Yes, you read that right.
I – with the help of some of my teammates this month, as well as a couple of nurses at a rural medical clinical in the Nyawa area – delivered a beautiful baby girl yesterday.
If you know me at all, you know that this easily became my favorite day of the Race so far.
I get goosebumps & teary-eyed just thinking about it.
God is so real. His faithfulness is visible.
Let’s backtrack.
As the day we planned to travel to the village’s clinic approached, I started reflecting on my desire to be a midwife and deliver babies.
Where did that come from? What does this desire look like for my future?
I started to search for the root of this desire.
A-ha! The TV show “A Baby Story” on TLC.
Anybody remember that show?
They followed couples on their pregnancy & birth journeys. I would’ve rather watched that show over Disney Channel or Nickelodeon any day. My mom & I used to watch it together often. It was so intriguing to me. I loved hearing each mama’s story and observing the birthing process, which of course, ended in the cutest miracle. I loved learning the babies’ names and watching how families adjusted to adding another little one to their homes. It was such a heartwarming show that made me want to deliver babies myself one day.
As I grew, that desire started to steer more toward becoming a doctor for kids, a pediatrician. I loved kids, and I looked up to my Aunt Kelley, a pediatrician herself, who inspired me to go to medical school and chase my dreams of taking care of young people.
The desire to become a pediatrician quickly died when I finished my first semester of college. I came to the realization that I no longer felt enough passion behind that dream to finish 12ish more years of schooling/fellowship. BUT, I still wanted to pursue the medical field. And I still loved children. Specifically babies. More specifically delivering babies.
Nursing became the next best option. Actually, a better option for me. I love caring for people, and that’s the exact nature of the nursing profession. To include the “delivering babies” part, I decided to extend my nursing schooling a couple of years to receive my certification in nurse-midwifery. A goal to work to. I’m almost there. RN-BSN, check. CNM, I’m comin’ for ya. Soon.
This past spring semester, my last semester of nursing school, I got my first choice preceptorship on the postpartum unit at the OSU Wexner Medical Center. I was ecstatic. Especially because not everyone got their first choice. So I was very grateful to say the least.
I learned so much that semester. I became extremely comfortable with my assessment skills, my patient-family communication, my medication administration, and patient handoff report in the field of maternal-infant medicine. I loved every second. I cried the day I left.
When I decided to do the World Race, one of my first prayers was to witness a birth. Somewhere. Anywhere. I wanted to see how a birth in a foreign country differed from one in the States. I also spoke with the director of OSU’s nurse-midwifery program, and she encouraged me to do some research whenever I found the opportunity, as it would give me an edge in the application process for the program. Motivation, triggered.
At training camp in June, I met three other girls on my squad who ALSO are nurses/want to be nurses and ALSO want to become nurse-midwives.
Wait, God, WHAT?
So freaking cool. He intentionally appointed each one of those beautiful women, Ally, Brandi, & Brieanne, to walk with me this year in support and encouragement of my dreams.
But wait, it gets so much better.
Those three women were placed on my “mega-team” with me this month. Yep!!!! God is pretty darn intentional.
We have so enjoyed spending time geeking out over babies and birth.
But wait, it gets even BETTER.
Sanderson, our host this month, has been tirelessly working with other professionals in the area to dig wells in surrounding villages. It is so dry here in Zambia. As well as the other southern African countries we’ve visited thus far. Please pray for rain. We are desperate here.
The village they are currently working on digging a well for has the largest clinic in the chiefdom, and it includes a mother’s home for ladies 36+ weeks pregnant who are waiting to go into labor. Some of these women travel upward of 20 miles to get to this clinic, so they encourage moms to stay close-by in this home for up to a month at the end of their pregnancy so they know they’ll have a birth attendant present.
When Sanderson mentioned this clinic in our orientation to ministry at the beginning of the month, us midwife wannabes jumped on the opportunity. So yesterday, we finally got the chance to check out the clinic!
Only God could orchestrate something so incredible.
There was one case when we arrived who was in labor. Latent labor. She was 18 years old, this was her first pregnancy, and she was stalled at 6 cm. dilated. Her water had broken several hours before we got there, so they were already planning on tranferring her to the hospital where they had more resources to deal with complications.
One issue.
Their transport vehicle had two busted tires. Go figure.
Her only option to transport (mind you, it was the middle of the night) was to take a taxi for 500 Kwacha (about 40 USD) to the nearest hospital. And she didn’t have that kind of money.
So we played the waiting game. We prayed a lot. Jesus, we rebuke any infection or complication and declare health over this baby and his/her mama, and we pray you speed up this labor ASAP!
The night came and went. It wasn’t until 10am the next morning (the time we were supposed to leave to go back to Livingstone) that she came into the delivery room and told the nurses she felt the urge to push.
The nurse checked her and found her at 8 cm. Hallelujah. But she couldn’t push yet.
We told Sanderson we wanted to wait to leave until we had seen this birth through! He easily found something else to do in the meantime. Praise God.
About an hour later, she was ready to push for real this time. 10 cm. Let’s do this.
It didn’t take more than 20 pushes before a healthy, beautiful baby girl was born around noon. Wow. The miracle of life. I will never get over it.
It was Brandi and Brieanne’s first witnessed birth, and when I looked over at them, they were both sobbing. Seeing them sob made me & Ally sob as well. We were an emotional mess. But it was the most beautiful mess I’ve ever been apart of.
Again, I was reassured that this is exactly where I am meant to be.
Thank you, Jesus.
Thank You for putting this desire deep in my soul.
Thank You for caring about me enough to satisfy that desire before I even get licensed as a midwife.
Thank You for giving me a community of women on the Race who also have the same passion for childbirth, babies, and mamas.
Thank You for hearing my prayers and answering them how You know best.
Thank You for Your perfect timing.
Thank You for a healthy birth experience and a beautiful, healthy baby and mama.
You are a perfect Creator. A perfect Father. All-knowing. Gentle. Amazing. Love.
I cannot wait for you to reveal to me further your plans in accordance with my desire to be a midwife. I’m standing here open-handed in surrender. I’m all yours, God. Take my heart. I know You’ll take care of it. I’m so excited to see what you have in store for me next.
Much love,
Allison
