Adventures WorldRace SethBarnes Sponsorship Giving

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On November 11th, 2009, I was spending my afternoon recovering from strep (once again). I was watching “The Office” with some of my teammates – the dinner party episode … hilarious. Anywho – in walks Pastor Gift asking if anyone would like to accompany a woman down the street to the hospital; her water had just broke. (Side note – it had been 24 hours since I had started my antibiotics, so I was no longer contagious. No worries!) I got super excited at this opportunity and ran to the van. I was joined by a couple other girls and we were off.

On the way to pick up our baby-having friend, we learned more about her story. She turned to prostitution as a result of poverty. She needed money to provide food for her family. Without this money, the children in her family would not have survived. The baby in her tummy is her fifth child – the child of an unknown client. She has already given up her first four children for adoption, and she has been looking for a family for the fifth. She wants to be a mom one day, but knows that the child would starve if she were to keep it and raise it on her own. She is HIV positive. Also – her favorite color is yellow and she loves dogs. She is a good person in a bad situation.

Now, let me just preface this story by telling you that the only birth I have ever been present at was my own.

We picked up our friend to find that she was already quite far along in the baby-having process. Her contractions were less than two minutes apart, and the hospital is over an hour’s drive away. I know ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about helping someone have a child, but I quickly realized that this little bundle-of-joy was not going to wait for our arrival at the hospital. She was coming soon. Very soon.

The only knowledge that I have in my brain about birthing babies is what I have seen on sitcoms on television. I recalled the Full House episode where Danny coaches Becky though having a baby. I grabbed her hand and just started breathing “hee, hee, who” to the tune of “We Will Rock You,” by Queen. Others said coaching words, supported her to be comfortable, and sang songs to distract her from her pain.

Within an hour of leaving “The Office,” a baby was born. In the van. While we were driving. 

 
 

It’s a girl! She’s beautiful. (And – HIV free.)

 

While celebrating this new life, we get a flat tire. Because we were in the van for quite a while, the baby was still attached to the cord, and the mother was unable to hold her. We took turns offering the baby our finger to suck on. It was the sweetest thing ever.
 
 

They are both doing well. The baby will be going to a center where potential parents are waiting to meet her. We are praying for the mother.

 
 

Beautiful things can come out of the crappiest of situations. The mother let us name her baby. We named the baby Hope. Because what the world needs is a little more Hope. Hope for a world without HIV. Hope for a world where women aren’t forced to turn to prostitution to feed their families. Hope for Swaziland; even when the rest of the world deems their future “hopeless.” There is always Hope – even if she is just a wee little baby.