Maternal and Child Health Abound

This week seemed to have a recurrent theme; maternal and child health. By coincidence, I happened to be in Kigali at the same time as the 2nd International Maternal and Child Health conference and I was able to talk myself into being an attendant. The two day conference was held in hopes of discussing the Millennium Development Goals of reducing child mortality and improving maternal health, and featured presentations by representatives from the WHO, CDC, prominent international NGOs, as well the Minister of Health himself. I wish there had been a few more days and the presentations had been a little more spaced out as the information was incredible. Everything from case studies mapping current health trends, to the most common causes of maternal and child deaths, to affordable and practical innovative technologies were presented. It really was an intriguing conference and I was glad to be able to participate.

I returned back in Rubengera on Thursday to a fairly uneventful day however Friday proved to be exciting enough for both days. I have been working most of my hours in the Maternity Ward at my health center, mainly because they also look after the patients there for 3 days hospitalizations so there is typically something to do. I was lamenting the fact that I had not attended a birth yet when I arrived on Friday to a full maternity center. One mother had recently given birth and was still in the delivery center and I understood the reason for her still being there, a retained placenta. Luckily she was able to be transfered to the Kibuye hospital before too long, but it gave me a chance to look after the tiny infant that I'm sure was premature.

While filling out some extra paper work, the other nurse Helene and I heard one of the women call us, saying her water had just broken. So, we moved her into the delivery room and prepared for the birth. I was amazed that it was only Helene and I that were there. Rwandan women have an incredible understanding for how their bodies work and know how to work with them. Helene encouraged the mother to push with the contractions and she delivered the baby in only 3 pushes. Instead of putting the baby directly onto the mother's chest or into a waiting blanket, Helene suspended the baby upside down so she could clamp and then cut the cord, and then handed him to me. Thankfully there were no complications, either with the birth or the baby. Helene was able to help the mother deliver the placenta and I was charged with cleaning and weighing the newborn, and then wrapping him for the mother. It was not as bells and whistles as some of the other births I've seen, but it was still encouraging to be present. When we were back filling out paperwork, I was even able to bring up the idea of Kangaroo Care with Helene, and promised I would bring in more information about the benefits. Maybe I can even convince her to teach mothers about using KC.