Yesterday was a bit of an adventure. I woke up to a woman calling me saying that one of the pregnant women on campus, Mariama, had gone into labor. Now, I am trained as a nurse, but I have worked in Pediatrics, Oncology, and Medical/Surgical. I have only been in on 4 or 5 deliveries...and that was back in nursing school in 1994. Needless to say, I was a little nervous. I took a quick review in "Where there is No Doctor" and went up to take a look at her. Sure enough... it was the real McCoy... puddle of water on the floor and everything. Thanks to a small box of rubber gloves I had brought with me, I was able to do a quick exam and see how far along she was. If you are a labor nurse, you have probably noticed that...like drunks... some women are funny, some are weepy, but most laboring moms get out and out mean. This was one of them... which all of the rest of the women found ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS. The small room she was in was filled with about 6 women all of whom were chuckling as she chewed them out in Kuranko and occasionally took a swing at one of them. It may sound a little shocking and cruel... but, I did notice that when she took a swing at someone, that individual immediately hugged her, spoke a word of encouragement and began to administer some sort of comfort...backrub, drink of water, etc. It was definitely an interesting experience.
I did not deliver the baby. With a hospital 3 miles away, there is no sense in that, but getting her there was a challenge. Her contractions were 2 to 3 minutes apart and she would not have been able to hold on to the back of a Honda for that. We have our van, but it had a flat tire. On changing the tire, Roy and Dad discovered that the spare was also flat. In order to remedy that, we had to call a Honda driver from town to come out, carry the tire and someone into town, get the tire patched and pumped up, then bring that someone and the tire back. We did just that, and once the tire was on, we took Mariama into the hospital. I am happy to say that about two hours later, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Isn't God good!
When I got back, I had to teach class, cook lunch, made chips, treated someone else for severe abdominal pain, cooked supper, and did an exam on another woman to help her know when her baby is due... (in about three weeks)...and make sure that all was going along well...(which it appears to be)! Nothing like learning on the job... but whenever I start to feel overwhelmed and inadequate... I remember that it is all just part of the adventure.