Twins! With Nurse Candide
Nurses Candide and Ildephonce

Ahhhh, Finally....
Today we arose early and had breakfast. The breakfast here is such a happy way to start the day. I am getting addicted to the tea, papaya and bread.
We left for the hospital to unload supplies and ended up stumbling onto the Clinic Prenatal. Every monday there is a prenatal clinic. Women generally have 3 prenatal visits- 1 per trimester. The fourth visit is the delivery. On the initial visit they identify the due date and do testing for HIV. There is no pelvic exam. The women will return to the clinic the same afternoon to get the results of the HIV test and counseling about diet, avoiding malaria, etc. They are given "Mamanets" to sleep under and iron tablets.
We have so many supplies to go through- we figured out that we have at least $65,000 worth of supplies.I gave the my beanie babies to Dr Aflotis who is going to take them to the children's play room at King Faisal hospital. After we unloaded supplies we were met by Dr Bernard for our formal intrroductions to the unit staff. We were met happily by the nurse Ildephonse who decided that he would take us under his wing. He spoke a little english and I spoke a little french so we stumbled though the day together. We also worked closely with nurse Rose and nurse Candide. Dr Mark was there again as well as a doctor who speaks english, Dr Christian. Everyone here has a very relaxed attitude. My first delivery nearly fell out onto the bed as I was trying to get anyone's attention, "L'enfant..... C'est Ici!!!!!". After that there was another delivery that I helped Leanne with. This is where it gets interesting. We were finishing the 2nd delivery and a woman was admitted. She was laying on her side and rolled slowly over to her back showing us a HUGE belly. I asked Ildephonse, "Un bebe ou deux????". Two babies- no problem (everything is no problem). Between the first and second babies birth we were scurrying around trying to figure out the position of the baby when a butterfly flew into my face then continued on around the delivery room. The second baby was delivered with much difficulty but did well after resuscitation. I love seeing how they wrap up the babies after delivery and fashion diapers out of long strips of cloth. They then dress them in very warm outfits- usually decorated sweat suits, hats and bunting bags. The baby is returned to the mother and they move over to the postpartum area. As I write this I realized that I never saw anyone take vital signs on an infant-- no problem. I noticed also that even the high-up physicians many times don't even own thier own stethescope- we are giving them everything we have and leaving anything extra we have brought for our personal use.
I am realizing that the idea of formal meetings is not really a reality in this culture. One on one discussions and working together and trading tips seems to be the way to go. The staff is so crafy with thier supplies and it really is incredible that they can do so much with so little.
Tomorrow we'll return for more, I think the same crew is working so we'll all be acquainted. Overall, a great day!