saturday, 19 feb 2011

so, this is a continuation of what i was writing a couple of days ago. i am going to continue telling the story of a couple of our patients this week at the hospital and then keep this blog open before publishing it and keep adding things that happen here. there are always so many things!
so, our 8/7 mama who has severe pre-eclampsia...we had induced her and put her back on meds to prevent seizures and lower her B/P, on thursday. friday morning, yesterday, we found that she had birthed at about 8pm on thursday night. after birthing, her IV's were discontinued and nothing was done to her all night. so, when we arrived, we once again re-installed her IV and put her back on the meds she needs. so, her baby is a little fighter. i thought we would find her with no baby, but her little 32 week baby was there by her side, doing fine, just getting cold and needing to be kept warm. he was having no respiratory distress at all. however, he was too premature and small to be able to breastfeed, and had not fed at all the whole night. so, one of the volunteer midwives worked on teaching the woman's teenage daughter how to feed the baby milk, by dropping drops into the mouth. the mother, she is too sick to take care of her baby. she is still all swollen (body, belly, face, eyelids...) and her B/P is still really high, and she is still having all the neurological complaints of pre-eclampsia.
the problem with just relying on the daughter to feed the baby is that...she just isn't going to be able to do it sufficiently to keep the baby alive. as the day progressed yesterday, the midwives had returned to check on them--the baby was having a harder time keeping warm, and was starting to lose some of his rosy color and get a little cyanotic. the midwives ended up offering the mom to help get the baby to a different hospital about 45 min away , where they have a NICU and will actually be able to keep the baby fed until he can suck on his own. he may be more than 32 weeks also, just with really severe growth restriction. anyway, i found out today that the baby had been sent--and i am glad that they did it and also glad that they didn't ask me to help to make that decision. i think the baby has a really good chance.
my mama who i have been working with...the one who was assaulted...i have been thinking about her alot today...i will probably go see if she's still there today and check on her again...i gave her a little money yesterday...it was the 1st time i saw her smile...the people who assaulted her and her husband, they also stole about $50 that they were carrying, as well as their bicycle.
i am concerned about her not staying nourished enough and hydrated enough, and her going into premature labor and losing her baby. she's already been through enough.

friday feb 25th

well, my lady from last week, the one i was writing about, she was gone when i came back to the hospital 2 days ago. i hope she's doing ok and her husband is out of jail.
today, i worked on a mom who was eclamptic and a mom with high blood pressure. the eclamptic woman, she had had 5 seizures at home. then she was unconscious after that until now--today--she still is. they came from a few hours away to get to the hospital. she's pregnant with her 4th baby. she has 3 kids at home.
i am getting more comfortable with the management of pre-eclampsia and eclampsia--with giving meds and taking care of these patients.
that's all for now...