Please Pray for Michelle

It is not such a merry Christmas for some. In the last 24 hours I have seen WAY more people who are hurting than those who are happy.

Our groundskeeper, Kennedy is one of the hurting. His wife and daughters came to spend the holidays here with him. Now, they are spending the holiday in the hospital. And not just any hospital. A Kenyan hospital. ~ Sidenote: I pray my daughter and I are never sick in this country!!! ~ Michelle turns 2 years old next week. She is very sick.

 I was with this baby for 5 hours straight today and this was her the entire time. Not once did she wake or stir, other than having a seizure. She opened her eyes a few times, but they just fluttered closed again.

 At this point, all we have been told is that she has malaria and is anemic. Two very generic answers to illness in Kenya. This is one sick little girl. She has had more seizures than we can count over the past two days. After being given a blood transfusion (in a place you would definitely NOT want to receive a blood transfusion!) and IV’s and seeing no improvement in an hour, the nurses pulled them, saying, “they are not working.” When she began seizing again after the transfusion and IV’s were stopped, they said there was nothing they could do.

She finally got a bed. This is the youngest pediatric ward, up to two years. The nursery discharges after a few days so any others with problems would be here. (See below for a full room view.) The little one in the bed across from Michelle (pictured) has tuberculosis. THIS was the moment I made the judgement call to transfer her!

When her IVs were not going, it was up to the parents to fix it. The nurses never came to check after we told them there was a problem.

All this was transpiring after an already long day of her mother trying to get her seen in this public hospital and waiting over four hours without being tended to…while her baby was obviously sick and having seizures! 

We began trying to get her discharged and transferred to a private hospital at 6pm yesterday. We did not succeed until noon today. In that time, I saw five other babies die in the same ward as Michelle. (And by “ward,” I mean “really big room.”) In fact, one of the babies in the picture below died about half an hour after the picture was taken.

 This would be like the CCU (Critical Care Unit). These are the babies who are on oxygen   and closer to the nurse's station. The little oxygen tanks are in the middle with wires running to each baby. There are 15 babies lined up on this table!! 7 to the left of the oxygen tanks, 8 on the right.

 Michelle is in the middle. On the left is Miguel. Look at that beautiful, tiny face! Isn't it just perfect?! He is 4 weeks old. He was born prematurely, weighing 3.5lbs. He now weighs 4.2lbs. On the right is Jonathan. He is one year. He has hydrocephalitis and meningitis. 

Seeing these mamas and their sick babies puts things into perspective. And this kind of perspective is not really the kind of Christmas that I wanted. 

Each mother must stay to care for their child. The mothers actually act more as nurses. You can see them lined in the beds on both sides. A few have two patients on a bed (plus moms). 

 At dawa (medicine) time, the moms bring their babies to the nurses station and line up to wait for their turn. Funny how all the babies just happen to be on the exact same dawa schedule, four times per day. Hmmm.

And notice the red container in the picture above...

Yes, the Hazard bin. Full of items with blood, needles and many other unsanitary things. Just sitting out beside the nurse's table.

I am thankful for the gift of health! Though I am not home and opening gifts with my family like I really want to be, I am thankful for the many gifts around me. And I am thankful for Jesus! Without Him, I could not be here. I would not be able to look at these mamas and offer them any encouragement, any hope. But because of Him, I can.

As I talked with the women in the hospitals taking care of their babies, I told that they would not be forgotten this Christmas. I promised them that I would remember them. Please remember them with me and ask God to grant them strength as they take care of their sick babies and peace as they sit in those deplorable conditions hoping that their little ones will receive help.