Hi friends! Life has been pretty exciting since the race. One word God kept giving me is that there was still more! I wanted to share part of what He has been leading me into. I am currently enrolled through Youth With a Mission (YWAM) in their Birth Attendant School. (Over the last year I have been doing medical mission training and outreach with through them as well)
I also wanted to share one of my experiences through our last outreach through which God has been stirring an increased passion.
During my Medical Mission School with Youth With a Mission (YWAM), I got my first hands on experience with delivering babies in Malawi. As a team we did a total of 17 deliveries. Our first day in the labor ward, I got to assist a mom in delivery for the first time. It was beautiful and exciting. Our second day though, was a whole different world. As we walked on the floor we had learned that one baby had already died, and 2 moms were in a state of emergency. It was a very hard day, and we left the hospital feeling defeated and drained. (You can read about that day here: https://lizingabroad.home.blog/2019/05/26/malawi-the-warm-heart-of-africa/ )
Previously back at the YWAM base I had several conversions with students from the Birth Attendant School who had already done their outreach. They always shared their experiences and love for their school with so much passion, but always somewhere in the conversion the words “but you will have hard days” came through followed by “you have to know what you believe.”
Towards the end of our outreach we had another hard day. We were in a remote clinic. A mom had just delivered and the baby wasn’t doing well. The national midwife on duty was used to seeing death and knew this baby most likely wasn’t going to make it. My instructor called me over and asked me if I would be willing to work on resuscitating this baby with her. (She also warned me that there was a good chance the baby wouldn’t make it and wanted to make sure I was prepared for that outcome.) I agreed and we started. We took turns giving the baby breaths through an ambu bag; pausing to assess breathing and heart rate. We worked for about an hour, gaining hope as we watched the baby take breaths on her own and listening to her heart rate increase towards a normal range. As the baby was stablizing, we moved her to mom’s chest so she could have skin to skin contact for warmth. (This clinic didn’t have any incubators and the evenings get quite chilly too). We continued to monitor the baby and gave extra breaths as needed. We were hopeful, but then suddenly things took a turn. Breaths became slower and the heart rate was dropping. In one final attempt, we began chest compressions. We had practiced newborn cpr in class, but it was one of those things you’d hope to never have to use.
After a few rounds of cpr, we reassessed and we knew that the baby wasn’t coming back. Oddly we were both at peace as we swaddled the baby and prepared to tell mom the news. As we shared the news with mom, she broke down crying and I cried with her.
Walking home that night, again I was oddly at peace as I played the evening through my mind again. I saw the images of mom laying with her baby skin to skin listening to and watching her baby take breaths. At one point the father was able to make it to the clinic. He stood next to his wife and placed his hand on his daughters head while she was still alive. They were a family together. Grandma was in the room too and she got to hold her granddaughter.
To me, that one hour of life was worth fighting for. Had we not fought for that one hour, that babies last breath would have been alone on a cold table.
That night fortified what I already believe and it sparked a passion. Life is sacred. Life is valuable. Life is worth fighting for.
This passion is gaining momentum in me and I believe it’s something God is stirring up in me as a midwife to call forth life.
I’ve known for some time that God was calling me to the Birth Attendant School. He’s already given me a little taste of what’s ahead as we prepare for our upcoming outreach.
I’m looking forward to the beautiful and celebratory days. I’m looking forward to welcoming life in Jesus name.
I know there will be hard days too. But I also know what I believe.
Thank you friends for supporting me along the way. I am currently fundraising for my upcoming outreach which will start the end of September 2019. The outreach phase is 7 months and as a school we will be taking care of mothers and babies throughout Zambia, Uganda, India and Bangladesh.
I’m still in need of raising $3,600.
If you’re feeling that Holy Spirit nudge and would like to partner with me for this outreach, you can give one of these ways:
https://secure.ywamperth.org.au/payments/ (just make sure to include my name)
Or Venmo/PayPal ([email protected])
As always, thank you again and again <3
