the maternity ward.

okay so i have received a few emails from you all telling me that i needed to update this thing! sorry things in gulu have been busy busy busy. i have really been enjoying gulu regional referral hospital, where jcrc's clinic is located. the clinic has been great. the patients are many (as a ugandan would say) and the staff is incredible! i seriously feel as though i have been welcomed into a huge family. but because i still have a little less than two months left here i wanted to be able to see more of the hospital, especially since i have been seriously considering medical school as the next step after i graduate this upcoming spring (i will explain more of this change of heart at a later time i promise). so my good friend and doctor, george, hooked it up and got me a spot volunteering in the maternity ward this past week! it began on monday where i witnessed my first, second and third time seeing a women give birth! it was so incredible, bloody, painful and even more incredible to see the miracle of live right before my eyes! tuesday was a bit chaotic in the morning when my friend joy (a girl from the states) and i were the only ones in the ward while three mothers were VERY pregnant (one giving a breech birth - when the feet come first) but luckily once one really started to push the nurses flooded in a took over - delivering another healthy baby! wednesday was probably the highlight of the week when one of the doctors in training decided that i was ready to help with a delivery and put me in an apron and gloves to help nurse beatrice deliver twins- two beautiful baby girls! i took each of the babies to a table where i wiped them off tied their umbilical cords, weighed them, and wrapped them up in their blanks! today while in the ward i went back and visited the mother of the twins, she was so happy to see me and seemed to think it would be a good idea for me to name her girls. SOOOOO much pressure! but after thinking for a long time, while watching one of the nurses in training stitch up a women who torn during labor, i chose them: apio rose and achen patience (the first name of each girl is their acholi name which their mother gave to them and the second are the ones i chose). rose is my middle name given to me by my parents and a name i was planning to give to my daughter one day (but now the pressure is off, so if i dont have baby girl i already gave the name to my adopted acholi daughter). patience is name which is fairly common in uganda and a virtue that i long for pretty much everyday of my life, especially when in uganda, i also saw it fitting because achen was the second twin born. i will post a picture of the babies very soon i promise! yea so i guess i know the basics to delivering a baby thanks to my first four days in the ward. i dont have the same confidence as all of the nurses do but they seem to think they will have me delivering on my own before i leave uganda! crazy. no but really it is so crazy to even think that i was able to see and do all that i did this week! i am thankful for the opportunity that i have had this week and look forward to be able to continue to explore the medical field for the next few months while i am here in uganda.