Yesterday, one of the twins which arrived 2 days ago developed some breathing problems, she was already on IV drip, because she became dehydrated. We took her for some tests and we discovered that she was severe anaemic, she needed blood transfusion. At our neighbours, the clinic, they do have blood, but they had only A and B type and after testing, the baby had blood type 0 +. So we had to go to the hospital. We were lucky, they had blood type 0, so we got 45 ml. of blood and the nurse hooked her on. It was on a table in the intensive care unit, where the children are kept who are on oxygen or very sick. There were two other baby's on the table, so we just joined them. Of course we got people who came to look at us, three muzungu's (white people) with a black baby, even from outside, through the window they kept an eye on us. The blood transfusion went very slow, one drop a minute. i tried to keep the bag with blood higher and that seemed to help, but to stand like that for 4 hours, no that was too much. I asked the nurse if
we could take her home to let her rest more comfortable during the transfusion. That was okay, so we drove very fast home and let her get the rest of the blood. It took 6 hours, we slowed it down, because the breathing problems. She was comfortable and after the transfusion she was looking much better, the problems with the breathing also went much better
Today Ruth went home! She came in Amecet on March 29 (see blog 29/3) and she is doing great. She is a lovely baby, she laughs so much! When you feed her she wants to smile the whole time! her grandmother came to pick her, and I was touched by the gratitude that she expressed to Amecet, we do not always see that. She was really happy to take Ruth with her. I really loved the old lady, when I asked her how old she was, she replied: 67 years old, not really a age to have to care for a baby, but she is very willing to do so and I believe that Ruth will have a loving environment! While we were talking, two ladies walked in the compound, with two baby's, yes ...... another twin!!!! A little boy and girl, they were 10 days old, very small and dehydrated. I could cry, felt a bit overwhelmed we had already 4 small baby's under 2 kg. But if we let them go back home, they might die... I had a talk with Meri and Esther, (Dutch volunteer) and we decided no we can't let them go. So they were going to change the room around where we have all the little baby's and I did the interview with the mother. She had no breastfeeding (I checked it!) and she fed the baby's with sugar water. They were 10 days old, their birth weight had been 2.1 kg and 2.2 kg. But now they both weighed 1.5 kg!! They had lost 25% of their body weight. We took them in, took them to the doctor and they both had to go on IV drip. But they like to drink, so we hope that we can help them by giving them this "push" in to life. Monday morning Meri is leaving, she has been such an enormous blessing for Amecet and especially for those little baby's. She is tired and lost her voice, I pray God will really bless her for just giving all she had for those little one's. And I pray we can manage without her, she definitely left behind some good advices and protocols and an example of true dedication and a part of her heart (I believe)!
The new twins, left Tracey and right Trevor
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