Monday, January 26, 2009

The Tale of Four Beds and a Million Mosquitos..





It has now been 3 days since Evan was born and I have had some time to think about the events of Friday as I was "laboring" with my sister. It was strange for me to know that my sister was going to be giving birth only 16 months after having Anaiah, and that she was going to be doing it in Uganda!! The thought of that made me very nervous and scared for her. I am thankful I was able to be here with her and see what things are really like...here is a glimpse of what happened while we were at the hospital..
first of all, the laboring rooms are called "suites" which i found rather amusing since all that was in them was a bed, a chair and a bathroom. The suite had no toliet paper in the bathroom, no soap in the dispenser, and no towel to dry our hands on after washing!! The bed was rather uncomfortable for Aimee and it creeked very loudly anytime any of us sat on it!! We were able to find some toliet paper, and a nurse filled the dispenser with soap..but even after doing so it still did not come out!! So we just used hand sanitizer!! While Aimee was laboring she had several nurses come in and check on her and Evan to make sure all was going well..they were just so quiet about it. When she was having a contraction they would just sneak in the room and stand right behind her..she would sometimes have no idea they were there! It was just weird to me that they did not make it a point to let Aimee know they were in the room. And most of the time one of the nurses or doctor were talking I had no idea what they were saying!! They talk so quietly and have accents as well..so I am sure I looked confused more than anything!!
Anyways..as the day progressed Aimee's body did not dialate enough, so she ended up having a c-section. At the point of making this decision she was contracting a lot and they were strong..so when it was time to move her to go back for surgery the nurse brought in a bed that we had to move Aimee on to. The bed the nurse brought was pretty dinky and was sitting a lot lower than the bed Aimee was on..at first the nurse was just going to make Aimee move to it without it being level with the other bed. So one of us suggested that we lower the one bed so they were even...and the funny/strange part is..the first bed Aimee was on had wheels and could have been moved out of the room just as easily!!! so we got her moved and she was off..or so we thought!! Cheryl and Andrew went back with her, and I was told after they went through the first double doors Aimee had to move onto another bed. And at this point, she was very tired and no one was around to help her except for Cheryl because Andrew was changing into his scrubs..so Cheryl helped her move onto that bed..but she was not done still!!! After they got to the OR they said she had to switch beds AGAIN because the one she had just been transferred to that was in the hallway of the OR was not sterile...so she had to be moved again. And every time she was supposed to get onto a new bed she was left to do it on her own. It is such a blessing that Cheryl was back there and able to help her each time!!!
So needless to say, the process they have here is quite different!! From what I have seen it is hard for them to think things through ahead of time!
Chai tea is a big deal here and they drink it all of the time..I lost count of how many of the nurses asked Aimee if she wanted some hot chai while she was in labor!! She very politely told them no thank you each time, but the kept asking!!
A few hours later we made it to the recovery room..it was nice and had a big bed for Aimee, Evan and Andrew to sleep in and there was a single bed for me. We all went to bed around 11 and I went right to sleep...but when we woke up at 2 for Aimee to feed Evan I found out that whole time Aimee and Andrew were getting eaten alive by mosquitos..the net that was around their bed was not big enough at all and they kept getting bit!! Thankfully Evan was in his bed with a net over him and was just fine! So from that point on Andrew and I proceeded to kill dozens of mosquitos. It was so nasty how many there were! He asked someone to bring them a new net..but that was never done. So he found an electric bug zapper and really instead of sleeping spent the rest of the night killing mosquitos! The next day we were moved to another room for a few different reasons and the mosquitos were not that bad in there! But let me tell you, I had to sleep on the most uncomfortable bed EVER!! When I layed down on it I felt like there was no mattress and I was sleeping on metal! I woke up with a very stiff neck and back the next day! I was so happy to sleep here at the house last night on a nice cozy bed without all of the mosquitos!!
Aimee said last night there were only like 2 in their room and they got a lot of rest. I was very happy to hear that!!! She and Evan may get to come home today..lets hope so!!

6 comments:

Dennis said...

Thanks for the update pumpkin. I too am very glad you were there with Aimee. It made me sleep better. Hope you get to go to Fort Portal soon.
Love you,
Dad

mamajoy said...

Oh, I am so thankful for you being able to be with Aimee and helping her move from bed to bed to bed. I hope Evan did not get bit by the mosquitos. He is so cute get lots of pictures for us. Love, Grandma Joy

Carrie said...

Hooray! Evan looks so precious! I'm glad you got to be there to welcome him and I'll pray that everyone recuperates quickly!

FoxFamilyFive said...

Awwww...Congrats Evans and Martin family. =)

Fenn said...

Amanda,
What an amazing journey you have had! God has certainly blessed your family through you! I am so thankful that you have been able to be a part of this! I love you!!!

brenda said...

You are awesome, I am so glad you got to be there to welcome Evan! How special that is. By the way, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the chai, it is delic. I bet you like it, don't you?