Baby Amos

Today was simply wonderful. There was the birth of the sweetest baby boy early this morning. Vicki and I received a phone call at 5.41am to say that there was a lady taken to the clinic and about to give birth. I swear Vicki leapt from the top bunk in one fowl swoop. We had time for a quick bucket wash in water so cold it took our breath away and waited for the sun to rise so we could safely take a Matatu to the clinic.

We waited, begging for the sun to ‘get up’ for almost 40min before we made our way down the steep muddy, slippery hill to the main road.

By the time we arrived to FreMo’s, the baby’s head was in view and Amos was born less than 10 minutes later. The labour was a successful one but with no running water, towels, sheets, pads, nappies or electricity to see or heat water and without Vicki, NO midwife either, it was challenging and reaffirmed just how blessed we are to call Australia home.

I have only witnessed 5 births in Kenya, but this was by far the most beautiful. Vicki and Amimo were so gentle and respectful of the mother, it was a whole new experience for her and the doctors (this was Dorothy's 3rd child). She was so empowered and couldn't stop smiling - I've been told that's the Oxytocin.

Our dream is to do away with the mothers being abused and yelled at, not to mention the slapping they recieve in labor and disrespect. The doctors of FreMo (especially the wonderful Fred) embraced the new way of assisting mothers in birth and have never been happier by the feedback they received from the mother and her family. It was truly an amazing experience to witness the most beautiful and natural thing in the world. I am eager to learn more!!

Today we received a quote to resurface the floor in the same room as the replacement ceiling – this will take almost a week but once complete, we can paint the walls and make it the real birth room!! We are having a cupboard built also to fit wall to wall and ceiling to floor to accommodate all the maternity equipment so that it is at hand and not a mad scrounge halfway through labor and not on a dirty floor. Needless to say we are very excited to see it this time next week when it will be close to completion.

Today we also learnt that Benah, a Kenyan local and one of the Marafiki Community International staff, needs a potentially lifesaving operation. He had a serious car accident almost a week ago on the way to visit a volunteer placement. At the time of the accident he lost feeling to most of his body and initial diagnosis was that no major injuries were sustained, but that he was in shock. Although he improved, something was still not right so they took him to a different hospital today and he was told that he has a fracture to one the bones in his neck and must undergo surgery – the bone needs to be wired back to its original place. The surgery is scheduled for Monday – so please keep all your fingers and toes crossed for him.

In one of the photos is Vicki, Moffat and myself. I will soon have one up with Fred too – the brother of Moffat to make the FreMo founders. We make an awesome team!!! 