A day in the life of Amy

We have a team here right now, and we went this morning to the Down Syndrome. It was great, the kids got to paint on canvases and the team really enjoyed it. In the afternoon we build a chicken coop and gave it to a family who really needs help financially.

But the big part of my day came after the chicken coop. I was sitting down to eat dinner when I got the call. Sandra was in labor and needed me to drive her to the hospital. (I had talked with her before and told her that I would since she had no car and would have had to give birth in her house, which she did with her other 5 kids). I get to the house and this woman is in serious labor. We (sandra, her sister in law and I) jumped in my car and I ask her how far apart are her contractions, she tells me the are one right after the other. It is about a half hour drive on a good day. I dont know if gringas are whimps or what but she was hardly making any noise, just grunting and grimacing every once and awhile. She was obviously in pain. (oh and when the contractions started she decided that she would make tortillas and clean the house before teh baby came) About half way to the hospital she informs me that her water just broke (mind you all over my front passenger seat, lovely). I am just trying to drive as fast as I could because I knew that if I didnt get there soon, I was going to have to deliver a baby in my car. We finally make it to the hospital, but at this point she cant walk. We look around there is no one in the emergency where you drive up, you have to bring the patients in. I ran inside and got the wheel chair and we wheeled her in. They put her on a bed and checked her and started asking her questions like: what is your full name, your age, your religion, are you married. I was about to scream this lady is going to have a baby NOW... what are you waiting for! They finally check her and are like oh she is fully dialated. They told me we cant bring her back until we have her information and chart. Then they completely stripped her naked and made her put on a gown. Then they wheel in the gourney. It is at least 8 inches taller than the bed and doesnt lower. They tell her, get on but be careful not to push cause your baby might come. SO she has to get on her knees and move over. Then they finally take her back. So we began to wait. We couldnt go in with her. They told us to check in 20 minutes we asked and they said wait. We asked again an hour later and they said they didnt know. Then I went back in there told them we had been waiting two hours and so they went to check on her. They told us that it was normal but they didnt know if it was a boy or girl and that we couldnt see her. They said to go home and maybe at 11am we could pick her up tomorrow. I have a telephone number that I have to call to find out. So all of you reading this: be thankful. It was absolutely nuts. The good thing was that it wasnt in her house and supposedly her and the baby are fine. Tomorrow I am going to go pick her up hopefully.

So that was my day. Crazy. But it was great to be able to provide a clean and safe place for her to have her baby. So many babies die in child birth or right after here and many could be prevented with the right treatment. It is neat to be a part of such a big event in someones life. I never knew I would do something like that, it was a good expierence. (I would give birth here)