A lady from one of Mark’s churches has been expecting
twins and last Sunday went into hospital to have a caesarean section – they
delivered two baby boys, one of which was very small despite being carried full
term. We called in to see the mother
and the larger of the babies on Tuesday but the smaller one was being treated
for an infection so we didn’t get to see him.
Sadly today we received the news that the smaller baby didn’t make it
and died in the early hours of this morning.
We went over to the hospital this morning to see her and
there was nothing to be said. All I
could do was to hug her and cry with her.
It was just so sad and confusing for her as she has one healthy baby but
has lost the other. People here are not
very forthcoming with their feelings and often people just issue glib
platitudes to the bereaved and suffering which while they may be true, do not
really help or show understanding for their pain. It was such a sad visit though lovely to see the other baby doing
well.
What saddens me is that if that was in the UK the baby
would undoubtedly have survived. This
little boy had contracted an infection – hardly surprising in such cramped
conditions and they couldn’t save him.
In a UK maternity ward there would be several feet between
the beds but in this ward there was no more than 2 feet between beds and they
were packed in not only along both walls of the ward, but more beds were jammed
in the centre aisle leaving no space to get between – we had to ask some people
to move in order to get past to her bed.
The bedding was dirty and worn on the beds and it is a stark contrast to
the cleanliness and efficiency of our hospitals back home. I would have loved to have taken a photo to
show you what it was like but didn’t feel it was appropriate.
We passed the antenatal clinic on our way up to the ward
and there were literally dozens of women lining the walls and blocking the
corridor clearly waiting to be seen by someone. As we passed what I assume was the birthing ward, we could hear
the women giving birth so guess they wouldn’t be having a lot of privacy.
We also heard a story today of a lady from another circuit
who gave birth on Sunday but died in child birth because she lost a lot of
blood – again that wouldn’t have happened in the UK. Another stark reminder that we really are in the third world and
that completely preventable things are taking people’s lives prematurely.
Please pray for this lady and her family and for us as we
prepare the funeral for this little baby who we entrust to the arms of
Jesus. She has asked for the funeral to
be tomorrow (Friday) as she is being discharged from hospital and horrifically
has to bring the body of her dead baby home with her along with the live one so
she wanted to have a service and bury him as soon as possible. We have to wait for her call to tell us when
she is being discharged so we can zoom over to her village to meet her and take
a simple service.
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