Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Some Numbers: Me + Haiti = ___


Just thought I'd try to enumerate some of the things I got to do while in Haiti! Let's see, I...

...helped take care of (at any point, not necessarily continuously or all at the same time)
     6 babies
     2 toddlers
     3 children
     3 teen girls (2 of which were pregnant)

...watched and helped with (sometimes even translated)
     13 deliveries
     countless prenatal/postnatal consultations

...learned how to
     measure the baby bump's size and compare it to its gestational age
     palpate the baby bump and figure out the baby's position
     listen to and measure the baby's heart rate, both before and after birth
     take someone's blood pressure
     provide lots of back-up assistance at births
     do the charting at a birth
     give nipple stimulation to a woman in labor who needs more contractions
     keep women in labor changing position and moving around

...worked with
     2 Haitian midwives
     2 Canadian midwives
     1 American midwife

...spent 10 weeks (69 days) in Jacmel, Haiti

There's plenty more to list and describe (especially in the "what I learned" category, of course), but I think this is a good little summation or summary. And this doesn't include all the things about Haitian culture I learned about... That would take too long to write out and describe in a list like this (so I just focused on the clinic). Good times! It's all been incredibly satisfying and fulfilling!!

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