Msichana!!!

Today I helped deliver a baby girl (msichana). As soon as we brought the mama in the delivery room we noticed her huge abdominal scar. She had had a c-section for her one and only previous pregnancy. Not a good thing! This says a few things to the practitioner.

1. Something went wrong last time (which means her chances of something going wrong this time just went way up!)
2. She is at risk for a uterine rupture during contractions

Her contractions were only 2 minutes apart and she was fully dilated when she arrived. But the baby was not engaged at all. So let me translate that into English. (No I didn't mean the baby should already have a fiance!) The contractions were close enough together to tell us she was most definitely in advanced active labor. The inside opening for the baby was completely open. BUT the baby was not in position to come out. Realizing that this could mean even more strain on that poor uterus we called for the ambulance to come and be on standby.

My colleague John Makan said "Don't worry Michelle, God is going to deliver this baby". Right before the ambulance arrived that little msichana scooted into position. In less than an hour a baby girl was born! Both mom and baby are doing great. In fact they will probably go home this evening. Today was one of those days where I really love my job.