Olsen’s Anatomy

Olsen’s Anatomy….Grey’s Anatomy…..funny right?  The title might make more sense as you read….

 

So I helped deliver a baby.  In a van.  That was moving.  In Swaziland.  Just another day on the World Race I guess.  Myself and 5 others were just sitting around one day watching The Office (our typical Swazi free time event) when someone walks in the room and says “Anyone want to help deliver a baby?”  Everyone stares at each other for a moment and then suddenly chaos breaks out.  Everyone jumps up, runs around the house searching for our pursues and shoes, I even stop to throw on a t-shirt over my tank.  6 of us pile into Pastor Gift’s van White Chocolate and drive to the woman in labor’s home.  And let me tell you this woman was REALLY in labor, like she was ready to burst in any second.  I had a brief thought when we helped get her into the back seat of the van: “We are going to deliver this baby in the van today.  Nah, that won’t happen, that’s crazy.  Things like that only happen in movies”….and Africa apparently. 

 

All 6 of us surrounded the woman and her cousin, held her hand as she went through contractions, prayed over her and even sang a worship song, hoping that we would make it to the hospital.   After driving for about 35 minutes Kimi did a baby head check.  “I don’t see anything yet, I think we still have time.”  Literally 3 minutes later I look down and a baby just popped out.  I was in shock.  I look up and everyone has this huge smiles on their face and tears in their eyes.  It may sound cheesy to say, but it was a beautiful moment.  Before any of us really had time to think about what had just happened Pastor Gift is yelling instructions to us: “Close the windows!  Put your finger in the baby’s mouth!  Wrap it up in a blanket.”  “We don’t have a blanket!”  “Well, what do you have?”  Everyone looks around and suddenly I remember that I had on two shirts!  I pulled of my yellow t-shirt and we wrapped the little bundle inside.  I couldn’t believe that God had prompted me to put on an extra shirt for no real reason earlier that day!  When the baby was about 15 minutes old we finally pulled over because apparently as the baby was being born we had developed a problem:  a flat tire.  Pastor Gift attempted to change it, only to disover his spare tire was also flat.  The hospital was only about 5 minutes away so we made the decision to drive the rest of the way on a flat tire and just pray that we make it safely.  And we did!  Along the way the mother asked us to name the baby.  We all thought for a few moments and the suggestion of “Hope” was thrown out.  Immediately everyone knew that was the name for this little girl.  I felt that she truly was going to be a beacon of Hope for the dying country of Swaziland.  We all did. 

 

Despite the excitment and beauty of this day, I also felt some sadness.  We found out earlier that day that the mother was a prostitute who was HIV positive and was giving the baby up for adoption.  This was also the 5th child she had given birth and put up for adoption.  My emotions were all over the place- I felt immense joy, hope, and love for this beautiful little girl, but I also felt sadness.  Stories like this are all over the Swaziland, and it makes me sad. 

 

This is a video I made about Baby Hope, the baby myself and a few others helped deliver in a van in Swaziland!  I have also included links to a few of the other girls blogs who were in the van with me, so you are able to get different perspectives…..isn’t that nice of me?  This is seriously one of the highlights of the trip for me, if not one of the highlights of my life.  It was truly incredible to be there and see this little tiny baby be brought into this world. 

 

Kelly Rampmeyer: http://kellyrampmeyer.theworldrace.org/?filename=oh-baby-baby

Tiffany Berkowitz: http://tiffanyberkowitz.theworldrace.org/?filename=hope-was-born-in-white-chocolate