left for home around 10pm. We waited on the baby to come.
The 2 ladies with the laboring lady were exhausted. They were praying and tried to sing, but they’re voices squaked as they tried forcing their eyelids to stay open. We coached the lady and a little after 11 a baby boy was born, his perfect little body lifeless.
His mom shed a few tears while the other ladies told her not to cry. We told her it was ok to cry, and our hearts ached for her loss.
Marcille and Miranda cared for the lady, while I bathed the baby, dressed him, wrapped his body in a blanket, then placed him in a cardboard box. More than an hour passed as got her bleeding under control, sutured her tear and settled her into bed.
Sylvia woke up as we entered the house a little before 1am, and joined Miranda and I for an Oreos and Milk party. It’s our tradition after a birth at night, and we often reflect on what happened. This time, our hearts grieved for the new mom, with no baby to hold. It didn’t take long to fall asleep.
The following morning as I was in Dirèct’s office, telling him about our weekend, I glanced outside and saw a cot being lowered to the ground right outside our hospital room door. The lady on the cot was laying so still. Stan and I went outside to see how we could help. I talked to the man with her, and he said she’d not been able to talk for 30 minutes. I asked for her Ti Kat, but apparently it was her first time to our clinic. Stan and I decided to take her directly into the hospital room, get her vitals and have Doctor examen her there. Stan and 2 other guys carried her into the hospital room and layed her on the bed. Her body flopped motionless, as sweat dripped off her face. I was puzzled, since she didn’t look sick at all. Stan helped get vitals, and Miranda stepped in to see where she could help. Her vitals were within range, other than a low grade fever. I asked the guy with her what her name was, and he said he didn’t know. He only helped carry her cot. We sent him outside and called a family member in. Three people entered. We sent one of them back outside, saying we needed room to work. I called Doctor into the room. He tried talking to her. No response. Doctor sent both family members outside. He called her name- still nothing. He did the sternum rub, and her eyes flew open. She looked at Doctor with a puzzled expression on her face, trying to figure out why he would do something like that to her. Doctor continued asking her questions, but she only shrugged her shoulder, looked away, and remained silent. Doctors eyes smirked as he told us in English that she’s just faking being sick, is likely mad at someone in her house, and he’d leave her alone for a little and come back later. We left the room, and soon her family was at her beside. Doctor told me later that she’s fine now- he sent her home.. talking, walking, and with some medication for her fever.
Thankfully, not every weekend is as intense. And I’m very greatful for God’s grace through each and every situation we encounter here!
