The last days at Maternidad

For Wednesday, we were placed in the pathology department. This area contained woman with high-risk pregnancies, cancer or other diseases. We met one woman from Africa. Every nurse we talked to told us about her because she could speak English. She didn’t know Spanish and she had only been in the country for one month. She is from the north of Africa (a country bordering Ethopia). She explained that she was here as a refugee and living in an immigration house. I do not know why she was in the hospital. We walked around to come other rooms to chat with other patients. The doctors and nurses in this area didn’t even pay attention to us so we didn’t get to observe anything. We met 3 nice women in one room. Ana was pregnant with twins and was supposed to go have a C-section that day; it was her first pregnancy! She was very pretty and spoke slowly for us. The doctor came in and told her she would have her C-section at 1 so she could not drink or eat anything else. A few minutes later, a nurse entered with pills. She told Ana to drink water and take the pill even though Ana explained that she could not. The head nurse came in and yelled at her to take the pill. Ana told us that the doctors and nurses do not communicate well and that neither of them inform her of anything that is going on.


Around 10 am, one of the head nurses came over to get us. She had scrubs in her hand and told us we were going to the surgery department. We were going to observe a c-section first hand! We were all really excited; we changed into the scrubs and went downstairs to the operating area. It was old and dirty, like everywhere else. Everything was very out dated and unsterile. There was one room for various operations and two for c-sections only. There were about 5 women in the waiting area; they were all pregnant and waiting for c-sections. One of the nurses from the area showed us how to wash our hands. We literally spent 30 minutes going over it. He showed us twice, going into INTENSE detail about every single aspect: the direction of the water, how to rub around your fingers and when to add more soap. He was driving me crazy; he was an ass. Claire went first and she didn’t exactly replicate how he did it so he shook his head and yelled no. He had to show us again and then made her redo it. I went next and did it just like him so he didn’t say too much to me. He made Claire do it a third time because she didn’t exactly do it right the second time! He was nuts. I would have understood the necessity for precision if we would have gone right into surgery after but he was just doing it to show us!


He then showed us how he set up the operating room with the equipment. Everything was wrapped up in blankets/clothe and labeled with a piece of tape with writing. He then unwrapped some of the things to set up for the next surgery. He added water, iodine and alcohol to some dishes and added cotton swabs etc etc. He did some other boring stuff and he took forever to explain it all. FINALLY, they wheeled a woman into the hallway that was going into surgery. They left her laying there all alone in the dirty, dark hallway. No one even paid attention to her or explained what they were doing. Since the hospital is public and free, the majority of the staff does not explain anything to the patients, they just do it. After the nurse guy set up the rest of the room, one of the doctors wheeled her in. once again, no one explained anything to her. At one point, we were in the operating room alone with her as she just layed there. One of the doctors hooked her up to heart and breathing monitors. They told her to turn on her side and they just stuck the needle in her spine for the epidural. The obstetrician entered the room and the fully sterile nurse assisted the doctor with her scrubs and gloves (you know, how the one who is already sterile helps the new staff entering the room with their sterile gear). The obstetrician was a female and she looked only 28 years old. Next, they cleaned her stomach and female areas, and then rubbed it all down with iodine. Before I knew it, they had made the first incision. They began to cauterize to minimize bleeding (causing a lovely smell haha). The doctor kept ripping her skin and fresh with just hands. She ripped away the fat and skin from the uterus and then cut open the uterus. She cut the actual sack around the baby and all the fluid squirted out. The doctor searched for the baby’s head with her hands and started to pull him out. We left the room to get out of the way because they would grab the baby right away and take him to a heated examining bed in the next room (plus I felt kind of light headed from the heat and the smell). The baby was huge and his mom was very petite. I am not sure why she had a c-section but that could have been a reason. I know this was her second child and she had a c-section for the first one too.


We left at noon, like usual, and returned to the Casa for lunch. The main dish was ‘stuffed green peppers’ and they were awesome! I had to walk to Spanish class all alone because everyone left without telling me. I was pretty creeped out because it’s a twenty minute walk. Later that evening I went for a run with Stacey and Allison. We ran up this large hill into another neighborhood. The houses were extravagant! They looked just like mansions in California. It is still amazing to me how some people live in huge slums while across town there are some of the wealthiest people, and it all takes place in a third world country!



Thursday was our last day at Maternidad. We started out in pathology again. We sat and chatted with the girl from Africa for almost 3 hours! She told us more of her story and journey across the world. Her name is Feruz and, as I said before, she is from the north of Africa. Feruz explained to us that about three months ago she left her country for Sudan, on foot. In Sudan, she had to have surgery because she was pregnant but the embryo had embedded into her fallopian tube. She was currently in the hospital because of an infection. From Sudan she flew to Ecuador. I am not sure how long she stayed in Ecuador but she eventually crossed the border into Colombia. She told us how crazy it was hiking in the jungle there, with all the drug plantations and drug dealers all over. She said it was very scary and that they had a few close calls. Somehow, she walked from Colombia to El Salvador. She did mention that she stayed in Nicaragua for a few weeks. The Salvadoran government gave her a refugee visa for one month and once that month is over (if they don’t approve her for an official refugee card) they will drop her at the Guatemalan border. She said the immigration house is just like a prison (as she explains herself, there is a police officer right outside the door watching her). They are not allowed to leave the house and she hasn’t seen any part of the city. They have one large room, with beds, for men and one for women. They have only allowed her one phone call and they took all of her belongings, including money and her phone, at the border. There are not even windows to look out of. It is like a prison. Feruz shared so much more with us but I cannot recall every detail. Her story is sad and amazing at the same time. It’s crazy to think that I met a woman from Africa, who walked from Ecuador to El Salvador, where I met her in a public hospital. She was such a strong, amazing woman. She has no idea where she is going next or where she wants to end up. I give her all of my respect.


I have Feruz’s email and she has mine. I hope we can keep in contact.


That morning they told us we were going to see a live birth but by 11 am we were doubtful. We got up to go to the cafeteria to get a snack. On our way we happened to run into the nurse that was looking for us. She took us to get scrubs in the basement laundry room (it was super creepy!) and then we made our way to the birthing area. It was air-conditioned, thank God. There were two large rooms/areas for the women who were in labor. They were all hooked up to monitors to watch the baby’s heart rate. One woman was screaming in pain and vomiting, and once again, no one even looked twice at her. The nurse gave us a little tour and explained how things were organized. No one was close enough to having their baby so we probably weren’t going to see a birth that day. They didn’t take the women into the actual birthing room until the baby was basically coming out. It was noon, our bus was probably waiting for us already. We started to leave when they yelled that they were taking one woman back. We decided that we had to stay to see it. It was our last day and we did not care if we were late. They prepped the mom with iodine and the obstetrician told her to start pushing. The baby was only 32 weeks along so the doctors forewarned us that the baby would be very premature and there was a high risk for complications. The mom was only 17 and this was her first baby. She wasn’t screaming too much but I could tell that she was holding it in so the doctors didn’t tell her to be quiet. A few other people entered the room and everyone was cheering her on to push. It was quite entertaining. Finally we could see the head and the doctor started to cut her vagina to make more room for the head. It was vulgar and I could not watch. She kept cutting it more and more, without any pain medications! AH! Finally the baby was about to come out. The head came through and the baby shot out like the bullet! He hit into the chest of the doctor and happened to fall right into her arms. She almost dropped him! I have never seen something shoot out so fast. The baby was small and his nose wasn’t completely formed so you could see right into his head. The doctor even covered the baby’s face when she walked past the mother. That baby probably will not get adequate care and he might have problems for the rest of his life.


After the birth we had to leave right away because it was already 12:25 and we still had to go change out of our scrubs. We ate lunch at the Casas and went to Spanish class. After class we went to Jugolandia (that great juice place, like Jamba Juice) for a quick treat with our professor. Marcia and I had to use the ATM so we left early and went to the grocery store. That night was pupusa night with the becarios.


I DIDN'T PROOFREAD THIS...SORRY!