Puuullllleeeeeaaasssee Pray! Thanks!

Greetings! As Tim shared last post, I just finished the crash course on Anat and Phys and now it's on to "Maternal Complications". Here I sit with Promise nestled in my lap smiling through her "happy dreams"....she does that. Or maybe she's just pooping again. She does that, too. 

She's smiling a ton now and even has attempted to giggle with her mouth wide open, grinning from ear to ear with two giant dimples, her giggles sound more like a poor gasp for air than a laugh....but I am so proud of her. With her in the sling, we made soup, put laundry on the line and even did one question on my homework until she became disinterested and mildly upset....

But the reason I am writing is not to talk more about our Lady Bird (Tim does enough of that!), but to talk about my dear patient, Cherry. The pic above is Mercy Clinic...I don't think that I've ever posted a pic of where I work! So here you go...now back to Cherry.

She's lovely and at only 18, she is just about to enter into motherhood for the first time. 

Eight weeks ago, I asked her to get an ultrasound to find out how far along she was because her fundal height and size of baby seemed very large for her January due date. She said she would get one as soon as she got the money for one....she estimated it would be about a week. So I scheduled her for the following week so that we could go over the ultrasound results together. She never came.

I texted.

No answer.

I texted again.

She said she couldn't come for another prenatal because she was getting married the following week!

GREAT!!! I was so excited. So I scheduled a new time for her prenatal so that we did not interfere on her wedding plans....she never came.

Then I got a text this passed Thursday...."Ma'am!", she says, "My due date is November 1 and my bana left me."

Shocked and concerned, I begged her to come to the clinic as soon as possible, but she was an hour outside of the city without a centavo (that's a penny) to her name. 

We chatted via text for over two hours devising a plan to get her to Mercy or to have me come to her, she was very reluctant with that. So I offered to pay her taxi fare to the clinic if she would just come now. She finally agreed and arrived at 7 pm at the clinic. She looked significantly more pregnant and tired, too.

The next hour consisted of hearing her side of the story in broken English, eating some food that Ate Christina made for us, and going over her ultrasound results. Sure enough, baby boy to be born around November 1. Her bana assumed that it was not his child because she told him she was due in January and though she says she has never been with another man, he canceled the wedding and left her to fend for her and her coming baby boy. And her family lives almost 5 hours away! I was &$%%#$, if you can imagine. Go ahead and fill in the blank.

We spent a while on her prenatal exam, complete with urine analysis. The results were not good. She had protein in her urine. A sign of preeclampsia. We tested again, just to make sure. Yup. Protein. Her baby's vital signs were good and though her pulse was elevated, she seemed to be doing okay despite the horrible turn of events in her life. Just one month ago, she was provided for, healthy, getting married and having a baby....now, without money, no husband and the possibility of complications...she is not unlike many women here. My heart broke for her.

We prayed for her bana and talked about her options, what delivery will be like and what she envisions her baby's birthday to include. I was even able to give her a few newborn outfits (Thank you to all you guys who donated baby clothes!) to lighten the mood. She LOVED them and got a bit misty-eyed at the sight of the tiny onesies with froggies on them with matching socks. She giggled at my explanation of the breast pads and repeatedly thanked me for helping her to get excited for the arrival of her little boy instead of dwelling on her loss.

I paid for her taxi fare home and a urine analysis to be taken sometime this week and asked her to meet me the following Friday for follow-up. While I am hopeful this situation will change for Cherry, I know all too well that it is so prevalent here...with little accountability and responsibility, her bana may leave her to raise this child alone. Eeerrrrrggghhh! But I will not stop praying and I will not stop encouraging her to press on knowing that God is her source and He values and loves her. 

So, perhaps her baby boy will be born this week!  I will keep you posted. Please pray for Cherry.

Be blessed.