Heather, Jeana & I headed back to the house while the rest continued the evening rounds. As we walked out the front hospital entrance, there was a van backed up to the gate. I noticed a lady lying on a mattress in the back and several people with her. I commented to the girls, "I wonder if she is coming or going". They thought this time of night, probably coming. We didn't think any more about it as we walked up the road. About half way home we met one of the translators and he informed me that...
I forgot to mention that when the power came back on around 6:30 pm (so we ate in dimness again), it was only partial power, so they decided to turn on the big caterpillar generator.
So the translator informed us that something was wrong with the large generator because it shuts off on its own after awhile. He said he'll look at it tomorrow. As we were visiting and slowly walking back towards the hospital (looking for tarantulas :-)), we saw someone with a flashlight running towards us very fast. When they got closer, it was Bethann and Amy shouting, "Come quick! There is an emergency c-section!" So we ran as fast as possible back to the hospital. We would have been all the way to the guest house settled in, had we not been delayed (very unusual). When we reached the entrance, we saw a 36 yr old woman lying face down on the mat right inside the door with the baby & placenta wrapped in a blanket by her feet. The baby boy was born just as they unloaded her. She was half conscience with blood all over and even coming out her mouth a little. All the rest of the crew was already gathered around checking her vitals. The Haitian hospital staff was there also with several medical students. I had the brightest flashlight, so I was the light pole then I also grabbed some gloves and became the IV pole. Dr Rudy took a team with the baby down to the clinic while several helped lift the mother onto a gurney. Her SAT was only 84, so we grabbed a hand bagger. She kept fighting us so some ran down to the surgery and got additional supplies while others restrained her with ace wrap and a PT belt. Dr Ruben was working on drugging her up while Dr Noah was directing, Heather was working on another IV with a couple Haitians, Jill was monitoring the pulse and SATs and restraining. I can't even remember what everyone was doing in the huttle, but everyone was doing something! We immediately got her SAT (hope I'm saying that right, O2 level) up to 98, but her blood pressure was 160. We found out later that there was diabetes in the family. They thought maybe she was something eclampsia? (it's getting too late to think). Dr Rudy said they get one about every 3 mos. They lost a baby this past January during that. We eventually took the mother back to the clinic and cleaned her up. The baby seemed to be doing fine. The nurses cleaned him up and Jill even got to hold him and fed him some formula! He was full term and looked decent size. So that makes 3 babies born the same day. The only 3 since we've been here (I think). We'll see how they are doing in the morning. I'm just hoping that I can get out of here now. I may have to wake a guard up again or find a gurney!
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