Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Panama es mi favorito

Today's clinical experience was definitely the most memorable yet. There was a 21 year old pregnant woman that was in labor, so the ambulance was called but took hours to get to the clinic so the doctor delivered the baby there. It was amazing that he was sitting in his office seeing patients, then had to go deliver a baby while the line of patients got longer and longer, and then after the birth he had to see all of them. He has so much responsibility and always stays so calm. Witnessing the birth of the baby was such a unique experience. The woman only received topical lidocaine for pain, and even though she would moan a little through the pain she was never screaming. I was really scared for a while because one of the techs thought the umbilical cord might be wrapped around the baby's neck because the birth was delayed. Thankfully it wasn't, but when the baby was born she barely cried and was very blue. She finally let out a soft cry which gave my huge relief. I got to hold her and she was so precious! There is usually only a birth there about every 2 months so my group was so lucky to be able to see it.

We also went to the school today to teach the children how to brush their teeth. It was a little difficult since the school didn't have any running water. We were able to have them brush their teeth using basins of water, but it made me realize how hard it is for them to be able to do that at home. 2 people from the peace corps were able to talk to us last night and that was also awesome to hear about. One of them is an engineer who has been building aqueducts and another is an English teacher at a school. When they were describing their hut that didn't have electricity and how many snakes, bats and spiders they have come across, it made me even more thankful for the compound we are staying in!

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