Feet first

Today we have had not one but 2 breech deliveries. In the UK, babies that are feet or bottom down are delivered by c-section. It was both odd an terrifying to see a small baby foot poking out the mother's vagina. Here the risks from c section mean that it is safer for them to be delivered normally. This was the first time we had seen this happen so it was really good to see the technique used. The first one had a foot coming out when Elisabeth and Neil got there and the second was even more tricky as its feet were up by its head! Both babies are doing very well.

We've spent the majority of our day with a young mother who had had a seizure this morning. She was extremely confused because of this and couldn't understand why she was in hospital. It also made her very uncooperative. Some of her male relatives had to come in and hold her while she was examined. The nurse looking after her was extremely displeased at this. It is unheard of to have males anywhere near a labour room- this is women's business! How different from the UK where men are encouraged to be with their wives or partners and it is the doctors and medical students that are often being chased away by the midwives! We spent the day observing her and became worried when she was quite unresponsive. Trying to manage an emergency situation with nursing staff that don't speak your language is certainly a challenge.  Thankfully a strong contraction roused her and she didn't need intubated and sent to another hospital. Women with eclampsia can often temporarily lose their sight which just added to her distress. She had a catheter in for urine output monitoring and this was irritating her. Eventually we had to get her mother to sit holding her hands to prevent her pulling it out. The family seem very distressed at the situation and want reassurance that mother and baby will be fine. Unfortunately we are unable to give them any. We have stopped monitoring the baby's heart rate because it is is either very premature or has grown very poorly in the womb. This means that it probably won't be able to cope with the stress of the mum's condition and labour. The priority is to keep the mother alive. Please be praying for her.